My 40 Day Fast

I feel WONDERFUL!! I can feel God working behind the scenes and I see little miracles everywhere!

I am being tested as well but, I feel the presence of God stronger than I have in a long time!

That is the best part about fasting, feeling the presence of God so powerfully and sensing him and even seeing him moving on your behalf.

No wonder, people who actually fast, want to fast again someday (if only it wasn't so hard.)

Fasting is hard and challenging but it has it's funny moments!

Here are some funny fasting stories?!---

This announcement was really found in a Church bulletin for a National Prayer & Fasting Conference:

Includes "meals"? LOL! Maybe the meals looked like the cartoon below:


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Then the following was overheard in a Sunday school class:

Sunday School Teacher: One of the most important things we can do for fast Sunday is prepare for the fast. How do you think we should prepare to fast?

Class member: Go to an all-you-can-eat-buffet.

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And here's a funny fasting joke by Damon Wayans as he speaks about "fasting" in his childhood:

"My brother's trying to get me to fast. My brother said, 'You gotta fast, like, every month so you can pure your system.'

I'm like, 'You know what?
When we was back in the projects, we fasted.' "

Posted by Mari at 9:02 PM 8 comments  

Day 10 is somehow very hard for me. In fasting, like in many other things in life, there are hurdles you need to get over to reach a breakthrough.

I know there is a breakthrough waiting for me at the other side of day 10, I can sense it. Somehow I can more smoothly go through days 4-9 and then things change at day 10. The temptation to eat and break the fast overwhelms me. I even feel sick.

When you fast and pray you may notice the following:

If you are doing a three-day fast, the temptation to quit will be strongest on day three right before the finish line. There is a blessing awaiting you as you complete the three day fast and the enemy knows that and will stop at nothing to see you fail before you reach your breakthrough.

As you read the Bible you learn there are biblical numbers of days for fasting, such as, 3 days (Esther), 21 days (Daniel) , 40 days (Jesus, Moses), etc.

There are blessings and breakthroughs you will receive at 3 days that you will not at 2 days.

There are also blessings and breakthroughs at 21 days that you will not experience at 20 days.

Just like there are also blessings and breakthroughs you will receive at 40 days that you will not receive at 39 days.

I know I have to see day 10 through, come what may. Days like this it is important to remind ourselves of why we are fasting, pray more, and be encouraged that it is very hard because the breakthrough is just that much more powerful!

Posted by Mari at 10:55 PM 2 comments  

Yes, I am still trudgin' along!

I was wondering how many people realize that they fast every single night. When you go to bed and fall asleep, your body will eventually be in fasting mode.

That is why the first meal of the day is called
"breakfast" -- break fast

With breakfast you are breaking the fast.

In fact, during the night, when your body is fasting, your body begins to cleanse and release toxins, as it always does in a fast. That is why you may wake up with:

-bad breath, AKA, "morning breath"

-phlegm

-mucus / crust in eyes

All are signs of toxins being released from body.

So, in reality everyone has actually fasted and does so every night!

Now, if it was only that easy when we are awake!

Posted by Mari at 11:05 PM 0 comments  

Everyone knows that fasting can be challenging, but there are little perks that sure brighten my day. For example, my skin and hair is so much softer and I love the glow I have on my face. I feel so "clean" inside.

Yesterday, I wrote about the powerful anti-aging qualities of fasting, well, fasting is also an amazing beauty enhancer!

So it has been a little over a week I have been on the fast and I am prepared and focused for the weeks to come by always having water with me, keeping myself prayed up, learning more to depend more on God to guide me and less on myself, avoiding situations and possible pitfalls, spending time each day (even if only a little) doing something for myself (gardening, reading a good book, sitting in a sauna, etc.).

As much as I am actually, at some points, really enjoying this journey now, I do look forward to seeing it to its completion. I also have to plan ahead to how best to end it.

After you do a fast for an extended period of time you don't go and break the fast by eating a bacon cheeseburger. Your insides are now very clean (like a baby), you wouldn't feed a baby fried foods would ya? You slowly have to re-introduce foods.

You break the fast with raw foods, such as veggies and fruits. (plus, this way jump-starts your metabolism.)

I will be prepared by having a yummy variety of my favorite fruits and veggies stocked up in my kitchen!

Plus, fruits and veggies, have endless benefits, one of the most notable being they are very high in antioxidants!

So how about veggie salad with cherry tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, green, red, and orange bell peppers, cucumbers and other veggies you like. Yummy!

A good rule of thumb is to eat nothing but raw food for half the number of days you fasted. For example, I am fasting for 40 days, so I will eat nothing but raw food for at least 20 days.

