a little 7 experiment of my own...

Have you heard of Jen Hatmaker?  She's a blogger and an author.  I read her book Interrupted and loved it.  Totally recommend it.  And then I read her book 7.  She's speaking at Windy Gap this September and some of us decided to take on a 7 challenge of our own.  We started in February.  The first month Jen only ate 7 foods.

Yes, you read that right: 7 foods.  I didn't feel called want to go that extreme, so I cut out all beverages but water and desserts.

You know what I learned?  I depend on food to bring my comfort and happiness way more than I thought.  I'm feeling down...I'll find a sweet.  I need a boost?  I'll run to Starbucks for a refresher.  Something to celebrate?  Bad day at work?  Let's have a glass of red wine!  I saw how dependent I was on food to satisfy the immediate ups and downs.  Which really, those things are indicators of something deeper - deeper longings that food cannot satisfy.

If you're interested, our pastor spoke on this a while back; one of my favorite sermons:

http://www.wearestandrews.com/sermons.aspx?ArticleId=1614

The other thing I learned is that life goes on if you end up quitting a few days early.  :)