I Heart Weekends!

Here's a recap of my oh-so-fun weekend!

(1) Friday, I arrived home to my first ever Graze box delivery.  I LOVE getting packages in the mail so that was way exciting! Graze is a subscription snack delivery service.  For $5 per week, they package and send 4 healthy snacks right to your door.  So far I have only tried one of the snacks and it was really yummy!

(2) I started off my Saturday at the hair salon, as usual with Tangie B.  Just curious, does your hair stylist get you surprise gifts just because??? Mine does! She gave me the cutest blinged out coffee cup and starbucks coffee!  She’s trying to encourage me to be a good financial steward and not stop at starbucks every day.  Yea, love her.  If you need a great hair stylist in the Dallas Metroplex definitely give Tangie a call. 

 

Saturday night, I had the extreme honor of celebrating one of my friends by surprising her in a flash mob! It was so much fun and I got to cross that one off my 30 bucket list!! You can read more details and watch the flashmob video on Team Howard Blog.

 

(3) Sunday morning I broke the Daniel Fast over breakfast with Josh.  It was so delicious!! Boy oh boy am I EXCITED to have coffee back in my life!  Overall, the fast was really great.  I certainly had challenging days but the primary goal for me was to draw closer to the Lord and I feel like that was accomplished.  Let me be completely honest and say that trying to take on OTN90 and the Daniel Devotional simultaneously was a bit of a stretch for me.  I was not able to maintain both reading plans, however, I am still on track with the Old Testament reading.  I will complete the Daniel Devotional when, I reach Daniel in the OTN90 reading plan.  My greatest takeaway from the fast is the importance of prioritizing God in my life.  Denying myself the foods that I love was one small way to consistently choose God throughout my day.  This is something I should be doing each day well beyond the fast.

 

(4) Then, I was blessed to hear Josh share a message with the youth at church about biblical dating.  I LOVE to listen to this man talk about the Lord! 


Last, but not least, we enjoyed the Superbowl/Beyonce Concert with friends to close out the weekend. Josh is a lifelong 49ers fan and was quite disappointed at the final score.   I was fairly disappointed with the quality, or lack thereof, I saw in the superbowl commercials.  However, I really loved the Budweiser Commercial.  It made me smile and say, “Awwwww.” I also really liked the “So God Made a Farmer” Dodge commercial.  It reminded me of my dad.

 

Make it a great week friends!

 

 

 

 

Daniel Fast: Day 1

Today is Day 1 of the Daniel Fast, 21 days of whole foods and wholesome talk.  For the next 21 days, I will eat only natural foods that come from the ground and speak wholesome words that lift up and encourage those around me. For additional details about the Daniel Fast, click here.  I have decided to make a few modifications but the intent of the fast remains the same…Natural foods, no meat, no sugar, and NO COFFEE.  Yes, I will be relying heavily on the Holy Spirit for strength on that last one.

Each morning I will spend time going through the book of Daniel to maintain the focus of the fast.  You can find the devotional here. The primary reason I have chosen to take part in this fast is to start the year fully focused on the Lord.  Those of you that know me know that I absolutely LOVE food, so this time of denying the flesh will remind me that God is my source and must maintain the number one place in my life.  I hope to draw closer to the Lord and simply enjoy spending time with my creator!

Just in case you are wondering, I will not forsake the OTN90 challenge during this time.  Take a look at my previous post, here, for details.  I will read the Daniel Devotional in the mornings when I wake and then spend the rest of my day listening to and reading the OTN90 passage for the day.

Each day I will have a prayer focus for the day.  So if I start to crave a food that I’m fasting from, I will immediately begin to pray.  My prayer focus for today is: a submissive spirit and loving words.

Prayer:

Thank you for leading me to a church that has a heart for you and consistently challenges me to find ways to draw closer to you.  I pray, Lord, that you would keep my mind fully focused on you in the next 21 days and throughout this year! I pray Lord that the elimination of certain foods would draw me closer to you and not in any way serve as a distraction to me.  ~ Amen