By: Brittany pettinger
i am sitting under an apartment
building in Damour, lebanon, tempted
to email my editor and tell her that i
can’t do this article, that i do not have
the time or patience to write it this
month. But something is stopping me.
a little voice inside my head is telling
me i have to write down everything i
am thinking and not give up. it’s telling
me i need to stop procrastinating and
start writing. When i was created, i was
given free will, so it’s up to me to quit or
continue what i’m doing – and believe
me, it’s tempting and quite easy to quit.
Being tempted and falling into
temptation are two different things.
Jesus had free will. When he “was
led up by the spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted by the devil” (matthew
4:1), he could have done the things
that the Devil told him to, but he chose
not to.
There are things i have been tempt-
ed to do that i never gave in to. i look
at myself a year ago and think about
how things would be different now
if i had given in to the temptations i
faced. There were many times when i
considered hurting myself, even killing
myself, because i felt so hurt and
worthless. it was not only the will of
God that pulled me out of it, but the
people who were placed in my life at
that particular time.
Temptation can be difficult, but
it’s not impossible to overcome. i
am reminded of 1 corinthians 10:13:
“No temptation has overtaken you
that is not common to man. God
is faithful, and he will not let you be
tempted beyond your ability, but with
the temptation he will also provide the
way of escape, that you may be able
to endure it” (ESV).
God is faithful,
and he will not let
you be tempted
beyond your
ability
Nothing is impossible with God or for
God. The moment you have a tempting
thought, turn to the lord. Find some-
one who can hold you accountable
and pray for you as needed. Talk to
God and figure out what caused the
temptation to come up. Once you have
that figured out, rebuke it and move on.
From personal experience, i have
found that it is vital to always have
one person you can talk to at any time
of day, no matter what. Temptation is
not something that you have to endure
alone.
it can be extremely difficult to come
out of temptations, so it’s way better to
deal with it before you fall off the edge.
But how does one do that? Just a few
minutes ago, i was tempted to quit. i
didn’t because the logical part of my
brain told me not to.
But logic is not going to be in every
situation. in fact, most temptations i’ve
tried to deal with have not involved me
using my logic. They have involved me
falling into the hands of the enemy.
Do not only rely on your own logic,
because it may not always be there.
rather rely on the One who created
you, for he is always there.
WE ,RE GOING FREE
W
hoisB
rit
t
a
ny
?
5
FA
C
TS
1) She started writing her first
book when she was 16. it’s still
in the works.
2) She has been to lebanon
twice. Both times she worked
with Syrian refugees.
3) history is her passion. She can
spend hours just walking around
museums.
4) She lived in ireland in 2014 for
three months, and staffed a DTS
(Discipleship Training School)
there in 2015.
5) She wrote this article while in
lebanon in January.