Day Seven - I did It!

Well, it is finished! I survived, I thrived, I truly did enjoy this experience. It was so good for me. I would really recommend you fast. It has changed so many things I thought I knew about myself and along the way, I got to have a deeper relationship with the Lord.

Picture Jesus coming down to the shore, calling you in from your boat, and fixing you break-fast. And having a meal together. This is what tonight was like. I sat and ate and enjoyed. I wasn't hungry. I ate because I knew I needed to.

For those who are curious my final weigh in for 7 days, was that I lost 14 1/2 pounds. Still am not sure where, but I know it was good.

My parting words...Pray, Seek the Lord, Fast!

Day Six

I can hardly believe it has been this many days. I do know this, It wasn't this huge scary thing I always thought it was. I didn't die, I didn't sit in wallow in the loss of food, I didn't chew gum (thought about it), I didn't tear my sackcloth and throw ashes on myself and say "why I have done this horrible thing to myself". I kind of thought I might have those feelings. But it was not any of those things, It was something simple, and yet big. And I learned a lot about God too. He is so Simple and yet so Big. He loves me regardless, and has forgiven me of my sins. You see how simple that is yet still so Big. He spoke the universe it to being. Speaking is so simple, and yet his words "Let their be light" were so big. I could go on and on.

Right now, we are making preparations for a two month road trip to speak at churches and with individuals about Cadence. I am going to post our calendar on here soon. This excites me that we are at this point in our partnership development. And while I have been fasting I have been praying for the locations, and the people we will meet a long the way. That God will use us. That He will go before us in all we do.

I have also prayed for a dozen individuals. For some I prayed for divine healing, for other's courage, for some strength to continue on their fast, for other's their salvation. It has been a good time. I think sometimes we go overwhelmed by the everyday demands: breakfast, clean-up, chores, lunch, clean-up, home school, homework, chores, dinner, clean-up, baths, family time, bed time, prep for the next day, church obligations, couple time, etc. that we can not find the time to sit and be quiet. I have been amazed at learning that I have little time throughout the day, 10 minutes here, 5 minutes there, and now I am gonna keep using it. I am going to keep up this prayer time and really delight in talking to God as I go. Like I said before I thought I already was doing this, but it's like the cobwebs have been cleared from my mind. And I can focus better.

I was reading about Jesus talking about the Sabbath today and how it was created for man and not God. I am really pondering that. I got a book for my birthday about honoring the sabbath, and what that looks like for today's family. So I plan to be pondering this for a little longer. Do you have any thoughts or ideas to share to this??

Praying for you!

Elizabeth

Day Five

Well Day 5 is different. I don't feel like I am going to give in, but I do feel tired. Now it could be that Abigail was running a 103 fever last night and was up at various times throughout the night,but I feel like my body is weak. I did decide that we were going to get back to some better eating. I had been diligent about going to the Farmers market every Saturday and getting some great organic veggies. I also was so good at making healthy meals, granted they may have been a little bland, but they are so good for us. And then life happened and I didn't make it a high priority. But I am in charge of this kitchen and I am whipping us back into shape! I am also doing some research for what to eat while we are on the road. As far as snacks to have in the car. A two month road trip does sort of limit going to the farmers market!

As far as for the fast. I think I will be doing something I read about. Tuesday night, I will break fast. I will eat a meal (yet to be determined), and then proceed to do a juice fast, except for Sundays where a small is eaten once on that day. I think this is much more in line to what I can continue to do. I am praying about it as well. I do think the hardest part has been cooking for my family and not sampling the sauce, or all those little things we do without thought! So I have learned a whole lot about food and myself.

I also learned that I never thought of myself as overweight. I always thought of myself as normal. I looked at my gene pool, my Husband said I looked good, had 4 kids, and thought this was normal. I have never been unhappy with my weight or thought that much about it. I have tried to eat healthy and to some degree take care of myself. But the Wii Fit doesn't lie, and I was shocked. I am not one who focuses on weight or BMI (still don't understand how that works), I just always thought, If I am happy! And I have never felt unhappy. So now I feel a little more aware. This doesn't mean I will see a huge weight loss or that I won't occasionally have a piece of cake. It just means I am conscious of food and me a little more. I will add that I have added doing the Wii Fit to whole thing!

I have lost almost 10 pounds, I do believe it has fallen off my ring finger, as I can hardly keep my ring on!

From a spiritual side, I really enjoyed reading about Levi yesterday. The man didn't even ask "what" when the Lord said "Follow me", he just got up and went. At this point in my life I am anxiously awaiting the Lord to reveal the where. It's like Christmas..I know it is coming soon, I just want to know what the gift is. So I am learning from Levi, not to ask questions, but enjoy the trip. Please continue to pray for us we are 1/3 of the way there with our partnership development. We are planning out our Summer trip, and are looking for people to stay with and speak to about our ministry. Please continue to pray for Abigail, she is feeling better, but the cough is still hanging on, Caleb & Julia seem to have added the cough in the last few hours, so they are all getting medicine in a minute.

Thank you for the support! If you have any ideas for our road trip, we'd love to hear them.

Day Four

Last night went great. I really haven't been tempted by too much other than for the entire time, I have had this nice fresh loaf of Italian Bread from Publix sitting on the counter. Last night it looked really good. But I wasn't even hungry.

So I am learning some very interesting things about my eating style. First, I learned that I do not eat enough throughout the day. I usually only eat dinner and sometimes a late night snack. So I am going to be changing that up! I also learned that I eat food because a) it looks good b) it tastes good c) I am bored. Now that last one seemed weird to me, but I learned that because I am not eating right throughout the day, I am setting myself up to fail.

