Well, I'm currently nursing my skin back to health, after making a poor choice... again.
Let me give you the back story first and then I'll bring you up to date. When I was in my early twenties, my Dermatologist told me my Eczema was really severe and I needed strong medication to regulate it. So, he prescribed steroid cream for me to stop the flare-ups and get rid of the itching, and the discomfort associated with this chronic skin disorder. I used it faithfully and it worked like a charm for me, up until about five years ago when my husband and I relocated. We found an excellent Dermatologist in our new community and he, unlike my first specialist, thought it best for me not to be on such strong, man-made skin medications and wanted to ween me off the drugs.
He wouldn't prescribe them.
In his book, the right prescription was no prescription at all. I literally went through a skin detoxification process and as I'm sure you can imagine, that was not fun. I would break out in rashes, itch and burn terribly. No matter what I did, my skin was craving and crying out for those steroids I had been using for years. Still, my Dermatologist wouldn't relent. He told me I'd be fine and would be better off without the steroids.
No matter what moisturizers and treatments I used to replace the steroids, going cold turkey wreaked havoc on my skin... for a while. But, after about ten to twelve months of sheer misery, my skin got the message and the negative reactions stopped. I didn't need or crave that skin drug anymore.
He turned out to be right after all.
Fast forward to the present. After a severe allergic reaction to the "all natural" baking soda skin treatment I tried back in December (with disastrous results!), my skin started acting up again. So last week, I went back to my steroid treatment to regulate the issues.
Why did I ever do that?
I abandoned the "right prescription" and went back to the "old prescription." Consequently, instead of getting better, my face broke out in the most painful, bright red bumps. It's funny to see how my skin is now rejecting the very treatment it once needed to be normal. Going back to the thing that I have learned to live without for several years now, actually made my skin situation worse and not better.
There's a powerful lesson to be learned here. There are things and people God weens you away from for your own good. He knows that, the right prescription for you, sometimes, is simply "cold turkey." Initially, when the separation occurs, everything in you cries out and longs for what you lost. But over time, the pain, craving and desperation subsides and you learn to live, laugh, love, grow and thrive independently of the very thing or person you were once so tied and connected to.
But here's the real test.
Once you move on, the opportunity to go back will inevitably re-present itself. When that happens, don't do what I did with my steroid cream and compromise all the progress you've made.Although my skin reacted before I got "addicted" again, many of life's more serious scenarios don't work out that way.
There are certain situations that you'll go back to and get caught up in all over again the first time out. Those old habits, patterns, tendencies and behaviors will grip you and won't let you go. So, it's best not to dibble and dabble in what God set you free from. When you feel weak, take some time to think back on how long it took you to break loose; all the nights you had to cry; how hard you had to pray; and the high price of being entangled in the thing God released you from.
Don't play with fire! The Bible says, "Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?" (Proverbs 6:27 KJV) We all know the answer to that... which is why you and I must be determined to follow God's prescription for us and walk away when He instructs us to do so, at all costs. If we ever decide to move backward instead of forward, those old snares and traps are right there waiting for us, to snuff out our destiny and halt our productivity.
Listen.
God knows what you need, as well as, what you don't. If He has given you the supernatural strength to move past that thing that used to have a hold on you, don't voluntarily get yoked and tangled up in it all over again.
Stay free.
I don't care how compelling, or tempting it might seem to go back, tell yourself, I'm staying free. Remember what the word of God says: "So if the Son liberates you... then you are really and unquestionably free" (John 8:36 Amplified Bible).
As always, thanks for reading and until next time... may you be empowered to prosper!
Dianna Hobbs
