Day 16

21 days of eating nothing but fruits, vegetables, nuts, and some whole grains.  Wash it all down with water.  Better known as the Daniel Fast.  21 days of people shaking their heads in disbelief at you, 21 days of NO COFFEE, NO SUGAR, none...like not even a granule.  21 days.  

You can tell from my title I am currently on day 16.  In fact I have it down to the hour.  I know I can eat supper on the 21st.  

So.....why?  Why fast.....on purpose? 

Well, contrary to popular belief, it is not a diet.  Are there health benefits that come along with eating this way--absolutely!  But, it's so much more than that.  It's a spiritual journey.  

My mother-in-law and some others from church and I participated in this together last year, and it's sort of become a yearly habit for us now I suppose. 

So, why fast?  Isn't that just for Gandhi?  NO.  Fasting is biblical.  All throughout the Bible we see people reducing themselves, pouring out their possessions, their time, giving of themselves.  Emptying themselves as Christ did.  Serving.  Loving.  Giving of themselves without thinking twice, or rationalizing every single little thought before you finally talk yourself out of doing something good. Why?  So that God might increase. We see Bible heroes fasting from food:  David, Daniel, Nehemiah, ahem--Jesus. 

 The early church sold their possessions and took care of each other and their community.  John the Baptist tells us if we have two coats, one belongs to the poor.  Churches made sacrifices so that Paul could continue on in his missionary journeys--even when they barely had enough to take care of themselves.  

The scriptures tell us how to behave "when" we fast---not if.  

You may think, come on...how can saying no to a donut be spiritual?  

Have you tried it?  

When you fast, you have a physical reminder to pray.  It opens up the communication between you and God.  We have so many distractions in our life.  Most of them we choose ourselves.  Food can become a distraction.  If we are stuffing ourselves with empty calories for any other reason than to fuel our body  (boredom, sadness, comfort, stress, yes even happiness) food is a distraction.  Turning to food, instead of turning to the Word of God.  I determined to flip those things for 21 days.  Turning to God instead of food.

Is it easy?  NO.  Um, NO. 

One of my recent text messages to B.J.:  

If I eat one more clementine, I'm going to stab someone--I'm so over them. 

Do you see now why I'm fasting?  I need help. 

There are a lot of reasons to fast:  mourning, repentance, renewal, revival, preparation, praying about something specific....

For me it's been a combination of repentance and preparation.  2011 brought with it things that caused me to be more cynical and critical than I ever knew possible. Amazingly most of them were not my fault, but I still had to learn how to deal with them, and come to find out there is not nearly as much grace in my heart as I thought.  It's ugly in there! If we had not started out 2011 with prayer and fasting, I'm not sure our family would have survived the year.  I have so far to go.  I have so much to learn.  I can't think of a better way to start a year than to determine to spend more time in the Word of God, and adopt a more healthy lifestyle.  

Some of you may think "you're suppose to fast in secret, so why are you blogging about it?"  Most of you that say that have probably never fasted in real life either--so use your own judgement please. I blab all my problems to my Sunday School Class (we're more than a class, we're a family and I need prayer ok?) so in turn, most of the church found out, in turn most of Facebook found out, and in turn I've had lots of curious people messaging me with questions.  

Each day it gets easier once you get yourself into a new routine. (and get rid of your withdrawal headaches) Amazingly you will find that you are not "hungry" nearly as often as you think you are.  Two of the days I didn't eat anything.  I've become more aware of things in my life that I need to work on. When people ask me to pray for them, I've found myself actually remembering to do it, and actually praying for them, not just "thinking" about them--there is a difference.  Don't even get me started on how much better I feel physically.  I don't feel sluggish, hello my pants fit--and for some reason I was surprised by this.  Like doing something from the Bible would not have good results?   

While this is a sad attempt to sum up something you really can't put into words---fasting is important and it's very rewarding.   

I encourage you to determine or purpose in your heart to give up something on purpose to strengthen your relationship with God.  Food, T.V., Facebook....you fill in the blank.  Determine to do it, and then do it.  Replace what you give up with the Word of God and prayer.  Start making spiritual goals, and determine to meet them.  Get rid of some of the clutter in your life so that God can fill up the space between you and Him.