Now, many people assume that a raw food diet means chomping on carrot sticks all day. Thankfully, that is far from the truth.

As part of my planning ahead to break the fast properly in a way that will not sabotage all the good health benefits I gained, I am gathering some yummy raw food recipes:

Here is a great one I found on a Raw carrot cake. Mmm. I love carrot cake so I will enjoy learning to make this raw version of it!

A wonderful blog I will be looking to for guidance on my raw food diet is Natural Raw Living

Evelyn created the blog to document her raw food journey and to share what she learns along the way.

Many people cannot handle an absolute Fast of nothing but water, so a great place to start can be a juice fast, or a raw food diet fast.

Yesterday, Evelyn wrote about a few other great blogs that may interest you, including, yours truly!

You can read what she wrote about me and my blog here: Natural Raw Living: Thursday Link Love

I encourage you to stop by and check it out!

Posted by Mari at 8:13 AM 3 comments  

Day 7 and feeling fabulous!

A few years ago I would never have thought I could go a week without food and live simply on water AND feel great while doing it!

I would have thought that I would die of starvation! What many people don't realize (A few years back, I didn't) is that fasting and starvation are nowhere near being the same thing.

When you are starving, your body sacrifices its vital tissues to keep you alive.

On the contrary, when you are fasting your vital tissues are protected and instead your body self-digests damaged/diseased tissue, tumors, cysts, excess fat, abnormal growths, etc.

Your body goes into a deep cleansing mode where it essentially dumps the bad and protects the good (ex. like your muscles).

I have learned of women diagnosed with uterine tumors and were told they would need to have a hysterectomy (remove the uterus) in order to remove the tumor. They wisely decided to fast and the tumors either "disappeared" or were dramatically decreased in size, thus avoiding surgery and losing their uterus.

Then there are those men who even in much older ages have youthful, muscular bodies. Their secret: fasting.

I challenge you to seek out a man of advanced age who is also a regular faster and look at his body compared to his peers who have never fasted a day in their life.

The latter have lost muscle tone and youthfulness, while the faster has the body of a man many decades younger.

Their is no cream, pill, drink, or potion on earth with more powerful anti-aging properties than fasting. None!

Posted by Mari at 11:23 AM 2 comments  

Going good! Drinking water and feeling good!

My energy was great during the day, however, I notice that I feel tired at the end of the day sooner than usual. I took an hour nap this evening which I haven't done in I don't even remember how long!

When God calls you to do a 40 day fast or you decide to do one on your own, there will be obstacles to overcome.

Those obstacles will come through various ways, such as,

~attacks from the enemy wanting you to quit your fast because he knows what a powerful weapon fasting is. If you are leading a life as a Christian you know what I mean.

Once you have given you life to Christ and accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, the devil has essentially lost, but now he will do his best to destroy your walk. He will tempt you to fall into sin, keep you from evangelizing, and try his best to trap you to live a life of defeat instead of a life of victory, etc.

By fasting you have literally declared war on the gates of hell, yet, through fasting, your victory is inevitable as long as you complete the fast you have set out to do.

The enemy knows this and will throw "obstacles" your way to distract, discourage, tempt you, and cause you to give up.

The slick devil will whisper lies in your ears to discourage you.

He will tempt you with food. It never fails, every time I fast, all of a sudden, more than usual different events that revolve around eating pop up.

For example: I have this one girlfriend who never eats out and so has never invited me out to eat, (although I have invited her a couple of times) then, surprisingly, all of a sudden, while on a fast she calls and invites me to lunch (she did not know I was fasting as I kept it private). I felt bad having to turn down her invitation, but, I did not want to break my fast.

~Other obstacles can come through other people. Are there any people in your life who try your patience? Normally, you may be able to handle that, but during a hard part of a fast, perhaps you should consider avoiding them. (fasting is a great time to evaluate relationships.)

~Then, of course, there is just life! Responsibilities to family and children, businesses, etc.

However, despite all of that, through Gods' grace you CAN do it!

Posted by Mari at 9:07 PM 4 comments  

Another great day, although today I felt more tired than yesterday and at times very thirsty. I drank water, and more water and more, yet the thirst remained. So, I did guess what? Yup, drank more water.

When you are fasting--you are going through a deep detox, that at times leads to tiredness, irritability, and much thirst.

The thirst is partly due to the fact that the body uses water to get the toxins out of you when you urinate.

After the tiredness fades, WOW! Great energy that is steady and intense.

While doing a long fast you will have peaks of intense energy and valleys of tiredness all due to detoxification. The "valleys" will pass and you will feel great!

Posted by Mari at 11:25 PM 0 comments  

Felt great! I had energy and making sure to always have water nearby~!

