For those who might be unfamiliar with the tradition of "Fast Sunday" in the LDS faith, here is a quick idea of what it is: The first Sunday of every month each congregation across the church, we all fast from food and drink for 2 meals (24 hours). During this time, we pray and ponder the needs we have as individuals, families, friends, ward members and any other person/need we might have. We offer our bodies as a sacrifice symbolically to our Heavenly Father and in turn we receive guidance and help for those things we have prayed and fasted for. Our Heavenly Father has everything, the only thing we can truly give Him is our will, our willingness to feel discomfort and offer up sacrifice to Him. People all over the world engage in different types of fasts, and in the LDS church, it need not only happen on a Fast Sunday, we are simply encouraged to. During the Sacrament Meeting where we partake of the Sacrament, Fast Sunday changes up the traditional meeting from having a few young people and adults give talks on specific topics, to whomever in the congregation, that may feel moved upon by the Holy Ghost, is able to go up to the pulpit and share their thoughts and words of faith regarding The Savior and other gospel principles.In addition to fasting, we are asked to give a generous fast offering, of whatever we can afford financially, to a member our Bishopric and from there they prayerfully are able to give to members in the ward who might need financial help or food for their family. They ask to give at least the amount of money we saved by skipping those two meals, but also to be as generous as we can be. It's a great place to donate as we are guaranteed 100% of the money will go directly to someone in n
eed.
This Fast Sunday has been a great one for my family. We have several specifics needs, but also have fasted for those whom we Home and Visit Teach (another post for another day) or any other people in our neighborhood and ward we might be able to serve. I've found, yet again, when we want our prayers answered the quickest, all we need to do is think about other people and what their needs may be. The Lord is very quick to give that inspiration, which I felt I received today, and we then can give Him our will and choose to follow that guidance.
There's no doubt the Lord is willing to help us and that by observing The Law of the Fast, we can sacrifice that much more to show the Lord our willingness and desire for His blessings!
