| Discipleship 101 – Bare Fruit To Become More Like HIM You bear fruit to become more like Him, not to earn anything. The image of God you carry should be the best version of that image, not a distorted one. We have relationships because He is relational. He made us that way. Now notice this. There were two trees in the garden, not just one. Obviously there were other trees, but the two that mattered were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The nature we exchanged was our sin nature for Jesus’ nature. He restored us back to godly nature. That’s the gospel. Sin simply means missing the mark. And death is anything separated from the ways of God. It’s not just physical dying. It’s any separation. Here’s something important. Humans aren’t inherently evil. They are shaped by their environment, whether evil or good. That could be a physical environment, a mental environment, or a spiritual environment. So don’t look at someone and say they are just bad. Something shaped them. Maybe the enemy got to them early. Now here’s a thought to chew on. Could it be that the devil, the serpent, ate of the tree of knowledge first? And that’s why he was corrupted? And then Adam and Eve spoke to him and followed his advice because he was already speaking from that corrupted knowledge? Genesis says God told Adam not to eat. The serpent lied. But what if the serpent had already eaten? It would explain a lot. Either way, Romans 5 says sin entered through one man. Ephesians 1 says we are blessed with every spiritual blessing. 1 John 1:9 says if we confess, He forgives. And 1 Corinthians 11:9 says man was not created for woman, but woman for man. That’s order, not value. So bear fruit. Become like Him. And watch what shapes you.

| Discipleship 101 – What is a Disciple? A disciple is a learner. That’s what the word means. Not someone who has all the answers, but someone who stays in the posture of learning. John 8:31 says if you remain in His word, then you are truly His disciple. John 13:34 and 35 says you will be known by your love for one another. And John 15:8 says you bear fruit. So it’s three things. You stay in the word, you love the family, and you produce something that lasts. Heaven won’t be on earth for you if you aren’t spiritual. You can’t have the kingdom around you when the inside is empty. Christ means the anointed one. That’s who we follow. But here’s the thing that matters most. God’s voice needs to be the biggest voice in your life. If it’s not, you will struggle to overcome anything. Your own voice, the enemy’s voice, the world’s noise, they will drown Him out. And then you lose your direction. Eternal life isn’t just living forever. You are born as an incorruptible seed, sure. But you can exist without spiritual life. Your capacity and ability are still there, but you can’t tap into them without God’s energy. If you don’t have God, you don’t have eternal life. You just have existence. That’s not the same thing. When you actually live eternal life, something changes. Life springs forth in every area of your life. Not just church on Sunday. Not just when you feel spiritual. Every area. Your work, your relationships, your thoughts, your struggles. Look at the evidence. John 1 says the Word was God. Jesus said He is the way, the truth, and the life in John 14:6. The Father spoke over Him at His baptism in Matthew 3. And then He breathed on His disciples and said receive the Holy Spirit. That same Spirit is available to you. So be a learner. Stay in the word. Love each other. Bear fruit. And let God’s voice be the loudest one you hear.

| Confrontation For Growth Pray in the Holy Ghost and it grows your faith. The contest will be words, actions, and things in your life. The enemy will make you think about the past, and that will impact your present and change your future. You weigh the scales of your life by what you consider important. What happens today can impact tomorrow. When you learn something new, what you did in the past often looks completely wrong. That’s why we need the guidance of the Word of God, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the guidance of the revealed word of God. Everything you do will involve someone else or a group of people. Someone else will have an impact on your future, like your parents did when you were a child. We aren’t meant to be individual. God made us to be a community. A family. A blood bought family. Being in a room with someone is impacting their future, like here at iXchange. If God didn’t desire you to be there, then don’t be there. Go where you’re supposed to be. If you come into someone’s world, you facilitate confrontation and growth. No confrontation, no growth. You can’t develop if you don’t push past your level of comfort. With confrontation, you have a choice. You can either grow or decide you don’t want it. You stop being fruitful because you drew a limit to your confrontation. John 1:43 TPT says Jesus found Philip and said, “Follow me.” That’s confrontation. That’s invitation to change. 1 Timothy 4:13 TPT says devote yourself to reading Scripture, to preaching, to teaching. Progress must be evident, otherwise there may be a block. Criticism you will get in heaps. A small amount will be useful, but don’t allow an excessive amount of criticism to stop you or block you from God. Don’t run away from the conflict. Let your gift blossom. Jesus brought a sword to earth, not peace. You can’t have peace without the sword first. You can’t have a real relationship without confrontation. Change and confront each other. We’re all going some place. Without confrontation, no will of God will be known. Anything that happens in your life starts by planting. When you’re planted, the planting has a process. The process will produce a product. The product will result in praise. The process is challenging. The process involves cracking. Make or break. Personal and individual. Crack, crack. Before clarity, devote yourself to exhortation, reading, helping each other, creating good things for each other. Don’t predetermine how God will use your gift. Keep yourself in the process of cracking. Don’t neglect your gift. Cultivate and meditate on these things. If you’re here, this is where you belong. No one seed is the same. We are all unique, so the cracking process for us is different. I don’t know what seed you are or what fruit, but while I’m listening to the cracking, I’m with you. No judgement.

