Hisjewel (America, New York) on 08/10/2015

Weekly we fast two days, Tuesdays and Fridays. These are done on the go so people do the fast as they feel led. Some people do their fast no water and no food. This is not hard once you get the swing of it; because it is only 24 hours then you get a break. When you get use to this, you actually start looking forward to your fast days. Others do their two day fast by not eating until dinner those two days.

We also do three days fast which is often called the Esther fast. This fast is easier to master during a prayer shut-in. We shut in the church from time to time to accomplished this. The togetherness, and the saying there is strength in numbers works here. A hand few of prayer warrior stay in the church the full three days leading the prayer and bible study continually, while those who work come by for an hour or so to be refreshed. As a young woman working I would do my three day Esther fast and go to work with no problems. I would take teenage children out of their wheel chairs, and put them on them on the mat. At the appropriate time, I often had to pick them up myself and put them back in the wheel chair. Sometimes I was in the middle of a seven-day dry fast. I was young and healthy ( between 28 and 38 years old).

As the years passed by my body began to change and I had to prepare for a three to seven day fast if I was to complete it successfully. As I learned which foods were interfering with my fast I eliminated them two weeks before a dry fast. 1) I started getting headaches, so I had to stop drinking soda, tea, hot chocolate, and whatever caffeine was in, I had best success when stopped two weeks before fast. 2) By day two of a dry fast I noticed I was spitting a lot, so I learned to water down my juices and cut out deserts two weeks before my fast. 3) Even though older prayer warriors would break their fast with soup or an apple, I was young and did not listen. They would eat soup before they left church. I would go home and have a big breakfast. When I got older my body no longer break down the big breakfast after a fast. I got terrible, painful gas that would go on for days. I didn't know what to take. God healed me. I learned my lesson. I didn't go for soup, but something soft like watery grits.

The dry seven-day fast which I only did a few times a year, was a real challenge. As a young woman, I found it easier to do the seven days dry, no food, no water. On the fourth day I would feel ill and throw- up the bile. One that happened I made it through work and all with no problems. Later I learned that I should be doing a seven day fast with water. So, I would do the first two days with water, three days dry and water again on the seventh day. When I fast the seven days with water, the bile still came up, sometimes the fifth day and sometimes the seventh, but in all kept going.

Now older, I find that I must limited my activates when I fast less I get heart palpitations. When the church say's the are doing a three day shut-in, I am in it. I have had several healing miracles after a fast A lump in my breast was gone after a fast. A terrible firey pain in my back was gone when I completed a three day fast Shut-in during the Easter season. And so many other wonderful things like a gift for my plane ticket came in on time. Fasting can be a blessing everyway, Praise the Lord!