Again

Well friends, I’ve done it again. Just when I think I have victory over a challenge in my life, It’s ugly head creeps up, again.

I’m not perfect. I know that part already. I also know this life isn’t about finding perfection. It’s about placing value in God rather than the things of this world. It’s finding more room in your heart for God than the game you are playing on your phone for hours, scrolling on social media way too long, or any addiction that takes our focus away from Him.

The solution to any problem sounds so simple. It requires giving your will to Him. That’s it. The challenge is that we have to be willing to give it to Him.

Sometimes that isn’t so easy. Our natural tendency is to sit in the situation. Sometimes we think we can solve our problems ourselves. It can’t be that hard. I can walk away any time.

I’m here to tell you this IS the hard part. Trust me, I know. I face this problem all the time.

Years ago, my first husband decided to give up drinking and smoking. He had come in contact with the missionaries and they had told him he could do it with God’s help. Quite honestly, he didn’t believe them. How could it be so simple!

They came up with a plan, asked God for help, and soon it had been weeks since he had smoked a cigarette or picked up a bottle of beer.

He couldn’t believe it! It was so simple.

One day he was telling me how amazed he was that he was able to quit so easily. He might just pick up a cigarette again just to see if it was that simple to quit. He struggled trying to really understand how God could do such a thing that he hadn’t been able to do on his own his whole life. So, with his personal victory of quitting, he picked up a cigarette again and smoked.

Friends. It took only one cigarette for him to feel like he was right where he had been before. Sound familiar?

We fall all the time. Sometimes over and over again. Allow me to let you in on a secret. We have a God who comes back again and again to lift us up, strengthen us, and to lighten our burden. WE ARE NOT ALONE in this struggle. Don’t give up. Let’s lean into our relationship with Him. Let’s allow Him into that part of our heart that needs work. It’s amazing what God can do with us if we let Him.