Day One
Today, I started a 3 day water fast.
Initially I was motivated to do it because I wanted to lose a few pounds and I had found some amazing detoxifying water recipes.
As the evening passed, I realized that”I” was not the reason for this fast.
Suddenly God had become the reason. It was like he showed up and said:
“I knew weight loss would get your attention but you are actually doing this for me”.
I continued about my night and went back and forth on whether I would do it or not. I had not prepared in the least bit. As a matter of fact, I went crazy on some Vanilla Wafers a few hours earlier.
I slept on it.
When I woke up, I hadn’t forgotten about it.
You see, I have a tendency to “forget” about certain things (i.e. going to the gym first thing in the morning, lol). But this was the first thing I thought about when I woke up. I had to do this.
I started the day with a glass of water along with a quick weigh-in on the guest bath scale. Although I was no longer doing this for the weight loss I can’t lie, it was still a part of my motivation.
I hopped on the scale.
166
That’s what it said.
The most I ever weighed in my LIFE.
Besides when I was pregnant.
Ok so now I really had to do this.
I started the day with prayer.
I prayed to God to help me resist biting my son’s fish stick.
I prayed to God to help me not lust after the apple I cut as though I were in the Garden of Eden.
I prayed and prayed and prayed.
Day Two
I woke up early with no alarm… and excruciating pain in my right hip and knee.
I wanted to give up. I was pretty sure that food would help my knee pain as crazy as that sounds.
I prayed all day long. The hunger was real! Everywhere I turned I saw my favorite food. Food I didn’t even know was my favorite like, Rocky Road Clusters? Who even came up with that?
Everywhere I turned there was some reference to food. At that point, I realized how sneaky food can be and how it can infiltrate everything in your life.
Billboards
Commercials
Social Media
I honestly felt like food was chasing me.
But throughout the day I noticed a change. Excitement. I began to look forward to the time that I was allowed to spend with God. My lunch break was not filled with thoughts or dialogue about what I would eat. It was filled with PURPOSE. I knew I would spend dedicated time with the one who made it possible for me to achieve my fasting goals.
Day Three
Would you believe me if I told you I wanted to continue with my fast for a few more days?
When I woke up this morning I felt as though I could keep going with this thing. Although I woke again with a little body pain, I began to find sustenance in the simplicity of water and I didn’t want to give up my AM meditation time with God.
Within the first five minutes of drinking water, the body pain went away. I think the pain was the toxins in these areas being released. Whenever I am overworked or overtired, these are the first areas to give me issues.
Food continued to chase me but my blinders were on.
My day today was so busy that I barely had the chance to drink water let alone eat a meal. When I left work I literally exclaimed:
God!
So many thoughts were packed into that one word. Gratitude. Achievement. Humility. Appreciation.
When I got home, I thought long and hard about whether or not would continue for more days. I knew I could continue to make breakthroughs but ultimately decided against continuing.
I decided to stop because I would not be doing it for the right reasons at that point. I would be doing it for weight loss again. Something that would completely negate everything I had done in honor of Him over the last 3 days.
Reflections
I would definitely do it again. It was challenging and rewarding at the same time. It showed me that anything you think you may be hooked/on addicted to can be broken.
I’m so glad to have connected with God during this time because I gained an understanding of who He really is.
Lastly, I purposely waited until the end to share my weight loss because ultimately, that was an afterthought and no longer became the reason.
Day one – 166 lbs
Day Three AM – 162.4
Day Four AM – 157.2
Total Weight Loss: 8.8 Pounds
Here I am about to have my first bite of food in 3 days…heaven!
Amen ! Today I literally spent all day researching the 3 day water fast & was really for something deeper than weight loss to gain from the fast. Thank you for you words and wisdom ! I know my PURPOSE for fasting now !
It’s funny how things work out, right? Sometimes it’s the unplanned things that make the biggest impact. Thank you so much for your comment, Nelle. Good luck on your fast!
All the best,
Angel
I am so happy to of come across your post. I will focus on God and he will give me strength. …to be clear, you ate NOTHING and drank water…no tea or coffee?
Anna, thank you for taking the time to comment. I will be praying for you! I only drank water, nothing else. This caused me to rely on God for strength because there was no way I could find it in myself. I found myself “in prayer” many times throughout the day that I normally wouldn’t which caused a major shift in my consciousness. Wishing you the best in your journey…
Angel thank you for this post. I found your blog entry on pinterest and it is just what I needed on my day 1 of water fasting. I will turn to God during this time as well. Like you, I started this for weight loss but somehow God led me here to read this entry and now i truly believe that He was trying to show me that he should be the purpose and the center of my fast.
Best wishes to you and thank you again,
Ashley
It makes me so happy to hear that this article was helpful for you! I truly believe that God leads all of us. Please come back and tell me if and how the rest of your fast goes.
This was a beautiful testimony I’m so many ways. Thank you for sharing your story.
Thank you Jennifer! I am thinking about doing this again because it really opened up the communication between God and I. Highly recommend doing this on occasion. Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to leave an encouraging comment.