Beauty For Ashes

Well I thought I had done today's post, but Joel Osteen preached tonight on a verse that compells another post today.

Three years and 10 days ago, on January 21st, 2007, I smoked a cigarette in the car on the way to church one Sunday morning, and Pastor Erny McDonough preached on this verse:

Isaiah 61:3-4 “To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

“And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.”

After church that day, I never smoked again.

God took away the addiction and made me a non-smoker, instantly. My husband still smokes but it never tempts me, and I don’t notice the smell of smoke.

I don’t know why God chose to do this for me, but He did.

Thank you, Lord.

Update January 21, 2014:  Paul quit smoking a couple of years ago. He used patches, and they worked great. Recently he was able to give up the patches too.  Tobacco still neither temps nor annoys me. When sharing this story some time back, my grandson overheard me saying that I didn't know why God had chosen to heal me of this, and he said "I prayed to God and asked Him for you to quit smoking."  So remember that the prayers of our friends and family play a powerful role in our lives. God listens when a believer prays, and He hears children as surely as adults.