For various reasons I have given up diet coke for a time.
(I'll give you a second to come back from your fainting... okay, are you okay? Good)
The feeling is the same as when I felt the need to sell ALL of my movies (except for one-- thanks Cynthia-- i'll never sell that one!) What compels me to such drastic measures?

It's a longing to seek the Lord with my WHOLE HEART. Movies for me were such a distraction. There wasn't a day that I didn't watch something... or at the very least stare and count, alphabetize, or rearrange according to stars the 300 movies I had accumilated. Movies filled my time, it was what I spent my money on, and it was a goal to have all the Tom Hanks movies, and ALL the acedemy awards best pictures... that was the goal. Then I started looking at what was considered "best" and how many compromises I was making to see what the world saw as a "must see".

Do I think movies are bad? Absolutely not. I still love to sit and watch a good story... but I'm a little more discerning than I used to be... a lot more actually.

Back to the diet coke. If you know me at all... you know I drink more diet coke than anything else. Was it a distraction? No, but when I started a fast recently, I worked it so that I could still have my diet coke. But as the fast progressed, I was more and more aware of how Diet Coke is a coping mechanism for me. I'm tired... have a diet coke. I'm hungry... have a diet coke... i want something sweet... have a diet coke... that comment really made me mad... have a diet coke... i need to relax... have a diet coke... i need a break from the prayer room... go have a diet coke... etc. (to the end of the earth!) and my personal favourite... my stomach is completely empty... HAVE to have a diet coke (I truly love that feeling). And somehow as I looked at that, I realized I have to break the cycle. I have to find that place where God is the answer to everyone of those voids. It's a good lesson and way harder than I thought it would be. So today is day 15 without a diet coke.

Don't tell me miracles don't happen!