ADDICTION OVERCOME

‘I used to pick up cigarette ends off the street’ 

I started smoking – in secret – a few menthol cigarettes that I’d steal from my stepmother’s packet when I was about 10 years old.

As a teenager, I even used to smoke in the toilets at my school.

Later, when I was about 15, if I didn’t have any money to buy cigarettes, I’d pick up cigarette ends off the street to salvage the remaining tobacco and roll my own cigarettes. I smoked all sorts of tobacco: blond, menthol, dark, cigars, rolling tobacco… until I became addicted to dark tobacco.

When I was about 25, I got to know some friends, former drug addicts, who occasionally took heroin but regularly smoked hashish. That’s how I was introduced to it. Thank God, I didn’t get into hard drugs and stuck to hashish. However, I wasn’t as addicted to it as I was to tobacco. It was cigarettes that really had the strongest hold over me.

When I was around 30, I tried several times — unsuccessfully — to give up smoking: nicotine patches, acupuncture, self-hypnosis… Whenever I managed to cut down, I’d get into such a foul mood that my colleagues eventually asked me to start smoking again.

The price of cigarettes was constantly rising, and this was putting a heavy strain on my budget. But I had become completely addicted. Whenever I found myself without cigarettes on a Sunday evening, at the weekend or on a public holiday, I would travel several kilometres to find a tobacconist’s that was open.

It was at the age of 39 that I was set free from this addiction — and from cannabis — by Jesus Christ (Luke 4:18; Galatians 5:1).

I use the word ‘delivered’ quite rightly: I made no effort whatsoever to be set free once and for all, and it had no effect on my mood. One day, when I longed with all my heart to be baptised, I knew that continuing to smoke was incompatible with the commitment I wanted to make to God. After praying, I simply threw my lighter, my cigarettes, my joint and everything else into the bin (Ephesians 2:8–9). From that day onwards, I never felt the need to smoke again.

Today, at nearly 64, I have no lasting effects. What Jesus did for me, He can do for you too… and much more besides.

Mireille

MARRIAGE

BLESSING OR CURSE, it's your choice!  

Whatever position one takes, marriage leaves no one indifferent.Some see it as an escape, a means of forming alliances, getting rid of another mouth to feed, obtaining social status or financial security, or even fulfilling a dream, etc. Others, on the contrary, perceive it as a prison and flee from it.

In short, there are many bad reasons for entering into or not entering into such a serious alliance, even though it was instituted by GOD for the well-being of human beings. Indeed, the Bible states: ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.’ (Genesis 2:24).

God's plan is that those who marry do so with the aim of building a united home, where parents and children can flourish and live happily, respecting each other's authority and role.

For my part, although on the surface I married for the right reasons, deep down I was trying to fill a void so deep that I thought I couldn't live without it.

The consequences were divorce—yet another heartbreak—and a child exposed to his parents' division, torn between them and suffering...

The goal could not be achieved because the marriage was built on a bad foundation. (Matthew 7:24-27).

Subsequently, I remarried. Although I was aware of my problem, I still couldn't see the root cause and therefore didn't have a solution. In the meantime, I had consulted a psychologist and tried occult practices to help me overcome it, which cost me a lot of money, to the point of getting into debt, with no results: I divorced a second time and was still searching for my soul mate.

Later, I realised that my heart was empty.

Today, I am filled with the love of JESUS CHRIST (Romans 5:5) and no longer feel the need to get married. I am happy this way, at peace.

Marriage, when established under the right conditions, is a great source of blessings, both for the family and for society. On the other hand, those who take it lightly, flout it or prefer to abstain from it in order to have multiple partners bring negative consequences upon themselves and their descendants.

GOD is there to guide us to what is best, if we turn to Him. And He is never wrong.

Mireille

THE WOMAN WHO HAS BEEN BENT OVER FOR 18 YEARS

Jesus Heals a Woman on the Sabbath  

(Luke 13 : 10-17)

10And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. 12And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. 13And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 14And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. 15The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? 16And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? 17And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

WHEN I WAS A CHILD, I LOOKED FOR GOD

When a wretch cries out, the Lord hears, Psalm 34:7  

"Jesus delivered me, He healed the wounds of my heart, Luke 4:18".

Even as a child, I believed in God, but without really knowing him. My childhood and adolescence were difficult: my parents were separated and, at home, I often cried in my corner. From time to time I would pray to God in my room, asking him to give me joy.

I left home the year I turned eighteen, penniless. As the months went by, several friends took me in. Every weekend I went out, I led a not very healthy life, it was another escape from my sadness.

Then I met a boy. With his mother's consent, he offered to take me in. But this lady practised the occult, which made me feel uncomfortable, so I left. Two years later, I got in touch with her again. I didn't recognise her any more, she had changed completely. She spoke to me about Jesus Christ and what He had done for her, and I was very touched.

But it was at a Christian convention, some time later, that I believed in the Lord Jesus. I cried a lot that day, tears of joy and peace. God had answered the prayers I'd prayed to him as a child. I was looking for him and he came to me. Jesus delivered me, He healed the wounds in my heart, Luke 4:18, He taught me to forgive. Admittedly, I sometimes go through "deserts", but the Lord is with me.

If you feel lost, if you don't know where to turn, it's not the person in front of you who's going to solve your problems. The only one who can solve them is Jesus, Matthew 11:28! 

Vanessa (source: La bonne semence)

DELIVERED FROM SLAVERY: This book didn't leave me alone!

This book didn't leave me alone!    

"When I read these words, I wept, for all my life I had struggled.

From my earliest childhood, my life was marked by disappointment. Unloved by my parents, I wanted to find love in the world. I sought happiness in music and drugs. I was employed in a local authority office, and outwardly everything was in order. But inside me was the hell of heroin addiction.

One day, I was arrested and imprisoned in Munich. The doctors thought I wouldn't survive. I was full of drugs and had bad jaundice. But God saved me from death. After a dreadful week, I survived the physical detox, but went on with my life as before. Until I found a Bible. I put it in the back of my cell, determined not to read it.

Strangely enough, that book in my cupboard wouldn't leave me alone. Finally, I picked it up, opened it, and what I read shocked me. It says that God is the Lord, the King. He is the Lord, strong and mighty, mighty in battle. And it says that this Lord is my helper; I shall not be afraid psalm 25, psalm 118.

When I read these words, I cried, because all my life I had struggled to find attention and love.Then I prayed: “God, if you really want to fight for me, then I want to come to you”; That was in August 1986. Since then, I've come to know God better, and He has delivered me. I'm grateful to Him from the bottom of my heart.

Sylvia (from Bonne semence 2025)