317. Enjoying What Was Never Enjoyable

This year’s Daniel Fast was much bearable than before as Jen made some fantastic vegetable dishes which made me forget I was fasting! Even with a busy schedule, Jen always looked for new recipes for vegetable dishes and nailed them each time.

There were a few moments we looked at each other and said, “this is excellent!”, temporarily forgetting we were eating vegetables.

It dawned on me that what seemed like an impossibility was happening to me. The man who swore that he could never live without meat was actually enjoying vegetable dishes. Each year when Daniel Fast approaches, it is the “thought “of having to eat only vegetables that is the most difficult now. Once it starts, it becomes bearable in the beginning, and then enjoyable at the end.

Measuring “change” is simple: When we can enjoy what we couldn’t enjoy before, we are changed. It is because change of “desires” is the true measure of change. My kids hate anything remotely green on their food. But I hope that they would enjoy them as they grow up. God often challenges us to do something we never thought was our options. If we stay through it, we not only gain confidence but new desire for better things.

Looking back, I changed a lot. I used to hate presentations, but now I look forward to it. I used to hate waking up early in the morning to pray, but I am much more used to it. (still not at the “look forward to it” stage yet) And this is all because God challenged me to take one step out of my comfort zone, into the unknown. And every time I obeyed, I felt like God took over and worked out his transformation. Many times, the unpleasant became my new desire and enjoyment.

“The LORD said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1) God tells us to go where we won’t know where that is until we take our first step. But it is always somewhere good.