Tina's Big Resolution for 2009

I will admit it openly and freely, I love to relax in the evening with a glass of wine, preferably red but anything will do when I want wine. I also love wine with dinner. However, I find that it is the type of thing that will find its way into my life and control me unless I control it first. Also, I find that just one glass makes me tired, edgy, sluggish, etc...and I can't afford to be sluggish when I have two small children that I am trying to give the best upbringing to that I can. Braedon and Kaley need to be able to depend on mommy and I don't want anything to take part of myself away from them, except for God and my husband. So, as I thought about resolutions for 2009, I took the advice of my Sunday School teacher who encouraged us to search God for an area of our lives where He wanted to instill discipline. This was clearly it for me...no doubt about it. So, I committed to not drinking any alcohol for the remainder of 2009 (we were already in the first week of 2009 when I decided this). I decided that I wasn't going to drink any alcohol as opposed to just wine so that I wouldn't fall into the trap of developing a habit drinking some other type of alcohol. The day that I made the decision, I made myself a little index card that listed a few bullet points of why I didn't want to drink at all anymore. I did this so that if I had a craving I could just pull out the card and remind myself of all the reasons I don't want to drink anymore. The reasons are: takes time away from God, increases irritability with my family, and wastes money & calories. Almost two months down the road, and I can say with sincere honesty that, I have not craved any type of alcohol a single time since then. I am not naive enough to think I won't be tempted but I know that God is building my strength and reassuring me that if I step out on faith that He will step in. Then, when I am tempted, I will be more able to overcome the temptation. Please don't get me wrong, I do NOT think drinking alcohol is a sin. What I do think is that everyone should evaluate what the decision to drink alcohol does for their life, be intentional, and act accordingly. This is just my feeble and humble attempt to live a life of transparency in an effort to glorify Jesus Christ.