Thanks to Barb and others for the wonderful posts on faith and cigarettes. Fredrick recommends the book “The EasyWay to Stop Smoking,” by Allen Carr, and says it has an amazing success rate. Elmo (hi!) says the “patch,” and the smoking-cessation-support website Quitnet.org (which sports the motto “Don’t Quit Alone”) proved invaluable. Here are two other letters smokers might find helpful.

From reader Peter Clothier: “I too gave up smoking cigarettes more than twenty years ago. The secret for me, after ten years of trying and failing, was to give myself permission to smoke instead of telling myself No: musn’t, shouldn’t, bad, and so on. All those negatives produced the usual result: they made me all the more stubborn. As soon as I gave myeself permission to smoke, but offered myself some positive alternatives (sleeping better, smelling better, walking upstairs without losing my breath, etc.) I found it possible to quit.”

From reader Diane Rinaldi: “I quit shortly after giving my life to Jesus. I began realizing my life was precious and He had a plan for it, which didn’t include poor health. But I didn’t give them up without having to pray and believe He would help me. One day, when I was telling Him how much I hated them and wanted to quit, I heard Him speak to my heart. He said, ‘You LIKE them.’ Well, it was true – I always enjoyed smoking. He told me, ‘Ask Me to change your desire.’ So I prayed for Him to change my desire. I found myself despising cigarettes – but still lighting up! One day I said, ‘Lord, will you just take them off me?’ and He answered, ‘If you’ll lay them down, I’ll take them away.’ That very minute, I obeyed what He said to do, and I can honestly tell you I haven’t craved a cigarette since that day 12 years ago.”