Awakening

A few people know I'm fasting this month and I mentioned it in Meal Plan Monday blog yesterday so I thought I'd elaborate.  I, along with many other people from my church, are participating in a 21-day prayer and fast called Awakening.  It is actually a worldwide event and hundreds of churches from around the world kick off the New Year with this time time of dedicated devotion with God.  Last year I heard testimony after testimony of how God moved powerfully in the lives of those who participated and I was bummed I had missed out - I didn't adequately prepare for the fasting part!  

This year, I prepared way ahead of time in regards to fasting.  There are several ways to fast, but I know my body can't handle a full fast and because I've been experiencing a lot of problems with my hyperglycemia lately, I knew it probably wasn't in my body's best interest to even do a Daniel Fast (which excludes dairy products and I tend to eat eggs for breakfast to help with my blood sugar).  The point of fasting is to draw closer to God, so you can fast social media (Facebook, Twitter, the internet all together), TV, the phone, anything that keeps you distracted from time with God.  But I knew I wanted to fast food of some sort because of the discipline that it required and ended up going to red meat.  At first I didn't know if it would be enough of a fast because while I was taking red meat out of my diet, I would be replacing it with another food, but in my Awakening devotion I found that fasting red meat is actually quite common and I actually have to be quite careful of what is in my food.  Buying a frozen pizza became a task when I realized that pepperoni had beef in it and when we went to a Chinese buffet, sometimes you don't know what everything is and having to bypass some of my favorites was quite hard!

So that's the deal - I'm fasting red meat until the end of January, I'm making time for God everyday in the form of devotion, Bible reading, and prayer. I haven't had too many cravings for hamburger or steak which is saying A LOT because I could live off of red meat if my heart would allow me too!  I am nervous for when my fast is over and when I introduce my body to red meat again what that will be like but this experience has allowed me to draw closer to God and to make healthier eating choices - it's a win-win!