Hey guys, this is Morgan! My dad is letting me guest blog for him today so that I can tell my story of fasting. Recently one of my best friends and I decided that we would fast from food for a day, and I have to admit that I was kind of nervous. She felt God telling her to fast and I also felt the need to do so. We decided to do it on the same day for support and so that we could be each other’s accountability partner. We did it and survived.
I learned some valuable lessons through my experience. One of the most important is that in fasting, what a person gives up is not as important as what that person takes up.
I’m being really transparent here (even at the cost of embarrassing myself)…but as I struggled through my hunger, I thought the purpose of fasting was to learn how not to be hungry when you fast. Whenever I would usually be eating, I prayed the whole time…which was odd to me because I’m not accustomed to praying for 30 minutes straight. My constant prayer during that whole period of time was that God would help me not to be hungry.
Not until I told my dad what I had been praying did I learn that fasting is not about not being hungry but about being hungry for God. I was praying for God to take away my hunger; I should have been praying for God to redirect my hunger toward Him.
I’m still new to this whole fasting thing, but I’m discovering that there’s a negative side to fasting and a positive side to fasting. Negatively, I give up something. Positively, though, I give my attention to something else (or, rather, Someone else).
I’m looking forward to next time…and I’m going to remember that fasting is not about what I give up as much as it is what I take up. And I’m taking up a prayer for God to do something amazing in my life and through His church!
P.S. Some students might think it’s hard to fast during school. No one wants to be “that kid” sitting at the table ignoring everyone, sitting there with head down and praying the whole time. What my friend and I did (and you could do also) was tell Administration what you are participating in. They were very supportive and let us go down to the gym locker room where it was quiet. Anybody can do this, not just adults!
I learned some valuable lessons through my experience. One of the most important is that in fasting, what a person gives up is not as important as what that person takes up.
I’m being really transparent here (even at the cost of embarrassing myself)…but as I struggled through my hunger, I thought the purpose of fasting was to learn how not to be hungry when you fast. Whenever I would usually be eating, I prayed the whole time…which was odd to me because I’m not accustomed to praying for 30 minutes straight. My constant prayer during that whole period of time was that God would help me not to be hungry.
Not until I told my dad what I had been praying did I learn that fasting is not about not being hungry but about being hungry for God. I was praying for God to take away my hunger; I should have been praying for God to redirect my hunger toward Him.
I’m still new to this whole fasting thing, but I’m discovering that there’s a negative side to fasting and a positive side to fasting. Negatively, I give up something. Positively, though, I give my attention to something else (or, rather, Someone else).
I’m looking forward to next time…and I’m going to remember that fasting is not about what I give up as much as it is what I take up. And I’m taking up a prayer for God to do something amazing in my life and through His church!
P.S. Some students might think it’s hard to fast during school. No one wants to be “that kid” sitting at the table ignoring everyone, sitting there with head down and praying the whole time. What my friend and I did (and you could do also) was tell Administration what you are participating in. They were very supportive and let us go down to the gym locker room where it was quiet. Anybody can do this, not just adults!
1 comment:
Great insight Morgan and very well written :). Thanks for sharing.
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