Digital image. The Christian Science Monitor. N.p., 27 Apr. 2012. Web. 5 Nov. 2012.
I’m in the middle of a fasting exercise that will span several months, following Jen Hatmaker’s book 7: An Experimental Mutiny against Excess. The first month was about food. After seeking direction from the Lord, I settled on a series of food restrictions for the first three weeks of October (read a bit about that here). The most difficult for me was saying no to all sweets and prepackaged snacks and limiting coffee just once a week.
It’s amazing how these small restrictions exposed a large reservoir of Self with a capital S that wants what it wants when it wants it. I missed coffee almost daily, even though I don’t typically drink it every day. I missed dessert, especially when I thought my will was strong enough (hahahaha!!!) to bake but not partake of a chocolate pound cake for my book club—Mike talked reason into me before I fell to its luscious aroma. (Thanks, honey.) I wanted Nutella on my whole wheat bread. I wanted pasta. Really, I just wanted anything else I couldn’t have.
So I learned a lot during this little three-week experiment. And I wrote about some of it for the True Woman blog in an article titled “Woman Does Not Live on Nutella Alone.” I know this is true, but my stomach still craves that cocoa-hazelnut smear. Everything in moderation, right? Check out the article and join the discussion. And let me know what sort of fasts you have found helpful.
