Ep 26// Part 1: WHY I Fasted for 21 Days and Why YOU Should Consider Fasting Too!

Hey Mama, what are your thoughts on fasting?

I am a big advocate for intermittent fasting and fasting for great health benefits...but I can’t say I’ve done any significant fasts for spiritual reasons.

In January of this year, I was called to do a 21 day fast and I’m letting you in on all the raw details.

This is PART 1 on this topic so get ready for Part 2 coming soon! There are some incredible truths I’m going to share in the next episode that I just don’t have time to talk about today.

This 21 day fast was a spiritual fast, not focused on health, so I’m speaking about it from that perspective.

Fasting is amazing for health but if I was doing this just for physical benefits...I wouldn’t have?! I wouldn’t have had the strength to complete it because I don’t think I care enough or love myself enough to keep that kind of commitment to myself.

In today’s episode, I’m going to share my story, my reasons WHY I chose to fast and let the Lord speak to you in the process.

I can’t wait for you to open your mind and get empowered in new ways, for the glory of God!

P.S. Check out these short videos to listen to some FAQ on Fasting and to connect with a book I highly recommend. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL39XSG-J9nGSvx0qcZq5LJDopYFszfKlO

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Full Episode Transcription:

Welcome back to The Nourishing Mompreneur Podcast, where we get encouraged and empowered as we pursue our greatest potential within the walls of our home. Hey Mama, my name is Michelle Hiatt, and I'm so thankful you're here. Do you feel like your life is good, but something in you feels unfulfilled? Do you feel stuck in the trenches of motherhood, exhausted and working so hard, but feeling like you're getting nowhere? Do you have big dreams you hold in your heart, but you've been living small? Are you motivated for more, but don't have the clarity or the courage to do anything about it? Do you want to discover God's best and see if it's really possible to be an excellent wife, an intentional mother, and be successful in business, all for the glory of God? As a wife of 16 years, a homeschooling mom of five, and an entrepreneur, I know exactly how you feel. Every bit of it. I truly believe that the most important work you will ever do is within the walls of your home and that there is purpose in every season. If you are a fellow business-minded mama, with a heart for home and a love for Jesus, let's process this journey and grow together.

Today I want to talk about fasting. This is something we don't talk enough about, especially as Christians and I just want to open up the conversation, plant some seeds in your heart and encourage you to seek God on this matter. Fasting is not only an act of obedience and surrender, but it is a weapon for warfare. And I can confidently speak for myself and for you and saying that our lives do not black battles. Isn't that the truth? Moments where we need to just be full of God's power and to make it out okay.

In the last few months, I've referred back many times to the 21 day fast that I did back in January, not because I cherish it with a sense of pride or have any desire to make you think more highly of me. That's not it at all has nothing to do with me saying hey guys, look what I did. But I share this only because I know that my experience my testimony can and will bring glory to God. My husband literally just said this morning. "Wow. It's amazing what that fast can do or what fasting can do" when he was reflecting back on his fast that he did in January and as he gears up for another extended one. We are learning to appreciate and value this sacred act the deeper we go on our faith journey and I want you to do the same. God has more for you. And I know you're listening because your heart yearns for that more to I wouldn't be the best friend that I could be to you through this podcast by keeping this part of my journey covered up and for whatever reason it just hasn't felt right to share until now. So today I want to let you in on my experience with fasting. Because I had never done anything like this before and in the process.

I pray that the Lord open up your ears to hear whatever it is that he wants to speak to you. It was new to me, not that I didn't know about it but actually committing to actually doing an extended fast like it was new to me and it may be new to you too. But I do think it should be the norm in our lives as believers. In the end, I'll tell you why I believe you, yes, you should consider fasting as part of your lifestyle, especially as Kingdom entrepreneurs who wake up every day with the audacity to do the hard things in pursuing your greatest potential as a wife, as a mom and in business or whatever other endeavors you're involved with. Our faith is the foundation of all that we do and for that reason alone, fasting is important. So I don't know where you're at right now. But I'm just going to imagine that you are sitting in my living room with me right now and I'm confiding in you one of my most personal, beautiful and hardest experiences of my year, really.

