The Power Of Thanksgiving To God

August 16, 2023

"Sing to [God], make music to Him, speak of all His wonders."
"Praise Him for His mighty acts!"
"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His kindness endures forever."


April 2021: I was beginning to have physical temptations (again; I had already quit this sin before, but that was before I knew this kind of lust), and so I sinned very much and wasted semen in vain "just one time." Then I did it again. And then again, and again to the point of addiction. I would sin every day, or, if I was being particularly "good," I would go two days between sins.
July 2022: Then I finally realized it was actually a sin, and so I prayed to God for help. And then so would I pray the next time I would sin (every two days, about), and eventually also say the General Remedy psalms (16, 32, 41, 42, 59, 77, 90, 105, 137, and 150) afterwards. I kept praying to God for help, with great despair and feelings of hopelessness and that I was "stuck forever," God forbid. Despite the despair and lowliness I felt from this sin, I still couldn't overpower the evil inclination to sin. The longest time, I believe, I went without sinning was one whole week (that was when I first started to read 'Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom,' the English translation of Shivchei Haran and Sichot Haran, and my cousins were in town; before this, I had only learned sparse things about Rabbi Nachman from the occasional blog post).
May 2023: Ten whole months later of God not answering my prayers to quit this despicable sin, I finally said (paraphrase), "If You, God, will help me stop sinning this sin, I will make a 'payment' of 15% of my money to You, $160, paying it to Rabbi Eliezer Berland's Torah Institutions."
Behold! Within two weeks, I stopped sinning and to this day three months later (since I last sinned), I still have not done this sin again! This shows the power of thanking God, in words or in making a sacrifice like money. And his also shows the high level of Rabbi Eliezer Berland (may he live long days and years), in whose merit also this miraculous wonder occured. Blessed is God!

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His kindness endures forever!"