Wage War

Day 3 hit hard this morning as I woke up having withdrawls and feeling incredibly sick.  Sometimes you don't fully understand the bad choice you've made until trying to undo it one day.  All the times of eating sugar, of indulging for temporary pleasure now reared it's ugly head and before even putting one foot to the floor I felt defeated.  I had two options, retreat or advance.  I stumbled to the shower and began praying Scripture over myself, it was time to wage war.  Oh sure 2+1=3 and it's only Day 3 but when you've crawled your way to get to this place you don't just let go so easily.

I would then sit in the courthouse for several hours as part of a jury panel, have several meetings, teach children about our identities in Christ, come home for some dog training with Tracker and then head off to church.  And trust me, I was ever so glad when they said let us go to the house of the Lord one more time.  The worship was wonderful, I wanted to shout it from the rooftops..."I AM A FRIEND OF GOD!!"  And then what unfolded next moved me so deeply.

I watched as an older mother gave testimony to God for one more day, no seriously, she was just that thankful for one more day.  A lady thanked God for His protection because she had unknowingly driven her car with a gas line leak.  And then another sister, she began to weep before God as she thanked Him for freedom, grace and mercy.  You see, she had been addicted to drugs.  And she has a fight in her, to get her life right before God and man, to have her chicken back, to be free.  I empathized with her, remembering my own year of fighting to get clean and sober.  Those were grueling days, long nights, impossibility after impossibility BUT GOD.

Truth be known, we all have something we are fighting for.  This whole journey of 100 days with no sugar is not about losing weight, but about breaking addiction in my life.  It's a fight, maybe one that few understand.    But I'm in it to win it.  And as I watched my sister weep before God tonight and I heard a mother celebrating one more day of life, though it be slow and frail, and I hear another recognize the goodness of God over her, I can't help but to be overwhelmed at the goodness of my God.

Why can I celebrate 3 days with no sugar?  Because I'm free.  Why can I wake up and fight again tomorrow?  Because Christ fights on my behalf.  Why can the elderly dance before the Lord and once former addicts shout with victory and the church of God advance though every enemy rises up against it?  Because if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us?  And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?  May you see all the ways in which God fights for you, grace and peace.