Let me back up for just a minute and share what led up to this 21 day fast for me. If you have been following me or walking with me since the beginning of this podcast, you'll know a little bit about my story. But for me 2020 was very much a working season. It was kind of like the pinnacle of a maybe two, three, year really three year intense working season for me. It seemed like when COVID hit there were to party. Some people life really slowed down. They felt a little bit lost or things just kind of they were just slower than normal, right? And then there was the other camp that life just sped up faster than ever while I was on the side where life went faster than ever I went 100 miles per hour last year. And what ended up happening was as entrepreneurs and business owners when COVID hit we kind of everything came to a screeching halt and our minds were like oh my goodness, this is this is significant. This is not a two week quarantine situation. This has major long term effects and what are we going to do about it? And at the time, we were looking at our financial situation and it wasn't looking all that great.

So I ended up starting another business right then and there you know I believe that in every situation, there are opportunities to grow if you are looking forward and so we were in a situation I was like What can I do to support my family more what can I do to create another stream of income from home where is the opportunity in this situation? How can I meet the needs of others so in that process started another business so I was actively juggling two businesses now during the heat of COVID. And I found myself by the end of 2020 actually juggling all three of my businesses. Everything was up and running and it was just crazy. And I was feeling very burnt out. What's so cool is that when we see God he tasks give us clarity. And I remember one day I was walking on the treadmill and I was just praying about what it was going to look like for the next year. What was 2021 going to look like and he gave me back in the summer my word for 2021 So I knew it was going to look different. I knew that I was in a season a working season. It wasn't going to be like this forever. I didn't want to live like that forever. It was just too much to be honest with you. But I was able to stay the course and towards the end of the year I began making the adjustments in the shifts to kind of release one of the businesses sell it off to somebody else and then kind of go through and get everything ready for a time to rest because I was tired at the end of the year.

So I knew early on that January, January was going to be the time for me to slow down to set everything down to unplug off of social media to just refresh to renew to rest it was just going to be some very very necessary meantime, I was just ready I was just I was done. And what happened was January came and I remember my husband telling me "Oh babe, I'm going to do a fast" and I was just kind of like "Okay, good for you." I wasn't interested at all in that. And I know that in many churches around the first year they corporately do fasting together. And so our church is one of them. They do that together and I hadn't thought about it. I really didn't have any intentions to but my husband felt called to do an extended fasts and so I was like that's awesome babe. I'll be here to support you. Rock on. But I was like well, I should really pray about this. So I did and I prayed about it. I was like well what is something that would be significant that I would really miss and notice and so I was like well, I'm going to fast dairy I'm gonna do just fast dairy. So I love my cheese. I love my butter. So I was like I've never done that. Before and it just felt like the right thing. So the first week of January I fasted dairy, my husband was into his fast and I was just doing so many amazing things and um, I just remember that first week of January feeling honestly feeling jealous.

I was just running completely on fumes and I'm looking at my husband and I'm seeing how God is using this fast and his life and what he's doing already just a week into it. And I was so exhausted and tapped out and spent and trying so hard to get to my resting place. I could see what God was doing. And I wanted some of it I ended up that weekend I got to a point where I could shut it all down. And I was so exhausted. This is not typical for our family. But I remember it was a Sunday morning and Tyler went to church with the kids by himself and I just stayed in bed. I was like I can't deal I just need to sleep. I need to rest I am just so, I've got nothing. I got nothing here. So I stayed home that day. And I remember that Sunday. I took that day to fast. I just was like God I'm desperate for you. I need more of you. I'm hungry for more of you here I am like meet me where I'm at gives me that deep soul refreshing that I'm so yearning for.

So I fasted on Sunday I stayed home from church that day. I just slept and prayed and worshiped in bed and just kind of took it easy that day. And that night I woke up in the middle of the night and I felt the Lord clearly clearly clearly say "You are to join your husband in his fast." And I was like, okay, so I gave God my Yes. And he made it very clear that this was not a time, this was not my time. Me Time. Like I thought this was actually his time. He's like this is my time. And I want to consecrate you during this time and do something significant in your life. So I joined my husband and I felt called to finish his fast with him. That looked like a 21 day fast for me. And I went for it. And it wasn't in my plans. And honestly I don't think I could have done it if it was for myself because this is a thing like it was a spiritual fast and when my eyes were on him, I was walking in obedience. It was okay like I was strong. I was able to. I had the resolve to do that. But if it was just for me for health reasons for other things, I honestly don't think I could have stuck with it because I don't think that I would commit that well or love myself enough to stay the course.

