What I've learned lately...there are so many things. I wouldn't even being to be able to describe them right now in full explanation because of the fullness that Jesus has spoken to me. When I began this fast I was praying for wisdom in my next steps of ministry and how to get there. He has blessed me with a lot of talents that I can use in healing (painting, writing, speaking, singing, etc.), but I was at a stand still and unable to hear clearly from God to learn my next steps. Fasting can help you hear The Lord like nothing else can, it's amazing. In my case, my eating habits were so out of control that it was physically and spiritually bogging me down. When you take something like food out of your life, you literally have to slow yourself down which welcomes the Holy Spirit.
Someone told me the other day that if you don't use your talents they will be taken away. This was told to me after I felt that I needed to start painting on a full-time basis. I had to think about this for a while. Does that mean that your talents get rusty without much use? Does that mean that The Lord will actually take them away? I think both in some ways, but regardless it stopped and made me think. My long term goal with is getting more short term by the day is to have a studio and start painting and selling my work. I believe that Jesus wants to impart a gift of healing and life to all of my paintings that people may be touched when they are around it. However, it is difficult to trust Him to put so much time into this ministry without a steady income. HERE COMES AN IMPORTANT LESSON: We need to trust The Lord that He will provide for us if He has called us to do something. That means, no more pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, Careen. This is a hard lesson for me because I'm so used to doing everything on my own. It's an act of humility and sacrifice, but I believe He will honor us when we exhibit these behaviors.
So, all that being said, I will continue to work towards my first goal of painting witch will grow my ministry as a whole. This brings me to my second goal and possibly just as important as the first. HERE COMES THE SECOND IMPORTANT LESSON: We need to treat our bodies (His TEMPLE) with the care and regard that would only be fit for a King! We were called to serve God wholly with our spirit, mind, and body. As Christians, I believe we understand that we need to honor God with our spirit and our mind, but tend to leave out the body. Over the last month and a half he has spoken to me a lot about what this means. First, let's determine the difference between food and food-like products that we put into our bodies. Food, in Careen Uehling's definition either came from the ground or had a mother. It is natural and whole. Food can be plant products, grains, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, beans, meat, and milk/dairy products produced from the animal or plant without altering the food before consumption. In contrast, food-like products are scientifically engineered non-food substances or any of the above products that have been altered from it's natural state and genetically modified to increase flavor, smell, and addiction such as refined sugar, bleached flour, high fructose corn syrup, MSG (if you dare, look at all of the hidden names of this poison), fake cheese, etc. Therefore, I believe that we all need to live by a new standard if we want good health. It is so important to eat whole foods. When we put anything else in us, it clouds our mind and our spirit from hearing Him. When we don't hear from Him we cannot fully do the things that we have been called to do, thus not reaching the full potential of what he has for us.
The freedom that I've received from this addiction is unmistakable joy! I pray that anyone who is struggling with this addiction would find hope, too. I would encourage you to start with a ten day juice fast and seek Him, and I promise you that you will hear from God. We've become to comfortable with the status quo of being sick and depending on modern health care to cure us when a lot of the cure is sitting in a healthy diet waiting to be embraced.
As I said earlier, God has blessed me with so many things in this fast that it would be hard for me to share it over a blog post. So, I will just limit to what I have shared. In conclusion, fasting is a practice that takes discipline and care. It's not something I would undergo for this long of a period unless you are under medical supervision and have specifically been told to do from The Lord to do so. I hope all of my readers have enjoyed my blogs, and have gleaned some understanding of His love for us and some practical steps to hear His voice.
Blessings,
Careen
