Then last night I heard this quote from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “I’d much rather be happy than right any day.”

It made me think – would I rather be happy than right? More precisely, would I rather show love than be right?

So tell me what is our ending
Will it be beautiful?

~Selected portions of Barlowgirl’s Beautiful Ending lyrics

turned to a God that we can use rather than to a God we must obey; we have turned to a God who will fulfill our needs rather than to a God before whom we must surrender our rights to ourselves. He is a God for us, for our satisfaction — not because we have learned to think of him in this way through Christ but because we have learned to think of him in this way through the marketplace. In the marketplace, everything is for us, for our pleasure, for our satisfaction, and we have come to assume that it must be so in the church as well. And so we transform the God of mercy into the God who is at our mercy…if the sunshine of his benign grace fails to warm us as we expect, if he fails to shower prosperity and success on us, we will find ourselves unable to believe in him anymore.

“But here is Adam, the only perfect guy in the world, and he is going around wanting to be with somebody else, needing another person to fulfill a certain emptiness in his life.”

The author is referring to Genesis 2:18 & 20: “Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.’ The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.”

The author points out that we were created to be relational beings. We were made for relationships.

“Please test your servants…Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.” ~Daniel 1:12

So for the past 21 days I ate nothing but fruits & vegetables in an attempt to grow closer to God. I must say it worked…but not in the way that I would have intended. I expected this fast to be a spiritual rejuvenation, a refreshing experience but the majority of the time it was a struggle. I struggled to feel connected to God. I desperately sought him through prayer, Bible study and edifying music. I felt like David when he called out in Psalm35:22

“LORD, you have seen this; do not be silent.
Do not be far from me, Lord.”

Here’s the thing – He was always there. I was looking for God to work in one way and He was working in another. I was blind to how He was connecting with me.

Through my Daniel Fast, I learned how selfish I really I am. I learned how many times I choose Wendy’s way over God’s will. It seems like a little thing to eat two Oreo’s with a glass of milk at night but, in reality, I was seeking comfort and/or happiness from food. I was looking for those Oreo’s to fill me up, to make me happy. Oreo’s are temporary. They will never satisfy. I had twisted a natural & healthy desire (food) in to an unhealthy one. I had made food my idol.

It may seem a bit harsh – “It’s just two Oreo’s. You’re not overweight. It’s not illegal. You’re not hurting anyone.” but when I examined my intent, why I was doing what I was doing, it was sin. It wasn’t until Day 20/21 that God finally broke through, opened my eyes and ears to see that I was feeling separated because I was separate from God. It wasn’t His doing, it was my own.

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden his face from you…” ~Isaiah 59:2

But here’s the great thing about my God – He have me a way to be reunited with Him, to not just feel closer to Him but to be closer. All I had to do was to admit I was being selfish (i.e. choosing food over Him) and humbly ask for His forgiveness. Jesus’ death on the cross made that possible.

So thank you Liquid church for giving me this idea and thank you God for opening my eyes and drawing me closer to You.

For more information on the fast, check out this link.

Good stuff.