Days 13 and 14

End of Week 2 of our all-church 40-day fast. What am I learning?

Prayer changes me.
Amid the huge ups and downs in the stock market in these last two weeks, prayer has calmed me. It has forced me to seek a greater perspective, rather than confine my point of view to the day’s gains and losses.

I am learning to look for the quiet places and wait in the long silences where I can listen for God in my head and in my heart.

After I put out the fires in my life (those are easy), I eagerly run to the prayer closet in my mind where I shut the door to everything else that nags me.

I am becoming a better listener – of God and others, not jumping immediately into the conversation but processing conversations at the gut level as well as the head.

I am learning the value of waiting, waiting for God so that we can move forward together.

I am learning to call upon the Holy Spirit to help me understand my own thoughts, to process with the mind of God and take one step at a time.

I am learning restraint in others’ lives, holding back personally guided, well-intended but perhaps unhelpful advice so that they have the privilege of doing the right thing rather than being "told" the right thing.

I’m learning how to make decisions with greater objectivity and less subjectivity. I am discovering the merits of forcing myself to step back and trying to put selfish desires in check. When I do, I often find that God has either filled or taken away my need.

I am developing a greater sense of humor and an enlarged attitude of gratitude. I am minding less getting wet when my boat gets rocked.

I am learning to appreciate myself more – the way God made me.

I am learning to accept the differences in others better, working to understand them better and judge them less.

I am developing a new theology about money and eternity – that money is best spent on others and that relationships are the treasures of heaven.

I am reveling more in the pleasure of simply being with God.

I am growing more sensitive to His presence, His nearness, His goodness and faithfulness.

I am learning to talk to God about my heart’s desires, and then give them up to Him.

I am learning to release those I love most to God so that He take them on a journey far beyond my capabilities.

I am feeling a constitutional change that I hope is transforming me into someone who speaks Jesus without saying anything.

Posted by email from 40 Day Fast (posterous)