Joy Best

In January I did a water fast.  It was the physically hardest (and spiritually, I think) thing I ‘ve done to date. I haven’t done a long fast for 13 years, but I felt that the Lord put it on my heart .  I definitely think it was Him because I don’t think it would have been one of MY ideas.  I LIKE food!  Right from the start, though, there was grace for it, because I wanted to follow the Lord’s lead.

The reason I wanted to write about it is not to tell about what a hard thing I did, but about something I learned along the way. I’ve never had to ask for so much help ever!  There were many times a day when I had to call out “I need help”.  I learned that as soon as I called, I would be strengthened, it was tangible help. I could actually carry through and do something that I was ready to give up on. This was a really important thing for me to have to call out  maybe 50 times a day for help. Normally I don’t think of asking for help that many times. I’ve found after the fast that I do think of it more often, I guess because I did it so often, it became sort of a habit!

There were times when I did stick something in my mouth, so the month was not a perfect fast with no boo-boos at all, but each time rather than getting depressed about it, I just confessed my weakness to God and asked for strength to get back on track and carry on. I remember my niece training her little 3 yr old, when he would get so frustrated that he couldn’t do something, she would say, OK , try again!  It not only works for a 3 year old, it was helpful for a 60 year old!

One day about half way through, I was having a very bleak day and I was seriously wondering if I could DO THIS! It was very hard, and I started to doubt if I could actually complete the second half of the fast. I said, “Lord, I don’t think I can do this, can You talk to me?  I need to hear from You about what You think.”  A little while later I received a late Christmas card from Matte Downey. I looked at it and thought it would probably win our annual Christmas card contest for the most creative card. It took a couple of hours for me to get it that the Lord was speaking through the card.  It had 3 raspberries and the caption was “open your mouth and taste how good God is”.  Raspberries are one of my very favorite fruit, and I would have loved to pop them into my mouth, but it seemed that the Lord was saying to me, you think RASPBERRIES are tasty, here is something MUCH BETTER! Let God be food.

I need to say that God literally did satisfy me, I didn’t have a grouchy month, I was able to laugh and enjoy things.  He taught me to enjoy other things than just food. John 6 is really true “I am the bread of life”. I found it satisfying to just commune with Him as I joined others at the table, I found it was a real joy just to enjoy the people and the strength of community, or just to be thankful that anyone could have food. To enjoy the privilege of serving, enjoy the fact that we have groceries to buy in our stores, and finally at the month’s end to enjoy the thrill of obedience even if it’s hard!