A Place at the Table

We're on the final week of our 40 day fast.  It's been challenging, exciting, boring (food wise) and hard.  Yes, I know challenging and hard mean basically the same thing but it deserves to be listed twice.  Oh, throw in frustrating.  Here I am at the beginning of this journey.  I wrote a guest post for another site and discussed my journey as it relates to my Sunday School class that is on this same journey with me. 

My hubby and I fasted by eating what our sponsored children might eat... so we had a lot of soup.  We cut out all sweets, yummy coffee drinks, Dr. Pepper, chocolate (again, separate listing than lumped in with sweets) and anything else that would make our mouths water. 

Our 15 year old daughter fasted from her iPod/CD player/radio and sweets.

The boys (8 and 5) fasted from their remote controlled cars that were "new" to them when we started this journey.

My budget for food is $400/month.  We spent $150 total and that included a few meals out where we stuck to the foods we could eat; namely potatoes, rice or some sort of veggie soup on the menu.  If we only count the food budget line, we will donate $250 to Compassion International for their Water for Life.  That buys 3 filters.  Three families who will soon have access to clean and safe drinking water.  They'll receive education for improving hygiene and sanitation and they know to share their water filter with their neighbors so more people are impacted.  Best of all, they know that it is Jesus who is providing the water. 

The hardest thing for me during this fast has been eating the same things for lunch and dinner day in-day out.  I saved a lot of money making a large pot of soup and then we ate on it for several days.  This was good because it saved money but it made it especially hard for me since I was the only one home during the day who ate it for lunch; as well. 

One of the most rewarding thing has been whenever I started to get a spirit of discontentment, the Lord reminded me of Roosbell in Ecuador and Javier in Mexico and just that quick, it put things in perspective. 

The other rewarding times have been watching our children "get it."  To hear our 5 year old say, "Roosbell and Javier don't have that." in response to an off-hand statement, "Everyone has one of those."  As well as our 15 year old daughter asking if we could eat "like this" two weeks of the month and how many more children could we sponsor with the money saved.  W O W.

There have been a few times during this fast that one of the kids has said something that I am just blown away with.  The daily devotion time that has brought us together as a family has been a major bonus. 

I look forward to doing this again come spring, leading up to the Crucifixion of my Lord.  If you are looking for something to change a perspective (yours, children, both) this is a humbling way to journey together.  A Place at the Table by Chris Seay is available for sale many places.  I highly recommend it. 

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