So specifically what I did was I ended up doing 16 days of just water and electrolytes and then the last five days I added in bone broth so that was specifically what I did. And I began this fast not having read books and not feeling prepared but just out of obedience because success is obedience to God. And through our obedience, we can see and know Him more. This is our greatest reward. He is always worth the sacrifice. And you know me enough to know that I believe that every part of our life should be pursued with intention and during my fast I had a list of things I was specifically asking God for wasn't why I started my fast but once I started it, I was like alright God, what do you want to do? What what are the desires that you have for me? What are the desires in my heart? What are the things I want to be specifically praying for and believing for? It was a list of things that I was just laying beforehand with expectation, not with the idea that I'm going to fast and in return I get what I want. Like it's some kind of business transaction. No, not not that at all.

Fasting is really sowing good seed into the kingdom. And appealing to God's throne room to let him do whatever he's going to do. The Bible talks about on earth as it is in heaven. So everything that we do here on earth has spiritual significance whether we realize it or not. I wasn't going to try to, quote do things right or really do anything other than just rest and make myself available to him. Honestly had nothing to give. I was just like, Here I am, Lord, do whatever you're gonna do. I wanted to create more room for him to work in my heart letting him know that I'm here and I'm available. And like I said, just God you do what you want to do work in my heart work in my spirit, just fill me in new ways out of this void this physical fleshly void through fasting. I was tired and I refuse to strive in My spirit. I'm wired to be a doer. Naturally I'd be like alright God like let's do this fast. Here are the things I'm praying for. What do we got to do? I want more of your presence. I want this even with good intentions like alright God, what do I have to do for more of you? How can I get there? What what's the process? And you know what? It's not like that.

God just wants us He wants all of us. He wants our heart and he doesn't want us to strive for him. We can't strive for his presence. Really surrender is the key and I've talked about this a lot through different episodes but surrender is something I just want to keep saying over and over because I am walking without pressing into this idea into this practice into this walk of obedience. And I just want to encourage you to keep doing the same as well. And I think my biggest fear was I would come out of this fast unchanged and be just as I was before, I did not want to go back to being the same. I wanted God to do a new thing in me however, I knew that I can't manipulate or rush the process. So just like anything new that we do, we should always know our why. Why why is this important? Because New things are hard and sacrifice is not easy. It's our why that keeps us rooted and focused, to stay the course and this is true for all things that we do in life. So if you are new to this topic or you want to dig in a little bit more, go back to Episode 21 for all about the importance of knowing our why and actually how to how to go about that.

I don't know about you but I've been a Christian almost my entire life. I went to a Christian school from kindergarten to 12th grade. I was always involved with youth groups, Bible studies church every Sunday mission trips, you name it, the full gamut of Christian experience. I've heard sermon after sermon, but the only time fasting was really prioritize that I really remember was sometimes around the first of January. I never thought that much about it. And I certainly didn't understand the importance of it to us as believers. I actually remember in high school. I remember being intrigued by fasting and feeling called to it but had never had the courage to do anything about it. I didn't have anybody doing it with me. Nobody was teaching me and I remember ordering a whole bunch of books by Jensen Franklin Have you know about him, but he's got a lot of great fasting resources and materials and I read it and I was so encouraged and pumped up but I just didn't have the courage to do anything about it. Because I was just kind of alone in that. And I'm still I am still barely scratching the surface in my understanding and I absolutely share all of this everything that I share on this topic, with so much humility, not in any way as an authority on this topic. I am learning and I want to bring you along with me to build you up as the body of believers and to push you deeper towards the heart of God.

There are tons of amazing fasting resources available if you want to study and learn more about this topic and if I have some things I will put them in the show notes here so that you can directly link to some specific things that I recommend and I'll look into that.

