By Lois Hewitt

Back in the day, the highlight of my week was when the new TV Guide would come out.  I would run to the store every Tuesday (I think that was the day it hit the store racks) then take it home and plan my television watching schedule with a highlighter.

I hated the summer because it meant I had to watch reruns. Hard to imagine in this streaming age.

The mailbox was fill of booty from Publishers Clearing House, such as People magazine, US Weekly and Entertainment Weekly.

We lived out in the country so we didn’t have cable for a long time. I begged my husband for a satellite dish so I could watch MTV and E! News.

Friday afternoon around 3 PM, my heart would start to race at the thought of speeding to the video store after work to pick up five or six movies for the weekend and bags of junk food.

I was truly obsessed.  It was my way of life for so long and so unhealthy it was.

Since I could barely leave the house without an anxiety attack, Hollywood became my life.  I made idols out of movie and TV stars. I wanted to be like the singers on MTV.  I wanted to be anyone but who I was.

This life choice made me dissatisfied with what I had, how I looked, what I ate, and what I wore. There is a lie in all the entertainment hype that I bought lock stock and barrel. It is intended to create disharmony.

The disharmony keeps us buying things to make us happy and to make us younger looking and more fit.  Because, according to the hype, you are just one more thing away from happiness.  Then it’s one more thing and one more thing and so on.

The media today has more sophisticated ways of causing the disharmony. Influencers on social media with their perfect houses, $10,000 a week work from home jobs, organizational baskets and containers and the easiest, best looking meals ever.

I fell for the lie for decades. I believed it wholeheartedly, thinking it could never be dangerous. Just look at the food we were sold, talk about dangerous.

I can only speak of my own experiences, but I know during this time in my life my idols were rich and famous people.  I had no room for God.

I spent money I didn’t have on things I didn’t need all so I could feel better. But I didn’t feel better. I was always stressed and sick, never thinking about the connections.

Then the bottom dropped out as it tends to do.  No comfort came from the things. No relief came from shopping.  I began to see the people on the screens as frauds and liars just doing a job for money.

How much of a fool do I feel!  A lie so easy to spot now but I saw nothing at the time.  Thankfully God opened my eyes to the real source of joy, peace, health and wealth…Him.

Today even those words have a different meaning. Joy is not a momentary rush only when things are good.  It’s a sustained feeling no matter the circumstances.

Peace does not come by eating a unhealthy meal, or buying yet another book or trinket.  God’s peace is internal without the need for external stimulus.

His health is transforming. It comes from a steady diet of prayer and His word.  I still struggle with physical health but my spiritual health is on the mend.

Wealth, well my definition of that words has completely changed. I find my wealth in my two outfit closet, eating leftovers and enjoying simple pleasures. It’s not cars and houses.  It’s gratitude for a hot shower or a homemade cookie. It’s a roof over my head and a warm blanket. It’s knowing that I am a child of God.

God opened my eyes to the lies. And He showed me a better way.  He has given me a life I never could have dreamed of with all its human imperfections. With my sights on a perfect eternity with Him. His way is the only way for me.  Blessed I am.

I pray that those blessings are yours today and for ever more! He can make the difference in your life if you trust and have faith.