40 Day Sugar Fast

Hello, friends!

You are invited to join me on a 40 Day Sugar Fast during this lent season. Hope you say yes! A group of us will be starting this on Ash Wednesday and ending on Easter Sunday.

A little Backstory: 

I have never regularly attended a congregation that followed the liturgical calendar, but have been fascinated and kind of drawn to the idea for awhile now. There is something comforting to me about the idea of more formally following the rhythms of the life of Christ throughout the year. Perhaps it is a result of the craziness of the last 2 years. Anything “normal” sounds like a warm, fuzzy blanket.

Can you relate?

Totally unfamiliar with the word liturgical? This article has a quick explanation for those of you without much experience with this, like me. The Liturgical Calendar

In the past, I have haphazardly observed the Advent season in a makeshift fashion and even given up things for Lent. (Full disclosure-it was usually food of some sort with the intent to lose weight, not for the true purpose of drawing closer to God. Ugly Truth. )

The blogging world and other forms of social media have given all of us glimpses into Christian faith traditions that may be different than the ones we were raised in or follow now, and I think that is a good thing.  And I think some of it sounds really important and I want in on it.

I’m not talking about handling snakes or anything crazy like that, people. Calm down, lol.

Stepping Out of My Religious Comfort Zone

One of my favorite memories of my trip to France and Belgium was on a Sunday morning in Bruges, Belgium. Bruges is a medieval city that escaped being destroyed in WW2 and it is just amazing.

That morning after having delicious Belgian waffles, we wanted to visit the beautiful church there to see the Michelangelo statue, which we did. The rest of our group went on to do other things, but Debbie and I stayed for mass. The priest was speaking in Dutch (or was it French? I can’t remember and French, Flemish and Dutch languages are all spoken here.) At any rate, we couldn’t understand a word being said on the one hand. But on the other hand the service felt very familiar and we were able to worship. It was beautiful and touching. Since neither of us are Catholic, we were unable to take communion. I suppose we could have pretended, but that seems wrong on lots of levels. Instead, we did what our friend Dolores taught us and went forward with our arms crossed in front of us to receive a blessing from the priest. Who doesn’t want all the blessings she can get?

It was the right thing for us to do on a Sunday morning.

The following Easter, Debbie and I attended mass at our local Catholic church on Ash Wednesday. We both really wanted ashes on our foreheads to identify with Christ’s sacrifice for us. So up we went with our arms folded to receive the ashes and the blessing.

Then Covid struck and I haven’t gone back since. I hope to make it this year.  I think it will serve as a great reminder of what the season is all about.

40 Day Sugar Fast

As another way to mark Lent this year, I am going to do a 40 Day Sugar Fast again and I would love you to join me if you feel led to. I’ve done this fast a few times in the past year or so and it has been a great learning and growing experience every time.

And every time, this is true: IT IS NOT ABOUT THE FOOD. Hallelujah! It is about drawing closer to our Father.

Hopefully, I will be able to arrange an interview with my friend Jenny to talk about her experiences with the fast. Several people from our church have done it, too, and I hope some of them will share how God used it to grow them.

We will be using the book The 40 Day Sugar Fast by Wendy Speake. This book is GREAT and has almost 6000 5 star reviews on Amazon if that tells you anything.

Each day there is a devotional reading and prayer and then we will share our comments and reflections in a FB message chat group. This will be very informal but it is easier to do with a group of sister friends supporting one another.

Perhaps your thing isn’t food, but you find yourself buffering with something else like social media or wine or exercise or shopping-the list is endless. Pick your thing.

Please pray about this and if God is leading you to do it, say “YES!” It will be hard and eye opening and sooo good, all at the same time. We can do hard things, right?

You can read about our trip to here:  Paris and Belgium

The book is available lots of places including Hobby Lobby (or at least it used to be), but I will include an Amazon link if that is helpful to you. Buy the book here.

Can’t wait to see what God does in our hearts as we let go of lesser things and turn to HIM to satisfy our hunger for more.

Who is going to join me? Comment below or message me. Woohoo!