But again, I'm coming from this not at a place from I've read all these books and I studied all this. There's so much out there trust me. That's not what I'm going into today. If God is calling you to fast, that's what matters your obedience to his call. is all that matters. There's no wrong way. So I'm just going to tell you to go for it. This what I'm sharing today with you is straight from my personal journal. Like here are my reasons why I was fasting in January. And what I was specifically praying for I would struggle I would feel lost. These are the reasons that would keep me grounded. And I want to share them with you because maybe some of these reasons will be the very reasons that you need to inspire unifies in your own life. Just ask God about it and do whatever he's asking you to do. But let this conversation be something that starts a conversation for you with your heavenly Father on this topic.

Okay, so the first reason why I had written down that I was fasting, going to commit to a 21 day fast, something scary, something new, something that I knew would be hard uncharted territories. The reason why I knew that I could commit to that was because I was walking in obedience to what God had asked me to do. If you're feeling prompted to fast, it is probably not just you thinking a thought, but rather God inviting you to walk in obedience. When God invites you to fast just give him your Yes, obedience brings blessing.

Another reason why I was fasting and I had written down it was for the purpose of creating space for more of him to let him work and literally sustain me. I honestly didn't know how I would do with I mean, come on not eating for 21 days. How is that going to work? I'm like God, you've got to literally sustain me during this time. My life had been so full to the brim and I felt bogged down with all the details and the burdens and just just the work of life. I don't know about you, but my computer is always on and has like a million tabs open. And life can feel a lot like that. We are always on as moms we are always on in business in some ways. Even if it's just our mind churning in the background. We have a million tabs open and thoughts going at any given time trying to piece this and piece that and figure all these things out. And every now and then it's healthy just to close down all the tabs and shut down the computer and just click Restart. So think about fasting as spiritually rebooting your life. Are you feeling bogged down in that capacity? Maybe a fast would be something that would clean your slate spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically so that you can get the clarity that your heart is yearning for.

Another reason why I had written down that I was fasting was because the focus was not to be on myself, but on God alone. I wanted to put God truly on the throne. I had been on a several year self development deep dive, and it's awesome. This is what's so awesome about businesses that you can't grow a business without growing yourself first in business. It truly is that self development journey with a compensation attached. You have to grow as a person and it's an awesome process. I had become for me so strong and empowered and it's one of the perks of doing business as a mom. It stretches you it pushes you but at the same time, I had become strong and my flesh, stronger my own gifts and talents and probably a little too self sufficient. God was reminding me that he wants us to be strong and wants me to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Not our might but his not our power, but his. Fasting is a way of laying down my rights to be in control, a time of repenting for all the ways that I had worked out of my own strength. This fast, it sparked a huge shift in my heart from self absorbed to servant. From striving, shifting to surrender. My heart and my intentions have always been to use the work of my hands for God's glory. That's always my heart, always good intentions. But sometimes, we don't even realize how much our hands can get in the way.

If you were brutally honest with yourself, do you feel like you are driving the car of your marriage? Do you feel like you're hanging on to the wheel of your home life? Feel like you're driving the car of your business and Jesus is in the passenger seat? Maybe it's time to stop and assess the situation with complete honesty and vulnerability so that you don't crash. God doesn't just want to be your partner. He doesn't want to just be your friend, but he deserves the honor and the authority to be on the throne of your life. This is a continual process of surrender and fasting really gives you an opportunity to make sure that God is above all in your life.

Another reason why and this is super wow, when I read back I'm like wow, this is super honest. Well, I've never showed up to this podcast anything but like completely putting it all out there. So here it is. But anyways, I had written down fasting to break the spirit of fear and condemnation off my life. Break the fear of man so that I can serve God with my whole heart. This will be another podcast episode but listen if you struggle with the disease to please or the fear of what others think, and I think we all do in some way, the only way to overcome this is to get your eyes on Jesus. You have to see him clearly. So that what you think about yourself, what you think about you or what others think about you it just doesn't matter anymore. Trust me, there is no other victorious way. You can grow and you can get better in not caring what other people think about you you can step out and boldness all day long. In the end, your insecurities are going to creep back in and if you don't take a moment to get your eyes on Jesus. So friend is that you today? Are you struggling to build your business because you're too scared to ask for what you really want or need. You can't get over what others might think or how they might perceive you. Maybe fasting will be the one thing that will help you get your eyes fixed only on Jesus so that you can work for an audience of one and walk in freedom and victory in this area.

