Testimony 7: 1988: Smoking Addiction Healed
About thirty years after I started smoking I was still trying to quit. I had succeeded in stopping many times, twice for a year and several times for more than a month. My smoker's cough was an established part of my life and I was sick of the whole business. The office where I worked in New York organised a quit program with professional motivators. My office room-mate was in the program so I joined. I did not have much faith in these motivators, or in myself to stop smoking; I had failed too many times. At our church prayer meeting I mentioned this program as a prayer point. Here's the advice I got from my prayer group friends:
"Give the whole thing to Jesus; the addiction, the cough, all the smokey smell of your clothes, curtains, car. All the wasted money. All the negative effects on your health, even your enjoyment of a smoke. Give the program to Jesus and your will, give your office mate so that she too will stop and you won't have to share with a smoker, give the whole thing, as a gift, mentally gather everything and pack it into beautiful paper with a ribbon. Give it to Jesus".
So I did. I can still see myself gathering all these aspects together, it is visual to me like a dream, but I was awake and conscious of what I was doing. The parcel I made was beautiful, and the ribbon prettier than those I tie around my family's gifts! I can still see myself giving the parcel to Jesus and His very gracious and loving smile as He received it .. we both knew what ugly things were inside the gift ..
Never was stopping so easy. The addiction fell off me. I kept busy and didn't think much about wanting a smoke. The motivators were full of psychobabble and I do not credit them with helping much except that they kept the group dynamic going. I've never had another smoke. I don't ever want one. I'm healed from smoking. It's nothing like earlier when I stopped and could be tempted and experienced desire until I cracked and started again. Nothing like that. People smoking nearby do not drive me crazy. It is just a nothing thing. I am healed. Jesus healed me. Praise Him!
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Be blessed in your prayer life!
Good one again John. Keep up the great work! We are a new media army. The pen is mightier than the sword. Nearly 500 years ago the Reformation was released to set Christians free to read and live the Bible for themselves. Without the invention of the first European printing press in Germany, in 1456, this would not have been possible. It is no coincidence that the first leader of the Reformation was Martin Luther and the first Bibles translated and published were also in German, by Luther and Zwingli.
ReplyDeleteKeep writing John. Love in Jesus from Bill