| What help the Spirit gives Romans 8:26 says we don’t know what to pray for as we ought. That’s because our infirmities don’t eliminate us. They qualify us. Infirmities is a generic word for sickness, but it embraces all kinds. There are primarily five sicknesses that Jesus heals. First, nosos, which is terminal conditions with no natural cure. Second, malakian, a disease that affects your muscles or nerves to the point of being crippled. Third, kakos, which means gravely vexed. That covers those who are spiritually troubled or mentally confused. Fourth, mastigos, an act of torture. Repetitive beating and hitting, not enough to kill, just to make you miserable or in pain. A repetitive sickness that keeps striking you, like the common cold. It doesn’t kill you, it just keeps coming back continuously. Fifth, arroustos, someone so weak they lose consciousness, like a coma. Jesus heals all of them. Mark 6:5 and Mark 16:18 confirm it. But here’s the key. We don’t have the knowhow. The most minute detail escapes us. We don’t know how to pray for every new situation. Every new circumstance necessitates a different prayer. That’s where the Holy Spirit comes in. He is the prayer expert. The only one authorised to pray accurately. Jesus operated with the Holy Spirit, and that’s why Jesus had complete success. The word help in Romans 8:26 comes from sunantilambano. Sun means what you do in partnership with someone else, the position of the Holy Spirit. Anti means against, mentally and spiritually against something, the attitude of the Holy Spirit. Lambano means I take, I seize, to forcibly take something, the desire of the Holy Spirit. Put together, it means He falls into the ditch with you, He meets you in a common experience, and He pulls you out. He makes intercession with groanings that can’t be uttered. Those groanings aspirate or vent due to fire. The Holy Spirit gives us steam, moving us from the scenario. So don’t just say His name. Be more assertive. Call on Jesus with the Holy Spirit. Say, “Help me, Holy Spirit.” He will.

| Dare to Think Bigger Double dog dare you to think big. Don’t limit yourself and don’t limit God. Why would you limit a God who has no limits? God is your source, not your paycheck, not your talent, not your circumstances. If you don’t know what God is able to do, then you don’t know what you are able to do. And that’s a problem. All things. Everything you see belongs to you. That means you have dominion over it, not the other way around. Your spirit was born again in the spirit of God. So you are not a limited being anymore. He is able. Your thoughts and your talk can lead you to greatness. What you say sets the ceiling. If you say “I can’t,” you just limited the Unlimited. Expect greater. Expect the impossible. Because God is limitless. Taking the limitation off God takes the limitation off you. That’s not arrogance. That’s faith. God isn’t a one time blessing. He can do exceedingly, abundantly, above and better than you can ever expect or want or need. Over and over again. Ephesians 3:20 says He is able to do far more than we ask or even think. So stop asking small. Stop thinking small. Breathing unbelief is not safe. It has infection in it. Every time you say “God won’t” or “God can’t for me,” you are breathing spiritual disease into your own lungs. Limiting God shows a lack of faith in the Lord. Plain and simple. So believe the unbelievable. Accept the unacceptable. You were born again. That means you will be healed. Not might be. Will be. Psalms 115:16 says the heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth He has given to the children of men. That’s you. You have dominion here. Not the devil. Not your bank account. Not your fear. Ecclesiastes talks about seasons and times, but don’t let the seasons fool you into thinking God is stuck in one. He is not bound by time. So dare to think bigger. He makes it even bigger than you imagined. Your job is just to open your mouth and agree with Him.

