July 17, 2012

Fasting???? Really?

Fasting? Ha, that's not for me, I mean goodness, I like food WAY to much I'm diabetic after all, that surely wouldn't be safe.

What is the point of fasting anyway? How could going without food draw me closer to God? Pshhh, really?

Enter 7. I've heard about this book twice in a one week period and was intrigued. I downloaded to the kindle app and jumped right in.

I haven't read a book in years. Seriously, just can't get into any of them. This one has captured my interest though. I've always marveled at how much STUFF we have. And how little we think those in third world countries have. (I shared this article on Facebook a while back, which I think has a great point)

This is the book description from Amazon:
American life can be excessive, to say the least. That’s what Jen Hatmaker had to admit after taking in hurricane victims who commented on the extravagance of her family’s upper middle class home. She once considered herself unmotivated by the lure of prosperity, but upon being called “rich” by an undeniably poor child, evidence to the contrary mounted, and a social experiment turned spiritual was born.

7 is the true story of how Jen (along with her husband and her children to varying degrees) took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseases of greed, materialism, and overindulgence.

Food. Clothes. Spending. Media. Possessions. Waste. Stress. They would spend thirty days on each topic, boiling it down to the number seven. Only eat seven foods, wear seven articles of clothing, and spend money in seven places. Eliminate use of seven media types, give away seven things each day for one month, adopt seven green habits, and observe “seven sacred pauses.” So, what’s the payoff from living a deeply reduced life? It’s the discovery of a greatly increased God—a call toward Christ-like simplicity and generosity that transcends social experiment to become a radically better existence.


I'm hoping to be inspired to get rid of lots of stuff. I'm hoping to grow closer to God.

I also came across this article today...

I feel like God is telling me something, I just need to figure out exactly what that is. And so I will be praying.

What are your thoughts on the topic of excess? Share.

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