Water Fasting: Day Four

Today has been easier.  No headache.  No cramping.  I have a little more energy but did not feel like I could work for long without my mind wandering so I took the day off.

I’m going to end the water fast in the morning.  I feel ready to move on.  I’m going to pick up some fruits and veggies and do juices/raw tomorrow.

My goal after that is to stay ’sober’ from overeating.  I’m going to head back onto the Weight Watchers program.  I’ve prayed about whether I’m supposed to give up sugar or wheat but nothing like that settles true for me.  Weight Watchers guides me to healthy balances in the right serving sizes.  It sits right.

According to the scale, I’ve lost ten pounds.  That’s surely mostly water but I’ll be curious to see if I gain anything as I start eating again.

I’ll post about my juicing tomorrow

Water Fasting: End of Day Three

Through most of today I’ve been tired.  Sometimes it feels like too much effort just to sit upright.  I’m glad I haven’t had to do anything constructive.

Headache, some cramping, something like hunger.

Have lost six pounds.

I’m a little worried about tomorrow when I have to be functional for a lot of the day.  If I feel like this, I won’t get very far.  Don’t have any clarity about anything I’m praying for so I don’t want to stop.

At this point I think I’d rather claim an extra day off than end the fast earlier than it should be ended.

Please keep praying for me!

Water Fasting: End of Day Two

Today I’ve had a lot of headaches and stomach rumbles.  Typical for day two of a water fast.

I’ve been tired a lot.  Took two naps.  Feel foggy – but good.

You’ll be glad to know that I didn’t abuse Sean today.  In fact, we barely saw each other between my naps and his work.

Lost two pounds.

I am fasting and praying for healing and spiritual breakthrough. I have a health issue I believe fasting can have a powerful impact on.  I am seeking God’s touch.

I also want to change my relationship with food.

Actually, I want to break up with it.  Food is not my friend and it’s time for me to stop treating it like one.  I want to make food my slave – instead of the other way around.

Please keep me in your prayers.

Closing in on Midnight

It’s almost midnight here on the first day of my fast.  So far it’s a water fast.  I’m still undecided about whether I’ll introduce fresh juice. I don’t have a length goal though I admit I would like to last quite a bit longer than the last water fast I did.  Three weeks sounds great – but I’m not ready to declare that LOL!

I took a long nap – and plan on lots of wonderful long naps in the coming days and weeks.  (Not that that is a big change for me – but when you’re fasting you need to give your body a lot of rest and renewal.)

I wasn’t hungry until just an hour or so ago so it hasn’t been too harsh on me physically – but emotionally, the journey has had a bumpy start.

I mentioned earlier that I was feeling weepy.  I asked my son to run to the PO for me and when he said no I nearly cried about it and called him a name.  It wasn’t a nice name either. Not a proud moment. I went to my room to get dressed to go myself and the thought of putting clothes on was so overwhelming I just sat there feeling sorry for myself.  Sean had a change of heart and went for me.  After I apologized for calling him a name.

The post office is just around the corner by the way.  It’s not like I was having to make a trip accross town.  Silly huh?

I’ve learned from past fasts that I have to give myself a lot of leeway and forgiveness – but I’m giving myself a stern talking to right now.  It’s not acceptable for my son to suffer abuse in the process.

Again, I ask for your prayers and encouragement.  I need it.

Starting a Spiritual Fast

I am in a ‘grouchy on the edge of weepy’ mood right now.  It’s 3pm in the afternoon and I haven’t had anything to eat today.

It’s not because I’ve been too busy to eat or because there isn’t anything good in the fridge. (There is plenty.)

It is because last night I set my heart on starting a fast. (Haven’t quite decided yet whether it will be a water fast or a fresh juice fast.)

I wondered as I fell asleep if I would remember when I woke up.  I wondered if I would feel the same way in the light of morning and hunger pangs.

I did remember and I do still feel the same.

I ate pretty late last night, so hunger is just now starting to show itself.

I’m nervous.  I have fasted meat for as long as five months but my longest water fast was just five days.   I would like to fast much longer this time.

I’m fasting for a spiritual breakthrough.  I’ll share more later.

For now, I would really appreciate your prayers and encouragement.

I Told You So

We have a rule in our house – do not leave a bedroom without shoes on!  No, we have nothing against going barefoot, but our house is not conducive to barefoot walking.  Once upon a time, I’m sure this was a lovely house.  But, thanks to the owner living five hours away and the real estate agency letting it get run-down, it is literally falling apart around us now.  The floors are among the lesser of the problems, but they are still a major problem.  In the living room, dining room, and hall, the beautiful hardwood flooring has buckled from multiple incidents of overflowed plumbing.  So, there are many places for toes to be stumped and feet to be pinched.  We are praying for the opportunity to live in a house that is safer for our children, but until then, the shoe rule will be enforced.

And so, we come to Tuesday night.  Tuesday night is bath night (yes, I’m one of those horrible parents who does not bathe her children every night.  Go ahead and gasp – it’s okay!).  The kids all bathed while hubby and I fixed supper.  Then I went to help my son get out of the tub and get dressed.  Meanwhile, as I sat in his room helping him into his pajamas, his big sisters were in and out multiple times asking for help with this or that.  As I was helping my oldest adjust the straps on her pajama top, I told my son to get his houseshoes from his closet.  Instead, he raced from the room barefoot.  I called him back in and instructed him to stay in the bedroom until he had houseshoes on his feet.  He raced out again.  He came back in and I grabbed hold of him, stopped him, and reminded him firmly that he was expected to obey me and that he was going to hurt his feet.  As soon as I let go of him to send him to the closet, he raced into the hall again.  This time, however, he pinched his foot.

