My first Daniel Fast

I have had the desire to be closer to God for the last several years; but it wasn’t until last year that I began taking action to make my relationship with Him what I wanted it to be. The biggest hurdle had been that I hadn’t found a church that I enjoyed, where I truly felt welcomed, and where I could receive teaching that fed my soul. Long story short, I visited One Community Church once and never stopped going.  I think I attended church more in 2013 then I had in all my other years in Dallas combined.  So, at the end of 2013, I became an official member of the congregation! 

I felt accomplished but I knew that regular attendance at church wasn’t what I was striving for.  It was simply one of the habits I needed to form on my way to building the relationship that I want.  My church stresses that the only way to know God is to spend time with Him in His Word and a great way to develop the habit of scripture reading is to do the Daniel Fast. 

The Daniel Fast is a biblically-based fast where Christians abstain from certain foods while dedicating time daily to communicate with God.  One notable component is the actual fasting, where participants eat a plant-based diet and only drink water. The diet has been referred to as vegan with restrictions … who knew there could be more restrictions than a vegan diet?  ON the Daniel Fast, there’s no meat (and yes, fish is meat), no dairy, no sugar, no alcohol, no tea, no coffee, no bread, and no processed food which basically means most of what we eat is not on the diet since most of our food is processed in some way and pretty much all processed foods contain sugar … but that’s a blog for another day.   

I had heard about the Daniel Fast but I always thought I couldn’t do it because of the food restrictions.  But when I considered doing the fast, and thought about why I wanted to do it, I felt like I had to do it. The ‘restrictions’ became a non-factor and the diet simply became the way I needed to eat in order to continue on my journey.  As far as the diet, I actually enjoyed eating differently. In fact, I realized I don’t need meat at every meal nor do I crave some of the junk that I previously did. To top it off, I even lost a few pounds!

Besides the food revelation and weight loss, the 21 days of the Daniel Fast were good for me in many ways.  I began to really share my authentic heart and mold my style of communication with God. This meant not always talking, but listening and realizing there are others ways that I communicate with Him, like through my writing.  So, I started journaling more. During the fast, I journaled everyday, just like I used to when I was younger and not as consumed with the busy-ness of life, and I came to recognize the sense of peace sharing my feelings in that way gave me.

I also spent more time reading the Word.  Not simply reading a ‘verse of the day’ or a specific passage that we discussed at church.  I read complete books and tons of stories.  I dissected, analyzed, re-read and even made notes. More importantly, I compared the issues the characters faced with those in my life and gave thought to what I can do to be a better person.  I’ve since moved on to a new bible reading plan called E100.

Finally, the Daniel Fast brought me closer to two of my line sisters, Sherasa and Annisha.  We decided to do the fast together to encourage each other to finish line.  And that we did!  We kept each other going, inspired each other, and shared challenges, recipes, meal plans and more.  Fasting was easier because I had them!       

So now that the fast is over and life is back to normal, what does that mean?  I was really nervous about what would happen post-fast. How would I keep up my habits? Could I keep up my habits?  What happened if I didn’t?  And then I realized that just like I made the effort during the fast, I have to keep making the effort to have the relationship I want.   

Xoxo,

P.S.  I will definitely do the Daniel Fast again, probably next January, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in focused prayer time and deepening their relationship with God.