| Journal Entry – First look at Discipleship 101 and Bible School Introduction Hello again, dear reader. It’s me once more, rambling on about whatever happens to be on my mind, and this week’s topic is exactly what the title suggests: my first experiences with Bible School and Discipleship 101. I have to say, even though the two are actually pretty similar in scope, Bible School really stands out when it comes to the amount of knowledge and information it provides. I feel incredibly blessed to be able to attend something like this for free and to have access to teaching that helps deepen my understanding of the Word. That said, I don’t want to discredit Discipleship 101 at all. It’s still an amazing resource and touches on some topics I’ve always wondered about but never quite had clear answers for. In many ways, it fills in the gaps and helps connect the dots. Anyways, moving on to the real meat of this entry… My Expectations For Discipleship, I honestly had no clue what to expect going into it. The name itself made me think it would be something more active or practical, like worship, serving in the community, or helping people in some kind of ministry setting. Since we already had Bible School covering the teaching side of things, it seemed logical to me that Discipleship would focus more on how members of the congregation actually live out their faith and serve one another. I imagined it being a kind of hands-on guide to what it means to be a disciple in everyday life. For Bible School, on the other hand, I had a much clearer expectation. I assumed it would mostly consist of lessons presented through text or videos, followed by questions or reflections after going through the material. At some point, I also heard rumours about an essay being part of the course, so naturally, I started mentally preparing myself for that. I pictured having to read through a book and write a summary, or perhaps take notes during the video lessons and eventually turn those notes into some kind of essay or reflection. So going in, I was ready to do a fair bit of reading and writing. Something I want to know more about Some of the things I’ve really wanted to understand better, and that Discipleship 101 has actually been helping a lot with, are the kinds of basic questions that might seem obvious or even a little silly to long-time believers. But since I’m still fairly new to the church, these are the questions that have been sitting in the back of my mind for a while. Things like: “Am I reborn? What actually makes someone reborn? What exactly is sin? Who is Jesus? And what does it really mean when we talk about the Holy Trinity?” These are the kinds of questions that seem simple on the surface but actually carry a lot of depth. Thankfully, many of them have already been answered, at least in part, through conversations with my fellow iXchangers and through the lessons in the discipleship course. And even when I don’t fully understand something yet, I at least feel like I’m starting to move in the right direction. What did I learn? Well, from Discipleship I learned in the very first week that I am a son of God and that He will never turn His back on me. Because I am reborn, Jesus died on the cross for me and covered my sins with His blood. That alone is already a pretty powerful realisation. We also talked about what sin really is. In simple terms, sin is anything that goes against God’s plan or His will for our lives. In other words, it’s not always about the big, obvious wrongs; sometimes it’s just about choosing our own way instead of God’s. But at the same time, we were reminded that no ordinary sin can separate us from God or stop us from entering heaven and being with the Holy Father. The only true danger lies in the ultimate sin, removing the Holy Spirit from your heart and turning away completely. In Bible School, we’ve been learning about the power of faith, where faith should be placed, and even the importance of first words. It’s honestly both funny and incredible to watch Ps John and Sharon in the older recordings when they were much younger and full of that energetic, youthful passion. At the same time, it’s really encouraging to see how clearly they preach the Word of God and how their teaching helps build a stronger and deeper understanding of His message. Every lesson feels like another piece of the puzzle falling into place. Conclusion In conclusion, while Discipleship 101 definitely surprised me in the way it was structured and presented, it has still been an amazing experience to attend, even if it runs from 6–8 pm. Despite the time, I’ll gladly keep setting aside those evenings to attend because it’s genuinely worth it. It has helped me understand the basics of the faith and given practical guidance on how to deal with difficult situations, conflict, and personal struggles in a way that is healthy, respectful, and grounded in God’s teachings.   At the same time, Bible School has expanded my understanding of the fundamental principles of a healthy and thriving Christian life more than I expected. If I had to describe the difference it has made, the best comparison I can think of is going from the Stone Age straight into the Modern era. Everything suddenly makes more sense, and the bigger picture becomes clearer. Because of that, I find myself both hopeful and genuinely excited for the lessons that are still ahead.

