Obviously I haven't gotten over my selfish desires long enough to allow God room to work. But, I am very excited about what God is teaching me....about myself and about Him. Even if my own selfish desires have taken more of my thoughts than they should, I know that God is at work within me. My Bible is finding its way into my hands more than normal. Even when I have no idea what I want to read, I just open it praying that God will reveal Himself to me more with the words Im about to read. God is teaching me to pray through my physical needs/wants and move onto more important things. Why am I doing this? .... When John rights about Jesus coming into the world to shine light so that everyone may truly believe, it hit me....
I come as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that throughout him all men might believe. {John 1:6}How I live my life shines as the biggest, brightest light to those looking for God's goodness and grace. How can I pass this up? I can't!! Why am I doing this? I want to walk in the light so that ultimately all glory can be given to my God! And, so that others may find their way out of the darkness as well.
For the first month we've chosen to eat only 7 foods. {The hubs is doing this with me.} Our 7 are: chicken, eggs, wheat bread, rice, sweet potatoes, green beans and apples. We will use only the spices that are available in our house already and a little bit of butter on our toast. We are also only drinking water. Ben has made a huge sacrifice by giving up coffee. Im so proud of him. He is choosing to do something that is really hard for him. For myself, eating those 7 foods and not "cheating" will be a huge thing for me. I've also challenged myself to drink ONLY water for the entire 7 month period.
Why those 7 foods? This seemed like a good group of foods. I like all of them pretty well. I knew that if this was truly going to make a difference in my heart it needed to be hard. That's why I went with the 7 foods. Although all of these foods are good--after-all, having food at all is a blessing that so many in this world don't have--it will be very easy to get bored with a lack of variety. Its 4 days in and Im already interested to see how I will make it through a month.
A few weeks ago when I first found this book I asked among my Facebook friends if anyone would be interested in following along in the 7 month long experiment with me. To my surprise 30 others responded. Everyone is pursuing this month differently. Ill list a few variations for you:
- A few have chosen to eat only 7 foods for the month.
- Others have chosen to remove 7 unhealthy foods from their diets.
- Some families have picked 7 impoverished countries to pray over and are eating what those countries eat for a few days.
- My friend MJ didn't feel convicted to change her eating habits due to the fact that she is nursing her twins. But she did pray that God would show her where she needed change in her life. And, she wrote this, "I am praying that God would give me increased gratefulness for what we do have to consume, and that will overflow into genuine and worshipful prayers of thanks before and after meals. And increased generosity in sharing with other, not just generosity when its comfortable or in the week's 'budget'."
- Another friend CG came up with 7 guidelines she would follow. {1}Drink at least 7 glasses of water each day with gratitude that I have clean water to drink. {2}Prepare a meal each week for someone else, asking God to show me who. {3}One night each week eat beans and rice, thinking of the millions in the world who have no choices of what to eat for dinner. {4}Eat home cooked meals. {5}Prepare meals as close to the earth and home as I can - eggs from home, beef from a neighboring county, veggies from local gardens. {6}Cook from the abundance already in my pantry and freezer. {7}Give thanks to God each time I eat.
All of my friends have sweet hearts. Their genuine desire is to do only want to do what gives glory and honor to God. I am blessed beyond measure to be surrounded by such wonderful women.
I hope that my honesty with my true feelings and desires only come across as an effort for transparency. I don't want to seem a complainer. And, I don't want to seem holier-than-thou either. My prayer is that if you are reading this, you too will feel that same nudge I did. The nudge to make some changes for God...to look for places in your life that you might have fallen idol to something that is taking up space in your heart, so that you may rid yourself of those making even more room for God.
I leave you with this Psalm that I heard in church last Sunday. I immediately knew why I was hearing it...my journey was just beginning and God knew that I might need a reminder of where my strength will come from.
My soul finds rest in God alone, my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation;he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. Psalm 62:1-2
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