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Instant Message
Problem Solver
by Clare Cartagena (Clare's bio)
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2 Thessalonians 3:4 "May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance"
Ariel admitted she had a problem. Give her a few bucks and a ride to the mall and she would come back with bags of stuff. Most of it she would not use or even think about once it hit the closet floor. It's not that she was wasteful. She always thought at the time she would find a home for all her purchases. It's just that when she stepped across the threshold of a store, something happened to her. She could not resist. But every time she looked at that overflowing box stuffed in the corner of her room, she felt bad. Finally Ariel announced to everyone she was not going to be that way anymore. Her spend thrift days were over. Her friends did not believe her. They gave her a challenge to prove herself.
They gave her twenty dollars. She was supposed to go into a store for fifteen minutes without buying anything. Ariel snapped the bill from her friend's hand and marched into an arts and crafts store. She thought it would be easy because she did not like to do crafts. She peered back as the other girls, laughed and pointed. She wandered the aisles looking but not picking up one single thing. Fifteen minutes later she returned to her friends. She handed over the bill.
"See I did it." Ariel's friend eyed her up and down.
"What's that in your hand?" she asked.
"This? Just a memo book from my purse. I didn't buy this now."
"Can I see it?"
"I guess so." Ariel quickly flipped the pages so only the cover could be seen. Her friend took the book and leafed through the pages.
"Ariel," her friend said holding the memo book up for all to see. "You have a list of things here and the aisle to find them all."
"I know," Ariel said grabbing the book back. "And now I'm going back into the store to get it all."
Can you believe Ariel could not even resist the arts and crafts store?
Wow. Ariel really does have a problem and it's not buying things she doesn't need. It's not spending too much money. It's not even that she enjoys shopping too much. Her problem is she can't say "no" to herself. She wants to stop buying but she can't.
Ariel needs to sit down and have a good long talk with God. She needs to stop trying to fix this problem on her own. The Bible says God has given us all we need to live the right way through knowing Jesus.
How is Jesus going to make a difference? He does because He is the difference, the difference between being controlled by our weaknesses and overcoming them. When we receive Jesus, we receive forgiveness for our sins. With forgiveness we can learn and grow and reach the place where we're not doing the things we don't want to do.
Don't give up in your battle to do better. Just look up and know your Father in heaven is on your side and you will make it because He is able.
( Read more : 2 Peter 1:6 ; Romans 8:1 ; 1 Thessalonians 5:24)
Copyright 2002, Clare Cartagena. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
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About Clare Cartagena: Clare Cartagena is an award winning published author of devotionals and short stories. Her life is full with her husband of fourteen years, two preteen children, and a career as a chemist. The Lord has captured her heart and drawn her into youth ministry at her church, Church for the Valley, Assembly of God. She considers it a privilege to lovingly support God's most exciting generation of youth ever that not one should perish or miss the awesome love of their Creator. E-mail Clare at ccarta1058@aol.com |
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