Fasting with Type-1 Diabetes

What I learned from fasting for 3.5 days this week and why you should fast too.

Photo by Juli Moreira on Unsplash

Our church staff participated in a week of fasting and prayer this Monday-Thursday, which is not a new exercise - we done it several times in the past. Because of my type-1 diabetes, I don’t usually fast from food but instead give up social media, TV, or email for the week. This year, I sensed God telling me that it was time to fast from food and trust Him with my blood sugar. Ok, God, here we go.

I fasted from breakfast and dinner on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and had only a shake for lunch. On Thursday, I fasted from breakfast and then broke the fast with our team at lunch. It was quite an experience, to say the least. On Monday night, my stomach was really growling and Barie needed me to grill out chicken for a group of teenagers hanging out at our house. Two things I learned that night: one, grilling chicken while you are fasting is a bad idea, and two, you can pray while you grill. “Lord, please help me resist the desire for this food - it looks so delicious.” Tuesday afternoon, my blood sugar started to drop like a rock, so I had to sneak in a KIND bar around 4pm, which brought me back into the normal range. But then, Tuesday evening, I was signed up to volunteer at the concessions stands during the high school basketball game. Handing people cheese nachos with jalapeños while you are fasting is a whole different temptation. I’ve never wanted to eat fake nachos so bad in my life. Wednesday night, during the middle of the night (around 3am), I woke up to serious stomach rumblings and pains. “Lord, what am I feeling? I guess you want me to spend some time praying at 3am this morning.” By the time we got to lunch on Thursday, my MOD’s Pizza tasted like prime rib. So. Good.

Everyone on our team had a similar experience (except our experienced fasters (is that the right term?) who kept looking at me like, “quit your whining”). As we fasted together, God drew near to us and spoke to us in several powerful ways. I’d love to share five big lessons I learned…