I got really stressed out at one point (unrelated to the fast) but, thankfully I got to spend a couple of hours gardening with a tiny rottweiler puppy right by my side. The stress melted.

Sometimes when you are fasting, situations that stress you out may cause you to lose focus and a strong temptation to eat comes in.

In those moments, pray, maybe read some of the Bible and go do something having nothing to do with food. Depending on how much time you have and where you are at you can take a walk, take a bath, or spend some time outdoors.

Instead of caving in to the temptation,
you will grow by overcoming it!

Whether it is a few minutes or a longer, getting outside and spending some time with my garden always relaxes me. I feel connected to God surrounded by nature and plants.

When you begin a fast, have ideas of what to do when the temptation to eat comes (and it WILL come, count on that!)

But, please remember that the temptation to eat WILL PASS.

After day three, remember, hunger is gone so it is more of a physiological battle, as well as, a spiritual one! Pray! Pray! Pray!

Posted by Mari at 11:36 PM 0 comments  

Today was a great day! It was a beautiful sunny day in southern California!

I took my children to the L.A. County fair and had a wonderful time! We saw farm animals and huge vegetable gardens, honeybees, and lots of stuff to see and do (and buy) everywhere.

My fasting is going well, I had a lot more energy today than I had the past two days and I felt great! As my children ate their tacos from King Taco, I drank my dinner of water and silently prayed then did a little window shopping. As they later ate their funnel cake and Mackinac Island Rocky Road Fudge, I ate my snack of water.

It actually was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be to smell all the delicious food around me and not want to eat it. I just would say little prayers in my head, think about the reasons for my fasting,

and remind myself:

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."~Philippians 4:13

I share all this to remind those who think they cannot fast, especially when surrounded with delicious food everywhere they turn, that through Christ, they absolutely can!!

I hope, if you are reading this, that you had a sweet, blessed weekend as well! ; )

Posted by Mari at 11:24 PM 2 comments  

Today went well. Although, I was very tired and hungry throughout the day and moody too. And VERY thirsty! Pretty normal for the first couple of days of a fast.

I would like to share three fasting quotes that encouraged me today:

• Wesleyan preacher William Bramwell wrote in 1809 that the reason many do not live in the power of their salvation is because ‘there is too much sleep, too much meat and drink, too little fasting and self-denial, too much taking part in the world ... and too little self-examination and prayer.’
  

If all those who claim to be Christian fasted even just once a year, there would be a revival like the world has never seen!

• When we finish a fast, we cool into tempered Christians strong with self-control. The dross and cinders of our lustful cravings are skimmed off. Fasting produces a work of art - the tempered, selfless Christian - that can be created through no other process of refinement. -Lee Bueno, Fast Your Way to Health
  

A work of art! Wow~~I love that!

• Humility and self-denial are two sides of the same coin. Jesus’ greatest calling for us to deny ourselves came when He stated, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me’ (Matt. 16:24). By fasting as unto the Lord we answer His call to deny ourselves for the sake of the cross. -Lee Bueno, Fast Your Way to Health

Amen!

It is good to read great quotes like this when fasting, as it encourages you and keeps you focused on why you are fasting!

Good night!

Posted by Mari at 11:06 PM 4 comments  

Ok, alas I begin again!

This time with a little bit more experience and knowing more of what I can expect.

If you have been following along, you know I attempted to do this fast about a month ago. I lasted 10 days with no food, only water.

(you can read the previous post/s to learn what happened)

But through that experience I came out more determined to complete a 40 day fast.

Today is Day 1.

(Hey we have to start somewhere! Day 1 seems to just make sense! )

Yes, I have been hungry and somewhat cranky and more tired than usual. However, not as a cranky as the first day of some fasts in the past. I guess you do develop a little of a "fasting muscle" -if you know what I mean. I have also been very thirsty. All of that is to be expected!

I have been asked several questions quite a few times:

One is "Why Fast?"

I guess I shouldn't be surprised when the people who have actually fasted before never really ask that question.

It is usually those who have never fasted that ask that question.

One of the best ways I feel I can answer that question is by sharing a little of my own experience.

I did my first fast in 2006! Wow, what an experience! I figured I would fast for one day as this is all my body could handle before I dropped dead.

Thankfully, I was in a period where I didn't have to cook for anyone so I basically avoided the refrigerator like the plague and only went into the kitchen for water.

Plus, I fasted with a friend so it was a good support system. It was her first fast as well as mine.

At the end of the first day, I felt this feeling of exhilaration and accomplishment and, let's be honest, hunger, but the feeling of exhilaration was so powerful, I was intrigued.

I was never really taught the fasting lifestyle so this was all new to me. I had heard about fasting, but never really knew anyone who actually fasted.

