YOU CAN DO IT - How I quit smoking after 33 years!

First of all, what advice I'd found out there wasn't working. And, I especially remember feeling so defeated as a Christian. Why, when I knew this was so bad for me, could I not seem to even want to give it up enough.  I felt like even in saying that, that I was putting it before my relationship with God. I quit all kinds of drugs and other hurts, habits, and hang-ups, but why was this so hard. I prayed and prayed and prayed!

I now remember that a song by "Red" gave me so much perspective into the way that I was feeling.  It is a loud song (please turn it down if not to your liking and just read the lyrics) but I hope to find some lyrics to share:

My husband had quit and he was not the most pleasant to live with, with me still smoking. He let me know just what he thought about me still smoking. I told him repeatedly that I had to want to quit. It would not help me to try to do it for him. I had to do it for me, and for my God!

Trying to quit the traditional ways did not work. I tried probably every way that I found and even did stop 2 times for several months, but that habit was just too strong. I actually remember when I tried to do it cold turkey. After just 3-4 days, when my husband got home from work I was throwing things and yelling 'how can God help me when I can't even find Him?' Satan has his ways, his lies and deceit. Of course God was there. He was totally there waiting for me to cry out in the midst but Satan was prodding at the same time.

Finally I got a clue. I don't remember reading anything about it so I think it was just by Holy Spirit inspiration that I saw the need for me to break the habit first. I hope these things help you to make up your own list or rules to live by. This is what I did. I made up a list of rules that I would pray and ask Jesus to help me with.

1. I decided to only smoke outside, anywhere. Not even in my car. (Which I
must confess that I had already started smoking outside my own home
and found that I liked not having the mess in my home.)

2. I decided to pray and ask God to help me to never smoke a whole cigarette again.  This way I reduced the amount of nicotine that I had in my system.    If I saw it as too expensive, I'd put them out 1/2 way and save them for the next time.

3. I quit smoking at all the usual times, after meals, when I first got up, when I
first got home, etc. (make a list if need be) And, I'd just pray and wait a
bit longer. Jesus did help me. He's right there waiting. And it was easier
this time. I prayed about everything. And, I wasn't perfect. I remember
all of a sudden realizing now and then that I'd smoked nearly a whole
cigarette, but I prayed about that, too! I prayed so much that I'm sure this
6 months that it took me to quit, also increased my prayer life and drew me
closer to God at the same time. 

4. I took 6 months. You can take less or more time. It's all between you and God!

5. I kept a pack of Nicotine gum there and I think I chewed 4-5 pieces of it.

6. I did not try to even start this on a holiday or other time where it would've been harder to stop. I prayed about slowing down, quitting, I prayed about it all!

7. Finally I prayed and set a date to quit. I quit smoking on June 8th of 2007. I will be honest. In the next 6 months I did slip and smoke 2-3 cigarettes but I quit!

At this time, I have 9+ years smoke free! You can do it, too! It does help that the price of cigarettes has skyrocketed. It seems that every time I have thought that I might try one, I see the price. YIKES!

If this doesn't work, maybe you need some encouragement. Find a Celebrate Recovery group in your area. It has helped me and so many others find victory over their hurts, hang-ups, and habits! WWW.celebraterecovery.com.

And, one of my favorite songs ever that we've sang at Celebrate Recovery. It is so befitting: 




May God bless you through my writing. If He has especially touched you in any way, please leave a comment below. Your comments are so very encouraging to me to help me to keep writing. Also, click on the “Uptweet” button on the above right and share! I pray you will keep coming back. I fully believe that my writing is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so if I am writing, there is someone that needs to read it! Maybe it’s you? Also, please be sure to share any questions you might have with me and if you would like to keep them personal (just between you and me) please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at juliana.pace@gmail.com. If I don’t know how to answer you, I will may every attempt to refer you to someone for more information. Thanks and may God bless all your days!

ALL ACCORDING TO HIM

My apologies for not writing for so long. I have been in the midst of a dry spell, a walk in the desert where I never have stopped worshiping Him yet I've felt stifled, not knowing how to move forward. I have been shown in several ways that I am on His path and that He has just been telling me to "wait". This is a hard thing for me to do being ADHD. I know in many ways He has been trying to make me see something that my dad and I always had in common, that we are loved because we are His and not because of what we do.  And a lifetime of feeling this way is not easy to change but He knows that I am commited and still letting Him work on me.  I love the new tank top that I just got:  

.                                                                  

And, as we have just returned from another cruise, I am always praying and still seeing that His direction for me has just been to "wait".


