Christ vs. Little Debbie (Addictions & Scripture Memory)

(This post is a little longer than normal but it is one that I have felt prompted to post for some time now so I going to just do it before I "overthink it" and chicken out. For a person who gravitates towards the private side it feels a little like opening up a personnal closet in my house and inviting every one to take a look. Scary. But if it could serve to encourage a fellow struggler out there~ I will count it worth it. Sorry for the length)

(Ms Team this is also your posting place for verse #10)

What’s your "go to"?

You know...when life gets tough and messy and painful.

Where do you turn?

This was the central question posed by a Bible Study I did a few years back. More specifically it was worded "Who or what do you feed on?"

In hindsight, I laugh at the irony of the wording because as I began to observe my own life, a disturbing pattern emerged. Something I didn’t want to face. I had been a believer for many years....of course Christ was my "go to" in all things .... or was He?

It’s amazing the truths the Word can surface in your life when you are ready to let it stir things up. As I began to peel back some layers, I saw a very unhealthy pattern.

If someone said something hurtful I’d sedate myself with dark chocolate. If I hurt my own feelings, I found consolation in creamy cappuccinos or chocolate chip cookies. Lonely? Depressed? Despairing? Nothing "Little Debbie" couldn’t help assuage.

Well, at least for a fleeting moment. Then, like all worldly solutions that ‘promise much and deliver nothing’ I’d come crashing back to the problem with the added hitch of having a few extra pounds to contend with on the treadmill.

If you would have told me my "go to" was a food addiction (more specifically a dessert addiction) I would have laughed at you. If you would have called it an idol I would have rolled my eyes and added you to the "over-the-top" list.

But the truth is....it was both. Because when I was hurt, upset, stressed or overly tired, that was the first place I landed instead of at the feet of Christ. If an idol is anything you put before Him, then I was guilty.

I didn’t like to admit that I was taking my hurt to something as helpless as an oatmeal creme pie instead of to the One who could do something about it. But that’s exactly what I was doing.

Okay...now that I could see the problem straight on I’d just eliminate it. Easy. Right? Wrong!

Have you ever tried to suddenly quit something that you’ve been doing for years?

I quickly exhausted my list of ways to change this behavior and in the end found myself to be exactly what I’ve been all along...helpless to help myself.

But thanks be to God as believers we are not left dangling there. "God helps those who help themselves" is not Scriptural.  But God does help the helpless. Check this out.....
　
But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. Micah 7:7

O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear Psalm 10:17

Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. Isaiah 50:7

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6

While we were still helpless...good news for a heart weary of trying harder and harder. I was ready for Him to step in and do His thing. And if I can be honest here, I was kind of hoping He was going to do something fast in my life ~ like blink an eye and zap away the problem lightening quick. He has been known to act immediately and decisively in some people’s lives....but that’s not how it went for me.

Instead, He gave me one step at a time and asked me to obey it ~ without necessarily knowing the next step. I never have liked that "unsighted following thing" but I knew I had to do it. Sometimes the step didn’t make much sense. Sometimes it didn’t seem to have anything at all to do with what I thought my problem was. But I knew it was His way or no way, so I followed.

I bet you are thinking, how in the world does this connect with Scripture Memory and could you please get to the point!

The thing is, when God began to ask me to consistently memorize His Word I had no idea the dividends it was going to pay and I surely did not see how it connected to this specific issue. But I knew I needed to obey this step so I drew up a plan for memorizing the Word and invited many of you to join me in the journey.

One day this past year, God stopped me in my tracks and quietly called my attention to something that I could hardly believe myself except for the fact that I was utterly in the middle of it.

It had been a hard day. One of those kind that you feel like the enemy is defeating you at every turn. My old self would have come right home looking for "Little Debras" (that’s what my husband calls "Little Debbies"... isn’t that the most annoying thing you’ve ever heard of?) But instead, I walked right past the junk food cabinet and sat down at my desk. I went to my favorite Scripture Memory site (scripturetyper.com) and pulled up the verses that needed review. On a normal day there might be 6 to review but I was behind, so there were 24.  I was relieved to see that many because I had a lot of stuff to sort through and I wanted as many verses talking to me as possible. I started the review and typed in verse after verse after verse. With each one I would stop, offer it up as a prayer and thank God for how He had handpicked that one to speak into my life at that moment. Sometimes it was a word of encouragement, sometimes a word of wisdom, sometimes a challenge to forgive and submit. But always a cup of cold water being poured into my thirsty heart.  So much more satisfying than the creamiest puff you could bake up. And without the unpleasant side effect of an extra ounce to take to the gym.

