Hey all-
Nick and I have decided to embark upon a "Daniel Fast" starting tomorrow for the next 21 days. You may be asking, "What is a Daniel fast?" or "Why would they do this?" or "Why should I care?" Let me answer those questions...
Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. There are many different kinds of fasts and many different reasons (religious reasons, health reasons, etc.) why people fast. A "Daniel Fast" is not withholding food and drink entirely, rather is loosely based on the foods Daniel chose to eat in the first chapter of the book of Daniel in the Bible. It's totally vegan-- basically just fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and some whole grains. (Some Daniel fast sources do not allow for nuts, seeds and grains, however, others do and we chose to be liberal with this.)
So why are we doing this? Well, there are a few reasons. First of all, for me, I feel like this issue of food and eating is something that I have struggled with for a while. I've been in places where I have had it under control and was living a healthy lifestyle, but lately, as the craziness of life and the busy-ness of childrearing has taken up so much of my time, I have not been making very good choices on a consistent basis. Now, I primarily think this is a spiritual thing-- (which, might sound silly to someone who is not a believer or someone who doesn't struggle with food issues) and so I wanted to set some time aside to really focus on eating healthy foods with my family and work on praying that I could be a better steward of the body God has given me. It's been quite the journey for me lately, and I believe this is something that will help. This really isn't about weight loss. (in fact, I am SO stinkin' sick and tired of the scale that I have put it up in the attic-- I am tired to feeling like a success or a failure based on a number!)This is about trusting God with this area of my life.
Nick's reasoning is different. Nick doesn't really struggle with food issues, though he does have quite the sweet tooth-- he's just a naturally thin person. (the big jerk... just kidding.) This is something he's doing to help me with this fast and also to seek God's direction on where he'd like us to be heading in the future.
So why 21 days? Well, it's actually a pretty random number. We knew we wanted to do it for an extended period of time, so we considered a 40 day fast. However, we leave for Haiti in 29 days-- and we love Haitian food. So it made sense to us to stop before then... besides, this is the first time we've attempted an extended fast, and so we felt like 21 days was long enough.
Finally, why am I sharing all of this? Well, I have a few reasons. I hesitated to share as the Bible talks about fasting being done in secret. However, I feel like I needed the accountability of others knowing that this is something we were doing, so if I was tempted to quit (which I am sure I will be) knowing that others know what I am doing will hopefully be an incentive to keep on course. Also, we wanted others to know so that we could have the freedom to turn down meal invitations, etc. Lastly, I wanted to be able to use this as a forum to share the things that God is showing me in my life through this time. I would appreciate your prayers as I undertake something that I believe will be too difficult for me to do on my own... something for which I truly need to rely on God.