Yep, I did it.  I said, “I told you so!”  This time, though, he obeyed me, went to get his houseshoes, and did not leave the room until they were firmly on his feet.

One of these days you’d think our children would learn that maybe – just maybe – we know what we are talking about!  Maybe we have a reason for our rules!  Sometimes we even share those reasons with them, as in our situation with the floor.  I wonder if they will ever accept that truth!

Could it be that God is the same way?  Could it be that He really and truly knows what He’s talking about and that, whether He gives us a reason or not, His path is truly best for us?  And yet how many times do we say, “Oh, it will be alright this time.  Hey, look at that!  It was fine…I can do it again, and I’ll still be able to correct myself before I get hurt.”  I don’t know about you, but in my life such thinking always ends up with me getting hurt at some point along the path.

God knows best, and His ways are so much more perfect than mine as an earthly parent.  Maybe, just maybe, as I grow I will learn more and more to heed His wisdom and follow His plan.

It’s such fun!

Sometimes I think parenting is one of the best sources for laughter.  Think about it – our kids can just do the funniest things!

My almost three year old son provides the perfect example.  Steven is very verbal.  Very.  He talks through everything.  Just as an example, go back with me about an hour and step into my kitchen.  Steven saw that I was emptying the dishwasher and said, “Mommy, can I help?”  Now, how could I resist that?  So, he handed me the dishes so that I could put them away.  With each dish he exclaimed, “Dadoo!”  Then he decided he wanted to put the silverware away, a job he absolutely loves.  So, I grabbed a chair for him to stand on, opened the drawer, and handed him the silverware basket.  He talked his way through the whole process.  “This big fork goes here.  This little spoon goes here.  This big huge one goes here.”  And, if he thought I wasn’t interacting with him enough, he changed the phraseology just a bit.  “Mommy, does this little fork go here?”  Or, “Mommy, where does this one go?”  Just in case you weren’t sure, yes, he did know where each piece went – and in fact he had each piece practically put away before he asked each question!  He just needed to talk it all thorugh.

And, it’s not just in the kitchen!  You should hear him in the car.  “Where are we going?  Is this the way to church?  Are we going to run errands first and then go home?  Why are we going this way?  Do we go that way to get to the house?  Can we go backwards?”  It is usually non-stop and usually we answer the same questions about a dozen times in the two mile trip from our house to church or the store.

If you’re not laughing yet, take all of this information and apply it to what happened this morning.  Steven ran into the bathroom where my husband and I were brushing our teeth and, with a huge grin and an exuberant hop,  exclaimed, “I need to go potty!”  I chuckled,  helped him pull his pants down, and set him on the potty.  He indicated he was all done, but as I picked him up off the toilet and leaned over to pull his pants back up, he said, “I was trying to get my poo-poo out!”  (Now, keep in mind, I could not see his head at this point.)  So, I asked him if he need to get back on the potty.  No answer.  “Steven, do you still need to potty?”  Still no answer.  Rather insistently, I asked a third time, but still my son was silent!  Meanwhile, I heard Doug making noises behind me.  His mouth was full of mouthwash, so he couldn’t say anything, but he was trying to alert me to the fact that Steven was shaking his head insistently – he was answering me!  Without words!  My exceedingly verbal son was shaking his head as hard as he could in answer to my question – without making a single sound!

I pulled his pants up, sent him on way, and enjoyed a great laugh with Doug.  Ah, our silly son.

And then I wondered – how much fun would parenting be if I would laugh at their antics more instead of being irritated by them?  When my oldest gets tickled while doing her math flashcards, do I laugh or get impatient and remind her to get them done?  When my middle child makes up a goofy word, do I remind her to use real words or just chuckle with her?

Parenting can be such fun!  Yes, we do need to make sure we maintain boundaries and guidelines, but we also might do well to let the goofiness of our kids rub off on us just a bit every now and then.  Who knows but that it might help us maintain those boundaries even better when our kids know we enjoy their silliness now and then!

A Fly On the Wall

To be a fly on the wall in heaven, oh what I wouldn’t give.  Lately, we’ve had a ton of flys around my house.  Gosh! Those darn things are annoying, but imagine all those precious moments that they get to see.  Wouldn’t you like to be a fly?  Especially a fly in heaven? 

Think about it.  Just yesterday, sadly my church family had to bury a child from our congregation, a little boy who was killed tragically over the weekend.  But, as sad as the event was, the event was also heart-warming as that little boy had just accepted Jesus as his Savior the week before in Vacation Bible School and therefore the moment he passed from this earth he was present with his Savior.

It was a homecoming  unlike any other.  The angels ushered him into heaven.  And, if I had been a fly on the wall, I’m quite certain that those tears I shed over his family’s loss yesterday would not have been present for in heaven there are no tears and there is no sadness, in heaven there was only a celebration.

They celebrated as another of God’s children came home.  I’m sure it was unlike any celebration we have experienced here on earth and honestly I would have loved to even have been a fly on the wall.  Thank God for his grace and mercy, for his salvation that came to us through his Son, Jesus and that one day we will all as God’s children enter heaven.

Photo Credit: Jpctalbot

Alyssa  Avant is a Christian writer, speaker, and business owner whose mission is to turn the hearts of girls towards God.  Alyssa recently felt the calling to help those who felt called into ministry but were fearful of taking the “leap of faith”, to help them she created FaithLeaps, a membership training program for those looking to “take the leap of faith into speaking, writing and / or ministry.

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