The Fast {the first 3 days}

To catch you up to speed if you're just reading this, for Lent I'm fasting from anything sweet, refined,  packaged, or from a drive-thru/restaurant. I'm eating whole, real foods only. The purpose of this is to break the hold food has had on me for years and to turn to my Savior, not food, for help.

Day 1

11:22 AM- I realized after a just few hours of this fast how much LESS I was thinking about food.  I've just eaten real, whole foods and felt pretty good. Making out an approved foods list was huge and helped out big time.

2:47 PM. Scratch everything I just said. I have this daily 2-3 PM fall-over-tired issue that usually is quickly solved by the largest size of Diet Coke available at Sonic. So today when good ol' 2:47 snuck up on the clock, the first thought I had was, "What do I do now?" and guess what? I prayed. A short little, Lord, my patience is gone, I'm tired and could really go for a Diet Coke right now. Please give me your grace to pull out of this funk. Then I had a snack - a homemade protein bar and glass of skim milk and perked up a bit. I didn't feel automatically better, but I realized something. I've been buying this lie that food will make me feel better right away. That's not the purpose of food, y'all. Yes, in one respect food is enjoyable, but I'm still just as tired and cranky as I was previous to that soda and bag of chips, so I don't know why I let myself think food will fix me.

Day 2

Thoughts for today:

 - WOW, food is embedded in everything I do. When we had to run to Sam's Club, I looked longingly at the people holding their ginormous sodas in the parking lot. Today I started to fully grasp my emotional ties to food. I realized I have a bad habit of rewarding myself with food or using food as my companion when we're out running errands.

- When I eat whole foods, I enjoy them so much more. Let's face it, an apple is never going to stack up to a brownie in sweetness. But when fruit is the sweetest thing I've had all day, I really savor it and think of how good it tastes AND it's good for my body. Instead of what I'd normally do which was wolf down something sweet before I could think about it and then feel horribly guilty.

- Eating good food is 1000 times easier when you're doing it for reasons that aren't weight loss and have nothing to do with your physical body. It has been so freeing to not think about my weight when I eat healthy, but instead to think about breaking the hold food has on me to bring me closer to my God. I don't know about you, but when I'm a few days into a diet I always start weighing myself. Then, if the scale isn't kind, I mope and sulk, usually with food to soothe me.

Day 3

What a day. To be honest, I didn't even think about the foods I wasn't eating today. My little fast seemed so insignificant compared to the things I saw others dealing with today. Let me back up. Isaiah 58 addresses fasting and what God expects of us as His people. It's a long passage, but sososo good.

3 Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.


5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?


6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?


8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.


13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.


Whew. Okay. So what does that have to do with me and french fries? This passage reminds me fasting is about so much more than abstaining from something. God expects our actions to speak, not just our sacrifices. Today several opportunities to serve those around me just fell in my lap. By the time the day was over, I made two friends' dinner and spent some time praying with a friend on Hospice. I didn't start out my day planning for all of that to happen, but opportunities presented themselves. I am so thankful for them because I realized that fasting is about much, much more than just a brief sacrifice. It's about communing with the Living God, opening our hands, and saying, "Here am I, Lord. Your will be done."

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