Breaking The Silence

Life has a way of reminding you that you're a tiny little speck on a big blue dot that is rotating at a mere 1000 miles per hour and we are all just literally hanging on and trying to catch up.  Several years ago I began a journey of health and wholeness, recognizing that in fact my body is a temple where Christ lives.  But more than that, I wanted to be free, free even from an addiction to sugar.  So I went 100 days without sugar.  Brutal, it was brutal.  Truth be known, I've had a problem with sugar my entire life.  It had become an addiction, and honestly, an idol.  Because there were days that I loved sugar more than I loved Jesus and when God spoke those words in Exodus 20:3 about not having any other gods or idols before Him, He wasn't messing around.  As a child, my whole-hearted answer was "No problem Jesus, I love You!"  Now as a grown adult who's circled around the sun one too many times to count, I find myself much like the Israelites wandering around the same dumb mountain instead of living in the Promised Land that God was trying to give them because I am too stubborn and stiff-necked and frankly am the god of my own little universe sometimes.  So I've been thinking, and praying, and seeking.  And I took one step on January 1 of 2016.  The journey?  1 year, 365 days, of no sugar.  Why?  Because I am slaying giants and crushing idols because I'm not messing around anymore.  That is who God has called and created me to be and I can continue to be enslaved to the things of the world that constantly lure and entice and just like Adam and Eve, I can be robbed of an entire garden because of one tree.  Or I can rise up with strength and courage and say I'm all in, I am going to live in my Promised Land.  So I am now on day 184 of a fast from sugar.  It's anything but fast; slow, agonizing, wrestling this stubborn flesh of mine.  But the journey has been beautiful, breathtakingly beautiful.  When I stop teasing myself with things that never satisfy, I can then get lost in the wonder of a God who is so beautiful, stunning and brilliant.  And when I choose to lose it all; my pride, my cherished idols, my feel good addictions, my way of life as I've always known it, then and only then am I given everything instead; the very keys to the Kingdom.  Crushing idols and slaying giants.  Don't let the silence fool you, God and I are waging war together.  And He's inviting you to do the same.....I promise it's far, far greater, richer and more rewarding than the little kingdom of self we tirelessly work to construct.  Wage war friend, you were created for this.