Fasting to Draw Near.
I've been thinking about writing this post for a week now- but I honestly wasn't really sure where to start. I wasn't raised in a church that talked much about actively fasting. Two years ago, though, my handsome hubby and I started going to a new interdenominational church (it is absolutely amazing btw) called Denver United.It was at this church my handsome hubby and I were introduced to the of idea actively fasting last year. I had heard of fasting of course- but I had never personally been challenged to participate in a fast. Our church challenged us to consider participating in a church wide fast for 21 days. Our church made it clear fasting wasn't about starving or torturing yourself to prove you were spiritual.I may have a hard time explaining exactly what fasting can do- but there is something powerful about sacrificing something to make room for something greater. Much like how you may sacrifice your time with friends or activities to spend time with someone you are in love with to go one dates and just spend time together to deeper the relationship. That is what fasting is- sacrificing something to make room to spend more time focusing on your relationship with God.Last year my handsome hubby and I started our first time fasting slow and sacrificed television to make room for God. Twenty-one day without television - it was surprisingly difficult honestly.This year though- I felt called to challenge myself. Last Monday I started a twenty-one day fast where I only eat vegetables, fruit, nuts, legumes, and whole grains (kind of like a vegan diet- but not exactly). It went smoothly for the first couple of days... then it started to get quite a bit harder. In fact - yesterday was probably the hardest day. All I wanted to eat didn't adhere to my fast... at all. I spent the whole morning in tears (yeah tears... it was a rough and overly dramatic morning). My poor hubby didn't know what to do with me (he is fasting all alcohol btw).There was something about mourning what I couldn't have (as ridiculous as that sounds). I still walked around WholeFoods and really wanted a piece of bread- but I felt empowered to move past that since I had already spent time emotionally craving and yearning for it. It was as if I felt that now I had spent the time mourning over my favorite foods I could move past it focus on what all of this is about.Fasting has become a very personal thing for me this year- I'm not sharing the burden with my husband like I was last year. It feels a little more real and a little more raw and purely between just me and God.
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My pastor is a incredibly eloquent man- and expresses the ideas of fasting much better than I can. This is long one- but here is one of his sermons about fasting if you want to know more. No pressure obviously. ;)Habits of The Heart, part 2: Drawing Near from Denver United Church on Vimeo.