Today as I strolled through walmart grabbing powerade and snacks needed for a long day at the ball field I thought about 'Candy". Knowing that if I buy something like that for myself when I have my three boys with me, we all end up arguing about" why does he get that" or " It's not fair". So usually I buy treats on the DL. ( down low) Ha Ha- I end up looking like a chipmunk trying to hide whatever I'm eating. But today was different, I only had my 9 year old with me. He rarely asks for anything. He has always been like that, just likes to look. When you ask him if he wants something. He usually tells us that he doesn't need anything. Today my "needy" sons were at baseball practice. So Josh and I strolled around walmart. As we got near the "candy" area I felt nervous and wanted to run the other way, until I realized that just Josh was with me. Yeah I can go look at the candy. Well I felt the Holy Spirit teaching me as I walked through the tempting aisle. Every human being on this earth has a temptation, a weakness, a conviction. For Josh- candy or material things are not a temptation, but my other two boys would have a " sugar rush" from just smelling the candy. We know what tempts us may not tempt others. So the ideal thing to do would be to avoid that temptation, or temptation aisle. When Noah and Andrew are with me, I avoid the candy aisle. That way no one struggles, including me. So whatever your convictions are- stay away. If you cant afford material things, expensive clothes, etc.- then stay away from the mall. If you want to lose weight, or eat healthy- then stay away from fast food restaurants. In order to conquer our weakness, temptations, etc- we must pray every minute, at first, to get through the day. You will see that God will give you strength beyond all understanding and one day there will be no turning back. Once that test is passed, God will then chose another test. It all may seem like God is being hard on us, but he is getting us ready for his kingdom. Pray without ceasing and with everything give praise. Be strong and know that God will not give you anything more that you can handle. Pray, Pray, Read God's word. And be still. He is coming soon!!!!!
Amy
