I have felt prompted to share what I received from the Lord since I fasted for 21 days. If you didn't read my last post at the beginning of my fast and would like to before you read on click here
My Diet. This is one area that God spoke to me in a profound way. To be honest, I was not seeking or expecting to be spoken to in this area. Simply, I was following what the bible says others have done in the past to hear God more clearly. The first three days of the fast were the most difficult for me as my body began to go through detox. God's voice was not clear at all during this uncomfortable stage, and I wasn't really interested in hearing much because I was too consumed with my physical state and the change that was happening inside my body. Once I felt, I guess the best way to describe it is, clean and clear ( I know it sounds like acne cream) I began to feel a peace flood over me, and as the days passed God's voice and spirit began to move in me.
The first thing the Lord chose to speak to me about was....wait for it....food. I found myself in the beginning saying, "Really God, this is so practical and to be quite honest rather boring!" So God told me I need to change my diet. As I dug deeper into the truth he was offering me about my diet, I began to realize that what he was trying to tell me was actually overwhelmingly profound! I discovered that eating is spiritual. My father in heaven laid it out hard! He basically said that if I want to be able to live in his will for his glory and have a relationship with him that is perpetually moving toward the kingdom of God, I need to stop treating my body like a trash compactor. The toxic, rich food I was eating (primarily from restaurants) was essentially a barrier between me and my precious king! I now understood this food was not allowing me to be the strong energized person that can handle the movement of the holy spirit in my soul. I was a godly wimp! The Lord told me I need to be eating food that is clean and pure just the way he prepared the food for us. Let me explain. I kind of look at it like when you add salt to a dish and it hurts the cooks feelings. The cook has taken great care and love in preparing the dish by adding all of the ingredients just perfectly so that you will enjoy it just as the cook had hoped. Our father has prepared so many delicious foods on this earth for us to enjoy and it's perfect just the way he made it. He designed our bodies for heavens sake! He also designed the food that is supposed to make our bodies work and function at top performance. Doesn't it just make sense to eat the food God designed for us and to eat in exactly the way he prepared it?? Duh!
As the days passed I felt my body changing back to it's original design. I can't even begin to explain how incredible I felt and still feel. So many of my little ailments of a 33yr old woman were g.o.n.e! To name a few, the sugar coma crash in the late afternoon no longer existed. I actually discovered I didn't require as much sleep! I was getting out of bed refreshed which is huge for me because I've alway been uber groggy and grouchy in the morning... most of the time walking like a zombie to my coffee pot without a peep. No "good morning" greetings from this toxic mommy! My joints stopped hurting. My contacts felt better in my eyes. My skin felt more smooth and was more even and clear. My emotions felt so much more balanced, and I noticed I had more patience in motherhood. I felt less agitated and was taking more time to listen and look at my kids. I credit most of this due to the fact the enormous amounts of coffee I was drinking was replaced by tea or just plain hot water :)
As I realized how badly I was treating the home for my soul and the holy spirit, I developed a crippling fear for the end of my fast. A fear of going back to my old ways of salt drenched food, bold coffee, and a cloudy mind and heart.
Ryan went through similar feelings during his fast and together, we've made a commitment to change our lifestyle. We are paying closer attention to what is in the food we eat as well as where it comes from. We're incorporating more organic foods (especially meat) and trying to eat more foods in their most natural state. I never thought I would enjoy a plain avacado as much as I have in the last few weeks. Avacados are a great source of unsaturated fat BTW!
The funny thing is, if you looked at us you would probably assume we are generally healthy people. Looks can be deceiving because in my opinion and according to God, we were on the road to destruction and disease!
So.....How are we doing this you ask? Here's a few of the basic stuff we are pursuing.
Make eating Godly a priority. Time management is key. We would always just end up going out to eat because we were too busy to make sure there were groceries in the house, meals were planned, and we had enough energy to cook. Note to self: Cut out signing up kids for the next sport or activity to enable ourselves to have the time to cook good meals at home, sit around the dinner table, look each other in the eyes, and have conversation with our kids.
Have a fall back easy meal. Some nights I am just not in the mood to cook AT ALL! We've figured out to have an easy (usually frozen) meal that can be prepared with little mess and effort. For us it's veggie burgers or Pasta and sauce. These have replaced the (you might as well drink a salt shaker) frozen pizza.
Fruit, veggies and nuts have replaced Doritos, corn chips and crackers for snacks. You know, sometimes you just want to chew and munch!
And for that dreaded sweet tooth at night! To my astonishment, the sweet tooth didn't exist when I was hard core fasting. Now that I've started to incorporate bread and pasta back into my diet I'm seeing hints of him nudge me in the evening. We started buying or making all natural fruit smoothies during our fast, and they have replaced the nightly bowl of sugar cereal.
Educate ourselves. I probably had a bit of a leg up on the topic of nutrition since I have a BS in Physical Education, but there are so many resources out there now with our beloved internet. A four year degree is beyond unnecessary to achieve the knowledge we need for eating godly. A good recource for learning about where our food comes from and the food industry is the movie Food Inc. I have to thank my photography friends for recommending it! If you watch the movie, notice how clear and bright the organic farmer's skin and eyes are. There's no denying it peeps! I also love this great website with lot's of yummy non toxic meals here.
Recalibrate. Sometimes life just get too busy and we fall off the wagon. We've come to realize that there are going to be times when we are going to have to recalibrate and get back on track. Most of the time we can bet if our physical well being is out of wack then our spiritual well being will be too. We've both agreed we will recalibrate by fasting on a more regular basis in order to detox and dejunk our palettes, bodies, and hearts.
You might think this diet sounds bland and boring, but let me explain what I experienced as my body became less toxic. A plain piece of boiled organic chicken was so flavorful and actually tasted salty enough, and a clementine tasted like a piece of candy. I realized I had totally annihilated my palette with junk! Food is so much better with a non-toxic palette!
Does this sound like a crazy amount of knowledge to learn in just a few short weeks? Well, that's the beauty of fasting! It's been astounding how God has flooded us with knowledge and resources in order to change our way.
I still have more to share about God's voice during my fasting, but I'm going to stop for today. This post is too long already so I plan to share in another post about what God has shown me in regards to doing an outward work for the kingdom.
Stay tuned for my next post that will be titled Fasting Outward.
And because on my blog banner it says this is a "photography blog" I'll leave you with a random image of some of my loves.
Peace.
ahhhhh, friend welcome to the organic, natural hippie way of eating. Glad for God's outpouring of clarity to you. So cool!!
...now if only there was a way for you to have more babies, you could sling them to you and feed them avocados, flax seed, and soymilk. :)
Posted by: Julie | February 06, 2010 at 03:03 PM
ooh...thanks for sharing..this sounds like something I would like to try. How long did you do this?
Posted by: Kelly Braman | February 17, 2010 at 02:31 PM