Well today is the break of the Daniel fast!!! Not going to lie, I'm excited, mostly because I want to drink coffee! I want to start by saying originally this was a plan to do a vegan diet for a week, because I thought it would be interesting, but it turned into a spiritual fast that would last three weeks...Starting the fast I knew we would get a lot out of it and that God would have a lot to show and teach us...and he did!
The things I really learned from this fast...at least the top three;)
1.) Compromise...when we first started the diet I found myself thinking to myself "its a veggie burger, it only has one egg in it, could that really hurt?"... "Maybe we should just do one week, I mean that's all I really wanted to do"...and I got to thinking, is this how I look at my walk with Christ, how much do I try and compromise in my beliefs? Don't worry I learned NOT to compromise in the fast, and there was NO cheating and we both followed the rules with the Lords help, even when it seemed hard, and we wanted to quit...we didn't!
2.) What you put in, you get out (Discipline)...I think about all the foods we pollute our bodies with and again had to ask myself, what am I putting into my spiritual walk? How much time is spent doing school work, reading the lastest books, watching tv, etc....and then how much time is my focus on the Lord? I'm sad to admit that before the fast I didn't have a regular quiet time...it was more like "if I find time", and I learned to be a lot more disciplined...I can now say I meet with God every morning, just me and God!
"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit."
-Romans 8:5
3) Positive outlook...I look at the Daniel fast...every time I would talk to someone about it, they would list all the things they wouldn't be able to eat...and I started thinking, that is a lot like the outlook of non believers, and honestly some believers...instead of looking at all the wonderful things we can have, and there were a lot, we spend so much time agonizing over all the things we can't have...nonbelievers I think look at Christianity as a list over rules to follow by, and honestly it isn't a list of rules...its knowing the Lord and not knowing him. Just like we should nurish our bodies with good foods and take care of them, is the same with our Christian walk, we aren't or shouldn't be, focused on what we can't do, but on what we she do...what will bring us closer to the Lord...as Christians I think we do this to ourselves as well, we know things that God doesn't have planned for us, but we want to do them any way, we put so much effort into it, we miss out on what he does have planned for us. I know God has a plan for me, and I'm not going to look over the things he doesn't and look toward what he does!
"For I know the plans I have for you" Declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
-Jeremiah 29:11
Seriously I feel like this is just the tip of the ice berg of what God taught me throught this fast....there was so much more, but I think that is a start! Thanks for all the prayers during this time, know that we were praying for you!
And lastly This is just a sample of soemthings we ate regularly...I will post some pictures of some of the foods, I'm a little sad that we didn't take pictures of more of our meals, but these are the ones I did...
AM:
- ricecake with natural peanut butter
- oat meal plain, with added natural apple sauce...made it creamer with plain soy milk
- natural rice cereal with soy milk and a bannana
PM(lunch or dinner):
- moes/willys- salad, black beans, tomatoes, lettuce, olives, cucumber, guacamole, etc...pretty much no chips, cheese, rice or cheese.
- Veggie soup, lots of mixed veggies and soy crumbles (make sure you read label), add can tomatoes and some 100% veggie juice...yummy!
- Veggie burgers (again read label, I think Amy's brand was good) and baked fries and fresh fruit.
- mexican soup-black beans, rotell tomatoes, cilantro, brown rice and chick peas...eat with baked tortilla chips!
- sweet potatoe and edamame and fresh fruit (one of my favs!)
- grilled portabella, dry potatoe, and salad (lettuce, strawberries, oranges and onion...add evoo and balsamic viniger)
- Chili- black beans, red beans, onion, cumin, chili powder, garlic...
- stuffed peppers- brown rice, black beans, tomatoes, frozen corn and veggie juice...add salad and corn on the cob!
- rice with mix veggies and veggie broth, veggies burger in whole wheat tortilla, and fruit.
- Pasta salad...whole wheat pasta, tomaatoes, avacado, onion, colored peppers, parsley, blackbeans, mix with evoo and basimic viniger.
- spaghetti-canned tomatoes, tomatoe sauce onion, and garlic...and any other seasoning...add salad.
- Lentils with veggies
- red beans and rice
- fajititas-veggie, with black beans and brown rice.
Some snacks:
- nuts
- fruit
- hummas with tristics (read labels, some we could have, some we couldn't)
There are so many more, but that's all I can think of right now off the top of my head! So as I was looking at the pics to post, i realized Klay has deleted some of the pics:( oh well I'll post what I still have!
