Letting God Do His Work

Today I was listening to a report on how addictive nicotine is. In the report, it mentioned that it can be stronger than marihuana and some other drugs, therefore to break the habit is very hard for long term users. After my experience with the two ladies I mentioned in my website (http://unavozeneldesierto.vpweb.com), I remembered an exchange I had with another volunteer at the prison. One lady had been released for about 2 weeks and still had no job. This other volunteer takes care of providing transportation to the ones who after released go to a Safe House. She usually takes them to the Dollar store to get some toiletries, to a burger place for their first lunch out of prison and a couple of days later to get their ID or Driver's license if they know the number. I have just visited the Safe House to see how this lady was doing and she told me she was smoking "because everyone at the Safe House does it". She followed that immediately with: "I'm not using that as an excuse.." And I told her: "Yes, you are. You said it so I'd not isolate you but look at the other 5 ladies there who 'are doing it' so the attention is on them smoking not on you picking up the habit." She accepted what I said and that was it. The volunteer greeted me this day and we talked about the new addition to the Safe House and she said: "You know she is smoking?" I said, "yes, I know." The volunteer had the same puzzled question I had, "Why? She was in prison for almost 2 years and did not smoke. Besides, where is she getting them, she has no money." I said probably the others are handing her cigarettes as they all go outside to smoke. It really bothered me them that these ladies, almost all of them take up the habit after so many "sermons". Now, of course, after my last experience with the last two ladies, and being rebuke by the Holy Spirit that I'm not out to change people but to teach them the Word of God, I have more peace about this because I know it is not my job but HIS. We want people to change but God is the only one who can do that. Even though this habit being very strong as I heard on the report mentioned above, I know God can free a person from this and other drugs without the need of patches, gum, or 'gradual' shots of any kind. My grandfather was a testimony of that. My mother tells the story of her being 7 years old and going with her father in Puerto Rico at night as he went from bar to bar. She was the oldest one after her older brother died at the age of 8, she was the one accompanying her father on his outings as it was the custom in Puerto Rico at the time (1940's). Even later on, when we moved from New York to Puerto Rico in the 60's, I remember seeing boys with their fathers just following a few steps behind or sitting around while their fathers had a drink. (I know it sounds pretty bad now.) One night, my mother says, they were going back home with her father stopping from time to time to get his composure since he was pretty drunk. At one point, they were in front of an evangelical church and he went in, my mother followed him inside. They sat on the last bench and later her father, when he heard an invitation for prayer, walked to the front where the pastor prayed for him. The following morning he asked my mother, if what he remembered from his previous night was true. She confirmed to him that he accepted Jesus Christ as his savior and that the pastor had prayed for him. My grandpa stopped drinking from that moment as he believed that he 'had giving his word and had to honor it.' Of course, we know that was the power of God who changed him from a bar hopper to a church-goer. There are many other testimonies of people changed by the power of God in such a way they have no desire for drugs, alcohol or nicotine. We know the Spirit of the Lord is power that transforms lives when they surrender all to him. But we can't change people. Sometimes we see gradual change, others we see instant change. But it is all HIM not us. We want to see everything now. But as I meditated on this, I went to church for years, actually raised in church and I did not surrender all to HIM; it took years for change to occur in my life; so many mistakes, so many bad habits, so many times of thinking I could do things my way and still serve the Lord. Now that I know better, now that I live a God-filled life, I find myself not being patient with others as God was with me (and still is since HE is not done with me). We all have to take our place, do our job as the Holy Spirit revealed to me that day - teach, guide, pray and love others - and let God do HIS thing.