Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Recently I was fortunate enough to quit smoking cigarettes. I started when I was eighteen. Always a pack a day of Marlboro reds. This past December, 2012, I turned thirty-seven on the eleventh. Ten days later on the twenty-first, that date the Mayan calendar ended, I smoked my last cigarette. Nineteen years is a long time to throw away good money on a vice that has no discernible benefit.

When friends or co-workers asked me how I quit, I'm sad to say that I have lied to them. Some people still use the patch or nicotine gum, I suppose. A lot of people are trying doctor prescribed drugs like Chantix. I didn't need any of those things, but when they asked I said that I just decided to quit and that was it. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's easy to keep quiet and not speak up and say anything about religion in the work place.

Jesus taught that through prayer and fasting anything is possible. I know that quitting smoking cigarettes is not the most miraculous thing ever, but at the time it was important to me. When I decided to quit I prayed, and asked The Lord to take the desire to smoke from me, and I fasted for a very, very brief period of time. The first week or so without a cigarette was difficult, but for the most part, it was extremely easy to quit.

Most people these days don't believe in the need for fasting, but it's something every Christian should try some time. Even if you just give up a couple of meals, when you pray, it will make a difference. I truly believe that without Christ, I would still be spending seven dollars a day on a useless habit, and many other things in my life would be different for the worse. Thank you Lord for everything I have in my life, and everything I am.