What He showed me that day was that somewhere along the way, He had changed my behavior from the inside out. No magic wands, just one step obeyed which led to the next bit of instruction, then the next.

He broke an addiction and removed an idol that I was finding impossible to break free from on my own.

If you take nothing else from this post, please hear this.....HE did it.

Sisters if there’s one thing I am positive of, it is that this was ALL Him. I simply didn’t have the will power to do this. I needed a Deliverer and as I fastened my eyes on Him and obeyed His directing He came through for me like I never even imagined He would do. I don’t think it had anything to do with my faith because I wasn’t so sure it could even happen. But somewhere along the way He set me free and I am unspeakably grateful.

If you walked into my house today you would still find plenty of sweets and lots of dark chocolate in my cabinets. We are a dark-chocolate-loving family and love to celebrate with some good desserts. But what I can tell you with all honesty is that desserts are not the thing I "go to" anymore. Christ is.

Now when life deals its blows the first one I want to empty out to is Him. You might find me pounding out my verses on Scripturetyper.com, or curled up somewhere with my Bible, or taking a long walk telling the Lord all about it then waiting on Him to speak back into the situation. 

And He satisfies like nothing or no one else could.       Every time.

When I eat of Him my soul is full.

How about you?

Who or what do you feed on?

 If you are struggling to get some freedom in any particular area of your life maybe one of the steps He wants you to take is memorizing His Word.

The dividends are countless and tailored to your very needs...even before you know what they are.

Its never too late to start.

It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.
Psalm 119:71 (NIV)

Ms. Team (Memorizing Scripture): Eighth Post

Hey There Ms. Team,

If you are on this journey of memorizing God’s Word my guess is there have been days when the enemy of your soul has caused you to question if it was worth the effort and maybe even talked you into giving up. Don’t give in!

Just last week God took me on a personal journey that was another reminder of how much I needed His Word tucked deep in my mind and heart. One of my boys has been struggling physically for some time now and we had some unfavorable results come back with his blood work. The Doctor called over the weekend to share the results and asked us to come back the following week for more tests. He talked over some possibilities but asked me not to worry.

Not to worry? Are you kidding me? My mothering instincts kicked into high gear and instead of "not worrying" my mind took me through every agonizing possibility and then ruthlessly dropped me in the dark of night, wrestling with the worst. My stomach was in a knot and my mind and body ached with the restlessness and exhaustion that worry brings.

By the second night of this I was desperate for relief and sleep. I finally called out to the Lord to take the anxious thoughts away. That is when He began to fill my mind with the verses I had memorized throughout the course of the year. Like credits rolling after a movie one replaced the next and then the next and the next.

Some of them spoke directly into my situation.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee." Isaiah 26:3

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

"The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in God protects you from that." Prov 29:25

Other ones didn’t speak so directly into the moment but they had the same effect of a cleansing fountain washing away the muddy clutter in my mind.

I don’t remember at what point I drifted from the restful place of Scripture into a deep slumber but I remember waking up sustained and so grateful to Him for rescuing me from myself again.

You will never regret the energy, the time, the effort you put into memorizing God’s Word.

Never.

A few nights later my son called me into his room and shared in a few brief sentences a fear that was causing him to lose sleep.

"What do you do when you can’t sleep Mom?"

Tears streamed down my cheeks in the darkness of his room as I knelt by his bed and shared my own fresh experience of allowing fear and worry to imprison and exhaust me. In that moment I spoke to him not as a parent to a child but as a fellow sojourner in a similar struggle.

"You and I are helpless to rescue ourselves from these things Son - but we have a rescuer in Christ. And ‘He will keep you in perfect peace as your mind is stayed on Him because you trust in Him.' Look to Him. Let the verses you have memorized in the past roll through your mind and as they do ask Him to remove your fears as He lulls you to sleep. Take it to Him Son, He won’t fail you."

I left his room sensing the unsparing peace that had been poured out for the both of us. The peace that extinguishes fear.

I am so grateful we have a Rescuer. I am so grateful for His living and active Word and what it does in our lives.

How has it spoken to you recently?

But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.
To the LORD I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill.
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side. Psalm 3:3-6 (NIV)