Fasting used to be a spiritual discipline that I practiced regularly.
But that hasn’t happened in the most recent years.
So when I decided to do a 10-day Daniel Fast, to try and work on my disciplines, clean my body out, and hope to gain some spiritual strength, I didn’t realize how difficult it would actually be for me.
But difficult as it has been, it is even more worth it.
This fast brought more tears, more meltdowns, more journaling, more prayer, and more bible reading in these 10 days than this whole past year combined.
So needless to say, this was needed.

Through this Daniel Fast, I decided to read the book of Daniel. He is one of my Biblical heroes along with Moses and Ruth, but Daniel is quickly moving to the top of the list.
He is ridiculously honorable in every area of his life and you see how God blesses him and takes care of him because of that; and i’ve come to learn that honorableness and faithfulness are some of my most valued traits in others.

There is a lot in the book of Daniel about visions and dreams, especially about Christ’s future return. And these are all things that I absolutely love. But this time reading through Daniel, the list below is what I took out of it, for this time:

• Even when we don’t understand, we need to SEEK TO UNDERSTAND. And if fasting is needed to help you understand, or to give you the drive, do it.
• Store in your hearts what the LORD gives to you.
• Things happen over time. Sometimes years. Dreams take years to come to fruition. Understanding doesn’t just happen over night.
• Pray. Pray. Pray. and when your done praying, pray some more.
• Be close to God. Commune with Him. Uphold Him and His laws above everything else.
• Humble yourself before God.
• God does give understanding.
• Favor with others comes from God and only from God.
• Things can get scary – but it’s okay.
• Our lives are not for ourselves, but for God alone.
• God delivers his people who trust in Him.
• What He has decreed, said, WILL. BE. DONE.
• Wisdom is found only in God.
• Sometimes we need help from others to understand things. And that means we have to go to them.
• God is gracious, yet just.

If you’ve never read Daniel, I hope that you do sometime soon. Don’t let that it is a prophecy book scare you away. There’s plenty of practical stuff to take away too. And if not understanding parts of it makes you want to dig deeper and seek to understand, well, I think that the book has taught you something!

And if you are questioning whether you should be fasting for a specific reason, stop questioning and just do it. It will be worth it, and God will answer. Just be prepared, because it might not look like what you expect.

I have been to Michigan numerous times, the UP and the Hand. 🙂
But for this post, I am going to focus on the Upper Peninsula and focus on the Hand of MI another time!

Last summer in June, my friend Mary and I road tripped to Mackinaw Island! This was a place that she had always wanted to go to, and so I tagged along! We drove up there (12 hours from home) and found a hotel that overlooked some water, and had free breakfast which I’m all about, and explored all the sights!

We rode the boat over to Mackinaw Island and walked around the island, ate ice cream, ate at a small diner that was delish, went to a butterfly exhibit and had a blast. It is such a beautiful part of the USA and was quite relaxing which was exactly what we both needed.

We also went to the Soo Locks which was great. There we found a small coffee shop and hung out there for a while, while Mary reminisced about different areas of her past and what God has done throughout the years.

It was a very windy, and there were soooooooo many mosquitos. You could see them flying around in swarms near the water, it  was disturbing, seeing as I am one that mosquitos tend to love more than others at times, but luckily i think i got through the trip without a bite! (YAY!!)

This trip was a fun one. It was just the 2 of us, and we had some great conversations, some good laughs, and took in some beautiful, beautiful sites and got plenty of exercise walking around everywhere! I highly suggest if you ever have the chance, take a road trip with a friend or family to Mackinaw Island and the local area. It is a refreshing place to be.

Soo locks

it was very windy

Mackinaw Bridge

the coffee shop we stopped at

the bridge

soo locks