For the month of February I decided that I would fast from different things so that I could grow and be stretched in my relationship with the Lord.
Now, please understand, no one challenged me to do this ... there was no hidden agenda ... I simply wanted to see if I could do it and see how the spiritual discipline of fasting affected my spiritual walk. So after spending a few days at the end of January praying about the things I would give up, I put together a schedule that looked like this.
February 1-7 - Fast from Facebook
February 8-14 - Fast from Sugar/sweets
February 15-21 - Fast from Caffeine
February 22-28 - Fast from TV/movies
Just to give a little bit of insight, I purposely scheduled them from the things I thought would be easiest to give up to the hardest as each week passed. For me being a youth pastor, I thought Facebook could be fairly difficult as it's a huge means of communication for me, but it actually was rather easy to give up. I realized how much time I waste on there, even when I'm just getting on to do something that should only take 5 minutes. That time easily turns into 25 or 45 minutes. I also realized in that first week how much I really needed to spend that time with the Lord and so it was an easy switch to make in some senses.
The second week, giving up sweets was trickier than I had first expected. I realized that meant changing some of my habits. I also become more aware of the things that I eat and drink throughout the week. It was also a good week in the sense of prayer as I found myself talking to the Lord more and more each day and asking Him to help me see things differently.
The third and fourth weeks I was dreading. For those that know me best, you know that I LOVE my weekly and sometimes daily visits to Starbucks and in my free time I enjoy catching up on many TV shows. So giving up caffeine was a bit nerve racking, especially after hearing some of the horror stories of people who had tried to give it up. So I was expecting the worst; headaches, grumpy moods, severe drowsiness among other things. And yet, it was probably the best week of the month. I wasn't craving coffee or soda like I had expected. I felt that I truly had to depend on the joy of the Lord rather than perks of caffeine to get me through my days. More importantly, I realized that I wasn't nearly as addicted to caffeine as I had wondered.
The fourth week was probably the most challenging as half way through the week, I got sick. And one of my favorite things to do when I'm sick is lay on the couch and watch movies. So I was torn. Could I justify breaking my fast because I was sick? I decided no. I figured that I wanted to stretch myself and this was a great way to really rest in the Lord and spend even more time focusing on Him. So that's what I did for this past weekend ... I slept, prayed and read more than I think I ever have in one weekend before. And in a very unexpected and unusual way, I grew in ways I was not expecting and I can honestly say that I'm closer to God in some ways because of it.
So what are you willing to give up in order to grow in your relationship with the Lord in new ways??
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