Happy 10th Anniversary

Ten years ago today I smoked my last cigarette.

It's hard for me to believe that after 17 years of smoking, I was able to quit.  I remember going out on a Friday night to watch the Yankee game. I only had a few cigarettes left and had decided to quit when that pack was gone.  Someone had other ideas.

This was during a time of great change and personal upheaval for me.  Most of it self created but some of the change was because I had a deep spiritual yearning.  I had met a group of Christians at work, some, very strong in their faith and some, not practicing what I now know as relationship with Jesus.  I had been asking a lot of questions about God, Jesus, faith, what it entailed, what did it mean to walk with Jesus??

Here I am, sitting in a bar, pondering what I've been learning and hearing, not sure if I really believe in some All-Powerful-God and I decided to throw a challenge at Him.  I remember thinking, "Ok, God, if you're real, then you will help me quit smoking. I've tried many times on my own over the years and I just can't do it."

The next morning I woke up with pneumonia. Can't say God doesn't have a sense of humor.  Seriously, this August I will have been a follower of Jesus for 10 years. I've experienced some pretty incredible and amazing things. I've seen things that can only be described as miracles. I've felt the living presence of the Holy Spirit.  I have no doubt that God's hand was in this. I don't believe that God "took me up" on my challenge but I do believe He stepped back and allowed me to experience this.  Since I became a smoker in my teens, I have experienced bronchitis so bad I thought I'd get hospitalized, yet I smoked right though all of it.  This was different. I've never been so scared about my health before and I pray I never experience pneumonia again.  It wasn't just the health scare though (I'd had plenty of health reasons to quit, like needing an inhaler), I literally had zero desire to smoke, even after I got better. The need was gone, completely taken away from me. That I know was God. He's done that with other things in my life, I recognize his handy work.

I'm glad to be 10 years free from that horrible addiction. I had quit worse addictions on my own, but this one I couldn't. I freely and fully give God all the credit and glory for this victory in my life.




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