Another reason why I was fasting was I was praying that God would restore my faith once again. The things I was praying for was for increased faith when I was young as a kid and especially in high school. I just remember being so strong in faith. I had a list of friends that I prayed for, and I had faith for everyone. Then I got married and became an adult and the reality of life hit. Life was kind of scary. I felt the fire of my faith dim as more fear crept in. I specifically remember taking a spiritual gifts test when I was in high school and faith was one of my top gifts. It was right on and it totally resonated with me but then a year or so after I got married I did another spiritual gifts test. And faith didn't even come up on the radar. It's crazy. This really confused me and discouraged me and I was so confused. I was like how does this happen? You lose your spiritual gifts. What does this even mean? I didn't understand. But here's the point. The reality and the trials and just the struggles of life. It can smother out the faith in our lives more than we realize. During this fast I asked God to activate my faith again. The faith that I had when I was a child because God wants us to come to him like little children. We are His children. Doesn't matter what our age is wer'e his children. He wants us to have faith like a child and fasting it activates your faith. Your flesh becomes weak. Your Spirit has the opportunity to become strong.

So have you lost some faith, friend? Has the state of our world, our economy, our government, or even your home over the last year made you start to question things? Maybe you've been questioning everything lately? I don't know who needs to hear this, but maybe some of you listening are honestly struggling. Like do I even believe anymore? God if you are so good. Why does my life look like this? Why do these hard things happen? Why can I never catch a break? Why does the world look like this? Maybe that's you and you're questioning everything? It's okay. It's okay to struggle. It's okay to wrestle with these things. Take it to the Lord. Don't give up. Don't lose hope. Keep the faith and fast, fast until you receive your breakthrough.

Another reason why I was fasting is I was just praying that God would fill me up with His Spirit, His power, His authority to understand Kingdom living in new ways. As children, we are Kingdom women, women of the Most High King, daughters of the Most High King, Kingdom entrepreneurs and the life that we live should be different. I want to understand more about that. What does that look like here on Earth? Less of me, more of God. Like physically empty myself of food and substance. I wanted God to be my source and my substance and him to be my bread. The well that I drink from.

Another reason why I was fasting was to experience God's love and deeper ways. Receiving his gift or relationship with God begins with us understanding and receiving His love for us. God loved us first. And the more that we can receive the gift that's already been given, the more we can love Him in return. God's number one command for believers is to love God and love others but we won't be able to do this well without first having special revelation of His indescribable love for us. Really a process of receiving and I know for me personally, I have struggled with that so crazy. It's like God I love you so much but I have a hard time loving you fully because whatever reason I have a hard time receiving the capacity of your love for me for truly opening myself up to that. So when you fast it can be a physical act to spiritually open up your heart to receive more of His love another reason for fasting for me was to learn true forgiveness and letting go of pride.

During this time I was really struggling to forgive someone in my life. I mean, I was struggling. Again. I'll have to do another podcast episode on what I learned about forgiveness because I really want to share with you more about this. It's so important that we learned to forgive and God really humbled me during this time in this in this topic of forgiveness. But I was praying for a miracle to forgive this person and believing for a breakthrough during this fast. Do you have someone particular in your life that you need to forgive relationship you don't know how to make right? Someone in your life that needs a breakthrough? You know fasting is not only for you you can fast for others as well for your heart towards others and also for other people's needs. How loving would that be to sacrifice in a fast for someone who maybe doesn't deserve it? Who never even know much with that appeal to God's heart questions to ask ourselves.

Another reason why I was fasting is just a walk in greater spiritual unity with my husband. You know my husband and I we've been married 16 and a half years now and 2020 was an amazing year for our marriage. I know that the stress and the craziness of the COVID situation really put a lot of burden on relationships. But for us, one of the best things that we did was we had committed in the beginning of the year to take a weekly date night and even though things were shut down, even though things were kind of crazy. We were like rock hard, die hard daters were 2020 and it was one of the best investments that we made, and our marriage was those weekly date nights.

