As our 21 day fast is concluding at the POA, I find myself in a contemplative state. I am thanking God for His many blessings and revelations and, on the other hand, I am thanking Him that my fast is drawing to a close! I decided to do the Daniel Fast. For those of you not familiar with these terms, I will explain. Fasting is doing without something whether it be food, media, or whatever you find favor in. In the Bible, Daniel ate only fruits and nuts and abstained from the “king’s delicacies” and did not eat meat. As I said before, I decided to do the Daniel Fast. I mean, doing without meat, sugar, butter, artificial flavoring, preservatives and eating all natural food for 21 days….how hard can that be?? Right?
Oh the naivete. I only have four more days to go and I would do just about anything to have a: hamburger, steak, coke, ice cream, nacho and buttermilk biscuit! You never really understand how spoiled you are until you have to do without. I have eaten a salad just about every way you can fix a salad. For example: With tomatoes, without tomatoes; with an avocado; with almonds and green peppers; with red onions and avocado…need I go on? I thought salad was pretty cool until I ate it almost everyday for 21 days. Yesterday, I started feeling like this:
Just hook me up to the tractor boys! [You have to imagine me saying this in my best southern accent]
It seemed that last year on my 21 day fast, it started out rocky but ended fine. This year is different. I felt fine for the first two weeks, but this last week is killing me! Ha! I will just have to remember not to do what I did last year. The day I broke my fast, I went through the drive thru at Wendy’s to pick up lunch. I only had a few minutes to get back to the office so when the lady garbled “you want the [insert uninteligible word here] special today?” through the speaker, I said “Sure”. In my quick thinking little brain I thought …’they should have plenty of those made up and I will be outta here in no time’…. I drive up to the window and the lady handed me a bag and I drive off. Halfway back to work, I pull it out to see what lucky sandwich is going to break my fast and out comes a double stack, jalapeno burger with pepper jack cheese. Whoa! Despite my better judgment, I took a bite to see how much that bad boy would bite back. This isn’t bad….I thought. By the time I arrived back at work, I was horrified to see that I ate the whole thing! I was so ill that I did not eat for two days after that! See, there is a justification. Maybe I should have a double stack jalapeno burger now so I can make it through the last few days of my fast without eating! Hmm…sounds good to me. You think that would fly? Probably not. Oh well.
Anyway. On a more serious note. It is hard to explain, but there is something about disciplining yourself through a fast that makes the world a little brighter, it makes God’s voice a little clearer, it makes friendships closer and your body a little healthier! I guess it is when we put off self and stop filling our lives and our mouths with stuff that we are able to sit back and think about the really important things in life. Fasting never made sense to me until I started practicing it corporately, with my church, and personally. Sometimes the things that God calls us to do don’t always make sense, but He makes sense out of them and gives it back to us in perfect order and we think: Why did I not see it that way before? If you want to know what I am talking about, I invite you start your own personal journey with Him and implement prayer and fasting in your life.
Andrea
PS: Here is a post from my friend Deb regarding her thoughts during the fast.
