I've been pre-occupied with family matters for the last couple of months but now I'm back. Since my last post was about the difference between fasting and just “not eating,” I’ll start where I left off.
As you may recall, in January, I went on a 21 day fast of raw food, I discovered some things. First, I discovered that the purpose of fasting is to have a fasted life. By that I mean, the real purpose of a fast is what changes as a result of it….the after-the-fast part of your life. The primary intention of my fast was to deal with my feelings about my brother’s cancer diagnosis. I knew that in order to support him, I could not be in fear and panic mode myself. I knew that to pray from a position of fear was not praying in faith, so I also wanted to have a stronger faith to believe for his healing.
Now,
over a month later, I’m finding
that there was a fasting "residual" that I hope will be a part of my
life for the remaining 344 days. First, I learned that fear is a product of the
thoughts that I think. Fasting allowed me the clarity to notice the many times
of the day that I would start feeling sad about my brother. The thoughts were
for the most part, imaginings about his death, the effect of the loss by our
mother or his daughters. I determined
to stop thinking about death and to imagine him healthy. I was able to do that
during the fast and now after the fast, I’m still doing it.
The
second thing I noticed is that I felt healthier eating raw food. For instance,
I noticed that while everyone in the household had the flu-fever, headache,
stuffy nose, etc., I didn't have a single sniffle. I noticed that the sciatic
nerve pain I'd been experiencing for 3 years is just gone. I have less
aches and pains in my joints after my long drives to North Carolina or back to
Virginia. I feel more alert...plus, I'm two dress sizes smaller. I decided to
continue eating a diet of mostly raw foods.
The
third thing I learned is that there are many many ways to fall in love with
vegetables! More on that later.
So,
if you have an area of your thinking or a persistent behavior that needs to
change, consider fasting. It’s not too late to fast for Lent! Also, fasting need not be a total
abstaining of food. Try a Daniel fast, no meats or sweets. Or a modified Daniel
Fast, no sweets! How about fasting TV or giving up talk radio for your morning commute
and putting in a devotional CD instead.
The important thing is to start small and to be gracious with
yourself. Changing to a healthy
lifestyle works better if there is a carrot rather than a stick….Ha ha! Carrot,
get it!
