It's been too long since I've taken the time to update on our 7 experience. I'm happy to report we survived February eating only 7 foods. But in all honesty, it was really, really hard.
Personally, I felt "hangry" much of the time. Brad and I both had a slip up. Him with skittles & me with coffee. And believe me in a house full of 5 kids you can trust watchful eyes were upon his and unwilling to extend much Grace.
What did we learn? The biggest thing we realized is, food controls us. And more importantly, we often mask our feelings behind food. We hide what we are feeling inside with food and many other things such as retail therapy, binge TV watching, scanning Facebook, etc. In fasting your feelings definitely come to the surface.
Remember my mention of "hangry" above? I rationalized that my anger stemmed from being hungry. The truth of the matter is, it was the spirit of anger dwelling within me. Not just anger, either. It was bitterness, jealousy, worry, fear, envy-I have since learned that many of these feelings will and do surface during fasting.
The Good news is healing is available through Christ. Fasting reminds us God sustains us; food does not. Fasting isn't as much about abstaining from food as it is about feasting on the word of God.
In John 4:32 we see the disciples bringing food to Jesus with the assumption he would be starving. The disciples say, "Rabbi, eat something." To which Jesus replies, "I have the kind of food you know nothing about." Then Jesus explained: "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me and from finishing his work." John 4:32-34
The nourishment Jesus is speaking about is spiritual nourishment. Spiritual nourishment includes more than Bible study, prayer and attending church. It also comes from doing God's will. We are nourished by not only what we take in, but what we give out for God.
Additionally, we saw that fasting in February helped us seek balance in our lives. It made us see were some of our priorities lie and were we need to realign and reevaluate them. It pointed out were we may have allowed some unimportant things to take precedence in our lives. How quickly and strongly we crave things we do not need until we are enslaved by them. Paul writes in 1Cor 6:12-13, You say, "I am allowed to do anything"-but not everything is good for you. And even though, "I am allowed to do anything," I must not become a slave to anything. You say, "Food was made for the stomach and stomach for food." (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.)
Paul is saying Freedom is a mark of the Christian Faith-Freedom from sin and guilt, and freedom to live and enjoy anything that comes from God. But as Christians, we should not abuse this freedom and hurt ourselves or others. Be careful that what God allows you to enjoy does not grow into a bad habit that controls you.
Through our example, we tried to make our family see we have more than enough food. I was reminded often throughout our month of fasting of the prodigal son. Particularly this verse in Luke 15:16, The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. I mentioned this story quite often. Pretty much everything and anything anyone ate this month looked tasty, Brad and I were often saying that looks or sounds "so good!" "So good!" came to define leftovers, scraps left on plates and everything we had in our pantry cupboard or refrigerator. Yes! We, indeed, have more than enough and then some!
More than anything, I truly believe this month taught us that we will face problems and burdens in this world. Often these will be or feel like more than we can handle. But it is when we are completely beaten down that we are most tempted to turn from God. To just give up and quit trusting him. In reality this is when we need God the most. We must run and cling to him. Don't turn from your most faithful friend. When our situations seem hopeless we must resolve that no matter how bad things become we will continue to pray. God hears our prayers even when we are "hangry"!
