Hernia, Ice Cream & Sin

Odd title, I know.   You may be thinking exactly what is the common theme?  How do these three tie together.  Well with God there is always a connection.......

About a year ago I was diagnosed with gastritis & a hiatal or stomach hernia.  VERY painful if I don't eat the right foods.  Some foods trigger my gastritis to act up which causes the hernia to hurt.  Some of the foods that trigger it are some of my favorites.  Yep you guessed it ICE CREAM or any dairy....am ok with some cheeses, but not all.

I was at the grocery store & they had a sale on those gallon buckets of ice cream.  To beat it all, it was my favorite brand too; Prairie Farms.  Oh, I not a snob, I like all flavors of ice cream & chocolate being my ultimate favorite.  But there is something SO compelling about Prairie Farms plain ole, I feel myself drooling, Vanilla.  It is so creamy & deliciously vanilla.  Yes I found one of those buckets following me home like a lost puppy found.

I thought a scoop or two wouldn't hurt me; I hadn't had any ice cream or very much dairy in my diet in a very long time.  I could control myself & ration that bucket out for at least a month or two if I was careful.  My husband wasn't much help.  A couple scoops one night turned into a couple scoops every night for about 5 days in a row.  As you can imagine, my gastritis started my stomach a churning.  This caused pain in my stomach to increase & cause irritation to my hernia which started hurting.  Very uncomfortable sitting, sleeping, just being alive; pain FULL.

I was in church praying the pain would go away when the Lord reminded me that I caused my own pain.  Ice cream like sin doesn't seem too harmful in small doses or little things.  But if one doesn't see ice cream (or sin for that matter) as harmful & continues to partake of it oh the pain it will cause later on.  We can find ourselves in a bitter & painful season.  How God uses the ordinary to explain the heavenly purposes of life.

I repented for the gluttony & for thinking I knew what was better for my life than the Great Physician does.  I have avoided ice cream & asked the Lord to remove all temptation for it from me.  I am pleased to report that although I am not totally healed of my gastritis it is getting better every day I CHOOSE not to partake of any dairy & other foods that irritate it.

If you find yourself in a vicious cycle as I did, but with sin, be of good cheer.  Jesus is right there waiting for you to recognize the error of your ways.  Waiting for you to recognize what is amiss & wrong with your life.  Waiting for you to repent for partaking in whatever sin you find yourself caught up in.  Waiting for you to realize & repent for thinking you can do this thing called life without Him.  Watching & waiting for you to return to the lifestyle He desires for you to have a happy, healthy & abundant life.  Invite Jesus into your heart & life today......He is well worth the effort just like & MORE so than my putting the effort into watching my diet is worth it for me.