*Psalm 27:14 "Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!"

*Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

I don't think all that is thought to be negative, is! This morning during the hustle and bustle of disembarkation from our cruise ship I was in some unexpected pain along with an unusual "fog-like" feeling. I can be a "dufus" (our term) when on pain pills so I refrained from taking them when going through the port of Miami. I, of course, lashed out at God wondering why He was letting me feel like this when in such a mess of people and a very uncomfortable situation. I am now several hours passed all of that & thanking God that He got me through it all with no problems AND due to that "fog-like" state I know that all of that mess at the port I will not even remember in a few days! God got me through a very unpleasant situation fully unscathed, yet I was looking to the very moment instead of just trusting God, despite this negative feeling, He was using it for my good.

*Proverbs 3:5,6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your heart."

He is still working on me, teaching me, and will be until the day that I join Him in heaven.

Even though I think I have shared this song twice before (at least) it comes to mind to share it again:

May God bless you through my writing. If He has especially touched you in any way, please leave a comment below. Your comments are so very encouraging to me to help me to keep writing. Also, click on the “Uptweet” button on the above right and share! I pray you will keep coming back. I fully believe that my writing is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so if I am writing, there is someone that needs to read it! Maybe it’s you? Also, please be sure to share any questions you might have with me and if you would like to keep them personal (just between you and me) please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at juliana.pace@gmail.com. If I don’t know how to answer you, I will may every attempt to refer you to someone for more information. Thanks and may God bless all your days!

I’VE GOTTA GIVE A TESTIMONY – PLUS PRAYER AGREEMENT PLEASE!

For a few weeks now, I have started having pains in the main top joint of my thumbs. It actually started with the right hand first. Making me have trouble with doing most movement, lifting, turning, etc.

I have done much work in my life, from transcription (Radiological), to other kinds of typing, to unloading semis, working in freezers, and well, you name it! I've been told that I have arthritis all over, back, shoulders, wrists, feet, and on and on. June, 2012 I went off of all wheat according to the Wheat Belly Diet. Within a few months 17 years of chronic back pain (10-hour spine surgery in 1995 with metal put in) was a good 90% gone and it continued until I have to have an x-Ray to even know there is metal in there. I am now not perfect with this diet (to be honest) but I do go for days without any wheat at all due to trial and error and still moving forward. I have had numerous accidents, bone breaks, surgeries, and on and on BUT I can take little medication for pain. Well, I have one mild one that I can take once in a great while (1, 30 pill prescription has lasted me as long as 1 1/2 years). Otherwise I only take ibuprophen. This could turn into a long, long story so I will skip onto more recently...

...recently I am able to get up on a slow moving morning, get my breakfast in me and then take my meds. Making it take me an hour or two to get any ibuprophen in my system. BUT, when I've had to get up and run, the pain has been so bad in my thumbs that you would not want to be around me. I can't take meds on an empty stomach at all and due to other deficits from the disability it takes me nearly 2 hours to get ready to just go to church. Sunday morning and then yesterday I had to be up for an appointment. Yesterday I talked to the Lord the entire time when I was getting ready. It hurt so bad that I didn't know what to do, call the doctor? I mean, to bend my thumbs at that joint felt closer to breaking them than them being useful. As the day went on the pain did get more tolerable yet this was with the ibuprophen.

Today? I got out of bed and did not even notice for the first few minutes that I had not noticed if the pain was there or not and when I did, I'd had no ibuprophen yet. There was little pain left and still is. Praise the Lord! Now I am believing yet praying about how to proceed? I am a writer (yet I take it in stride, normally writing, thinking, praying, researching, searching scriptures, etc. So it is quite different than the Radiological Transcription that I was trained for prior to becoming disabled in January, 2001). Please agree with me in prayer for His wisdom regarding how to proceed with this. Thanks and God bless you all!

May God bless you through my writing. If He has especially touched you in any way, please leave a comment below. Your comments are so very encouraging to me to help me to keep writing. Also, click on the “Uptweet” button on the above right and share! I pray you will keep coming back. I fully believe that my writing is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so if I am writing, there is someone that needs to read it! Maybe it’s you? Also, please be sure to share any questions you might have with me and if you would like to keep them personal (just between you and me) please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at juliana.pace@gmail.com. If I don’t know how to answer you, I will may every attempt to refer you to someone for more information. Thanks and may God bless all your days!