About a month before launch I felt the Lord asking me to fast. So naturally, I did not! I thought He’s not actually asking me to fast, thats not something I usually do. But as time progressed I realized that He is ACTUALLY asking me to fast! So I thought about it and decided to do it on the 4th cause that is my day to pray over our squad. (For those of you who don’t know at training camp one of the guys made a video with everyone in it and the order that we appeared in the video is the day of the month we got to pray since there is 31 of us. So my day is the 4th and it is something I wanted to continue to do during the race). And I can not think of fasting without also thinking about prayer.
The night of the 3rd after dinner I began and prayed that God would be in that time with me and that it would be a physical representation of what I want spiritually, less of me and more of HIM! I even prayed that I wouldn’t forget that I was fasting haha and wouldn’t you know, I woke up the next morning, got ready, and started preparing my breakfast (for the most part for breakfast everything is set out and you grab and go) and as I finished, before I took a bite, He reminded me! My squamate was delighted to have a ready made breakfast for her, added blessings! So I went outside to begin my morning with my quiet time which had become my habit. I have decided to read through the Bible this year and I’m following a plan to do so, so that is where I started.
As everyone began to emerge with their breakfast I began to pray and dive further in to the word cause my flesh (or as those of you who know me Henry my tape worm) did not agree to the fast and was less than pleased with the situation. I prayed Ephesians 6:10-20 the armor of God over my squad and myself, that we would be prepared for whats ahead. I prayed Colossians 3:12-17 a verse God gave me just before launch to be praying over the squad and the type of squad I desire us to be. And I ended up in Matthew 5:1-12 which had been given to us by our Squad mentors and coaches to do a discovery bible study over as a team. Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. As I prayed and read I was truly filled and my hunger went away, so awesome!
The day progressed and I can not even make this up, we had breakfast, we had lunch, we tried to eat all the leftover food in Coffs Harbor cause we were heading back to Byron Bay, the box of food that we could take with us was in the van I ended up in, we stopped at McDonald’s (or as the say here Mackers) for a midday snack, we had dinner, and of course dessert… ice-cream and Tim Tams (an Australian cookie that we all have come to love). Could there be anymore focus on food?!?!? But God was good, he continued to give me scripture, the whole way from Coffs to Byron worship music was playing in the van, and when I felt weak or focused on me, I turned to Him in prayer. Was it easy? No. Was it worth it? Yes!!!
The next night as our team gathered to do the discovery bible study, I shared my experience with fasting and Matthew 5:6. The last step of discovery bible study is to sit and listen to God and share what He is specifically asking you to do with the passage. As my teammates began to share fasting was a common thread in the response. So as a team we have decided to do a monthly fast for the country we will be heading to next and I cant wait to see what God is going to do in that.
