Day 21- THE END

Can you believe it?? I did it!
And I did not cheat- NOT EVEN ONCE!!! No licking of the fingers while I made my kids food or a even secret nibble. I really felt that I made a covenant with the Lord about the Daniel Fast and I wanted to honor Him in abstaining from certain foods in order to fully rely on Him.
Twenty-One days... no dairy or sugar of any kind, no meat, no fried foods, no white flour and nothing but water or 100% juice.
Sounds easy huh? Well, you go try it, it was hard! Of course it was harder on certain days/moments than others. Day 5 and 14 were especially tough, but each time, I had to die to what my body wanted and choose Christ.
On that note- My husband said that he learned that by focusing on God you can control anything in your life. The example he gave was his thoughts, emotions, food or any area of struggle seem to fade away when you are truly focusing and relying on Him. (I told him, I wished I would get this into my brain!)

What have I learned about food:
-I am a total dipper. I struggled with once I made my food, I wanted to dip it in ranch, ketchup or ANYTHING to make it creamy and yummier. Well, that was not an option here as everything seemed to have eggs or sugar.
-Food is a source of comfort. When I was emotional or mad at the kids, I would want to eat. Irritable, eat. Not hungry, but bored, eat. Well, there is only one true source of comfort and that is Christ Jesus.
- We needed to expand our food repertoire. Even in 21 days I did not have all the veggies/fruit. I did not have green beans or blueberries, there lots of things out there, most people just choose not to eat them or learn to prepare them. We need to keep breaking out. I tend to shy away from new foods or they make me nervous. The word adventurous needs to be my song in many areas, but being adventurous is so challenging!
- The foods we are SO keeping in our house that we did not buy/make before are: hummus, cutie oranges, smoothies, wheat wraps, almond milk, homemade pizza dough (recipe at bottom), Larabar's, fruit preserves, pistachios and all baked chips.
-What did I miss most?- one word- CHEESE!

What have I learned spiritually...Oh boy have I learned a lot!
I pretty much have summarized it daily in my readings. Putting the good stuff in, definitely brought the bad stuff out. I am dealing with some issues, but that is part of life, isn't it? Not going for perfection, but relying on the One who is.

Reading:
The book of Daniel. GO, read it! Cannot even begin to summarize. Read it and let God show you amazing things. It is 12 chapters, I rarely read a book straight through, I challenge you to do it, it helps make so many more connections!

Menu:
Homemade Pancakes w/ apricot preserves and grape juice
Pizza w/ Hummus
Green bell pepper wrap w/ guacamole (I am good at guac now!)
Cereal
Fruit smoothie (I feel good at those now too)

High/Low:
One in the same...
- Preparing our Easter meal for tomorrow, soooo rewarding, looking forward to that!
- Preparing the Easter meal, not licking the cheesecake spoon, icing, having bacon, chicken or anything else until tomorrow. Press on for the prize.

Funniest thing: My girlfriend said, well I guess I should say, "Happy Diarrhea" instead of "Happy Easter." SO true. I am not sure how my body will feel adding all this back in. BUT one thing I know, more than adding food back into my life, is the importance of adding time in with the Lord Jesus.

My Easter prayer is that you too will seek Him and have His peace, His presence and His Word flowing into your life. Amen.

RECIPE
Pizza- (this is my new all-the-time thin crust)
No yeast pizza dough:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup water
1 TB veggie oil

Kneed and quickly roll out a very thin layer on baking sheet.
Poke holes with a fork and drizzle additional veggie oil on top and rub in with fingers.

Sauce: (This is my Daniel Fast sauce, but also a new fav.)
1 can stewed tomatoes undrained
1 TB minced garlic
½ tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp onion flakes
½ fresh ground black pepper
Mix and put onto uncooked pizza dough

Topping: (Any you want, the simplicity of this was unbeatable)
Thaw spinach, wring out until dry, crumble on top
Add a healthy amount of fresh ground black pepper over whole pizza
Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil
(I think the EVOO and fresh black pepper are the key at any pizza!)

Bake 425 for 20-25 minutes or until edges are crisp
AMAZING!

Thank you for following along!

Happy Diarrhea, I mean EASTER,
NHP

Day 20

Reading:
Luke 7:36-50 - Jesus anointed by a sinful woman. Just one of the most beautiful things ever. I read the version of this story in my daughters children's bible and it was soooo amazing- I cried. Then I read it in my NIV Bible and it was good, but the way they put the wording in her's was especially touching.

Jeremiah 39 and 40 -The Fall of Jerusalem. 39:17-18, "But I will rescue you on that day, declares the LORD; you will not be handed over to those you fear. 18 I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in Me, declares the LORD.' " AMAZING. Jeremiah had full favor of the Lord and was given freedom.

Romans 8- v. 4, Do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit. This meant a lot to me today as I was very tempted and almost followed through with manipulation.

Luke 6:27-45, v. 36, "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." v. 42,"You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." v. 45, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."

Menu:
Fruit smoothie
Apple w/ p.b.
Cutie orange
Pizza w/ hummus
Mixed nuts
Juice

High/Low:
- Huge lunches are my staple. I really enjoy getting full from a good meal at lunch time. Its probably the reward for a busy morning and the cause of not much energy in that afternoon- ha!
- Adam and I didn't really eat a good dinner. We, along with the kids, were in major moods in the morning because of our low blood sugar.

NHP

Day 19

Reading:
Psalm 19- I picked out my favorite verses:
1 and 3, 4: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." Isn't that cool to think about? That in every language of the world the skies are proclaiming the glory of God...

8 "The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart." Precept meaning- the rule, law, instruction and direction of the Lord is right and brings joy.

9 "The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever." Probably my favorite. It is amazing to me that 'fear and pure' can be used in the same sentence. Only the fear of the Lord is pure, all other fear is not of God.

10 "They (the ordinances of God) are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb." This is for AB, we had talked about honey for the Daniel Fast. Here is a good reminder, God's ways are sweeter than honey- amen.

11 "By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward." So true. Spend some time with the Word and God's ways and we are truly warned and rewarded- among many other things!

Menu:
Oatmeal cereal w/ strawberries and raisins w/ almond milk
Grapes and o.j.
Homemade pizza- to die for people, I'll share my recipe soon
Cantaloupe and peanut butter
Hummus, chips and cutie oranges

High/Low:
- For sure the crust on the pizza w/ homemade sauce. Ahhh-maze-zing!
- Mediating on Psalm 19 while playing with the kids. Realizing that He is my true honey, not earthly honey.

NHP