How Setbacks Show Our Humanness

Day 1 of 21-Day Sugar Fast

Setbacks show our humanness. My summer 2021 consisted of a major wellness journey. I made all kinds of progress in nearly every aspect of my life. Jesus and I walked this journey together. He answered many prayers, led me in ways I didn’t expect, and revealed tremendous things to me.

While I didn’t share much publicly during my three-month summer wellness journey, now Jesus is nudging me to share.

Unfortunately, since my three-month summer wellness journey ended, I’ve experienced setbacks. I’m learning, setbacks show our humanness. It’s humbling to admit it.

November 1 was Day 1 of a 21-Day Sugar Fast for me. This is the second time this year. I completed my first 21-Day Sugar Fast through Revelation Wellness this summer. Strange how we gorge ourselves right before the fast, before the giving up.

I gorged myself the day before last time too. This time with Halloween being the day before, let’s just say I didn’t hold back since I planned to start my sugar fast the day after.

Unfortunately, I’ve struggled with the boomerang lifestyle, as I call it anyway. I commit to improving in some area of my life. I’m all in. I succeed. Then I relapse. After a couple of months, I look back and see my setback. Embarrassed and disappointed, I don’t want to admit my setback. Not to myself. Certainly not to others.

But this time, the Lord wants me to come clean and share my setback because I’m human and you’re human. Being human, means we are vulnerable to setbacks. We do relapse even when we don’t want to.

A Riddle Worth Understanding

Even Apostle Paul experienced setbacks. He wrote about it in Romans 7:15-20. I love how verse 15 sums up setbacks:

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

Paul’s writing reminds me of Dr. Seuss’ writing. Could this verse be any more of a riddle?

But if we read the verse slowly, we will see Paul was human too. He understood we humans do things that we don’t want to do even when we desire to do something else.

We may not understand what we do when we don’t want to do what we do, but I’ve come to believe we need to figure out why we do it.

How Do We Figure Out Our Own Riddle?

First, we need to humble ourselves, admit we’ve had a setback, and then reach out to Jesus and ask why. Why do I keep boomeranging? Why do I return to old ways, old habits when I was making progress? I don’t want to do that? So why then do I do it?

There are numerous reasons we do that thing we do.

Today, I know one reason why I’ve had some setbacks this fall: Stress. And to add to this is disappointment in myself.

The enemy wasted no time pouring salt into my disappointment wound. He told me a lie that Jesus was also disappointed in me.

The enemy’s attacks have been strong and consistent in my life in the last month. So much so, that I can now look back and acknowledge I was embarrassed to meet with Jesus. I even pulled away some from Him because I believed I had disappointed Him too.

See how the enemy’s plan worked?

But on Day 1 of this Sugar Fast, the sweet sound of my Savior and Lord, my Best Friend came in clear as the blue sky. As I let myself sit with Jesus, He gently whispered, “I am NOT disappointed in you, Michelle. There’s no condemnation from Me going on here. You are my daughter. I love you.”

On Day 1, Jesus taught me that as humans we will have setbacks occasionally. Do you know what we do once we realize it? We get back up, dust ourselves off, and take Jesus’ hand so that together we can discover the why we did what we hate to do.

Starting Again

Day 1 is the beginning of me discovering why I stopped exercising and doing mobility stretches. Why I started eating and drinking tons of sugar. Why I let myself regain most of the ten pounds I lost during the summer. Why I have not been writing much. Together with Jesus I will discover my why.

This time, as I start again, Jesus wants me to write about it and share it with you. My hope is that you will hear Jesus’ heart for you too, through my 21-day journey seeking Him as I fast from sugar and seek to understand from Him.

What will Jesus reveal to me on this 21-Day Sugar Fast? I don’t know, but it’s only Day 1, and He’s already revealed truth to me. I’m not a disappointment to Him! I’m His daughter. He loves me. I just had a setback on our desired goals. Setbacks show our humanness. And they also show our need for Jesus.