My Lent Plans

I’ve never really been fond of society’s typical perspective of Lent. You often here of Christians giving up Facebook or TV or some other habit that they have, in order to force themselves to spend more time with God. Because of this, I have never really “observed” Lent in any way. I never understood why someone had to pick something during these 40 days to give up in order to spend time forming a stronger relationship with God. After all, shouldn’t we – as Christians – be willing to “force ourselves” daily to grow in the love and mercy of our Father and not just for forty days out of the year?

But, this year is different for me…way different. I am choosing to participate in Lent by doing something that I have never even thought about doing before. I am doing the Daniel Fast (www.daniel-fast.com) and I am basically giving up eating anything besides fruits and vegetables for the entire season of Lent. So for 46 days, I am going to be giving up all of the foods that I really enjoy and that give me the strength and energy that I need and I am going to be relying on God to provide that source of strength for me.

When this idea was first mentioned to me, I thought to myself, “Yeah right. There is absolutely no way I could ever do this nor would I ever want to.” No meat, no sugar, and the biggest sacrifice for me - no coffee or caffeine. But as I began to think about it more, my reasoning was quickly challenged. The past few months I have talked about growing closer to God and becoming dependent only on Him, and what better way to quickly grow that dependency than by fasting and focusing on His power.

I know that the next 46 days are going to be extremely tough. There are going to be weeks when I am working 50+ hours a week, completing homework assignments and turning in projects that I am going to desperately need some coffee. I love fruit and vegetables, but eating only that for 46 days is going to take a lot of hard work, prayer, and focus.

As I became more and more open to this, God quickly reinforced the knowledge of His provision to me. For the past week, every devotional, every song, every Bible verse has referenced the greatness and amazing power of our Savior. Our weaknesses are made great by His power and this is what I am leaning on. I know there will be many days that I am going to be incredibly weak, but I know without a doubt that He is a much greater source of strength than anything this world could ever give me.

My devotional this morning, two days away from the start date, summed it up perfectly:

“You need to remember who I am in all My Power and Glory. Then, humbly bring Me your prayers and petitions. Your problems will pale when you view them in the Light of My Presence. You can learn to be joyful in Me, your Savior, even in the midst of adverse circumstances. Rely on Me, your Strength; I make your feet like the feet of a deer, enabling you to go on the heights.”

So, as I journey through the next forty-six days, I ask that you please pray for me and for the rest of us that are doing this fast or any other types of things during Lent. Pray that no matter what, we will search for strength in God and grow closer to Him as our sole supplier of everything that we need.

Full life in the emptiest of places...

“I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places – firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.” – Isaiah 58:1 (The Message)

It’s been a month now since I moved away from home. And to be quite honest, it has probably been the hardest four weeks of my life. When I decided to take the offer and move north, I made a decision that I was going to trust God. I had no idea why I was moving away, other than for my internship. And for the first couple of weeks here, I was pretty bitter about it. I tried going in to the internship with an open mind and being okay with the fact that anything familiar to me was now at least a two-hour drive away but I was failing miserably at it.

A few weekends ago, my housemate had gone home and I was all by myself. I spent most of the day on Saturday contemplating what I was really doing. I was questioning whether I had made the right decision because it had been almost three weeks since I moved and I was still searching for the reason why. I cried several times that day, missing my family and my friends. I just sat in the house and was angry at God because He had led me here and I was all alone.  

Then, the following day I went to church. I was supposed to meet up with a friend of mine from IWU and some of his friends that live in the area, but the weather was bad and my friend couldn’t make it. So, I went anyways and met up with his friends. After the service had ended and we were walking out, one of the guys invited me to a dinner that night at his campus ministry pastor’s house. I went that night and also found out about a weekly Bible study that this group has. Since that dinner, I have gone to a couple of different things with this group and I am finally starting to meet people and form relationships. It really does amaze me how perfect and intentional God’s timing is. One day, I was sitting at home thinking of a way to get out of the internship and move back and the very next day, God starting placing people in my life to help me get connected.

I’m beginning to think that the real reason God guided me to move away was so that I would become more dependent on Him. The last couple of years I have just been comfortable going through the motions of being a Christian but I have been longing for something more. I want that renewed passion that I had when I first started that intimate relationship with Christ. God has a purpose, and no matter how unplanned and random we think it may be, He really has had it planned all along. I’m starting to see the purpose for why I am here and what God’s plan is.

…“I will always show you where to go.”