I sometimes heard people talk about it and what a great spiritual discipline it was and how we all need to pray and fast, but It seemed like that's all it was, something to do--- someday.

I figured the only people who actually fasted were Jesus Christ, Moses and other biblical people, but no one alive in our modern world, well, except for Tibetan monks, of course.

My first fast lasted 5 days! My life was never the same~!

I began to search more and learn more about why fasting was so powerful an experience. I began to really understand the battle of the flesh on a whole other level. I felt this spiritual awakening that I had never felt before on such a profound level.

Since then I have done several other 10 day fasts, the longest being a 15 day fast and many short 1-3 day fasts.

I have had life-changing miracles through fasting and prayer and grown spiritually very rapidly as a result of those fasts. My faith has increased dramatically as well.

They say,
Prayer changes your circumstance, but fasting changes YOU! --How true that is!

The answered prayers, the spiritual growth, the closeness to God, the miracles---I couldn't understand why modern day Christian leaders did not preach more about fasting and then call on regular "church fasts".

I still believe many churches and individual people are "missing the boat" in their life by not implementing fasting into their lives.

I guess at that point I made a conscious decision to share about the miracle of fasting to whoever would listen.

Those who know me well have all probably heard me talk about fasting! Several of those people have then turned around and fasted and have seen their own miracles--witnessing their miracles has been such a joyous experience for me.

One of the most important reasons to fast is simply because Jesus Christ commands us to do so. In Matthew 6, we are given three things we all must do as Christians:

~Give
~Pray
~Fast

Jesus Christ said, "When you fast..."

He didn't say "If you fast" or "If you want to fast..." or "when the urge hits you to Fast", He said "WHEN"! In other words, he EXPECTS us to fast!

If you have never fasted and would like to, my desire is that you can read about my journey and hopefully be encouraged to take that journey yourself-- whether on a 3 day fast or a 1 day fast. I just hope you FAST!

If you have fasted for a day or 3, I hope I encourage you to fast again and maybe even your own 40 day fast!

A few years back I would have never even thought about doing a 7 day fast much less a 40 day fast! I probably wouldn't have even believed had you told me I would one day decide to do a journey of a 40 day fast.

In future posts, I will answer the question, "Why a 40 day fast?"

Goodnight and on to day 2!

Posted by Mari at 10:27 PM 2 comments  

I have not reported in a few days, sorry, here is what has happened.

I went on until day 10 where I was busy running along running errands getting the kids situated back in three different schools. The temperature was hot, over 100 degrees and then I began feeling sick and feeling like I needed to vomit. I figured I was just stressed out.

My water purifier was not working due to problems with my kitchen faucet (it still isn't fixed) So, I was drinking faucet water along with bottled water.

Later that evening, I began to vomit the water and a little apple cider vinegar. My heart was beating rapidly and my hands were shaking. I couldn't understand what was happening. I learned I was in extreme dehydration.

I made a tragic mistake too many make while fasting, I was not drinking nearly enough water. By the time you are thirsty, you are already in slight dehydration. I was beyond that.

When you are fasting you need to drink a lot more water than usual, and if in extreme heat you need to drink even more to replace the water lost through sweating. While fasting--You should ALWAYS carry more water than what you think you will need with you. I was carrying water with me but not enough.

I remember reading about the deaths in the Grand Canyon when I went this past April. Many people die at the Grand Canyon every year and most think those deaths are from falling of the canyon and although many do die like that, the majority of deaths are from healthy people who go hiking down the trails of the Grand Canyon without enough water. They underestimate how much water they lose through sweat. They end up dehydrated and then into Cardiac Arrest.
A 27 year old marathon runner died of a heart attack last year in the Grand Canyon, it all began with dehydration.

Plus, you need to drink purified water, not faucet water which has chlorine and in my case, ammonia as well.

Normally, I could handle drinking faucet water (which I rarely do anyways) but, I guess because I had been fasting and my system was clean my body began to reject the poisons in the water and I got sick.

Also I was pushing myself too hard and not resting enough.

I should have known better, I have done three 10 day fasts in the past and one 15 day fast. They were all challenging but, this one really knocked me on my behind.

I learned a lot here. Although fasting is wonderful for your health, there are wrong ways to fast.

~You have to always have cool water to drink near you.

~Drink only filtered, purified or even bottled water. Faucet water will make you sick.

~You have to rest more, if your body is tired, take a breather.

~Don't focus on how many days you set out to fast, just focus on that day.

I am more determined than ever to complete my 40 day fast. These setbacks will not become stumbling blocks but stepping stones.

Posted by Mari at 12:29 PM 2 comments