| Journal Entry – Week on the Farm Introduction My week at the farm was great, I picked up new skills, connected with some awesome people, and definitely felt myself drawing closer to God in ways I didn’t expect. But like every trip, there are those standout moments that stick with you. Here are a few of mine that really shaped the experience. Highlight of the trip Hands down, the trip to the potato fields. We got to watch this huge sorting machine in action—it was insane how it dug up the potatoes, shook off the dirt, sorted them by size, and shot them straight into storage bins. Made me appreciate the sheer scale of what goes into our food. And yeah, those extra potatoes they tossed our way for dinner that night? Total bonus. Made the meal feel like a little gift. 🙂 Confrontation on the trip Okay, I hope no one’s peeking at this (hint hint, nudge nudge), but yeah, I had a real moment. It was Wednesday evening, around 5ish, and they had me spraying all-purpose cleaner on the tractors to cut through the oil stains. Quick job, maybe 25 minutes tops. But then I finished, and… crickets. No one came to grab me. There were three other workers right there, less than 5 meters away, scrubbing away on their own tractors, but nobody even glanced over. I stood there getting more and more worked up, picturing this whole nightmare: having to walk all the way home alone, what if I got kidnapped or something worse? Who’s gonna break the news to my family? My mind was spiraling into full panic mode, tears starting up. Then, out of nowhere, this calm voice cut through it all, like a voice of pure reason and peace. It was the Holy Spirit, straight up telling me to chill: everything’s okay, no danger here, I’m covered by Jesus’ name. Stop obsessing over worst-case scenarios for me or my family, Jesus has a plan, He’s got our protection, He’ll guide us no matter what. That hit me hard; it reminded me I’m never truly solo. Not just with my church crew, but the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are right there, every step. What did I learn? First off, the Holy Spirit’s always got my back, I can lean on Him anytime, no questions asked. Second, I don’t have to tough it out alone or bottle up my worries; just ask another believer, even if it feels dumb, and they’ll step up. Practically speaking, I got the hang of spotting different apple varieties, like how the Galas have that reddish blush versus the Granny Smiths’ sharp green, and sorting them without bruising. Also, gloves? Game-changer for wrestling open those stubborn lids on paint cans or whatever without shredding your hands. But bigger picture, I learned a ton about the folks around me: the quiet guy who hustles without complaining, the chatty one who keeps spirits up during long shifts. Saw how they tick, their quirks and strengths. Hope they picked up a bit about me too, maybe that I’m reliable but still figuring stuff out. 🙂 What was an unexpected exprience? It’s kinda funny now. On the drive out, everyone was chatting about how this farm trip “changes you,” and inside I was rolling my eyes like, “Pfft, nah, not me. I’ll just pitch in, sow some seeds, help where I can, and pick up my regular walk with God when we get home.” Total skeptic mode. But that Wednesday freakout flipped a switch. Suddenly, every snag, frustration from a messy task, ache from sore muscles, whatever, I was handing it straight to the Lord instead of stewing. I already knew He’s my Creator and Savior, but this week drilled it in: face struggles, pain, all that junk by seeking the Holy Spirit’s lead first, not my own half-baked fixes. Didn’t see that shift coming at all. Conclusion Couldn’t capture the whole week in one entry, we’d be at it for a year. But man, it shifted something real in me, and I’m beyond grateful for the chance, plus the Du Toits’ killer hospitality (those home-cooked meals were next level). Hoping I get back there soon to sow more seeds, labor alongside God-loving folks, and keep closing that gap with my Creator. Anyway, bye.

| Journal Entry – Second Week of Fasting Second week of Fasting | – Monday / First day This week actually wasn’t nearly as bad as the last one. I didn’t even think about Instagram or social media that much, which was a nice change. It seems like the first week did a good job of breaking that habit. Anyway, I got up bright and early and decided to read some more of Acts. I ended up getting pretty far, which felt good. There’s something nice about starting the day quietly with a bit of reading before everything else begins. After that, I got dressed, went to church, and helped move some things around in the house across the street. It was a bit of work, but honestly, I didn’t mind. Helping out where you can always feels worthwhile. Once I got home, I spent a little time praying and then went straight to sleep. After the long day, I slept like a rock. Everywhere I looked, there seemed to be something tempting. A picture of a burger here, some dessert there. Suddenly, it felt like the entire internet had decided to show me nothing but food. But that night I tried sleeping early to avoid thinking about it too much. Unfortunately, I just lay there awake and didn’t actually fall asleep until about 11 p.m. | – Tuesday / Second day Pretty boring day, to be honest. I woke up at 5 a.m. again this morning and decided to do a bit of exercise before starting the day. Nothing too intense, just enough to wake myself up properly. After that, I continued reading Acts for a little while before getting ready for church. Most of the day was fairly normal. I helped more people carry things and did a few small tasks around the church again. It’s interesting how much there always seems to be to do. Something new for me lately has been praying in tongues. It’s a VERY new concept to me, and I’m still figuring it out. I’m definitely still learning, but I think I’m doing… okay so far. Like anything else, it probably just takes time and practice. Aside from that, the day went about as usual. | – Wednesday / Third day This day… I’m not entirely sure what went wrong, but I just wasn’t really feeling it. I almost overslept, had trouble focusing on anything, and felt a bit bored and drained most of the day. Maybe I’m just missing my coffee, or maybe it was just one of those off days. Either way, it definitely wasn’t my most productive day. Luckily, the people around me at work were still as upbeat as ever, which helped lift my