Dyed My Hair

Before

After

So, I have not posted on here in a couple of days.  I have been working on a couple of projects for Christmas and I can not post the finished pictures until after Christmas because I do not want to ruin the surprise.  So I have not quit crocheting, I just can not show you what I am working on because it will ruin the surprise for someone else should they look at my blog.
Well, I was on a quit smoking site today and I read a very good quote that I would like to share with my recovering friends.  "A trigger is not a command."  That is so true, too.  Just because we are triggered to smoke or drink it is not the same thing as being commanded to do it.  It is not like we are being forced.  This is how we need to look at it.  I think in early sobriety I looked at my triggers for alcohol like they were commands.  That is probably why I relapsed so many times.  Luckily, I can learn form my mistakes and now I have almost 3 years of sobriety.  Now I can take what I learned from quitting drinking and apply it to quitting smoking.  And I am proud to say that as of today I have 2 months and 3 weeks smoke free!

Don't Quit 5 Minutes Before The Miracle

Recently a few of my freinds have been going through some hard times and as I am watching them struggle it is reminding me how important it is not to lose faith.  Sometimes in life it can seem like hope is gone and we are as far down as we can get.  I have been there and I know how that feels.  But something that I have learned from being in that spot is that usually when I am at the darkest spots in my life, those are the times that I am closest to a new dawn.  I don't know when I am in the darkness that God is going to make the sun shine again, but he is. 
When I was at the Unity festival this summer one of the artist talked about one of my favorite bible verses.  Phillians 4:7 "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"  What this artist pointed out is something that I had never thought about before.  See I had always focused just on the peace part of this verse.  What I failed to see was that at some point in my life there would be a time that God would give me peace when it would make no sense for me to have peace.  That is why it transends all understanding.  At some point my life may be so bad that no one will understand why I am at peace when everything in my life is going haywire.  Now, how can I have peace like this.  I think I know the answer to this today.  Because the God I worship has conquered this world.  Nothing in this world can hurt me.  John 16:33 ""I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." 
So don't quit before the miracle.  And don't lose your faith.  God has come through before and he will come through again.  Maybe in the struggle you will find your blessing.