God IS able!!!

"Mary, I've decided I want to quit smoking and I need your help." These are the words I heard from my newly founded friend Kimberlee Ford this past January. I didn't know what to say at the moment. She had moved into our house the week before. She was new in church and was struggling with living for God. I had watched the past week as my new friend tried to live the Apostolic life, dressing in modest clothes, long skirts and I would do her hair in a Pentecostal up-do, but then she would have to run off for a smoke.

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It was so sad to see her trying so hard to live holy, but it was so obvious that she was bound by this addiction. Kim says she felt like she was unclean. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, she had to hide herself from God because of her failure, hindering her from close relationship. Its hard to really feel holy with a cloud of smoke around you and the stink of nicotine all over you. She had already overcome so much. Ten years of hard core drug use on meth she had overcome, but she couldn't manage to break away from smoking.

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"It had such a strong hold on me," says Kim. "Even back in the day when I was on drugs, when it came between my drugs or cigarettes I chose cigarettes." I really wanted to see her overcome this in her life and a part of me was really happy that she wanted so badly to change, but at the same time I was scared. How could I help her? I have heard so many testimonies of God delivering people from smoking, yet I had my doubts.

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See my father, for as long as I can remember has been addicted to cigarettes. He always hid it from us a children, but I remember the day as a little girl that I found out my daddy smoked. My heart was crushed. I was so sad, but more than anything, I was scared! Smoking was BAD!!! Did this mean daddy wouldn't go to heaven? Over and over again my dad would try to quit smoking, but after a few weeks he would give in and go back. Eventually, he let this, along with other addictions pull him completely out of church. So even though, I had other friends that God had delivered I still had my doubts. I didn't want what had happened to my dad to happen to Kim. I didn't want to see cigarettes destroy my friends walk with God.

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So when Kim told me she wanted to quit smoking, which was like the 6th attempt since she had gotten the Holy Ghost and been baptized in Jesus name 8 months earlier, all I could think of was my dad. My dad had been in church for a while and still smoked, just like Kim. My dad had already been baptized in Jesus name, just like Kim. My father had the Holy Ghost, just like Kim. My father FULLY believed then and still does to this day, the One God, Apostolic doctrine, he just couldn't overcome this addiction, JUST LIKE KIM.

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However, I knew I couldn't let Kim see my doubts and unbelief. I really didn't know what to do or how to help her so I just told her the only thing I knew to do. I firmly told her that if she wanted to quit smoking, the only way she would be able to overcome it was through prayer. I wasn't going to push her to quit smoking. I knew that it had to be through God's prompting and completely her own decision. So after we talked about it, I didn't bring it up.

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The next morning Kim brought it up again. She said that this was the day she was going to quit smoking. She bought nicotine patches that she was going to wear and she said that she had one cigarette left, she was going to go outside and smoke it, because she didn't want to be wasteful, then her and I were going to pray together. Now, I had my doubts with her reasoning to smoke her one, last cigarette because she didn't want to wasteful, since I had watched her in the few days that she lived with us, throw out quite a few Cokes because they were no longer cold or they had gone flat... BUT something told me just to keep my mouth shut, so I did. :)

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After her last smoke, she came in and the two of us knelt down together in the living room and prayed. It wasn't a long prayer, but it was sincere from both of our hearts. We held hands when we started, then with tears of desperation streaming down her cheeks, she lifted her hands towards heaven and begged God to once again help her overcome this addiction in her life. After about a ten minute prayer I told her that whenever she felt like giving in and smoking, to come to me and we would do the ONLY thing I knew to do to help her;PRAY!!! Then we hugged and went on our day.

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It wasn't to long before she came to me and said that she was really craving a cigarette. So I was like, Okay then, lets pray. We stopped whatever we were doing, held hands and prayed for God to take away this craving, then we just went on our day. Now you have to understand, I seemed calm and confident about this but inside I was really having my doubts and wondering how long this was going to last. Its not that I wanted to be negative, I was just being human, yet I KNEW that God really did have the power to deliver her and the only thing I knew how to do was PRAY.

It had been five days since Kim had quit smoking, almost a week. We were so excited and my faith was really growing. God was going to do this. He was really going to deliver my friend from smoking. On this 5th day since quitting, Kim went to work with her with her mom cleaning houses. When she came home that day I didn't notice anything different, but as soon as she saw me she was like, well I'm not gonna lie, I smoked today.

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I felt so disapointed and my faith was crushed. Inside I was screaming, WHAT? WHY? Ugh! JUST LIKE MY DAD! But all I said was, "oh ok." and I calmly asked, "what happened?" She was like, I don't know, my mom was smoking and I just missed it. So I took one of her cigarettes and smoked it. Now Kim had told me in the past people, not her pastor or anything, but people had gotten really mad at her when she failed in quiting smoking, so I knew my response to her was pretty important, not matter how I was feeling inside. I was just like, oh ok, well its not a big deal, just because you messed up this one time doesn't mean its over, you just keep on going and keep on trying. We've just got to keep praying.

