Congratulations to all who set something aside over the Lenten season! I've been encouraged by messages and testimonies, including my three sweet girls who decided to give up candy.

A friend asked me how I was doing the other day and I realized fasting from a couple of things for a time has been so peaceful!

I began both the 40-day Sugar Fast: where physical detox meets spiritual transformation and the 40-Day Social-Media Fast: exchange your online distractions for real-life devotion, by Wendy Speake, on the first day of Lent and didn’t take the traditional Sundays off so I finished a week before Easter.

My body is no longer used to the intensity of refined sugar and I’d like it to stay this way. Even as I enjoy sweets now and then, this fasting lifestyle is something I want to continue. As I find my way back on Instagram and Facebook it will also be with great intention, as you will read later, and from a fasting (and feasting) mindset.

Speake intentionally laced talk of many things aside from sugar and social media throughout both devotionals saying:

“The purpose of the fast is not to simply step away from distraction but to exchange those distractions for real-life devotion.  To whet your appetite for God so that you turn to Him—not online distractions, food, alcohol, or anything else—to satisfy your hunger!”

While sugar and social media are two common soul distractions, the heart message in both books is about recognizing where we go to fill the God-shaped holes in our souls.

This is much easier to read than to practice day after day! There is both a physical and spiritual tension when we fight the pull to numb out with a favorite snack, mindless scroll, or the latest version of ‘savior'.

Again, these fasts are not about sugar or social media but about our relationship with Jesus.

While the daily pages only take a few minutes to read, Speake shares rich and convicting truth through beautiful illustrations and a strong exhortation to live at a level of surrender and dedication we don’t hear enough about in Christian culture.

the sugar part!

I'd already ‘detoxed’ from sugar to kick off 2021 so while my body was prepared for the second forty-day round the mental and physical struggle still ebbed and flowed!

While I did shed the five pounds I'd gained from not being mindful over Christmas, more importantly, I shed lies from the enemy and recognized unhealthy patterns of thinking.

The most powerful revelation was God’s love for me! He doesn’t want me to wake up and measure my value on a scale but to greet each day with gratefulness for a healthy body that birthed and carries the weight of six children’s needs daily.

Stepping back from sugary foods also gave me an appreciation for and confidence to make healthier choices. I ate more avocados in the last three months than I have in my life!

It wasn’t easy…

I felt some degree of struggle the whole time, including three days before the fast ended, when those fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies beckoned me! It was a miracle I resisted and put them in the freezer along with other baked goods people had made for us. I also stored any chocolate gifts in my desk drawer to enjoy after the fast. This was another victory! In the past, sweet treats sitting in close proximity would never last the day, let alone weeks on end, but this time the boundary was clear, the conviction was strong and God's presence empowered me with self-control.

Edgy, bored, sad, lonely, excited, confused—any emotion really—is often a sign we need to carve out space to quiet our souls before the Lord, to cry out in prayer, to turn on a worship song, to run from anything offering a surface fix and go to the Healer.

I do not have this all figured out but I do know this practice meant extra time communing with Jesus. It strengthened my body, mind, and spirit for whatever the next leg of this journey entails. Talk about soul-care!

I want to continue walking in this posture of surrender.

the social media part!

Let’s set aside sugar for a moment and look at the social media part.

When I heard about a 40-day social media fast it sounded like an invitation rather than a big sacrifice.  This is a thing?  Yes, please! I wanted whatever gift was wrapped up in dedicated time offline.

But at first, I didn’t know if I could step away completely for the forty days since I help out with our business’ online presence. Well, I did. I just deleted the apps.

My world was beautifully simple and quiet these last six weeks! I was more present and delighted by family because my mind wasn't distracted or overwhelmed by the latest news, tragedy, conflict, update, or comment.

Here’s some background.

At the start of 2020, I was pretty close to deleting all social media accounts anyway. I had just read two thought-provoking books: Digital Minimalism and Deep Work by Cal Newport (who was on Carey Nieuwhof’s leadership podcast recently). I unsubscribed from most things but hesitated to delete my social accounts. 

As pandemic headlines took over our world a few months later—and we all stumbled to figure out life with toilet paper ‘shortages’ and school closures—I was grateful I was still connected online!

Then, after a strong prompting to launch this website last summer I knew social media would stay in my life as a place to connect with friends and family and encourage readers.

Later in 2020, a Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma” portrayed the polarization big tech platforms perpetuate, and the terrifying stats that teens are literally dying from a life curated to draw them in and break them down. I was reminded to be vigilant with where I invested and what I consumed online.

All this to say, I am returning to both engage and disengage with more intention than ever!

my social-media plan:

• An annual month-long fast

• Unplug during trips, holidays, and intense seasons, etc.

• Take a weekly Sabbath day offline

• Schedule daily social media time blocks (fast the rest of the day)

• All notifications off!

While I was already doing most of these things before, seeing them written out liberates me to connect and encourage online while knowing I am putting first things first! There is beauty and struggle right within my own home and while I can learn and share through some of these moments with pictures, videos, or the written word, most are sacred moments between God, my family, and myself.

Cherishing the unseen and unshared pieces of my story gives me deep peace and joy!

At the start of the fast, I wondered what I was missing out on while being offline but as time went on I didn’t think about it.

Maybe we should think the other way whenever we are online—what am I missing out on in my own 3D world?

I encourage you to customize your own social media plan and would love to hear about it.

The social media fast was a lot easier than the sugar one for me and did not feel like a sacrifice. It was a gift! And I plan to keep receiving it within clear boundaries.

Finally, in the blog post Change Your Mind I said I would address this question after the fast:

…is Jesus really enough?

Sadly, when we develop the habit of turning to other things it can feel like He isn’t, can’t be, never will be. The war within is real and fasts like these can help us pinpoint and break unhealthy mindsets and habits.

Start by daring to believe Jesus is MORE than enough. There is something simple and profound in the words of the worship song that sings “the more I seek you, the more I find you.” This is 100% true! Our beliefs proceed our actions and yet our actions solidify our beliefs. Be like David in Psalm 139:23-24 who cries out:

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

I am so thankful I set aside sugar and social media for this short season and had these beautiful devotionals as a guide to point me to my daily companion and a lifestyle of fasting and feasting. A few more things:

• If you live in the Edmonton area I’d be delighted to lend you either devotional book!

• I just began a book called Full: food, Jesus, and the battle for satisfaction, by Asheritah Ciuciu. I know God still has a lot to teach and reveal to me about where my hunger and satisfaction lie.

• Another excellent book that I read a few years ago on the food topic is Made To Crave: satisfying your deepest desires with God not food, by Lysa Terkeurst.

This Easter weekend, as we fellowship and celebrate, may we share from full souls that have feasted on Christ first!

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
—Matthew 5:6

What has God revealed or shifted in you during a season where you set something aside?