My Love/Hate Relationship with Fasting

I hate to fast. I guess at the bottom of that is my love for food which can be on the unhealthy side. That and a post-menopausal (what is that thing called? oh yeah, metabolism) are probably the reason I can't seem to shed these 20 (okay 30) extra pounds. Even with increased activity like walking the dog and biking to Costco. I keep reminding myself that turning to food instead of God is idolatry. So, back to fasting....

I also love to fast. I know of no better way to increase my awareness of God and of my dependence upon Him. In the past year, I've had amazing turn around answers to prayer immediately following a fast. I've read several books about fasting and have learned from others who make it a practice. And so when our pastor called us to fast and pray today for the national sense of fear and doom as well as the financial hardships of members of our community, I eagerly and reluctantly joined in. I'm finding today is a great day for me to fast as I wait to hear results of Hannah's tests and get reports about the purchasing of our tickets for Africa. I'm tempted to be emotionally torn about these two realities and prayer/fasting is a great place to turn when you're torn.

The Scriptures are full of times when people in turmoil turned to prayer & fasting. So I was surprised when I went to the concordance in my NIV study Bible and found that fast as verb was only noted once and "hold fast" was noted numerous times. It makes me wonder if we are having trouble "holding fast" to God, in part because we've forgotten to fast. So today I'm hating/ loving fasting and looking forward to worshipping with my community tonight.