Daniel Fast - Finale

So, the fast is complete.

Truly, I learned a lot about myself.  Reading Piper's book, Hunger for God, was remarkable. So much there for me to meditate on in the days ahead.

A few key points for me:

I want to embrace God's gift of food as a GIFT rather than abuse it or replace the Giver with the gift.

I am free from the coffee addiction once more and feel SO MUCH BETTER without it.  I don't even crave it like I used to.

I am challenged FAR BEYOND my own petty struggles with stress eating, food triggers, and binges.  There is much...much...much more that the Lord wants to do in me through prayer and fasting that reaches outside of my small little world.  Learning to think and act beyond my reach will help me lose this daily obsession with food and weight struggles.

Fasting needs to be a regular part of how I learn to worship and hunger for my loving Savior.



The nitty-gritty on some physical changes I noticed:

I was losing about 1 pound a day for the first week and a half or so. Then I guess I stalled. Not sure what happened. I did stop the morning walks.  It seemed after my cycle ended the weight loss ended too. That wasn't why I was fasting, but I find it interesting to note.

As I mentioned above, my taste for coffee and cravings are gone.  Even with the freedom to enjoy the gift as I choose, I find that I don't choose it as a treat or reward for myself.  I'm seeing it as more of a way to enjoy the company of another, savoring it's warmth and flavor while soaking up a good friend.  I prefer it like that.

I really feel better eating less.  Skipping a meal each day rarely felt like a hardship.  I feel lighter and my day is less hectic without having to stop and feed myself so often.

Now I'm on to making some choices about where I go from here. I like sticking with two meals a day. That has been a great help to giving me more time to rest, read, and just feel less rushed in my day.  I'm still working on making wise choices because I continue to give in to eating food that is empty as far as nutrition goes.  I don't want to keep putting things in my body that aren't meant for good. Hopefully, as I learn to point my heart upwards and outwards, this will become less difficult.

In the end, I'm grateful for another fasting time with the Lord. He's challenged me once again to see myself in new ways and draw closer to Him and His truths. So much to reflect on and ponder as I move forward in the days ahead. I guess my primary focus is this:  How can I continue to increase my hunger for the Lord and serve him whole-heartedly?

My end of fast pic.  Again, not really seeing any big changes, but I sure do FEEL great and free from many of the things that have been weighing me down.

Daniel Fast: Week 1

My first week of this Daniel Fast has been wonderful.  Of course, I'm struggling to keep up with the early rising and morning walks due to some late nights and a head cold that came to visit at our home.  BUT, the time with the Lord has been essential to rebooting my wrongful habits and "life-rut".

That's my new term to describe what I've been living.  It's not a life-style...as that sounds like it should be productive, pleasing, attractive, fulfilling.  I've got a life-rut going on.  Slow, sluggish, lazy, cluttered, chaotic,stuck.  A life-rut.

But that is starting to change, and I'm so grateful. Right now, it's just this time of seeing it for what it is. Seeing what's causing it.  I'm praying in the weeks to come I'll keep learning how to change it so it move from "rut" to "style".  Style sounds so much better.

Here's my one week selfie.  The left is the start of the first week, the right is the start of the second week.

Not sure I'm seeing any huge difference, but I feel it. My clothes are looser, my energy is growing, my head is starting to clear, and I'm even starting to find some of that long lost motivation that is so helpful in accomplishing at least some of the never-ending list that stares at me each day. 

Fasting for Hunger

My husband and I are finishing our first week of another Daniel Fast today. We will continue for another two weeks.

I strongly felt that I needed to reset my heart and habits regarding food and my choices that are effecting my health.  So many ways that life has presented upheaval, stress, challenges in the last two years, but especially in the last few months have left me making the exceptions to my healthful choices the new normal.  And I was feeling it all over.

This fast has been wonderful so far.  We have chosen a Daniel Fast because it's a long-term focus on keeping foods healthful, simple, and centered on God's provision.  It's long enough for me to really dig in and deal with the sinful habits that are surfacing.  We've altered it a bit to provide more time to focus on prayer and the word so that our time fasting is truly not about bread alone but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Our Daniel Fast plan for June 2016

Read together John Piper's book, Hunger for God, discuss and journal
(I'm also having an email discussion on this book with a dear friend for added encouragement and accountability)

I'm reading Psalm 73, journaling

Rising at 5:30 for a morning walk together

Limiting computer time to once in the morning for checking emails, groups, and other internet related needs/uses

Food plan:
Daniel fast foods for breakfast (basically, breakfast salad)
Fasting lunch (not eating at all)
Daniel fast food for dinner
Water only to drink

We chose to skip lunch to cause us to really see this as a fast and a reason to have a focus on the Lord. To create hunger, so to speak, since the Daniel Fast isn't really all that different from our "normal" diet. (though we've drifted too much from that normal in the last few months)

We also wanted to skip a meal to provide a way to allow more time for prayer, study, and reflection on what the Lord is teaching us.  This isn't always feasible during the busy lunch time, but I'm learning to at least pray and keep my heart on the Lord as I battle those lunch time cravings and those late afternoon hunger signals.

I have become consistent in a time of morning devotions with the Lord. That has been a huge blessing. We've also enjoyed our morning walks together and evening reading and prayer.  In short, this time of fasting has created a lot more time for us to be together and be together focused on the Lord. That's really creating a special bond between us.

So, we press on.  We both are feeling much better. My first three days were a struggle. Headaches and fatigue that left me feeling awful.  That seemed to lift by day 4 and I'm beginning to feel more energy and strength as the days move on.  We are both less sluggish, bloated, and our clothes are feeling loose.

Even more, we are so encouraged by our time with the Lord.  So many beautiful ways we are learning that God is enough.  He is our portion.  He is the Rock of my heart.  He is the Giver of all these abundant gifts that surround us and we are learning to long for Him above those precious gifts.

As John Piper states in his book, "Food is good. God is better."  This time of chosen testing causes me to sing this to my own soul daily.