Do I want to be right, or do I want to be happy?

The significance of my grasping the entire implications of Step 1 is directly proportionate to my serenity level…

What does that mean?  It means that if I remember, more than forget, that I am powerless over another person, situation or circumstance in my life then I actually have a chance at a serene today regardless of what that person, situation or circumstance may bring my way.

Take a quick look at the concept of Step 1 of the 12 Steps of Recovery and see how this principle is the jumping off point to a happy and productive life.  Please be open minded (if you are in recovery or not) as life is hard and all people can use tools to successfully negotiate our world today.  The application of these life changing principles of the recovery movement brought to mankind in their inception of 1935 (the anniversary year of the birth of Alcoholics Anonymous, the first of all 12 steps programs) has allowed those lost in their various addictions to successfully face life when it shows up.  In the case of this recovering alcoholic I used to drink my way through life’s issues (e.g., employers, significant others not doing it my way, vehicle breakdowns, illnesses, etc.).  As I embrace the mental life saving principle of powerlessness I have an attitude adjustment.  However to the first sentence of this blog what value is ‘the entire implication’ of powerlessness?  The key to it is found in the second half of the first step, in the un-manageability of our life which makes the powerless pill much easier to swallow…

An unappreciative employer, a dispute with your significant other that lands you on the couch, the heartbreak of children not doing it correctly, long term chronic pain or illness, or making a monumental mistake that is pain producing are consequences that all mankind faces, not just those in recovery.  I was blown away after 23 years of being a blackout party animal to learn that my alcohol (drugs, sexually acting out, overeating, gambling, etc. – insert your drug of choice or escape behavior here) was a symptom of my problem(s) and that intact I suffered from a living problem…

We of Joy of the Lord Ministries (JOTL) have a format now to help ease human suffering through the principles of recovery that we call Truth Teaching.  The audio format on the website will allow you to go to any of the 12 steps and hear a brilliant teaching on the principles to serenity pertaining to that particular step.  The teacher, Chris S. is a man with more than 30 years of continuous sobriety.  We meet every Monday night in Cupertino, and the first Monday of the month is our Truth Teaching. Come join us as we share and enjoy the new freedom we have found hidden in the scriptural truth of “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise…”  If it doesn’t work (oh yeah – it is on you to do the footwork) your misery will accompany you wherever you go!  Just my experience… which brings me to my title line of these thoughts… Do I want to be right, or do I want to be happy?

Todd and Cati Share their Testimony on God’s healing grace!

God has certain privileges doesn’t He?  Nice of me to acknowledge that isn’t it?  I met Todd maybe 15 years ago as a casual acquaintance at church.  One can never have too many eternal brothers.  I never knew until last night the powerful testimony he has about God’s life changing power.  The lesson there is talk to the people God puts in the path!

He and his lovely bride Cati came and shared their incredible testimony of an encounter with death and Jesus last night at our weekly Joy of the Lord meeting.  I must admit listening in person was more powerful than this video, but my life was changed last night.  My walk with God (after 25+ years) changed as Cati described her experience in the presence of the Lord.  The love and emotion of her husband validated every sentence.  Most importantly God’s Spirit brought home the fact that a relationship with Him is what all of this time on earth is about.  Check it out – maybe He will do the same for you… dz.

Community – get in on the life!

The word, concept and importance of community continues to cross my mind. Growing up in Chicago in spite of different ethnicities, if you were part of a community defined by certain street boundaries (nowadays known as the hood), it was understood by everybody who lived there that you were entitled to a type of security and respect just because you lived there. It really was safe; you could take risks you would not take on your own if it were not for that sense of community, even if it was for the most part an invisible sensation. It was home, part of family.

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Relocating to New Jersey as a 9-year old was traumatic, as the 900 miles seemed like the other side of the world. I began my lying career at this point in time and was quite surprised at some of the tales that came out of my mouth! When we come into recovery and find that the alcohol, food, drugs, shopping, etc. are all symptoms of our problem(s), I can look back and see that I was a pathological liar at age nine! It made me feel

better. I was trying to fit in, but little did I know that I was actually driving people away from me. Another symptom I had as a budding, young, malcontent was that I was resentful and ungrateful for what I had. Today I love that anger and danger are separated by one letter! Enter alcohol and drugs and I was destined to wreak havoc!

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I will not forget the desperate loneliness I experienced when I hit my bottom. There was zero security, I had lost all self respect, and my sense of belonging was with the studs on the framing of my garage wall, as I spent many waking hours there, paranoid in the grips of my disease. I didn’t know it but I was not alone at the time, just desperately lonely for someone to understand the mess I worked my way into.

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So what happened? What changed my life so that today I’m a joy-filled member of society, living to help the next person that is in my path? Besides Jesus, the one word to sum it up is “community” (which is, by the way, God’s idea).

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I was fooled into finding the heart-pounding life of community. As a blackout, “more” guy who hit a bottom, and having only the arms of Alcoholic Anonymous open to hug me, all I could do for some time was just be there and listen. My large and thriving home group of AA and the sponsor I worked with for the first year of my sobriety did not assign newcomer, “celebrity” status to me. I was directed to the solution for my living problem, the 12 Steps of recovery. I was introduced to Jesus, and the church family I found myself in was predominantly elderly grandparent types, and I didn’t feel like I fit in there. I just knew I liked what was happening to me. I was free, and becoming a joyfilled man, in spite of some horrific consequences to choices I made before I got sober. At 14 months sober I, and a man and a woman from my home AA group, met together in my home to talk about Jesus and recovery. We got into a huge argument, and another type of community was born, namely what 24 years later is known as Joy of the Lord Ministries.

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Little did I know, but upon reflecting on these precious 24 years of weekly Christcentered recovery meetings, meeting and talking with thousands of alcoholics and others in recovery, God did for me what I could not do for myself – again. He raised upa community! There He goes being God again! So to my point about community, we are paying it forward and having a monthly community night meeting…

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The last Monday of every month in 2015 we are going to be enjoying a dinner together, worshipping in song, celebrating milestones in recovery, and hearing a bit of great news from a leader in Christ-centered recovery from somewhere within the greater San Francisco Bay Area. We want to hear the powerful things that God is doing amongst the other recovery groups in Northern California. Please come on by – we start at 7:00 PM. We will also use this community night to fill up the “Jesus tub” and baptize new members of the family of Christ, share communion periodically, and just plain old love on each other.

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If you have yet to be “fooled” into the value of community as I have, you will flat out have to give this valuable resource an intentional try. Dr. Luke in the book of Acts talks about how the family of believers devoted themselves to each other in all of the many variables of life. First of all, it is Christ as the common denominator, and then it is the new eternal family.

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Wherever it is, don’t rip yourself off by not trying out your new spiritual family! I am praying you will find new meaning and purpose to recovery life as you follow Jesus’s example and direction. Heck, if it worked for me, and since God loves you more than He loves me (hee!), let’s do this thing together!

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Because of Jesus… Don Z.

Welcome to Joy of the Lord Recovery Website!

Joy of the Lord is a group of born again believers that have been meeting every Monday night since 1991. The main reason we are here is to provide a safe place to carry God’s message of love, hope and fellowship to those suffering alone in their obsessive addictions. We cannot do this alone! We need the life changing power of our risen Savior. We invite you to a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ, and join us in our walk through the 12 steps of recovery. Our goal is to point the truth in God’s Word, and leave the error and misconceptions behind. God really loves you, and once again welcome!