It's not just enough to be physically close here on earth because my husband I had gotten so close, like physically, like we were connecting. We were working hard all week, but we would connect on our date and we were just really close and in sync with one another. But we both desire to be one in spirit. Each of us individually have to put God first in our own lives. And I always think of that image of the triangle so picture triangle God's at the top and you and your husband are on either side and the more you seek God the closer you move towards God, the closer you move towards each other. So I don't know where you're at in your marriage, but do you need a breakthrough quote that came to mind was actually "Unless he wears diapers, you can't change him." That is so true of men in general of our marriage. You cannot I learned that early on the first I remember the first couple years of marriage, there was a few things I was trying so hard to like, change my husband on and I was so frustrated and I learned that like you cannot change a man but as women, we can influence him. I just want to tell you to stop trying to change your spouse. But if you actually fasted and prayed for your marriage, instead, trusting God to do a miracle. I have faith that he will do and he can do and he would honor that.

Another thing that I was praying for in January when I committed to my fast was that the seeds that I've sown in 2020 and prior would breakthrough my word for 2020 was breakthrough and it was an amazing year and so many awesome things happen. But there was definitely still some fruit some things that I've been praying for that hadn't broken through yet. You are waiting on a promise to come to pass. Fasting is an amazing act to show your trust in the waiting and to increase your faith for the breakthroughs.

My prayer for this year has just been like "God I want your will, your way, your time." But sometimes his ways don't look like our ways and because this year looks so different for me, it's like gosh, is all the work that I've done in the past? Is it going to be lost? And it's like no God, would you just continue to cultivate those seeds that I've planted and just bring those to life and break those through in your timing and in your way? It's gonna have to be you God.

Another reason that I was fasting is that I would come out equipped for battle, really walk in the mission that God has me on deeply restored. Think of fasting as a spiritual and physical training camp for God's warriors. It takes no lack of self discipline. I will tell you that but you know what the thing is, is that when your eyes are on God, and you're doing it for him, it's easy. His yoke is easy, and as burdens are light, so if he's calling you to do it, and you are doing it for him, you'll be fine. Don't be scared if he's calling you to fast. If you're doing it for yourself and for health reasons. I've been there before too. I've done it and I don't know all I can say is get some crazy serious like rock hard accountability around you because it's tough. It's tough. You really have to have a deep resolve and really care hard.

Okay, another biggest thing, what are the things that God is teaching me and the things I was really seeking to get out of it was just learn to work. Out of His rest. I thought that January I would be resting what looked like rest to me. But he wanted me to enter into His rest and I want to move and work out of his rest to let go of control so that God can be in full control. Also was praying that God would completely heal my body. One of the things about business and I'll just throw this out there because it's so important is that the reason why I had release and permission and the grace to pursue business and the capacity that I did for the past three years was because my home was an order. If my marriage wasn't right if my kids weren't okay, if my home wasn't an order, I would not have been right in pursuing business and going outside of the home to do a lot of other things. I think that our home is most important. It is both priority and so top priority I should say.

So we really want to remember that as we do business, there are different seasons and make sure that your home is established, not perfect, but make sure that your home is in order and that there is definitely the grace to pursue things outside that you can handle it while keeping your marriage healthy, your children healthy and all of that. But for me what happened with 2020 was that my marriage was amazing. My kids were great. Home was an order. Everything was good, but I suffered. It was just the compound effect of too much stress and not enough sleep over too long. I was just starting to physically like were out. I was not feeling well. And it was bringing up some like health concerns. And so I was just praying for healing in this area. And actually, when I did my fast to be honest with you, it actually brought to light some underlying health concerns some food allergies that I didn't realize that I had. So it's good. It was good for me physically too and this is a time to pray for that physical healing and for miracles I guess that's the whole point of what I just said.

I want to remind you of the story in the Bible when the disciples were praying for a demon possessed man and they could not cast out the demon and they were so discouraged and they were so frustrated like what in the world I feel like a fool. Why is this not working this time? Why can I not cast out this demon? And they went to Jesus and they asked him about it. And he said, basically, that "this kind of thing can only be cast out by praying and fasting." There is something powerful physically that happens when you fast and there's no greater time to ask for those miracles that you need. In Your Life. Although this was completely a spiritual fast for me, meaning that I wasn't focused on health or weight loss that wasn't it at all. You cannot separate the physical and the spiritual connection. It's definitely connected and it will address both issues. Whether you want it to or realize it or not. So fasting is a time of cleansing and healing and so it's a great time to address those things with the Lord whatever you need healing for. My fast was a time of giving God permission to get things done just to use me. And it was a time of learning to daily walk and deep trust. And surrender, breaking old habits and learning to walk in a new stride. I knew that God was putting me into a new season and that the way I had done things before weren't going to be the way things I was going to move forward and that time of fasting was just a breaking for me.

