Day 24--Bye Bye Lust

Today's dare, name the lust I have in my life and send it far, far away. Lust, not an easy topic. For sure I could talk of times that I was in lustful relationships, but not since I've entered my marriage. In my moments alone pondering this dare I've landed on my lust for money. Not that I love material possessions. It's more like my lust when I go gambling. Now I could have rightly called this my addiction, but in reality I've prayed and asked God to take this desire from me and I've truly not had the lustful desire for gambling in over two years. As a matter of fact I've been able to limit my playing and also learn to have fun when I play with my friends. How has this affected my wife? Well for periods in our relationship I've not been honest and it has revolved around my desire to maintain my habits from my youth. What it has cost me is a level of trust with my wife and a lack of intimacy. I do realize that I must name those areas in my life that are stumbling blocks and find ways to openly and honestly bring them before my wife. I love her enough to be real with her and much like God's desire to know our inner most parts trust that Kendra will continue to love me even when I share my struggles. This has been a major point of loss in my marriage. Only recently have I been open about several areas of struggle, but the payoff from bringing them to light has been so powerful.