He Surrounds Me with His Love and Acceptance

Dear Essay,

Sometimes my HP speaks to me through gentle moments of awareness, coincidences and “synchronicity,” which make me smile and say, “There you are! Thanks for that!” Of course there are times (usually when I’m stuck in my ego) when He needs to poke me in the forehead … hard! But every once in a while, I receive a rare gift when He reaches into my heart and surrounds me with His love and acceptance—a feeling of absolute clarity and certainty of his presence.

The few of those I’ve had over the years have always had the potential to be transformative if I allowed it.

After receiving the October Essay in the mail, it sat on my dresser unread for many weeks. Needing to travel to Oregon from Cleveland to join my wife and bonus-daughter (we use the word “step” to describe other things) for the holidays, I was packing my daily reading materials and decided to take the Essay with me—something I had never done while traveling.

I opened it up the first morning after arriving and scanned the articles looking for a one-pager. I was intrigued by the title “Compare is Despair” by Brent S., so I began to read.

The words resonated with me as I nodded my head, but at the sixth paragraph I verbalized “Oh my God!” and had to pause reading. Then came the inevitable wave of emotion and I began to weep as I felt the overwhelming presence of my Higher Power. Brent described what it was like being born with a cleft lip and pallet, something I was quite familiar with … something that had profoundly affected my life. 29 years into my recovery journey, and until that moment, I knew of no one in SA who shared that experience.

Like Brent, fortunately the program has taught me to find similarities with others, not differences, which has been hugely important in my recovery having felt so different my entire life. Regardless of our common birth anomaly, however, I know, without having met him, how truly similar we are.

Brent, please know you’ve helped a fellow sexaholic in a way no one else could have done. A small microcosm of the miracle of our program.

The Singapore Meeting Enjoys Using Essay

Dear Essay Team,

Thank you for all the service you do. Since your start in August 2020, the Essay magazine has blossomed under your tutelage and the creativity and color makes it a definite piece of art.

So thank you. Our Thursday group in Singapore (Zoom only, and open to any SA around the world) enjoys reading and sharing from the Essay magazine on the Third Thursday of every month.