By Brenda Groves
The Post Newspaper Contributing Writer
This January 11th will mark the 13th year of the death of an old “friend” of mine.
In fact, it was another friend who first introduced me to cigarettes when I was 13 years old. Cigarettes looked cool and I said “hello” and invited them into my life. We became best buds (Pun intended).
Well, you know how it goes: After a while, the “imposter friend” settled in and eventually engulfed my life. In my mind, it became my new identity. I was a smoker.
I made many choices over the years in order to accommodate my “friend.” It chose my other friends for me, as I hung out with other smokers. I began to compromise my values and lied to get the money from my parents to support my “friend,” putting myself in dangerous positions to sneak a cigarette. I even ran my parent’s car into a ditch, stuck a culvert and bent the frame … all while trying to light a stupid cigarette.
I fiercely defended my “friend” to anyone who would come against it. Over the years, I chose to ignore the medical evidence (in my mind, it was propaganda) that cigarettes were harmful and deadly.
It blinded me to any sound reasoning, arguments or truth when presented. And by the time I was willing to listen, it had such a stronghold over my life. I felt totally helpless and imprisoned in this addiction.
You know, someone recently told me about a species of vine that grows in tropical forests. The “strangling” growth habit begins when seeds are dispersed, (usually bird droppings) in the crevices atop the tree. The seedling grows their roots downward and upward at the same time and eventually envelops the host tree. Often, the original support tree becomes completely unrecognizable and without adequate sunlight, it dies, leaving a hollow central core with the imposter tree surrounding it.
So with me, after 32 years of smoking an average of 1.5 packs per day, I took on the likeness, inside and out, of this imposter. I call them cling-ons. In truth, I had many cling-ons.
But with God, all things are possible!
The very things that at first appeared as “an angel of light,” a way out for me, a comfort, was an imposter vine. Its purpose was to strangle the life out of me, soul and body. A device of Satan to steal, kill and destroy me and keep me from finding, following and fulfilling the perfect plan that God has for my life.
But the Bible is also a seed. It is not fiction or just a story book from long ago. It is truth, it is life, and it is the powerful spoken word of God. When I began to read it with my heart to open the Holy Spirit and expecting to get to know Him, things started to change in my life. That tiny flame of light began to grow as the truth of God’s word went to work in my heart and loosening those strongholds.
I submitted to God and began to renew my mind in 2008 and planted new “seeds” of life in my heart. They began to germinate and take root! I began taking my authority and speaking directly to nicotine in my body and commanded it to die, at the root!
Some of you may not believe me or think it’s foolish, but I’m telling you the truth! I looked into the word of God and acted on His promises and “called those things that be not, as tho they were.” Romans 4:17 Because the words that God speaks, “they are Spirit and they are life.” John 6:63
So just a few months later, in the power of God’s love for us all, the addiction which was choking my heart was uprooted by the truth of God’s word on January 11, 2009 with no medication, hypnosis, therapy or any other devices. I experienced no withdrawals or weight gain. In fact, I lost over seven pounds. And Jesus INSTANTLY healed my lungs and throat. It is as if I never picked up that first cigarette.
I was born again in 1996. New life was in me! Old things had passed away and all things were made new at that moment. But I had to renew my mind with the right seeds planted in my heart before the word of God could manifest itself in my soul and body. I had people in my life who actually witnessed the whole process of deliverance from start to finish. Even people close to me, who weren’t believers at the time, will testify to the supernatural power of God’s word in action.
Smoking was just one of the things that was choking me. Emotional healing came when forgiveness took over, as I cancelled debts I held against others and myself.
Perfect love took over and His light (the word) cast out “off” fear that had surrounded my life. Greed is fear. Hate is fear. (Fear- false evidence appearing real.)
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32
Contact Brenda Groves at: bkgroves1996@yahoo.com
