June 18: Spiritual Principle a Day, read by Sophie X.

Spiritual Principle a Day for June 18, read by Sophie X.

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June 18

Grace Gets Us through Hard Times

"What we find is not that our Higher Power spares us the hardships of life, but that we receive the grace to get through them clean."

—Living Clean, Chapter 3, “Walking the Walk”

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When terrible things happen to us or people we love, especially those we deem to be innocent and undeserving of strife, our first reaction is often to try to make sense of it, to look for someone or something to blame. “How could this happen?” Such incidents—like a terminal diagnosis or losing a child, or less dire ones like getting fired from a job—can shake our faith in our Higher Power or the NA program. We may question, “Why am I bothering to stay clean and trying to live by all these spiritual principles if life is just going to end up causing me so much pain?”

No matter how much integrity we practice and how much love we have in our hearts—or how little—life will continue to show up. Instead of trying to reason our way through pain or out of a mess, we learn to ask our Higher Power, in whatever way makes sense for us, “How am I going to get through this clean?”

If we ask this question in earnest and listen for the answer, we will be able to find grace. Grace is an active force in our lives. It’s the gentle nudge that directs us toward the next right thing and gives us a reprieve from our addict thinking and reasoning. Grace allows us to find blessings in the hardships we endure—or, at the very least, to accept what’s happening to us and seek guidance. We know that others have gone through the same life events that we are experiencing and have stayed clean. That collective wisdom, the deep well of experience and resources available to us through our connection to NA, is grace.

The more we notice and acknowledge the presence of grace, the more grace we’ll experience.

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Spiritual Principle:

Even in times of great distress, I will make an effort to be present enough to recognize and receive grace.

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© NA World Services

This podcast is not affiliated with Narcotics Anonymous, and is an independent production of the Works of Wisdom

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Welcome to the Voices of Recovery podcast.
This is your Spiritual Principleof a Day episode featuring a
recovering addict. Hi, my name is Sophie X.

(00:25):
My clean date is December 28th, 2023.
You're listening to the Voices of Recovery podcast.
This is the Spiritual principle,a day passage for June 18th.
Grace gets us through hard times.
What we find is not that our higher power spares US of the
hardships of life, but that we receive the grace to get through

(00:47):
them. Clean living, clean.
Chapter 3 Walking the Walk When terrible things happen to us or
people we love, especially thosewe deem to be innocent and
undeserving of strife, our firstreaction is often to try to make
sense of it, to look for someoneor something to blame.
How could this happen? Such incidents, like a terminal

(01:09):
diagnosis or losing a child, or less dire ones like getting
fired from a job, can shake our faith in our higher power or the
NA program. We may question why am I
bothering to stay clean and trying to live by all these
spiritual principles if life is just going to end up causing me
so much pain. No matter how much integrity we
practice and how much love we have in our hearts, or how

(01:31):
little life will continue to show up, instead of trying to
reason our way through pain or out of a mess, we learn to ask
our higher power in whatever waymakes sense for us.
How am I going to get through this clean?
If we ask this question in earnest and listen for the
answer, we will be able to find grace.
Grace is an active force in our lives.

(01:53):
It's the gentle nudge that directs us towards the next
right thing and gives us a reprieve from our attic thinking
and reasoning. Grace allows us to find
blessings in the hardships we endure, or at the very least, to
accept what's happening to us and seek guidance.
We know that others have gone through the same life events
that we are experiencing and have stayed clean.
That collective wisdom, the deepwell of experience and resources

(02:16):
available to us through our connection to NA, is grace.
The more we notice and acknowledge the presence of
grace, the more grace we'll experience spiritual principle.
Even in times of great distress,I will make an effort to be
present enough to recognize and receive grace.

(02:40):
The Voices of Recovery Podcast is an independent production of
The Works of Wisdom. We welcome your questions and
donations via PayPal at [e-mail].
This podcast is an independent production and is not affiliated
with, associated with, authorized by, endorsed by, or
in any way officially connected with Narcotics Anonymous or any

(03:02):
of its subsidiaries or affiliates.
While any literature may be readduring episodes for the purpose
of supporting Recovery, such usedoes not constitute an official
endorsement or representation byNarcotics Anonymous.
In accordance with any tradition, the NA name is not to
be used to endorse or be affiliated with any outside
enterprise, and no such endorsement or affiliation is

(03:23):
implied. Music is by Sage.
Thanks for listening to the Voices of Recovery podcast.