No substitute.

I experienced a small dilemna the other morning. It was early on Saturday, and I awoke to a quiet house. Everyone was sleeping. I was in heaven. I put on a pot of coffee and began fiddling around the house. I put my book next to my chair in my office, turned on my reading lamp and grabbed my favorite blanket. I was ready for a nice quiet read and some very needed prayer time. I went into the kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee. The aroma tickled my nose as the steam lifted from the coffee cup. I smiled. I grabbed the sugar bowl. Empty! What!! It can't be!! I searched the pantry for some more sugar convinced that there had to be more. Nope. None. At. All. Imagine my horror. No sugar? How does one survive? What's the point of coffee with no sugar? I remembered that I had a box of artificial sweetener that I had bought for when my mother-n-law would come over for coffee. She is diabetic so she does not use real sugar. I had no choice but to use the artificial sweetener as my sugar substitute. I opened a packet and hastily put it in my coffee, not expecting the best results. I grabbed the cup and went into my office to resume my quiet time. I grabbed my book, and took a nice slow sip of the coffee. Eeewwwwww.......... I was very disappointed. It was not at all what I was use to. Very different. I took a few sips more, hoping my tastebuds would adjust, but they weren't having it. They were fighting me with every sip I took. About half way through my cup, I couldn't handle it anymore. I walked into the kitchen and poured it down the sink. "So much for that," I thought. My morning just wasn't the same after that. I had a bitter taste in my mouth from the sweetener, and I of course, having no coffee to start my day off with, wasn't in the most pleasant of moods. I definitely needed my prayer time after that. I went in my office to somehow try and make the most of my morning. I closed my eyes and began to pray. Immediately God reminded me of something. There was a time when I strayed away from Him. I had served Him for as long as I remembered, but one day, and slowly with time, and lots of selfishness mixed in...I began to serve myself. I fed my flesh and my own will instead of my spirit and His will. I somehow thought, that I could replace my Savior with the things of this world. I thought I could hold the things of the world in one hand, and hold Him in the other. I was living with one hand in the world and one hand clinging to God. It left me with quite the unbalanced life. I soon found out, that the things of the world would leave me with a taste of bitterness in my heart, sort of like the artificial sweetener did. It would leave me feeling empty, trying to fill it with more and more that the world offered...only being left feeling emptier and more bitter. I finally had to surrender. And, surrender it all. The thing about surrender is, you have to do it with both hands. When you surrender, you have to throw both hands up in defeat and complete submission. It's impossible to do it with one hand clinging onto the thing that has you bound. I learned, that in surrendering fully into the life that God had for me and feeding my spirit, meant I had to let go of that one hand that was clinging to the world. Allowing me to throw up both hands in complete surrender to my Savior. And when I finally did that, He filled me up with His sweetness like nothing in this world ever has or every could. There is no comparison to the sweetness His love can give you. There is no substitute for the love of Jesus. None. At. All. John 10:30 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God. Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. Isaiah 46:9 I am God, and there is no other. I am God and there is no one like Me.