Daniel Fast, Day 14- Just a Little Help with Snacks.

Well, we have 7 days left till we get to the finish line of this fast. I'm excited and overjoyed about how far we have come and soon this will be done (lol). Overall, I can't say that I have not given in to my weakness, because I have.  Ninety-nine percent of the time it was to my own carelessness of not looking at the ingredients of things I picked up. I failed twice, to just absolutely not even paying attention to what I was doing. For example, my sister was passing out gum two Sundays ago and I stuck my hand out for it because my mouth was still "toothpastey" and dry.  So I am just a chumping away on this gum, headed straight for my Pastor's Office. Of course the topic of choice that was going on was the Daniel Fast. I join in the conversation to say, "Yeah man, I'm doing great! I haven't fell yet", at the same time I'm grabbing peppermints to put in my pocket (totally oblivious, right?). Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding, the alarm goes off in my head that I'm chewing gum. I scream loudly, "O-M-G, I am chewing gum".  Of course Pastor, consoled my failure and told me to stay in the race, its okay. The second time I fell because I just wasn't paying attention, was at home. I had just poured my kids a cup of V8 Splash Juice. My baby girl, drunk hers half way and left her cup alongside of my cup of water. About 20 minutes past, I was finishing up a blog for this site and I reached for my cup, but I picked up her cup.  I took a good gulp of the juice that I thought was water. Then ding, ding ding ding ding, the alarm goes of that I am not drinking water. I spit it out on my laptop screen, and again I yelled "O-M-G, that's juice". Then I yelled "O-M-G, my laptop!" Now, after those two incident, I carefully look at what I am consuming before I eat or drink it.

Just a Little Help with Snacks

For those who need help with snacks, Trader Joe's is the places to go. There are several items you can get from there and be satisfied. They have Cereal Bars like Nutri Grain Bars, that are multi grain and no sugar. The Bars has no additives or preservatives and are very good. There is Trader Joe's Roasted Plantains, (The purple bag laying flat) they taste like Better Made Potato Chips. The pink yellow and green bag is a fruit and veggie snack, you can't taste the veggies at all. They also have the fruit only bag, called Ends and Pieces; but I have smashed them already.  Down at the bottom are some more fruit snacks, however these are by Trader Joe's. They are really sweet even though there is no sugar. They remind me of Fruit by the Foot. I don't suggest going to town on these because they are just that sweet.  Another snack, that can be purchased at any store is the Tostitos Artisan Recipes Corn Tortilla Chips. The flavor I have is Roasted Garlic & Black Bean. These are so good, especially with salsa or some left over Daniel Fast Meatless Chili.

I hope this a help to those of you who are on the fast or will be soon doing the fast.  The most important thing is to read labels. Its is very tedious work, to eat. Especially if you are going to eat out everyday. However, there are few restaurants that you can go to and stay on target.  I went to B.D. Mongolian BBQ and its a great place to eat at while being on the fast. You are in control of what you put on your plate because you fix it and they have brown rice. If you go to subway, the Veggie Delight Sub on Flat Bread or Salad w/ Vinegar and Oil for your dressing, and remember no cheese. Sounds plain, but its so good. I never knew how flavorful veggies really are until now.

For the Ministry I attend, we are almost at the finish line. Let's finish strong. Don't give up.

1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Daniel's Fast- Day 4

So I didn't write yesterday because I really didn't have the time to do so. I got two out of three of my exams done, scoring an A & a B. I had  veggie spaghetti (squash, zucchini, asparagus, onions, green peppers, whole wheat pasta and all natural spaghetti sauce). I stayed up pretty late study, so I am extra tired  right now. Yesterday's encounter with God was confirmation. I posted a note yesterday, that I had actually wrote on Day 2.  The note is "The Importance of Transparency & Accountability in Ministry". I didn't post it because I had prayed for confirmation to do so first. So yesterday in my Church Ministries Course, my studies were on Confronting Sin and Accountability. HA! What a way to confirm! However that wasn't what did it for me.  I watched the video post that complimented our studies for the week, and every thing I had wrote was everything that was in the video. So I was grateful about  God confirming me.

Any who! As stated above, I am exhausted today. I have spent a great deal of time in the kitchen preparing meals, and a great deal of time praying & meditating. Today, was a challenge for me to stay focused, only because I was so tired and just burnt out. However I got some really great prayer time in. Again I had no strategic plan for what i was praying for. It just kind of came to me by happen stance. Or maybe it was all a plan by God. I received some mail for Church finance seminar. Don't have a clue why it came to me but after looking at it I was compelled to pray for the finances of the church, my household and the members of Wings of Love Ministries.  My morning and evening prayer were in regards to my attitude to serving at home and strength .

Today we had Mushroom and Mash Potato Stuff Bell Peppers w/ some of the left over Chilli . It was pretty good. 

21 Day Corporate Daniel Fast- Day 1

Today, is the first day that my church has embarked upon doing the Daniel's Fast. I'm excited about this. I haven't did a fast in over 10 years. I know the power of God that shows up when you fast and pray. I started a business back in 2001 and I fasted and prayed for almost 3 months. God showed himself mighty and strong to me. My faith was strong and huge. I desire to get that back. I want to have God at my core being and everything conforms around Him.

The Fast

It's 6:25pm to be exact, I have followed my prayer schedule and have not fallen off course of the guidelines. I made Vegetable Layered Enchiladas w/ Vegan Cheddar Cheese.  I have had only water to drink. This was my first meal for the day. I will probably snack on some dried bananas or salsa and Wheat tortilla chips.

The Encounter
When I woke up this morning, Millionaire Matchmaker was on. I watched for a little bit and began to feel guilty about watching it, because these 21 Days are devoted to time with God. So of course I turned it off and began to pray. As the day went on as usual,, I got a little impatient with my kids as I was getting them ready for school. As soon as I fixed my mouth to raise my voice and snap at them I felt conviction. So again, I stopped and prayed. I was picking up my sons from school and seen a women who was severely obese, and I began to think "OMG". Before I could even began to think any further I felt bad for my reaction and I stopped and prayed for her health and strength. Every time I slip to curse or say something ungodly, I was convicted. The conviction isn't anything new, however it feels so intense because of the the fact that its being illuminated so I can't ignore it. Its sad, that it takes for me to enter a fast to heighten my awareness of how often I make an offense toward God.

Already, God is answering my prayer to show me my short comings so that I can fix them. I desire to  have the mind of Christ and desire to love people the way He does. As I write this I'm shaking my head at myself of how quickly I am impatient with my kids and how quickly I was forming an opinion about someone I didn't know. You may be thinking, "well Ro, these are all normal, everyone does it".  Well, I am thinking but its not ok. I don't wanna be like everyone else, I wanna be more like Christ. I was called to be set apart from this world. I was called for a purpose and so were you. I don't want to walk this earth and never fulfill the main purpose I was placed here for and that's to be more like Christ.

This is Day 1, I'm in it for the long haul. I need so much from God. Mainly more of Him. There isn't enough for me to sacrifice to equal just getting more of Him.  I'm in Phillippians 3:14 mode, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.