Lent? I didn't know you were Catholic...

    Well, that is a catchy title I know right? I start it off with that bc that is what I am doing right now, participating in Lent. No, I am not Catholic nor have I ever been. I am familiar with the practice of Lent though. In my college years I would often join my fellow Christians in participating in Lent (and a much lesser scale than the full practice of Lent). I would give up sweets, sodas or veggies ;). It would last about a week or two before I fell off the bandwagon and swore to myself I needed those indulgences.
     Here I am almost 3 years later reflecting on those times in my life. Nathaniel and I decided that we wanted to praticipate in Lent this year, crazy I know. I let him pick out what our 'sacrifice' would be. He chose fried foods....WHAT???? no way right? I am a girl from the South who has fried tattoed into my heritage and here he is about to strip away my life blood (ok a little dramatic, but if you have ever been or lived in SC you know exactly what I mean). I said yes thinking it wouldn't be a hard task to stick to, only 46 days!!!! If the going got too tough I could quit, right? This set me up on a journey of discovering my meaning of Lent. I know mine is not as strict as the actual Lent, but I am learning so much about myself and my relationship with God. I have been tempted mulitple times to give up, and 3 years ago I would have. I am a different person! I am proud of myself for continuing this journey and so blessed to be able to share this experience with my husband. He has been so supportive when all I wanted to do was grab a tortilla chip!!! I even had to spend 20 mins picking off the batter from my Shrimp Scampi at the Cheesecake Factory (the menu didn't say anything about it being fried...boo). This one event of me picking my food apart taught me a lot!!! Nate said I could send it back and get something else, but I realized NO I will sit here in front of all these strangers and do this bc it teaches me humility and sacrifice and having to 'work for my supper' ;). I enjoyed my wonderful dinner, without batter, so much more knowing I had earned it lol. Jesus had to make sacrifices and faced many temptations far worse than those I endure.
      I am now 5 weeks exactly into this journey and only a couple more weeks to go!!! This has not been easy, but I am so glad we decided to do this. Now, with all this said I do have a standing date with a Large French Fry at McDonalds on the 25th of April and nobody better get in my way! Well, that is it for this post ;) I will hopefully be writing a little more often with Nate gone and a lot of up coming changes ;). I hope you are all well and I will tty again later!
Morgan