At Day 1, I said I would give up sweets; little did I realize how often I have sweets, that is, until I had to quit cold turkey! After one week, I was like, “Ok, Lord, I quit sweets, I can go 14 more days, no problem. But that is when He dropped one on me. He said, “I want you to give up running.”
     I said, “Haha, Lord, I just though you told me to quit running…that’s so funny.” But then again, I heard that small voice say, “I want you to stop running.” So, being the occasional typical blonde, I said, “Running from what?” To which there was no reply.
     So I asked again, “Lord, you can’t possibly mean give up running..like running running, the one stress outlet that keeps me going?” In reply, He said, “Stop running.”

Now, to everyone reading this, you might say, “Quit running!  No problem.” But, I did not realize how tight a hold I had on it until…just about a week ago. Typically, I spend half an hour to an hour running every day, which is about 3-5 miles. In order to get my running time in, I would cut short on my quiet time with God, or the time I’d spend with my friends or family. I was simply “unavailable” if I had not run yet for that day. In short, to me, running was something I had control over. It helped me relieve stress, it made me feel better… but it also made me proud. When I didn’t run, I’d become stressed out, which was kind of counter-productive. In short, I had made an idol out of running, without ever realizing it ( Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”). 

So what is the Lord teaching me through this fast? 1 Peter 5: 6-7, really sums it up. It says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”

God has been showing me how to rely more on Him; He even wants to take my stress. The more you give to God, the more He is going to give to you. Like it says in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” God has been showing me to put Him above all else, which is sometimes hard in an ego-centric culture. But God calls us to rise above the culture and to seek Him first in ALL we do. 

I do not know what else God has for me during this fast, but I have experienced His love, His joy, and His peace. All He asks of us is our obedience.