My fast has gotten a lot of attention. Because I posted it on Facebook and because if you saw me in person you noticed that I lost a lot of weight. I have been asked a lot of questions about the fast. What lead me to do it? What did I do exactly. Things along those lines. I have decided to share what lead me to this point and what it was like. I also have a 4 or 5 part blog on the actual fast. Its basically weight loss and any symptoms I felt that day.
I have basically been overweight since having children. And I was really okay with it. I had accepted my role as "the fat sister" I'm so busy that I really didn't care. And my weight fluctuated quite a bit. It was very normal for me to be 150-170 in a year. Typical y closer to 150 in the spring and summer and 170 around the holidays.
After deciding how much back ground I needed to give, I decided to start when Micah was 8 months old. in October of 2012. My husband, Wes had finally made the decision to leave a job he had been very unhappy with. He found a new job and had been there 3 months when he was let go, due to work shortage. It was basically last one in first one out. It sucked. He was unemployed for the next three months. We used our savings, I sold pies at Christmas, I cleaned houses. Anything I could think of so we could stay afloat.
He got a new job and life went on. Around April or so I was feeling like God had something different for us. We had always applied the idea of "the purpous of a car is to get you from point A to B" to our car. All of our cars are used and we typically pay cash. I said "Why are we not applying this to our home?" Our payment was going up and up every year and we had a big beautiful home. But no money.
Wes and I have been on a "Dave Ramsey" plan for a while, but we had back slid. In May of 2013 we decided to sell our 2700 sq foot home and move in to a 1300sq ft Mobil home on 2 acres. We were just shy of paying it off in full, and have a very small note on it.
We had purchased this home, and still owned our big home. It sold in August 2013.
The same week we sold our house & expected to start saving a lot of money each month, Wes's mom was taken to the hospital where she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and we began driving back and fourth to help take care of her. We saw God in this, if we had not sold our house we would not have been able to do this.
Wes's mother died in November of 2013. There were a lot of un-delt with issues there that over flowed into our marriage.
From December of 2013 to August of 2014 we began to have very bad marriage problems. We went to counseling, but things were not looking very good.
In August of 2014 We were in a very bad car wreck. In the spirit of being honest. A lot of times when I drop something or if I think I am going to get in a wreck I yell out "Sh*t" Wes and I were on a two land country road when a car began swerving all over the road. At the last minute Wes went to the left hand side of the road to try to avoid a head on collusion. Just as I thought we were going to pass this person with out being in a wreck I saw his head lights swerve right in to us. I yelled out "God save us" Everyone who saw the car could not believe that we both basically walked away from the accident. It was definitely a miracle.
I think that the wreck kind of put things in perspective for both of us and we were able to move past the marriage issues. I think somethings were dealt with that should have been handled years ago and we can move forward from here.
I attended a bible study in November with a friend. It was on rest and God bringing you to a place of rest. I broke down and cried and summarized my life. Everything above, and I home-school. I was so tired. So at this time I made a conscious decision to simplify my life. I prayed more, I just rested in God.
In January, I felt like God wanted to take me deeper. I talked to my husband about me doing a 30 day juice fast. I told him I needed a reset, for the year, for myself. To help jump start my weight loss. He was on board and very supportive. What my juice fast consisted of was drinking 3 16oz glasses of orange juice a day. If i needed more, then I drank more some days. I also drank coffee. I did not buy a juicer, it was not organic juice.
The nature of a fast brings you to a place of rest. You HAVE to be slower. You HAVE to be choosy about what you do. I prayed a lot, I read my Bible a lot. I only did necessary things. The kids said I seemed happier, I was calmer. I felt like I would ask things of God and feel them immediately. For example if I was hungry, I would ask God to fill me with him and the hunger would go away.
I hope this long winded explanation helps answer some questions. For me it was a true fast. It did have the weight loss aspect but it was about connecting with God.
Day 1
Day 2-3
Day 4-7
Day 8-14
Day 15-30
