Why Fast?

Last year this time, I read a blogger's post about giving up sugar. My immediate thought was "I could NEVER do that." Some time passed and a second blogger I follow gave up sugar. Again, "I could NEVER do that." But that I time I also thought, "Why couldn't I?"

My day starts with sugar...in my coffee. And ends with sugar...in my ice cream. I love sugar. Chocolate is my friend. And those sweet coffee drinks. MMMmmm!

Soon a couple of friends were doing the Daniel Fast. I love the tag line of this book, which says, "Sometimes you are so hungry that the only way you can be fed is to fast." And so I began contemplating not just giving up sugar, but giving up sugar, all sweeteners including artificial and natural, meat, diary, and EVERYTHING except whole grains, fruits and veggies, and drinking only water. (no coffee!)

As I began reading the Daniel Fast book and meal planning, I became excited. With the help of God, I could give up sugar, and all that other stuff. I set Feb 16 as my start day and decided to fast for 10 days. I did it for a couple of reasons.

1. To show God's power. I couldn't do it. I absolutely could not do it. But God in me could, and that is very exciting!

2. To deny myself. We live in a world of self-indulgence, not self-denial. I pretty much eat anything I want. I wanted to deny myself for God.

On Monday I'll post some things I learned as a result of my fast, but today is the 11th day. The end result?

I did it!!!! GOD DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Matthew 16:24 -- Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Daniel 1:12 -- {Daniel said} "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink."

The Power of Prayer

Many of us have heard stories of miraculous healings as a result of feverent prayers. Just as many of us, however, have known or heard of someone who was not healed, who had seemingly just as much prayer support. What then, is the power of prayer? Why should we pray?

Meet me over at Titus 2 in Action to discuss the power of prayer.

Pass or Fail?

My 10 yr old daughter (I call her "Gigi" on the blog) is very smart. As a matter of fact she is an A student who has been labeled as gifted. She does remarkably well at school, and is reading well beyond grade level.

The other day Gigi had to write a report at school. She chose the animal and wrote a fabulous report. It had interesting facts and included beautifully drawn illustrations. It looked like "A" work. Her grade on the project? An "F." You see, while Gigi's report was beautiful and interesting, she didn't follow the guidelines the teacher had instructed. Each report was to include information about the animal's predators and prey. Each one of those topics was worth 20 points. Missing those 2 topics made her lose 40 points - and she received a 60. Her first F.

You know we often look at our own lives and think we doing fine. We're "good" people. Life is beautiful, or at least interesting. We don't need a Savior or a God. But truth is, if you look at the guidelines (the Bible), you'll see that even though we might think we're an "A", we're really an "F".

Like Gigi's report, if you judge us on own merit, you might think we're doing pretty well. But God provides clear guidelines in the Bible that we are meant to follow and we don't. We deserve to fail.

Gigi was quick to get with her teacher before she even came home from school that day. She requested and received an "extra credit" project to pull her grade up. Her teacher had mercy on her. God too has mercy on us. We don't even have to do the extra credit. Jesus did the work on the cross on our behalf, and all we have to do is accept him and believe in him.

With Jesus' extra credit work, we can earn the A, the gift of eternal life. Review the guidelines today, and then determine what do your grades look like?

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If you were looking for the "Celebrity Doppelganger" post that I wrote yesterday, and clicked from your followers Reading List, please note I inadvertently published it. I meant to preschedule it, so I removed it. That is why you can't open it. It is scheduled for March 5 now.