day 4 of 40, Prayer request #1

Please pray that my parents would have softened hearts towards me as I continue to pursue God…yesterday my mom called me at 10:30 p.m. and gave me a 30-minute lecture on how I shouldn’t be too extreme about God. She said that God wanted me to take care of my body, and that he provided so many resources for me so I should take advantage of them and make sure ‘m eating right. She said,

“Joyce, I can accept if you want to fast for a day or two, but 40 days?! Don’t you think that’s too extreme?! Why are you even fasting?? And don’t give me the ‘God told me to fast answer; I don’t want to hear it. How do you even know God told you to fast? You don’t need to fast… just because Daniel fasted in the Old testament doesn’t mean that you need to too… we’re living in the new testament now. And what churches have you been going to lately? It better not be those churches where they get into the spirit , because they get too crazy….”

What should I do?… I know my mom loves me… and I really love her too… and I know she’s worried about me because she loves me. She only lectures me because she wants me to be healthy and has my best in mind. I didn’t expect her to buy me groceries… I was just going to Albertson’s and buy what I needed, but my mom ended up getting vegetables for me… thankyou mom… she even cooked vegetarian soup for me :’].


My parents came to drop off my food for me yesterday night at 1 a.m. and we were clearing the fridge of all the meats and things I couldn’t eat for now. When I handed my rice to my mom, my dad looked at me with the most disgusted/ angry face I have ever seen…

“You can’t even eat RICE??! Even vegetarians can eat rice! What kind of fast are you doing?!?”

Of course… he couldn’t really raise his voice at me because we were inside my hall, but it made me feel so hurt, because my dad totally disapproves of my fast and hates that I’m fasting because he thinks I’m throwing my life away… I need more grace to love my dad…



Please pray for grace to love my parents and for their change of heart. I would love them to support me in my fast… and I truly want them to know god more… my dad isn’t Christian, so every time I do something “extreme” he just thinks im crazy…. I just want them to know god and understand why giving up everything for him is worth it.