Our church does a corporate prayer and fasting every year starting the first full week of January.  This year it starts today and I’m participating again by doing another Daniel Fast.

I had been praying about what I needed to focus on and as I lay in bed this morning praying again I felt like the Lord was leading me back to Crazy Love.  I started reading the book ages ago and never finished it.  It was a hard read for me because I would finish a chapter in tears thinking “I suck at life”. Ha!  But I know that was not the intent of the author and it’s not God’s intent for me to live my life thinking that way either.  I sometimes forget how big and vast God is.  And how crazy it is that he LOVES me.  I’m a speck.  A microscopic speck in the vastness that is space.  And He. Loves. Me.  That is just awesome.

So I felt the Lord really wanted me to focus on that book {and also Forgotten God} because as Francis Chan says, I believe if we really get how big God is and how he loves us with a love crazy enough to sacrifice his own son, then we can finally love him back with crazy love.  Because nothing else should make sense to us if we really understand that.

I desire to have the closest relationship with God I’ve ever had in my life this year.  I want that so much and I am going to draw nearer to him than I ever have.  Spending more time in prayer, more time reading and studying and more time meditating on his love for me and how I can love him back.

As I mentioned I’m fasting certain food and drink with the Daniel Fast and I also plan to set aside my lunch hours at work for reading and praying {when I usually catch up on my favorite shows on Hulu}.  And I’m going to journal more during this time.  I always start out a fast by journaling but usually don’t follow through to the end so I am challenging myself to finish.

For my morning devotional I will be reading from Kristen’s emails she’s sending out for this year’s Plant the Seed Daniel Fast.  Kristen’s website is where I get most of the recipes I use and she has a book as well.

UPDATED. Here’s what I’m eating this week:

• Breakfast – Pineapple Citrus Muffins topped with Date Honey and a fruit
• Snack – Raw almonds or cashews with fruit
• Lunch – White Bean, Kale and Vegetable Soup with Apple-Cinnamon Hot Cereal for dessert
• Dinner – Chipotle Chili Black-eyed Peas and Potato Soup
• Snack – Nutriblast made with various veggies and fruit

And of course, no tea for me for the next 21 days!  But since I weaned myself off of caffeine a few months ago, no headaches this time around!  I will miss my morning “hug in a cup”, but I can handle it for 3 weeks.  And if I just have to sip something warm, I’ll sip hot water {it’s actually good for you!}.

Have you ever done the Daniel fast or a corporate fast with your church?  What did you get out of it?