I used to drink wine. Everyday. As a young adult I rarely drank alcohol but I remember when I had severe anxiety, years ago and the moment someone bought a bottle of wine and told me to have a glass to help me relax. So I had a glass and I felt relaxed. I didn’t know, however, when I drank that glass of wine with the expectation of it calming my anxiety that I was opening a door. (Attaching the expectation to the use of the wine is what I believe opened the door.)
A few years later when I realized it was becoming a stronghold and became fearful that I would turn into an alcoholic. In the meantime I had also started drinking beer. I stopped buying wine but couldn’t control beer coming into my home. I stayed away from both for a while but fell back into my 2 glasses of wine a night habit. The last two years leading up to my divorce I found myself using it even more for comfort. I used it to comfort my loneliness, sadness, and stress from everything going on in the world at the time.
At the same time, I read my Bible everyday. I prayed. I shared things God wanted to share with others. I really loved God and tried to soak up everything I could to grow closer to Him. I just wasn’t fully allowing Him to be my Comforter. As someone who really loves God and wants to please Him, I’m so embarrassed that I was doing that and couldn’t fully see it at the time.
When I became pregnant with my youngest son, who is now three, I stopped drinking. However, a few years ago, during the summer before he turned one, I began enjoying a cold beer on the hot summer evenings. Not every night but enough to where I thought, “You know, I don’t want this to become an issue again.” I prayed and asked God to help me overcome any craving or temptation to have one because a cold beer is so nice on a hot summer evenings. He answered my prayer in an unexpected way because at the same time I had been asking Him for answers to questions about all the confusion I had around the truly healthy ways to eat and exercise. (There is SO much conflicting information out there!) He ended up leading me to interment fasting. When I started fasting I lost the desire to have a glass of wine or a beer everyday (or almost everyday). Now, it’s a rare occasion that l will partake in one or the other.
I wasn’t planning on sharing any of this but God put it in my heart to do so this morning.
I’m not sharing to condemn any other believer who drinks but to help one who may be using wine as an idol or for comfort. (And let’s be honest, the wine drinking mom trend, with moms making light of how they “need” their wine to get by because of their kids or family, has made its way into Christian homes too.)
Remember, God will make a way for us out of temptation:
“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” – I Corinthians 10:13 NKJV
And if you are a Believer, you have already been set free, you just need to claim it and hold onto it:
“So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed!” – John 8:36
If you are struggling in this area and prayer, I am here for you.