40 Day Fast - The Lessons

I have a feeling of overwhelming pride not in a bad way. I am just so happy to say I completed my 40 day fast. The first one in my whole life but guess what I did it. I have so many lessons to learn from this. 

Main question is did I achieve my goal? Well I am not sure what my goal was but I knew that I wanted to do one with no fuss or fanfare just get from one end to the other. I had a side goal of weight loss which was naughty but true. The first I did. I don't think my fast really affected anyone. Just me. Everyone else got to live uninterrupted by my fast in face very few people knew. Even when I thought it would be hard I did it. Disappointing however was I probably lost a few pounds. But since that shouldn't have been a goal oh well I shall survive. 

So what did I learn? 

1. I need to spend more time in prayer. I am terrible at sticking to it. I have now installed an app to help with this. I am going to try. 

2. I generally talk to myself and God. I have a mixed dialogue of telling myself and God lots of stuff all day. This is good but also needs to be focussed more. 

3. Bible reading with a family is hard! Getting up early means not being there when someone wakes. Going to bed later means not being there when someone goes to bed. Doing it during the day means finding space aside from the children and that means not being there for all the little things. Trying to incorporate them into the study means setting it at their level while rewarding means no depth for me which should be happening in personal time. Find time and stick to it consistently. It's what I tell those I teach an counsel and guess what that is what works. Make the sacrifice and sticking it. 

4. Drinking is important for a happy body and mind! The Lord didn't set our bodies up so that we could ignore how they function. Please please please drink more and more. 

5. Random food! I didn't realise how much stray food went into my mouth. I thought I didn't snack until I realised that I ate as I made food for the kids. Who knew random food arrived in my mouth so frequently. Hopefully 40 days has broken that habit. 

Would I do it again? Yes yes yes. I want to at least twice a year. It is so worthwhile! It is so important and rewarding and actually works on every level to remind us that our bodies are the temple of God look after them holistically. God wouldn't want it any other way. 

40 Day Fast - in the midst of the challenge

Hi today I am in the midst of the fire. You ask me what challenge are you facing? Well I could list all the little things that have bought me to the point of crying in front of someone else or I could say life. Life isn't easy. We can all identify with that. Each one of us can say life isn't easy. I may not know each thing that makes your life challenging but knowing my own challenges I can empathise with you. So today I am in the middle of life's drama. The difficulty is that I want to give up on my fast accept defeat and roll over. 

What should I do when I feel like lying down on the floor an giving up on life?! Make good choices. Do the things I know that make for the best life in the end. Move forward no matter my feelings. This is not easy. Often I find myself sitting alone or in a crowd with tears in my eyes wondering how am I supposed to do another day.  But each day I get up and I breathe through it anyway. 

Today I am choosing to continue my fast.  Not because I feel like it. Not because it's solving any of my problems. Not because I am trying to bribe God into doing what I want. I am choosing to fast because he loved me first. Because he loves me first I will fast to draw closer to him no matter how I feel. 

So I write this with tears in my eyes completely and utterly low and desperate with no way out of my situation. I choose to go beyond that and walk and live and fast. 

40 Day Fast - a little observation

I am managing everyday to fast.  I really thought when I was younger that there would be no way something like this was possible. God is good and he is keeping me. I do find I want to eat better as a result.

My observations are that fasting keeps your mind going back to something. As a parent who stays at home it is very easy for me to lose perspective.  With the fast I at least remember every day that God wants me to be better. Sometimes this can feel difficult but for the most part at least someone is watching over me and keeping me going in the right way.

I really admire all those stay at home mums that study their bible regularly.  I admire those stay at home parents who start businesses, write books,  run successful blogs and do so much more. Next to them most days I feel inadequate.  I can barely cope with staying awake. But the fast has done one thing given me a focal point. It has at least made my mind try to do better than simply stay awake and watch my favourite show.

I am considering making fasting a part of my year. That is massive deal. With all the changes I have gone through and am about to do I am grateful to have the opportunity to fast. It really is moment changing. 

40 Day Fast - Peace

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! (Isaiah 26:3 NLT) 

Peace. I crave it more than happiness. I think currently the world overrates happiness. They pursue at all costs. Problem is the cost can be at the expense of peace. 

Peace is that calm in your soul. I love that God gives us peace that passes all understanding. That in the face of all chaos you can breathe and not faint. I have been in my share of crappy situations and I have to say it's peace that has gotten me through not happiness. 

So during this time maybe I will search for peace.  

40 day fast - sadness

Today I was prepared for a different kind of day. Yesterday there was physical pain today took me by surprise. So it seems the habit of putting stuff in my mouth is going to be a hard challenge to break but I am willing to give it a try. However today was not all about that. 

I have to say it surprised me that sadness could overtake me today. I don't know why sadness can happen anytime to anyone so why should I be surprised now. But there I was at the end of the day overwhelmed by sadness and sleeping. It can happen to anyone at anytime. It's nothing to be ashamed of. I have accepted that today. 

Today I acknowledge that life has taken its toil on me. I have changed at my core.  It would be nice to one day have my core back. But should it never return I need to find a new resting place at peace with God. Maybe this 40 day fast is just for that. 

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32 NLT)

40 day fast - pain

This is the second day of my 40 day fast. God has truly blessed me. Today I realised my greatest challenge was not to absent mindedly put food in my mouth. I am being taught to be present for every breath. 

I realise now that too often my mind is on autopilot. Get through the day without really taking in what is happening. I miss so much with the kids when I am like that. I don't celebrate the little things. 

The pain however is real and today I realised that maybe just maybe the reason my mind has wondered is because my body has given up on me. The more in control of my diet and mind I become the more pain I feel in my body. I cannot account for it yet but I am grateful that my pain threshold has been challenged enough for me to bear quite a lot now.  

So day 2 I am smiling through the pain let's see what day three has in store for me. 

Staring a 40 day fast

I have been thinking about longer fasts for many years. Have I done anything about it? No. I have always been, well, a little scared if I am honest. I love food and the thought that I couldn't cope without it for 40 days was quite overwhelming. But this weekend I made the decision to give it a try. 

Normally you would do this with a prayer partner but at this time in my life I am quite alone. Probably need the fast in that case. You should probably have good reasons for doing a fast and furthermore it helps if you are following a good programme. So here is the thing I have none of those thing.  The only thing I have is a desire to fast, the faith to do it and te hope that it will be a life enhancing experience which I will stick to. 

So what's my plan. Well I am going to fast all day from food. I will have only drinks and at a push fruit but no food hall pass my lips. I have several bible reading plans on the go at the moment so I am going to use those till they run out and then ask God to help me find something appropriate when they run out. As to the prayer partner well since I don't have one I am going to write it all down here as I go along to make sure I am actually doing what I am supposed to. 

I have a prayer request a mile log and hope that I will be at peace throughout the whole journey. Guess what? I am actually relieved to be doing this with you. 

My first challenge today was not to put random food from the kids in my mouth. I avoided all other food but random bits as I was making or sharing or left overs jheeze. How often do I pop something in my mouth. So today I pray for better habits! 

God bless