Spiritual Disciplines: Fasting

So what is so wonderful about fasting??? And why would anyone want to do it?

If you read my short blogs from Sept 2008, you read about my beginning with fasting one day a week. The fasting I did was in response to a direction from God. I had been praying about where to live as the landlord was boosting the rent to a level i couldn't afford. God's answer, in part, was to tell me to fast until I was in the new house for 2 weeks. I was also to read 3 chapters a day of Isiah. When Isiah was finished, I got to continue at 2 chapters a day of Daniel, Ezekiel, and some other books.

Now fasting is a decision, and different from missing a meal because of work, forgetfulness, etc. It is meant to provide more time with God. My version of fasting was this: eat Monday dinner, skip all day Tuesday and then eat Wednesday breakfast. I took water, tea and sometimes fruit juice during the Tuesday time. I read the Bible chapters some mornings before I got out of bed (wasn't as routine with this as I might have been).

There were a few times that I would do well, and then take a snack and have to begin the fast all over again. Also there were a few days that I skipped altogether. After a time I noticed that some fast days were very easy to do and lightened my load a lot. Some days were a struggle, not helped by some books I was reading which had extended feast descriptions!

The landlord recanted his rent increase in Nov, but I felt that the fasting and reading was to continue. In March there were rumors he was going to build another small house in the compound where I was staying, a very unsettling situation. So the fasting continued.

In May I negotiated for a new place to rent, but couldn't move in. So the fasting continued. August 1 saw us in the new house, but I needed to continue for a bit. Then we were to go to Kenya in early Sept. I realized that it was almost a year since I'd started the fasting. So I added extra days to make up for the missed ones and a few more to cover the two weeks of our trip.

By the end of September I had averaged one day a week of fasting for an entire year. Not a bad start.

What did I learn?
First that I wasn't "starving" during the fasting time. The struggle was with my mind and expectations and habits, not my body.

Second, that food had a huge hold on me, my time and thoughts. (yes, from my size others might have seen that, but it is different knowing it for yourself).

Third, and most important, that fasting set me free in a big way from the hold the material things of this world have in my life. Now, there is room more for people than ever before. I have given all my possessions in the US, except the house, to my daughters. There is much more appreciation for beauty of the natural world and less covetedness in my heart.

Next steps: my housemate fasts the entire month of January. This year I will join her. I doubt I'll do the all night prayer sessions with her at her church, but I really don't know what God will lead me into. I trust Him completely to show me what I need to do and when to do it.

And the house I am now living in......is so much better than what I had before, it could only have been found by God. The rent is affordable, the landlord's easy to work with and life is very very good.