Day Three of Fasting
I woke up this morning much more refreshed than yesterday morning. I think the juice from last night helped. I'm glad we made that decision. I didn't want to be gloomy and not be motivated while fasting. Obviously, God is helping too. I don't think we would be doing half the things we are doing without Him.
Today I read Daniel 1-4. I decided since I'm doing his fast I better remind myself of his stories.
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were all picked up from Judah by King Nebuchadnezzer. They were to be trained for three years to become his advisors. The king set up food and wine for them but they told Ashpenaz (chief of officials) that they were only to eat and drink vegetables and water. Ashpenaz said he was too afraid to tell them king, so the 4 men told him they would go on the diet (fast) for 10 days and if they looked better and were more nourished than the other men that they would be allowed to continue. Ashpenaz agreed. After 10 days they were proven right. They were able to stay on the diet. For this, God gave them wisdom far greater than any of the other men there. King Nebuchadnezzer found them 10 times better than any sorcerer or magician in his court.
When the King had a dream he called magicians to come and tell the dream to him and interpret it. They told him they could not, that no man on earth could do that. Only gods could tell of dreams. The King became furious and ordered all the magicians and advisors killed. (This included Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.) Daniel heard of this and prayed and praised God to give him the dream so he might interpret it for the King. God granted his prayer and Daniel went to the King. Daniel said that there was no magician or sorcerer on earth that could interpret dreams, but his God could and he was able to tell of the dream. After hearing the interpretations the King was so astonished and amazed that he gave Daniel gifts and promoted him to oversee all of Babylon.
Since Daniel was so faithful, God knew he was able to work through him. In return for his faithfulness God had been able to put him into a position that gave him great power and many blessings. And it all started with Daniel's fast.
The book of Daniel is interesting and fun to read. The stories in it are awesome and easy. The dreams are vivid and to hear the interpretations are crazy, but spot on, since all of them came true.
Again, an inspiring story to read while doing the fast. It allows me to remind myself of other peoples hardships and how they overcame it because of their faith in God.
End of Day 3
WE MADE IT! We went three days without food. At midnight on the fourth night, Jason and I had our first bites of food in three days. It tasted amazing! What made it taste even better was the fact that we completed a sacrifice to God. And quite well if I do say so. I felt great all throughout the day. I thought today was going to be the hardest, and it was actually the easiest. I felt like I could go a couple more days. Jason, on the other hand, had the worst day. I felt so badly for him. He wanted to eat so much, he was counting down until midnight. He was trying to distract himself with prayer and other things, but was consumed with the idea of food. I knew I couldn't make him go another day... even if I thought I could. Plus, he loves being in the kitchen and we had been avoiding that room like the plague.
So we sat down to eat. I made home-made hummus and cut up cucumbers to dip, and baked potato with NO BUTTER! We used Zoye, which is a soy bean oil. Tastes much better than olive and still just as healthy. We have been researching the do's and don'ts of the Daniel fast and I think with Jason's creativeness in the kitchen, it's going to be much easier than I originally thought... But I will still miss my Mac&cheese...
Tonight we were reading another chapter of Crazy Love. Francis Chan said "Having faith means doing what others see as crazy. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers." It was a true testament to me and Jason in context with this fast. We've felt like we were doing the right thing, but the closer and closer it got to our first deadline, it seemed crazier and crazier. It's not only hard to just do it, but it's hard to let other people in to see where we're vulnerable. But God talks to us the most, and loudest when we are vulnerable and raw. What are we so afraid of? Why are we afraid of being different? Why do we not speak out in our faith more to random strangers? They will be gone in a minute and chances are we'll never see them again. Maybe more often than not, a good introspective look is required to keep our hearts on track.
Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.
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