So I don't know where you're at but do you feel stuck in some unhealthy habits or some cycles and you just kind of feel like, Oh, I'm stuck. I can't break through. I keep doing the things I don't want to do. I'm in these habits. I'm in these rhythms that just aren't healthy for me. You know, God, He doesn't want us to strive. He wants us to stride with him stride as in walk. Fasting puts your heart in a position of surrender and a heart surrendered is God's desire for us. Desire for me is desire for you. So I'm going to stop here. These are my personal reasons why I entered into a 21 day fast back in January of this year 2021. I share all this with you with complete honesty and vulnerability. Because if any of my personal reasons for fasting resonated with you or sparked a desire to commit to greater breakthrough in your own life, I say talk to God about it and go for it. Ask him for your reasons why you should fast in a way that should look like for you. you want to be obedient to what he's calling you to do and it's going to look different for everybody so your reasons why may look different from mine the way you fast or what you fast or how long you fast. It should and very well likely will look different than mine. I just want you to start thinking and take this conversation to the Lord and ask him there's no wrong way when you're running after your Heavenly Father's heart. Just seek him first. And everything else will work itself out. So I just want to encourage you to use fasting as a way to offer yourself to God as a living sacrifice to create room for God to work out in your life. Whatever he wants to do. In fact, I know you are working so hard. I know you're doing all the things you're juggling so much I know it's a struggle. You have such good heart. You have such good intentions. You want a great marriage and you're trying to be the best wife that you can you want to be the best mom that you can. You're intentional, but man it's so hard to execute all these things that you want to do and at the end of the day, you just feel like ah, gosh, I failed again. I did it again. I know you're trying to grow and develop that business your heart is good. You want to help provide for your family. You want to grow a team you want to have more impact and influence. You have such good heart and such good intentions. And there's so much work to be done. There's so much doing and juggling and balancing in life. I want to remind you something because I know that you're driving and I'll remind you that God is not looking for hustlers. He's looking for vessels.

He's looking for women that are willing to open themselves up and say "God use me. God, you work through me. You use me, I'm available to you." He doesn't need more of your hustle, he needs more of your heart and He wants you to be a vessel. There's no greater way to create the capacity for Him to fill you as an empty vessel than to empty yourself physically through a fast.

So let me just pray for today. God I just pray that whatever words that this mom needs to hear through this conversation that you would just spark a conversation in her heart that she would just run to you with that, Lord that she would start asking you some of these deep questions, some of these hard questions, some of the things that maybe she's putting off in her life and just kind of staying busy and keep moving forward but that she would slow down and really seek your heart. Lord, I pray that you would just remind her that there is nothing that she can do to make you love her more God. Your love is full it is complete. You died on the cross and it's already been done God but I pray that You would help her to open up her heart to receive more of you today. Lord show her what she's to do and more whatever you reveal to her heart. Allow her to be obedient to you God may she remember that her success hinges on her obedience to you whatever that looks like. It doesn't matter what the world says it doesn't matter what the world does what everybody else does. It just matters that she walks in obedience and surrender to You, God, and you will fill every void in her life you will you will fill her to overflowing God, you want every crack and every crevice and every hidden space to be healed and a whole and full of you guys have greater plans for her and she can even imagine God and I pray that you would just continue to hold her close hold her by the hand and walk with her that she would not strive that she would just walk in stride with you hand in hand, day by day. Lord, we just thank you for what you're doing in all of our lives God and I just bless the mom listening today. Give her an amazing day and anoint her head for the work that you've called her to do and may she just seek you first in all that she does. In Jesus name I pray, Amen and Amen.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Hey Mama real quick, before you run off and do all the things, if you found value in today's conversation it would mean the world to me if you left a review on my podcast. I know you know how precious time is. The biggest thing that you can give me for taking the time to share on this podcast is to leave a written review. This helps me on my mission to encourage and empower others who are pursuing their greatest potential from home.

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