Often, my wanting to change is not enough.  I need a source of will-power.

Counselors in the field of chemical dependency understand that often we do not have enough will power to do what is necessary, even with counseling.  That, in addition, we need the inner strength that comes from a “higher power.”  The founders of Alcoholics Anonymous pioneered groups as part of the ongoing treatment for dependencies and for personal growth in healthy living.  The groups are places to commune with one another.  There, people unabashedly share each others’ sorrows, joys, losses, and triumphs.  They challenge errors in thinking, support changes in behavior, and introduce us to the higher power.
The ways that personal problems, emotional health, spiritual health, and physical health all interact need to be better understood.
As you continue to look for your own personal answers as you read this blog and other resources, try this experiment.  Tell God (or whatever you call the highest power), “I am ready and willing to have my eyes opened to ways that will actually help me be the person YOU want me to be. Please give me the strength of will-power to act on those ways.”

Put both feet on this stepping stone before taking another step.

Here are some of the sayings of wise men from ancient days drawn from the Jewish and Christian Scriptures that be helpful.

There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.                                                                               Proverbs 14:12 NRSV

All the ways of a man seem right to him, but the LORD probes motives.  Entrust your affairs to the LORD, and your plans will succeed.                                                                        Proverbs 16:2,3  Tanakh

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.                                                                                                                                    Isaiah 55:8,9 NRSV

Let me enlighten you and show you which way to go; let me offer counsel;my eye is on you.                                             Psalm 32:8 Tanakh
The LORD is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings.                                                        Psalm 145:17 NRSV

Next post  Stepping stone #3 The Stepping-Stone of Confrontation
when “It’s nobody’s fault.”