Excerpts From My 'Week of Fasting' Journal Entries
April 21, 2024 |
| Coming in hot - Rice, Jumbo Shrimp and Buttery French Beans |
Hi beautiful people,
My last health/life update post mentioned my intentions to employ some tools to deal with my recent 'off-feelings'. Last week, I decided to add on to the tools by committing to stillness through a fast.
A few 'house-keeping' items before we get into how my week went.
If you have any health condition that requires you to be well fed at all times, especially for your medication or other treatment plans to work, please check in with a medical professional before you embark on any type of fast.
If your intention is to do a spiritual fast, and you are not engaging in any spiritual disciplines like praying, meditation, Bible Study etc...my friend, you are just dieting.
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| Rocking my Made in Millersville Tee at the school gym - April, 2024 |
Now that we have that out of the way, here is how my fast went down.
Based on my health issues, I do not do very long fasts, and always break them early in the day. This time round, I did what those in Christian circles would call a Daniel Fast - loads of veggies, fruits and nuts. Health restrictions aside, as a somewhat vegetarian, this was not a big adjustment.
The challenge was committing to stillness and meditation. In short, dieting is not the issue, the spiritual add-ons are the tall order. I decided to work on being still for 5 days, and to pray and meditate while at it. I kept a log of it all...and below are edited excerpts.
As you read this, please note that there are other unmentioned treatment plans/therapies that I use...I am not just fasting, or going to the gym, or seeing a therapist...it is a combination of tools.
Day 1: Did not go as planned
I knew I was going to start the fast on a Monday, so I overindulged on my rice and beans meal the night before (do not judge me). And because beans, when consumed in large quantities do wonders to the stomach, it was best for everyone if I did not eat anything that morning - day 1 of the fast.
Lasted until 2pm, and for reasons beyond my comprehension, I started craving shrimp (I can hear my spiritual people whispering that was the enemy fighting my fast). Well, the cravings won and I 'reasoned' - since I had left over rice, and was committing to a 5 day fast, it would ‘serve the environment and starving children across the world’ if I finished the rice (by pairing it with some shrimp and French beans)…clearly day 1 didn’t go as planned.
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| At the bus-stop with my beetroot smoothie |
Day 2 + 3: New Mercies Every Morning
Thank God Day 2's Bible verse was Lamentations 3:22-23 which reminded me that the 'Steadfast love of the Lord never ceases' and 'His mercies are new every morning'. I definitely needed a fresh bunch of both - the love and mercy.
After that rice, beans and shrimp fiasco, I had learnt my lesson, so I prepared my smoothie ingredients the night before. Made a Strawberry-Banana smoothie before leaving for school and drank it on the bus to school. Drank loads of water in between classes, ate loads of fruits when I got home...then settled in for my first meditation.
As I meditated on God's steadfast love, and gave thanks for His mercies, and all the amazing things He has done for me, and continues to do, I found my thoughts moving from my anxieties to the groups He has been inviting me to work with. Before long, I was praying and standing in the gap for people I am yet to meet.
The next day, was similar. Prepared my ingredients the night before again. Had Beetroot and Pineapple smoothie on my way to school. Only difference was that I felt hungry, and kept wondering why I committed to this. Was ready to call it quits but had a nap after school (it tricked my body) then ate loads of nuts, fruits and veggies in the evening, and was ok.
The Bible verse for Day 3 was on God's mercy and forgiveness. Spent time thinking/praying for people I need to extend mercy/forgiveness to, and those I would like to get mercy/forgiveness from.
Day 4 + 5: Most Productive Days
Had my morning smoothie routine locked. Was more productive workwise and had really intriguing introspections on both days.
Broke my fast at the end of Day 5 with my first cooked meal in 4-ish days.
Conclusion
It has been a while since I did such a fast/dedicated days to stillness and meditation. Despite the false start on Day 1, I am glad I made it to Day 5, physically and spiritually.
Interestingly, the verse I read on the last day was Paul's message to the Thessalonians asking them to rejoice always and pray without ceasing. It feels counter-intuitive to rejoice in the midst of uncertainty but looking through my journal and prayer points, I have a lot to be grateful for, I have a lot to rejoice about.
If I was to sum what I got out of this week in one word, I would say assurance. Sometimes we truly do not need tangible things, we just need assurance...the type that comes from within, the type that reminds you that you are still on the right path. I am rejoicing that that was this week's gift to me.
If this post inspires you to finally try out fasting, or get back on it, I pray you get into your practice with the assurance that something will shift. It might not be of a world war ending magnitude, but something will happen for you, in you or through you.
If your day one of fasting ends up like mine, I pray that you have the assurance that His steadfast love never ceases, that His mercies are new every morning, that you can try again the next day because fasting is a discipline, and like any other disciple, spiritual or otherwise, you have to try a couple times before you get the 'hang' of it.
Until the next post,
Sending love and light,
Sitawa
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