mood a little. Sometimes just being around positive people makes a bigger difference than you expect. That afternoon, I decided to read some scripture for a while. It helped clear my head a bit and gave me a chance to slow down and refocus. | – Thursday / Fourth day Today was a bit of a tougher day. I felt pretty exhausted and honestly came close to giving in to some of the things I’ve been trying to avoid during this fast. It wasn’t dramatic or anything, just that slow feeling of being worn down and tempted to take the easier route. But after thinking about it for a while, I reminded myself why I started this in the first place. The whole point of this fast is to stay focused and grow closer to God, not to give up the moment it gets uncomfortable. So I took a moment to pray and reset my focus. After that, things slowly started to feel a bit lighter again. The day didn’t suddenly become perfect, but the pressure I was feeling eased up quite a bit. | – Friday / Fifth day I felt really good today. I woke up early, drank some water, and went for a short jog while listening to a brand-new album (obviously :)). It was actually a really nice way to start the morning and helped wake me up properly. When I arrived at my usual time, quite a few tasks were waiting for me, but I worked through them steadily and just focused on getting things done one step at a time. Overall, there’s honestly not a huge amount to talk about today. Despite what most people might think, once you stop letting it control you, food really doesn’t have that much power over you. After a while, your body just adjusts, and it becomes normal. Unfortunately, there was no conditioning today, which is a bit of a bummer. :/ Anyway, to whoever might be reading this someday, I hope you have a blessed day ahead.

| Journal Entry – First week of iXchange/Special Services Introduction To whomever this might concern. Especially you, yes, YOU Madi. Writing this now, I would first ask you to please not dive into private affairs. I suppose if you’re currently reading this, it’s too late for me to stop you. So just be aware, I’ll know what you did… Special Services Anyway, the services last weekend were really special and magical. While it wasn’t really my cup of tea, the music was still great, especially “Joyful Noise,” which is my favourite among the bunch. I’ve never praised our great lord over a song with such passion before. I really think the Heritage music producers, lyric writers, singers, and all the other helpers did an amazing job. But honestly, what did I expect? Everything God makes is perfect, flaws and all.  Everywhere I looked, there seemed to be something tempting. A picture of a burger here, some dessert there. Suddenly, it felt like the entire internet had decided to show me nothing but food. But that night I tried sleeping early to avoid thinking about it too much. Unfortunately, I just lay there awake and didn’t actually fall asleep until about 11 p.m. First week of Fasting | – Monday / First day Moving on to my first week of interning. The first day was nerve-racking. I was absolutely lost, like a fish out of water. I got to church and had no idea if I was going left, right, up, or down. But once the first two people arrived and let me in, I felt a lot more at ease. Everyone started arriving slowly, but they were super friendly and helpful. At 10:00, two nice people showed me around the building and explained all the guidelines, etiquette, and timetables I should follow. But if I’m honest, I don’t remember half of them; that will probably come with time. Moving on, the three “tutors” who gave classes on varying topics, from photography to journaling, were interesting, understanding, and had a good knack for teaching those things. Not to mention funny, most of the time at least. Anyway, nothing much happened after that. I just went about my time and then clocked out at 16:00. | – Tuesday / Second day The second day, I was a little more prepared. I wouldn’t say Tuesday was as busy as Monday, but it was still interesting. I attended a class about design and how to use Canva. We were assigned a Brand ID project, and then I joined my very first Bible reading for the year. Later that day, in the evening, I attended my first Prayer-Connect, and it was really strange, but in a good way. It felt like a whole new chapter in my connection with God that I had never even thought about or considered before. I still have much to learn, but you won’t succeed if you don’t at least try. | – Wednesday / Third day The third day was pretty clear in terms of meetings, which allowed me to work on my design project. However, at 11:00, there was a meeting where we were shown the second years’ websites, and describing them as “good” would be an injustice. After that, my fellow peers and I were instructed to move things around in Heritage Hall and the Foyer, and we completely transformed the two rooms. I also measured up the studios with my colleague for one of the team helpers, I think. | – Thursday / Fourth day The fourth day was pretty routine. We had the morning prayer, then went into another Bible reading session at 10:00 and finished it around 11:00. After that, we moved the KidZone stuff from Heritage Hall over to the “new” KidZone area with the help of my peers, of course. Around 12:30, I, along with the other iXchange Year 1 guys, went with Pastor Milusi and others to deliver some tables and chairs for an e-learning hub in Vosloo, which was fun. Anyway, once we got back, we got an introduction to the journey of creating a website, and after that, I continued working on my Brand ID. | – Friday / Fifth day On the fifth and final day, we finally had to present this elusive Brand ID I’ve been mentioning so much. And boy, was it interesting. Everyone in the first year did amazing. Each project was unique and different, reflecting their respective personalities, from sleek and modern to a real farm-life flair. From what I’ve heard, I also did a good job. After that, my peers and I just helped out the team helpers with tasks that needed to be done. Conclusion In all, my first week of iXchange was a rollercoaster of emotions, nerves, laughter, and even some confusion at times, but so far it has been a great experience. It has really changed the way I think about and live my life, not just physically but spiritually too. I’ve never felt this close to God before, nor have I experienced such a nice and uplifting workforce.