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Then i'm like, so does your pastor know yet that you smoked? She was like, Oh yeah he knows! I'm like OH so you called him? She is like, NO! He called me!!! I'm like what??? She is like, yeah I think he must have spys EVERYWHERE!!! I'm like, huh?! WHO TOLD HIM??? She is like, well aparently God!!! I'm like, WHAT for reals??? She is like, yeah, as soon as I was done smoking that cigarette Pastor Lacour called me.
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 She said that she tried to be all nonchalant and he was like, "Sis. Kimberlee, how are you doing?" She said, "I'm like, Oh hey Pastor. I'm doing good!" And he was like, "No Sister, how are you really doing?" She said that at that point she knew he must have known so why bother trying to cover it. She said she was just like, "Okay fine, I SMOKED!"

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I'm like, WOW!!! So he already knew you smoked? She is like, yeah, aparently Sis. Lacour must have known too because they weren't together at the time and she was texting me as well asking me how I was doing. She is like, I'm telling you Mary, they are so in tune with God. They have Holy Ghost feelers and I promise you Pastor Lacour has the best antenas EVER!!! I mean, when I mess up I pretty much just tell him, I mean there is no point in hiding it, he already knows anyways.
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I'm just like WOW!!! So he already knew you had smoked before you even told him?! NO WAY, that is like SOOOO COOL!!! She just looks at me and is like, uh NO not really! NOT FOR ME at least!!! Then we totally just bust up laughing.

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I'm like KIM, I mean it, ANYTIME you feel an urge, no matter what, wherever we are, tell me and we WILL PRAY!!! And let me tell you something, that is EXACLTEY what we did. We stocked up on gummy worms and junk food to help Kim's cravings. It looked like a candy store and bakery shop had exploded in our pantry and WE ALL gained some weight that month. I gave her books to read for when she was bored and sometimes if we weren't together she would have me hold on to her driver's license and any cash she had on her so she couldn't even buy cigarettes if she wanted to, BUT most of all we JUST PRAYED!!!

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If we weren't together she would call me and we prayed over the phone. One time we were apart and I couldn't talk on the phone so we prayed through text. IF for some reason she couldn't get in touch with me, every time she said either her pastor or pastor's wife would just happen to call her. One time we were grocery shopping together at Frys and she was just like, "Mary, I have such an urge to just go smoke." I was like, ok you know what we gotta do and we stopped right there in the middle of the grocery store, employees and customers gaping at us, we held hands and we prayed once again for God to take away that craving and deliever her from smoking.

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You may be thinking praying over the phone? Praying through text? Praying in the middle of the grocery store??? THATS CRAZY!!! Your right, it IS CRAZY!!! But you know what??? IT WORKED!!! She made it a whole week without smoking, then two weeks, three weeks, then one day I was looking at her box of nicotine patches on the counter and I noticed how full the box was. I'm like, oh have you even been using those? She was like, No, I forgot one time to wear it and since I made it without it, I just decided to keep on not using them. I was like, COOL!

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The weeks turned into a month, then two months, She told me that sometimes when she walked by an ash tray at work or at the store and she would see those used cigarettes, she would just want to grab them and keep them. She said I know that may sound totally gross to most people but thats how she gotten her cigarettes a lot the time when she had been homeless. Then two months turned into three months, she told me that she had no desire to smoke, BUT when she smelled a cigarette, it just smelled soooo good to her. She was just like, Mmmm!

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I'm like okaaaaay thats kinda WEIRD but at least she isn't smoking. Soon it was 6 months and just recently, we were walking to our car after some Goodwill shopping and someone was smoking a cigarette and I was like, you told me before that you still loved the smell of cigarettes and when you smelled them you were just like, Mmmm! Do you still feel that way? She was like, "ACTUALLY, now when I even smell a cigarette it makes me want to PUKE!!!" I was like YES!!! Hearing those words come out of her mouth made me sooooo HAPPY!! It was like pure, joyful music to my ears!

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"It feels like my biggest obsacle in life is over," says Kim. She says that she never thought she would be able to quit, but through God's power in prayer she did. The Bible says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4:12) I'm telling you all, Kimberlee Ford was bound! This girl was a chain smoker, 15-30 minutes she had to smoke. First thing in the morning and sometimes in the middle of the night she would go out for a puff, but GOD has fully and completely delivered her.

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What God did for Kim, He did for me as well. Although, I have NO IDEA what it is like to be bound by this nasty, filthy habit, my faith has been built by watching God's work unfold before my eyes. I know that truley, NOTHING is to hard for God. I know that what God did for Kim he can do for anyone, even my dad. I know beyond a shadow of doubt that God IS able!!!

If you want to quit, you just have to surrender all the way to God. Give Him full control, complete and totally depend on Him. Don't give up when you fail, keep on going. It is important that you have someone in your life that you can trust and be totally honest with about with your mistakes. The Bible says, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." (Proverbs 28: 13)

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Kim's word of advice to anyone that wants to quit is, "GET A PRAYER PARTNER!" Someone that will pray with you continually anytime you need it. You feel a craving so strong you don't think you'll be able to overcome it, you go to this person and you pray together. You may think you that you can do it on your own but if you can't just remember you are stronger when you pray TOGETHER!!! "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up." (Ecclesiastes 4: 10)

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You, your prayer partner and Jesus bound tightly together and your gonna overcome whatever obstacle is in your life. "...and a threefold cord is not quickly broken." (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

Kim says...

"My chains are broken!"

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♥Mary Frances :)