A Story of Recovery:

Promises, Promises

I was enjoying a peaceful morning. I took my sponsee calls and sat down to enjoy my breakfast, when a text from my assistant came in. Her son was sick, and she had to take the day off to take care of him. I lost it!

I am an activities director in a nursing home, so when my assistant is out, I have to take on all of the activities for the day. This was the first day I was going to have a day to myself in the office to do paperwork and get caught up from being out of for ten days on business and personal travel. That day (of course) was a big cultural celebration day with extra activities (and food) to celebrate the Chinese New Year. I had all sorts of unfriendly thoughts going through my mind.

I could feel that I was either going to spiral downward into a horrible mood and make this a bad day, or I could use my tools and make an outreach call. So I picked up the phone and made a call, and luckily it was answered! God works miracles. I was able to voice my anger and frustration and just get it all up and out so I could let God back in.

That is the beauty of this program. I have made so many friends and dear connections that I can just be real with my fellows, with no pretenses. I can just be me, however that shows up. And thank God that this is a food program that not only teaches me to weigh and measure my food, but most importantly, to weigh and measure my life.

I can use my tools towards anything that comes my way. After getting off the phone, I asked God to continue to lovingly guide me in every step that day. So after going out to my car and realizing that the doors were frozen shut on the driver’s side, I slid into the passenger seat, thanking God for my thin, healthy body that easily maneuvers in such small spaces now!  And off I headed to work.

I have to say that I had a magnificent day Did everything work out perfectly? No. But God showed up in many ways. One big example is that I had to teach a Chinese cooking class, with foods that happened to be among my old binge foods. Ten minutes before the class, the daughter of one of my residents showed up and offered to help me with the class, so I did not have to be as hands-on with the food as I would have if I had been alone. I had no attachment to the food, and all appeal of it was removed during the class and for the rest of the day. This all is God. I could not have planned this day out on my own. These little things happened all day long, making for a beautiful, God-led day that I could not have had without this program, the support of my fellows, and working the tools.

The kicker is that my day felt easy, and I even got out of work on time and was able to go to the gym for a weighed and measured workout before having my abstinent dinner. I was calm and peaceful, even though it was a busy day that was not what I planned on at all. That day was not an exception; it was the promises of this program coming true.