November 21, 2015:

Quick update. I’ll write more later. For some reason, over the past couple of weeks, I have not been sleeping well. I am going to bed around midnight, most days, but not falling asleep until four or five in the morning and then I get up around ten in the morning. I’m really starting to feel the effects of this fast. I’ve gone ten days now. Maybe combined with the fact that I’m having poor sleep, this is having a rough effect on me. I’ll not quit. “Man does not live on bread alone; but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’. I’ll not quit. Besides, for the first time in about five years, I am under 185lbs. I weighed myself this morning at 183lbs. That’s quite the change from 240lbs at the end of 2013. I read a little pamphlet a couple of days ago called ‘Assurance of Salvation’ by James MacDonald. It was a good piece of literature that questioned, for reasonable and beneficial purposes, whether or not we who claim to be in Christ are actually in Christ. I came across this quote that resonated with me and I suppose, for me, summed up the booklet perfectly. It said, ‘If you are a genuine disciple of Christ, you will continue to persevere regardless of the obstacles in your faith with God.’ There are different kinds of work. Recognize I don’t deserve this for free, especially now. That I have to work. And I will. Just please remember what I have been through. I am just asking you to not forget, in addition to all I am claiming to have been through, the serious injury I had when I was younger. Sometimes it takes silence to hear the truth of His voice. Evil and darkness will not triumph forever. That’s one thing that is certain. Fast. Day twelve on my fast. Feeling recuperated and rejuvenated after a bit of prayer and spending more time in the Word. Still abstinent as well. Have had a couple of temptations but resist it well. Especially when I am around others eating good food. My nose dances and I get really hungry. Have managed to resist.