This past weekend, we embarked on a new faith adventure. Our pastor challenged our entire church to begin a 21-day fast. Let me quickly say that we are not being asked to starve for 3 weeks – the first day was juice and water only, followed by 20 days of a Daniel Fast. You can find plenty of online explanations, but it basically amounts to a vegan diet, with no sugar, wheat or caffeine.
Fasting as a topic of discussion can be a grey area, since it’s not about drawing attention to yourself but drawing closer to God. However, I do rely on this space as a chronicle of our family life (since it’s getting harder and harder to remember what happened just last year), and this is a big part of what we’re experiencing right now.
I’ve never fasted before and always considered it one of those things other people did, like washing feet – cool and Biblical in an ancient sort of way, but not a requirement. But our pastor painted a different picture this weekend, by referencing Matthew 6, “When you fast…” Not if, but when. And then he asked us to join as a church and fast together.
When I first heard this was coming, my gut reaction was, “No way!” I reeeeeally love food, and don’t tend to behave well when people tell me I can’t have what I want. But Brian encouraged our participation and I began to see it as a challenge, as well as a time for obedience. Of course January is a time for fresh beginnings and the usual hopes to take care of myself better, so the fast is a great way to commit to that – not only with the food we eat, but also getting more sleep because there will be no more morning caffeine safety net. But more than that, I’m seeing this as a spiritual window-washing – cleaning things up inside and out. And you can bet I’ll be leaning on God even more (no chocolate, bread, or coffee!!), which will undoubtedly enrich my relationship with Him. And I’ll be interested to see what new perspectives we gain during this time.
So we started on Sunday after a late afternoon lunch. I packed a bunch of juice for work and was doing fairly well until about 2:30 when I started to feel a little fuzzy mentally. The next 24 hours were pretty rough, even though we got to break the fast on Monday evening with dinner. After we ate, I completely crashed, my body in rebellion over the blood-sugar roller coaster ride. The next morning was time for the lack-of-caffeine headache, which lasted until late afternoon. There was an echo of it the next day (Wednesday), but thankfully I think that part is over now. I’m still struggling with getting really tired, partly due to missing coffee, but also trying to figure out how to keep my blood sugar from swinging all over the map.
And a tip to anyone fasting: do not make the same mistake I did and look through the grocery store circulars to see what’s on sale. Just don’t go there. You do not want to see the loaves of bread and roasted chickens taunting you in all their 4-color newsprinted glory.
The best moment of the fast so far came this afternoon. I had a meeting with my boss this morning and realized just how much work there is to do in the next few weeks. Then I got a little ticked off at the fast, thinking that some coffee and quick-fixing food would come in really handy in the near future. But I gave that up to God and asked him to show up powerfully, especially in my work life. And I found I was able to focus more and accomplish more this afternoon than I have in quite some time.
It’s going to be a journey, but I can’t wait to see where He leads!
In hindsight, I wish I had started this with all of you. But my mind was on, oh, a few other millions of things. I do plan on doing this in the next few months and really challenging my thoughts on exactly what God wants out of me with this move.
Keep us up with how it’s going!
Even though I no longer attend FC I still watch sermons online and considered ourselves “distant members”. Therefore, I too have joined the Daniel Fast out here in AZ. Surprisingly, there are some churches out here doing it as well.
Unlike you, I only wish my headache lasted a day but for me it was more like five days. I pushed through it by praying – thankfully. I even ended up in the ER on Sat. night (for other reasons) and I’m still going strong. I also made it through the first weekend with hubby in town (which means eating out a lot) so I’m really happy with my progress.
Were on the home stretch now…here’s to herbal tea for just two more weeks.
That is too cool, Theresa! Great to have you along for the ride! It’s would have to imagine that it would be harder doing it by remote, so we will be your virtual community
And Robin, try to talk Terry into doing it with you when you do decide to take the plunge. It’s so much friendlier with two
[...] in case you didn’t catch the previous post, can you tell I reeeeally like food? Funny how something so simple as sustenance can take on much [...]