What I am learning spiritually, I am loving looking at the gospels paralleled. It is so interesting to see the differences from each disciples pen. I love how even though there are differences the heart of the message is the same. I feel like that is just like us. We are all different from each other, but yet God still gets to the heart of His message.And how he uses those subtle differences to reach each one of us, and in turn uses that to reach others for him. That's some good stuff as Bro. Roger would say!

So pressing on through Day Four! Just a few more to go!!

Day Three

It is one in the afternoon, and I feel great. I just weighed myself on the Wii and I have lost 8 pounds. So that is really encouraging. Even though I am not doing this to lose weight, I knew it would happen, and I gladly accepted it! I have prayed on & off for different people throughout the day. I just seem to be living in a state of prayer. I use to think so, but it is like my eyes have been open. I have been praying for girlfriends today as they travel on this journey with me. I have also been praying about what I should do at the end of my 7 days. Should I just do juice, should I go back to food, but make it fruits and veggies, should I just go to some leaner choices...So I am praying and seeking the Lord. You can pray with me about that. Some of you are leaving comments on here, and others on my Facebook. Know that I am returning that with prayers for you. The girls and I are having a GIRLS NIGHT OUT since Chris and the boys have a lock in. We will be scrapbooking and watching movies. This is usually when I snack. So I am going to be on my guard. Fortunately, the girls wanted some sweet tart gummy bunnies for their girl time, and not chocolate! Since it is not in the house, and I don't have a car, shouldn't be an issue!! I will confess that the closer it got to bedtime last night, the more my body wanted food, I held in there and feel so good this morning! My muscles do feel like they have been to the gym. I am adding more water today. I don't want to get dehydrated! Thanks for all your love and support. See ya tomorrow!

Day Two

For most of today it has been pretty easy. Of course, I read about Jesus meeting the Samaritan Woman today. I am reminded of who is my Living Water and my Bread of Life. I have held onto these words. I did have to work at the Food Closet today, and that was so hard seeing all that food. Those chili Vienna sausages looked sooo amazing! Then Chris had a student get picked up well over an hour late, so we had to grab the kids some BK before he ran off to Volleyball. And smelling those fries....UM! My stomach has just started acting hungry tonight, and I am really trying hard to fight. I am glad I have friends praying for me. My pastor thought I might have bitten off too much this first time out, he thought I should do three days... tomorrow I might agree with him!!

Day 1

So I had prepared my self last night by reading from the Bible in different locations where people had fasted...Esther, Elijah, Jesus. So when I got up this morning I focused on Jesus. I wasn't hungry. So I sat down to read some scripture that my girlfriends Tonya & Amy had agreed to read with me. We are trying to read every recorded detail of the life of Christ from His baptism by John the Baptist till his resurrection. From all 4 gospels! It helped to have that in my mind all day. By lunch, Chris still had not guessed what I had given up, but when I didn't eat dinner, he figured out I was giving up food. So I am going to try my best to not eat for 7 days. I hope I do not fail, I am very aware that I might. My goal today was to break today into 3 parts breakfast to lunch, lunch to dinner, dinner to bedtime. While Chris and the kids were eating dinner it kinda got to me, but don't you know I checked my mail, and my friend Tonya was praying for me to have strength. Good timing? Thank you Lord for using her! Cause I really wanted something. Anything would have been good. I would have eaten a rice cake! But the feeling has passed and I am pressing on.

40 days of Lent

Well, It is officially midnight. I am starting my first night of Lent tonight. I can not tell you yet what I am giving up. Chris doesn't know yet. He is going to try and guess by observing me. Just trying to have a little fun. But I can tell you it is a fast, and I am nervous. I did a food fast a few weeks ago and went without foods from sunset to sunset. It was good. I am hoping to gain two things from fasting during this lent season. First, I want to be able to know more about my Savior, and worship him differently than I did last year. Second, I want to have a time of understanding sacrifice. I think there is more on my heart that will come out in the next few days. I have two friends that are reading through the Bible with me and praying with me. I am also praying for them as they go into the Lenten season. I will somewhat attempt to journal my thoughts on here. We will see how it goes!

Why I love being with my Fort Worth Church & Friends.

You know I don't have to have a membership at a church to call it "My" Church. Any Church that has my brothers and sisters in it is my church! So last night when I got to see all my friends from Wedgwood Baptist Church, MOPs, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, I was so encouraged. These special groups, all have one thing in common, They are all aware of living with Kingdom Vision. So it was great to have people be soooo excited about our ministry, and just as excited to want to know where we are going. Not one of them thought we were crazy. In fact, they were so thrilled to have been a part of what we are doing by praying for us, and keeping up with us on Facebook and our blog. It was just a whole bunch of HAPPY for the entire night! I loved being able to bounce around some ideas with them. My prayer is that all Christians will have friends to help them on their walk. Won't heaven be great when we all get to be together all the time. I love you girls..and guys!

Another Provision

The Lord is ALWAYS faithful. I am writing this, so that you can know of His Faithfulness. Since Sunday was Chris' last day, we are now on a limited income. He is maintaining his part-time job as After-school teacher. So, we have understood that it isn't "realistic", "smart", or "make any-sense". But we know that God has told us to obey. And to tell you of His Goodness, I will tell you that through our Tax refund God is providing for us for Several Months. This is no coincidence that this happened the day after we were obedient to the end of that task. No matter how scary, we have gone out on the limb, and we are tasting the fruit!! Keep posted for more of goodness to come in the coming days!