Gambling Addiction & Recovery Support Group
Compulsive gambling is an urge or addiction to gamble despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop. A preferred term among many professionals is problem gambling, as few people described by the term experience true compulsions in the clinical sense of the word. Problem gambling often is defined by whether harm is experienced by the gambler or others rather...
Good Afternoon Folks
Took me awhile to figure out how to get back into the site.
I am not computer wise.But am back and I am going to start
posting the GA Reflection for the Day again and hope to catch
up with my old recovery friends and to meet some new people.
If you are interested I visit a new site called Gamtalk that is run
out of Montreal Canada and it has 24/7 chat room and on Friday
at 3pm est we have a group Topic Session.Today's topic is Step 9.
God Bless
Ken L GRCG
March 22 Reflection for the Day
Once in a great while, I find myself thinking perhaps things werent quite so bad as they seemed to be. At such moments, I force myself to realize that my illness is talking to me, trying to tempt me into denying that I am, in fact, afflicted with an illness. One of the key action steps of the Gamblers Anonymous Program is that we give our illness to God, as we understand Him, accepting our powerlessness in the face of His greater Power.
Do I believe that the grace of God can do for me what I could never do for myself?
Today I Pray
May I know that much of our lives depends on faith. For we cannot know the limits of space and time or explain the mysteries of life and death. But when we see God working through us and through others who have found new life in the GA Program it is all the evidence we need to know that God exists.
Today I will Remember
The Big Wheel runs by faith.
Took me awhile to figure out how to get back into the site.
I am not computer wise.But am back and I am going to start
posting the GA Reflection for the Day again and hope to catch
up with my old recovery friends and to meet some new people.
If you are interested I visit a new site called Gamtalk that is run
out of Montreal Canada and it has 24/7 chat room and on Friday
at 3pm est we have a group Topic Session.Today's topic is Step 9.
God Bless
Ken L GRCG
March 22 Reflection for the Day
Once in a great while, I find myself thinking perhaps things werent quite so bad as they seemed to be. At such moments, I force myself to realize that my illness is talking to me, trying to tempt me into denying that I am, in fact, afflicted with an illness. One of the key action steps of the Gamblers Anonymous Program is that we give our illness to God, as we understand Him, accepting our powerlessness in the face of His greater Power.
Do I believe that the grace of God can do for me what I could never do for myself?
Today I Pray
May I know that much of our lives depends on faith. For we cannot know the limits of space and time or explain the mysteries of life and death. But when we see God working through us and through others who have found new life in the GA Program it is all the evidence we need to know that God exists.
Today I will Remember
The Big Wheel runs by faith.
Lead us not into temptation, we pray, for we know with certainty that temptation lurks around the corner. Temptation is cunning, baffling, powerful and patient; we never know when it will catch us with our guard down. Temptation could come in the siren song of a four-color advertisement or a radio commercial, the neon and noise of a casino, or, more obviously, in the direct urgings of another person. We must remain forever vigilant, remembering that the first bet, the first face-off with a gambling machine, the first roll of the dice could well destroy our lives.
Am I aware of my number one priority?
Today I Pray
God, lead me out of temptation whether it is the sound of rattling dice, the turn of a card at a poker party, the smoke of the Bingo hall. May I know the limits of my resistance and stay well within them. May my surrender to the will of God give a whole new meaning to that old phrase, Get in the spirit.
Today I Will Remember
Get in the spirit.
Thank you for this!
In the old days, we often had such devastating experiences that we fervently swore, Never again. We were absolutely sincere in those moments of desperation. Yet, despite our intentions, the outcome was inevitably the same. Eventually, the memory of our suffering faded, as did the memory of our pledge. So we did it again, ending up in even worse shape than when we had last sworn off. Forever turned out to be only a week or a day, or less. In the Gamblers Anonymous Program, we learn that we need only be concerned about today, this particular twenty-four-hour period.
Do I live my life just twenty-four hours at a time?
Today I Pray
May the long-term requirements of such phrases as never again, not on your life, forever, Ill never make another bet, not weaken my resolve. Forever, when it is broken down into single days or even just parts of days does not seem so impossibly long. May I awake each day with my goal set realistically at just twenty-four hours.
Today I Will Remember
Twenty-four hours at a time.
One Day at a Time
Placing one last bet will never again be for me simply killing a few minutes and leaving a nickel for the bookmaker. In exchange for the first bet, what Id plunk down now would be my bank account, my family, our home, our car, my job, my sanity and probably my life. Its too big a price, and too big a risk.
Do you remember your last bet?
Today I Pray
May I be strong in the knowledge that Gods spirit is with me at all times. May I learn to feel that spiritual presence. May I know that nothing is hidden from God. Unlike the world, which approves or disapproves of my outward behavior, God sees all that I do, think, or feel. If I seek to do Gods will, I can always count on a reward for me peace of mind.
Today I Will Remember
God knows all.
The longer Im in Gamblers Anonymous, the more important becomes the slogan First Things First. I used to believe that my family came first, that my home life came first, that my job came first. But I know today, in the depths of my heart, that if I cant stay clean, Ill have nothing. First Things First, to me, means that everything in my life depends on my refraining from gambling.
Am I grateful to be clean from gambling today?
Today I Pray
May my first priority, the top most item on my list of concerns, be my abstinence from gambling maintaining it, learning to live comfortably with it, sharing the tools by which I maintain it. When other things crowd into my life and I am caught up in distractions, may I still preserve that first-of-all goal; remaining free from gambling.
Today I will Remember
First Things First.
The Gamblers Anonymous Program teaches us that we have an incurable illness. We always get worse, never better. But were fortunate in that our incurable illness can be arrested, one day at a time, as long as we dont place that first bet. High-toned academic research and ivory-tower studies to the contrary, we know from experience that we can no more control our gambling than we can control the ocean tides.
Do I have any doubt that I am powerless over gambling?
Today I Pray
May I never fall prey to any short-term research results that tell me that compulsive gambling can be cured, that it would be safe to begin gambling again, supposedly in a responsible manner. My experience and the experience of others in GA will outshout such theories. May I know that, if I took up gambling again, I would begin where I left off closer than ever to prison, insanity, or death.
Today I will Remember
Be wary of new theories.
Once in a great while, I find myself thinking perhaps things werent quite so bad as they seemed to be. At such moments, I force myself to realize that my illness is talking to me, trying to tempt me into denying that I am, in fact, afflicted with an illness. One of the key action steps of the Gamblers Anonymous Program is that we give our illness to God, as we understand Him, accepting our powerlessness in the face of His greater Power.
Do I believe that the grace of God can do for me what I could never do for myself?
Today I Pray
May I know that much of our lives depends on faith. For we cannot know the limits of space and time or explain the mysteries of life and death. But when we see God working through us and through others who have found new life in the GA Program it is all the evidence we need to know that God exists.
Today I will Remember
The Big Wheel runs by faith.
Hoping all is well,
Jay