For Today: August 3rd

Your cravings as a human animal do not become a prayer just because it is God whom you must ask to attend to them.

Dag Hammarskjold

What do I pray for?  The relief of pain?  The satisfaction of my desires, the fulfillment of my every wish?  It makes little difference what I pray for because God is in charge; I don’t sway God.  God gives me what I need, not what I want, answering prayers in surprising ways,  giving me solutions to problems I was hardly aware of, removing obsessions and excesses I didn’t want to believe I had.  God has replaced resentment with serenity, confusion with direction.  I never knew what to pray for before, but in taking the first three steps, I sought-----and received---- a way to live free of the obsession with food.

For Today:  As I grow accustomed to prayer, it becomes a part of my life.  I pray as I am moved to pray, sure that God’s love embraces me every time.

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I wasted years praying for God to turn me into a 'normal eater.' Of course, it isn't in God's plans to do that; my purpose in life is to accept the cards I have been dealt & to learn from it.  If I didn't have the blessing of being a compulsive overeater, I wouldn't have found the serenity of the Steps, nor would I be in a position to help others who struggle like I do.

What seems like a 'curse' is really a blessing.

What I pray for nowadays isn't fulfillment of my desires or wishes, but acceptance & appreciation for what I do have.  The Third Step prayer is:

God, I offer myself to Thee

To build with me

And to do with me as Thou wilt.

Relieve me of the bondage of self

That I may better do Thy will.

Take away my difficulties that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help

Of Thy power, Thy love, and Thy way of life.

May I do Thy will always.

This is quite a different prayer than I would have repeated back in the days of compulsive overeating. 

For today, I pray for the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.