day 2

Today was much easier than I anticipated it to be.  I got very hungry in the afternoon and then by the time I was ready to eat at 7pm, I didn't feel so hungry anymore.  It seems as long as I am busy and focused on the kids/something, I kind of forget about being hungry.


Just as was the case yesterday, something amazing happened today.  God heard my prayers about one of the boys, Ronald.  I know Ronald because I took him to the clinic a while back because he had a huge wound on his leg and one on his foot that was infected.  He is maybe about 15 and rarely comes to our programs.  He is always doing some sort of work and will just say he is busy if I ask why he hasn't come to the program.  He acts super tough and has all but forgotten he is a kid.  I am not sure why I feel like God has put him on my heart, but I know He has and I am crazy about this kid, even though he is completely oblivious to it.  I have been praying that God would provide a way for us to build our relationship and that I would be able to reach him.  And today could very well have been the beginning...

I returned from taking my 3 boys to get haircuts and as I was walking back into the church, I saw Ronald some distance away.  A boy shouted at me from behind to say hello and then out of nowhere, Ronald screamed across the distance in front of me, "Hi Auntie Amanda.  How are you?"  Completely unexpected and completely made my day.  Maybe it was just a hello, but to me it was an answered prayer.

I know God is going to give me my answer when I am ready to receive it.  He is never late, nor early, but rather always on time.  In the meantime, He is definitely strengthening my spirit and giving me hope like only He can.

My friend that is fasting with me told me to read Isaiah 58.  I looked it up on Bible Gateway and changed it to The Message version and really liked it.  Enjoy!  :-)

Isaiah 58

Your Prayers Won't Get Off the Ground

 ^1-3 "Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell my people what's wrong with their lives,
   face my family Jacob with their sins!
They're busy, busy, busy at worship,
   and love studying all about me.
To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people—
   law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?'
   and love having me on their side.
But they also complain,
   'Why do we fast and you don't look our way?
   Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?'

 ^3-5"Well, here's why:   "The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit.
   You drive your employees much too hard.
You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight.
   You fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do
   won't get your prayers off the ground.
Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after:
   a day to show off humility?
To put on a pious long face
   and parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting,
   a fast day that I, God, would like?
 ^6-9"This is the kind of fast day I'm after:
   to break the chains of injustice,
   get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
   free the oppressed,
   cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
   sharing your food with the hungry,
   inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
   putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
   being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
   and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
   The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
   You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'

A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places

 ^9-12"If you get rid of unfair practices,
   quit blaming victims,
   quit gossiping about other people's sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
   and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
   your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
   I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
   firm muscles, strong bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden,
   a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
   rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
   restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
   make the community livable again. ^13-14"If you watch your step on the Sabbath
   and don't use my holy day for personal advantage,
If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy,
   God's holy day as a celebration,
If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,'
   making money, running here and there—
Then you'll be free to enjoy God!
   Oh, I'll make you ride high and soar above it all.
I'll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob."
   Yes! God says so!


God Bless!  Thanks for the prayers!!! :-)


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