Post #9...Tea, a Sandwich, Lemon cookies and Psalm 46:10

                             

                                     Psalm 46:10 New Living Translation (NLT)

                             “Be still, and know that I am God!
                                           I will be honored by every nation.
                                           I will be honored throughout the world.”

Today I am still.

           I woke up  early and even though my son is 17 I still like to wish him a good day at school and send Him off with a "I love you God bless you"sometimes he even has time for a bit of breakfast. Once he leaves it is still super early and in the stillness of quiet I sit and enjoy my cup of tea.

           I have not been feeling well lately. In fact I have been visiting a neurologist and had a bunch of tests done to see what is wrong with me. It could be anything. It could be nothing, all I know is that I don't feel right. I don't feel well.

It is very scary when you have all sorts of symptoms and nothing concrete to point to anything in particular. You google it and find it could be anything from stress to a serious illness.

So you wait for appointments with specialists, and you wait for tests.

You sit in waiting rooms trying to act calm.

You flip through magazines.

Catch up on texts messages.

scroll through Facebook.

But in the back of your mind you wonder ...what if.

This is not my first rodeo.

11 years ago I had cancer.

I became still.

My relationship with God became so close and so familiar that I felt His very presence.

It was then that I realized that I, a simple housewife and Mom was part of His plan. He knew me. He loved and Loves me and wanted me to Love HIM too. I realized that HE sacrificed His very SON for me. FOR ME. I had not ever felt that Love before. The only time I felt calm during that time was when I was still... with HIM.

I was still and knew that HE is GOD.

I knew that whatever happened I leaned on HIM and knew that HE would be with me every step of the way.

and now here I am.

Today I receive an answer. 

I'll drive to the doctors office.

I'll sign in 

I'll sit and grab a magazine and pretend to read an article.

I'll catch up on a text or two,

and go on Facebook or Instagram.

and whatever the outcome. 

Whatever the doctor has to say...I can be sure of one thing...GOD is with me. 

He loves me and if the news is bad...GOD will never leave me. He'll hold me through any storm until my last breath...Where I will in turn open my eyes and I'll be able to Hug HIM myself.

So if you are going through a trial.

If you are waiting for results...

Be Still and

Know that HE is GOD. 

Lean on HIM.

He will answer.

I will be praying for you.

Blessings, Joanne

Post 8...Fasting

 
Matthew 4:1-4
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. 2 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.

3 During that time the devil[a] came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,

‘People do not live by bread alone,
    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[b]”

                So this is different... 
        If you notice in the picture
                                   there is no tea..

                           ...and no yummy treat.

                           Why?

Well, the reason for the picture is because for most of January my Church took part in a fast; a 21 day fast. You may or may not have heard that a lot of christian churches are fasting primarily in the beginning of the year.  Why 21 days? This fast is based on the Daniel fast in the bible. Daniel 10:2-3  says Daniel fasted for three weeks.

Daniel 10:2-3
2 When this vision came to me, I, Daniel, had been in mourning for three whole weeks. 3 All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.

In fact people all through the bible fasted. 

Later the bible says about Daniel seeing the vision of a man

Daniel 10:10-12

10 Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees. 11 And the man said to me, “Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.” When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling.

12 Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. 

When first I found out about the fast which was suggested by a dear friend who fasts every year...I thought " Aw man, another task I'm going to mess up"

You see the Daniel fast is staying away from anything that Daniel stayed away from. No meat, fish,butter, dairy ( this includes eggs) no sugars which means no sweet cakes or bread for that matter. Essentially, you eat beans, veggies and fruit and grains. 

On a side note...there are tons of cool Daniel fast recipes. My friend even made her kids cookies using creative ingredients in a recipe she found!

In our church the fast was voluntary and there were several fasts to chose from. 
There was the Daniel fast,
The Sunrise Sunset fast (where you fasted all day only drinking water until sunset), Thats the one I chose.
The Soul Fast was where you increased your prayer and bible time with God.
Then there was the fast which was abstaining from certain things like sugar, social media or TV, and lastly and the most brutal was the Water Only fast. My Pastor and another member chose this. and if you are wondering...yes, he had only water (with some vitamins added) for 21 days.

Now you might be wondering why? 
We did it to get closer to God. To listen, really listen to what HE wants. Fasting humbles us, it draws us closer to HIM and it can also reveal what we are doing wrong. It can reveal what is keeping us from doing what God wants us to do. 

Our church has undergone big changes in the last five years.

First we said goodbye to our youth pastor...
Welcomed a new youth pastor
Then our senior pastor left to be closer to his grown children
Then we welcomed another senior pastor
Then we said goodbye the second youth pastor and just recently welcomed youth pastor #3

That's a lot

and with that some members of the church left....OK, a lot of members

just poof...gone.

and the remaining members felt the growing pains. I read somewhere that it takes a new pastor two years to fit in and get into the groove of a new church and in turn in takes that long for members too. 

So needless to say everyone has been praying hard.

So back to the fast.

Experiencing this fast with (as well as following a devotional) my church family would keep focused on God and what he wants from our church. 

At first I didn't get it. How could taking away my favorite foods or making me wait nearly 24 hours to eat keep my focus on God?

It does. It just does. Instead of diving into that cake or midday snack I would switch my focus to prayer and reading my bible more. I knew that the devotionals would make me ask hard questions of myself and I would have to answer them truthfully to myself.

The fast brought us closer as a church. 

And somewhere during that time I started to have hope. It was a feeling that I hadn't really felt for a while in my little church. I sat in service and I looked at some of the empty chairs and I knew that people will come and they will want to hear the word...I just do. 

The fast is over and It was hard, but I learned a lot and feel rejuvenated and I know my church family feels it too.

So tonight my prayer is that you feel hopeful

I pray that you know through Jesus there is ALWAYS LOVE and HOPE. He wants you to know that. 

and that is a great feeling.


PS. As with any drastic change in diet consult your doctor. Many of our older parishioners chose the Soul Fast. A lot of our youth chose to stay away from social media for 21 days.