Fasting, Day 2

On day 2 of fasting, I woke up feeling very weak. When I took a shower, it was all I could do to lift my arms up to wash my hair. After taking a shower, I had to sit down on the bed for 5-10 minutes just to allow my heartbeat to slow down and relax a little. By the time I was dressed and ready for the day, I suddenly felt like I could throw up. After talking with Audra, I realized I hadn’t drunk any water since I woke up, and thought maybe that would help. It did, indeed. The feeling went away immediately.

One of the most important things on a fast is drinking lots of water. I am figuring that the reason I felt this way this morning was because I didn’t drink water for so many hours because of sleeping. I will make it a habit from now on to drink a glass of water immediately after waking. Speaking of drinking water, I’ve never drunk so much in my life. I go to the bathroom more than a pregnant woman. Those of you who know me well know that I don’t drink much liquids most days. It’s not uncommon for me to eat an entire meal and go on with my day without drinking anything. But my throat feels dry most of the time, so I continue to gulp it down.

As I was praying and preparing for church this morning, I found myself inadvertently humming a song I haven’t heard since I was in high school. Surprisingly, the words to the song really speak to this occasion in my life. (Sadly, the song is written by Carman.) But as hard as it is for me to say it, I believe this song by Carman was put into my head by God. I encourage you to listen to the song here. The lyrics speak about hungering for holiness and for God with great passion. I feel like I should continue listening to this song, so that my hunger can be channeled toward these things–so that I become just as hungry for God as I get for food.

Speaking of hunger, I still haven’t had severe hunger pains. My stomach hasn’t growled at all today. I am thankful for that. I think God is being gracious to me. Another thing I am thankful for is that I was able to minister at both churches this morning without feeling bad (just thirsty!). I was a little afraid going into it that I would feel bad because of exerting energy to preach, etc. I think I was on adrenaline during those times. Either that, or God was helping me.

One thing that I’ve been thinking about today in regards of food is how much I miss being able to gather with other people around food. Today, I’m not so much missing the taste of food as much as the experience of community that comes with food. For example, I enjoy taking our family out for dinner and having a good time together. I enjoy going to a home, and having a Bible study and eating together. I think that what God is trying to tell me is that when my fast is over to not make eating food so much about the food, but instead to make it more about spending quality time together. Oftentimes, “fellowship” times at church simply mean eating food together, which isn’t bad. But it’s not really what spiritual fellowship is about. It’s about sharing our faith together, and allowing the Holy Spirit to do a work within us as a community. I do think that food is a great way to bring people together, and my hope is that when my fast is over I will make the most of times together with family or friends to really build community and relationships. Food isn’t a bad thing, and it can actually be a great tool to allow God to do some special things in our midst!