This morning began with a sense of feeling "behind" as I was late getting up . . . had to get to church by 9 a.m. for BBQ fundraiser I was part of, so I was tempted (since it was 7:30 am when I woke up which is late for me) to shower and get breakfast and then go to church . . . momentarily pondering putting off my "prayer time/connecting time" with God . . . in essence "doing the morning" in my own strength and foregoing "Daily Spiritual Bread" from God.  But, having done this "connecting thing" with God now for 27 years, I knew better.  I chose to skip breakfast, and just "stop".  
            After "stopping", I went over to my bed, and said "good morning" to God and began to thank Him for what He had been doing in my life as well as giving Him permission to "order my thoughts" and "order my actions" for the day.  Days always worked out better if you let HIM have control at the beginning of the day.  After only about 10 minutes of praising God and praying to Him, I then hopped in the shower.  I was still thinking about going to have breakfast before going to the "BBQ fundraiser" as I was famished.  I thought if I got breakfast, I would probably be 10 or 15 minutes late.  But suddenly, that "still small voice" of the Holy Spirit spoke to me about the importance of keeping my word, which meant I should go to the BBQ and skip breakfast.  
            I quickly jumped in the shower, got dressed, went by the store to picked up some bottled water for those of us who would be cooking the chicken and dishing out the food.  I got to the church a little ahead of schedule and melded with the group that was already present.  After about 30 minutes and all was in order, I "sensed" I needed to go up to the prayer room at church and pray for the service that was to happen at 10:30 am.  The prayer team was already in prayer when I entered the room.  
            After about 5 minutes of prayer, the Holy Spirit gave me some directions to pray some things over the service; which I did.  After about another 15 minutes of prayer, the service started.  The praise and worship during the service was awesome as it always is - Faith Whitfield (check out her website) was leading the worship.  The presence of the Holy Spirit came down and a very real and tangible "presence" of God filled the sanctuary.  
            After praise and worship, I felt led to "check on" my BBQ group.  As I did, one of the members was suffering excruciating back pains.  The Holy Spirit prodded me to pray for her and the healing of her back which I did.  The Holy Spirit's peace fell upon this person, and after a few minutes of prayer, she felt physically better and became re-energized over the course of the next 30 minutes.  
  

            After service and the BBQ fundraiser, I took a friend of mine from W. Texas to lunch with two other friends.  We had a great time of fellowship and sharing what God was doing in all of our  lives.  One of the ladies in our group started asking me about my book - "The Little Book - Alcoholism, Drug Addiction & Recovery Made Simple!"   This conversation led to everyone at the table wanting copies of "THE LITTLE BOOK".  After lunch, I felt like there was still more for us to talk and pray about, so I suggested they go to Starbucks where I would meet them, but first would go home and get copies of my book and bring them to Starbucks.  
               On the way to Starbucks from my house, the Holy Spirit said for me to "GIVE" these books to the ladies.  When I met up with them, I did give them the books and prayed a blessing over them and the books - that they would produce freedom for the people who receive the books.  This then led to the Holy Spirit talking to them and giving me different ideas and names to whom I should make my book known to.  Two of the ladies ended up giving me money for the books anyway - and more than they are priced at! 
            After coffee, we then went to the parking lot of Starbucks and sat in their truck for 15 minutes or so.  We prayed for each other as well as prayed for different issues that the U.S.A. is facing in these "tough times."  When we all felt a "release" that we had prayed what we were suppose to pray, we then said goodbye.  
            I went home, and decided to take advantage of the overcast weather and went for a nice 3 mile jog.  After that I showered and was looking to relax.  The next thing I know I am watching a documentary of Jessie Owens and the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany.  While watching this, I was reminded of many parallels of pre-WW II Germany to the USA now and how chaos of a bad economy and high un-employment led to a "change in government" that promised changes - no one could have predicted what an unknown Hitler would do in terms of the removal of freedoms and liberties as well as atrocities his "term" of leadership would do . . . 
            Oh well, enough political stuff . . . but "know" that obedience to God's ways as a nation leads to freeom; disobedience leads to "bondage" = loss of freedom.
            I am now finishing this post - and hopefully it is demonstrating something that is useful for you as it relates to what a "life connected to God/Higher Power" looks like.  Take care!  Feel free to give me some feedback on this "posting journey" of mine!  

CJD

            Today, I got up and spent 30 minutes in prayer, just thanking God and praising Him for all the stuff going on in  my life.  Then suddenly, I heard His "still small voice" say "go to the men's breakfast," which was at a restaurant versus it's normal venue of the church fellowship hall.  
            So I quickly got dressed, and was "reminded" the location of the restaurant (never been there before) was across the street from the RV park between Kerrville and Ingram.  I drive by a little restaurant which appeared to be packed out across from the RV park.  I turned around and sure enough it was the right place.  
            There were probably 20 + guys already there from church, so I took an open chair across from 2 men that I knew.  The leader of the group prayed that "we would all open our hearts to each other".  The fellowship was good, which eventually led to me telling a story about a current situation in my life which was bringing so much "change" and "freedom" to an old friend of mine's life as well as to my own. 
            I went back home and went back to some prayer and meditation time.  After 20 minutes or so, I had an "impression" to call my father.  His schedule is pretty full and it is hard for us to connect on any "first phone call" to each other.  So acting on "this impression", I called dad and he answered.  We had a very good chat which included him sharing some ideas for marketing "THE LITTLE BOOK".  Dad also talked about how I needed to write a booklet which would describe to people what "a relationship/connection to God/Higher Power" looks and feels like as he thought most people would not really know what that was or means.  Dad did not know about this "CJD & GOD - 3rd Step LIVE" blog that I am doing.  As I was telling him about it, he said "you are on point, son, go with it".  He said he had been thinking about this idea (THIS BLOG) for several months and just now remembered to tell me.  For me his words were "confirmation" from God above thru my father on earth that I was on track.    

