Today ended the time of fasting for our family. We gave up a combination of things. We began with sweets, gluten, and processed foods, and ended with giving up all cooked foods. It was one of the more difficult fasting periods that I've ever experienced. I was hungry. Oh, so hungry.
But I learned so much.
I learned that what I may see as impossible, God sees as an opportunity to refine my faith. I learned that I don't really need what I think I need to survive. I learned that I take so many things for granted. I learned that only God will sustain me, and that if He asks me to do something, my response is born out of my trust in Him. I learned that I have put so many things (emotional, spiritual, physical) on my plate, and with such a full plate, I have become emotionally, spiritually, and physically fat. I'm tired of being fat.
I feel as if God has completely cleared that plate, a sort of leveling, or rebooting, if you will. He is teaching me the practice of seeking Him, and allowing Him to lead me.
Trust. Obedience. Intentionality.
A season focused on denying oneself, yet indulging in the message of
grace, redemption, healing and love.
That's the message of the cross.
That's why He came.
That's why He died.
So today, we feast.
And tomorrow, we do not forget how He has carried us through,
and we become even more intentional about how we live.
