For Today: July 24th

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.
Albert Einstein

I will probably never understand exactly what happened to me when I came to Overeaters Anonymous.  I have no frame of reference for surrender, or spiritual awakening.  These events, which happened simultaneously, constitute by far the most beautiful experience of my life.

The gifts placed before me in the wake of this experience are equally mysterious:  I am unshakably abstinent; I go through all the ups and downs of my life without having to eat over anything.  That in itself is miracle enough, but there is more.  Each one of the promises of the Big Book is coming true.  God is doing for me what I could not do for myself. It is all an incomparably beautiful mystery.

For Today:  I celebrate the miracle of my new life in OA.

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When I hit rock bottom is when I came to OA.  I think it's a Buddhist saying that goes: When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

Before I was 'ready' to change my life entirely, I wasn't able to do it. I thought that excess food was making me happy, that I needed it as much as I needed my legs to stand on, etc.  The thought of life without excess food seemed too much to bear.

So I took a leap of faith.....that God could help me do what I could not do for myself.  I joined OA because I knew in my heart that I had to change an awful lot about my OCD behavior in order to find peace, happiness and relief from my food addiction.

While I DO have my moments of overeating from time to time, I am unshakably abstinent throughout the stressful times of my life.  And if you knew me, you'd know that 99.9% of my life IS stressful.  If I responded to all these stressful times by overeating, I'd be 400 lbs by now.  OA has taught me a better way; to maintain abstinence is to thumb my nose at the stress and say IT is not beating ME.

For today, I can honestly celebrate the miracle of my new life! Together with God & my support system of OAer, I can do ANYTHING, one day at a time.