             As I began to get back into a mediation mode, the the Holy Spirit reminded me of a preacher friend's kids' lemonade stand that was going on about 3 miles from my house.  The impression was strong that I needed to go and encourage and affirm what these kids were doing.   I had never been to the house before, but with an address and the Holy Spirit as co-pilot, I found the lemonade stand.  The kids were cute - 4 girls and 1 boy I believe ages 5 to 9 maybe.  The lemonade was $1/glass.  Had several glasses, and then paid them a tip to sing me some jingles and Christian songs which their dad had said earlier they would do.  The jingles were priceless . . .
            After that I came home and was getting readhy for a run in the heat, when my phone rang . . . it was one of my innercity ministry buddies who needed some prayer for some situations in his life.  We spent about an hour talking and praying for his situation.  God gave me several prophetic "words" and "pictures" to share with my friend.  By the time we got off the phone, we both had "peace" about his situation and its changing to his favor.  
            With my running clothes still on, managed to get out of the house and go for a hilly 2 mile run, which afterwards required some deep meditation time, aka "a nap". 
            Later on tonight, I had child care duty in the nursery where I found myself busy trying to teach 15+ kids ages 2-4 about God's guidance and protection and leading thru the story of Moses escaping from Pharoh thru a Red Sea that God parted.  God gave me "the peace and joy and patience" to manage thru this 2 hour "gig" which was full of giggles!
            At the end of the night, I felt a "leading" to go to Culver's restaurant with a friend of mine.  As it turned out this person needed a listening ear as well as some affirmation.  So this is how my day went . . . as you can see, very little of it was "planned" by me . . . I just tried to "find the flow" of the Holy Spirit and let Him speak to me and guide me throught out the day!  It was a good day!  Headed to bed now . . .    CJD

            It occurs to me that if I am going to talk a lot about the 3rd Step as the "3rdStepGuy" which is my twitter handle, I should probably demonstrate my own relationship with God since the 3rd Step is all about "turning your life over to a power greater than yourself."  So this blog, is just a sharing of my daily walk with God . . .
            This morning as I woke up, I was kind of dragging my feet with God . . . actually has kind of been that way all week.  I started moving and spent some time in praising God - thanking Him for what He has been doing in my life, etc.  I then read my covenant with him, in which I reminded Him that I had turned my life over to Him and thus everything that is mine is now His, but the flip side of a covenant is that everything that is His is now mine!
            I then left to go to La Hacienda in which I delivered 20 books ("The Little Book") to their store.  I then came back home and spent the next few hours just being "still", finding myself just thanking God and praising God for all He was doing in my life.  As I did this, I felt his warmth surround me and this "very solid peace" forming in my "gut" area inside of me.  
            As I sat there listening to that "still small voice" of the Holy Spirit, He said to me, "Have missed you Chris, stay close.  All is well.  I am with you.  Rest in Me.  Get lunch, and then get the air pump, and cigarettes (for ex-wife), and go see the little one (my 4yr old daughter).  Love you!"  

            I then felt like it was time to get back into motion.  So I went over to Culver's for lunch, and low and behold I run into a consultant friend of mine who I had not seen in a while.  Then, I went to Walmart to get a small air pump to pump up a pool that I had bought for my daughter the day before, and I also purchased cigarettes for my daughter's mom.  While there at Wal-Mart, I ran into a new acquaintance.  So several "divine appointments" occurred because of the "order" in which I was told to do things which I had followed! 
            I then drove over to my daughter's house which is about 20 miles away - there I worked on blowing up her plastic pool, fixing a fence gate, and then cleaning out a little fish pond.  She helped me with some of it.  I had a great time with it all in spite of the heat.  
            After 3 hours of work in the sun, I quickly showered at their house, changed clothes, and drove back into Kerrville for a 3 hour board meeting with The Coming King Foundation.  During that meeting, the Holy Spirit was speaking to me about several things I needed to share regarding different situations, which I did share with the rest of the board of directors.  
            Then I came home, and instead of taking a shower, I was led to start this "blog" about my daily walk with God, which has been on my mind for several days.  Finally, getting it done.  
            Before I end, I hear the Holy Spirit telling me to tell YOU, that God "really does love you."  That's it for now, going to take a shower, and then climb into bed, and let God tuck me in!

Have a great day tomorrow!

Christopher James Daniel, LPC