| Journal Entry – First week of Fasting Introduction Hello there, I see you’re back here once more. Well, welcome, I guess. Though I still don’t want you reading this. Anyway, moving on to the main event… my first week of fasting. Boy, was it a doozy. First week of Fasting | – Monday / First day It was HARD. Every notification made me want to open my phone immediately just to see what it was. But I restrained myself. The food, though… THE FOOD… was almost impossible to ignore. I do admit I may have slipped once or twice, but I tried! All those delicious foods popping up in ads really didn’t help either. Everywhere I looked, there seemed to be something tempting. A picture of a burger here, some dessert there. Suddenly, it felt like the entire internet had decided to show me nothing but food. But that night I tried sleeping early to avoid thinking about it too much. Unfortunately, I just lay there awake and didn’t actually fall asleep until about 11 p.m. | – Tuesday / Second day I didn’t think it could get worse but oh how wrong I was. No sugar or butter really makes oats miserable to eat, especially when you forget to add fruit like I did. What should have been a normal breakfast turned into a bowl of sadness. I ate it anyway, of course, but it was definitely not enjoyable. Luckily, work at the church helped keep my mind off both food and social media. Staying busy makes a huge difference when you’re trying not to think about things. However, Instagram really did tempt me throughout the day whenever I saw those notifications piling up. Every time the screen lit up, curiosity kicked in. Still, I held out. And that night it was actually a little easier. I managed to settle down sooner and went to sleep at around 10 p.m., which felt like progress compared to Monday. | – Wednesday / Third day That Wednesday morning I actually woke up at 5 a.m., which is a far cry from my usual 7:00–7:15 wake-up time. I’m still not entirely sure how that happened, but I wasn’t complaining. The extra quiet time in the morning was surprisingly nice. This time I remembered to add fruit to my oats, which helped a lot. It didn’t exactly turn them into a five-star breakfast, but it was definitely an improvement. Because I woke up earlier, I had enough time to finish reading 1 Timothy before the day really started. Wednesday was actually much easier overall. By that point I had started ignoring the notifications and distractions instead of thinking about them constantly. I focused more on helping the lovely people at church and spending time reading the Bible, which made the whole day feel much more peaceful. | – Thursday / Fourth day Today I decided to have Wheatpix instead of oats. And let me just say… I MISSED my sugar while eating that. Mush and tasteless don’t exactly mix well for me, especially when there’s a random crunch because you didn’t distribute the milk properly. Nothing quite like taking a bite expecting soft cereal and getting a surprise crunch instead. But the big moment of the day was when I almost slipped up. I was trying to open WhatsApp to check a message I received, but my finger slipped and tapped my most favorite of apps… YouTube. For a split second it opened, and my brain immediately realised what had happened. Luckily I closed it just in time before anything loaded, but wow, that was close. It’s strange how automatic opening certain apps can become. On a better note, today I started reading 2 Timothy. : ) | – Friday / Fifth day Friday… just one more week to go, and the fast will finally be over. It’s been a difficult journey so far, but hey, we’ve made it this far already. We might as well finish what we started. Today I went back to oats because I realized another brick of Wheatpix might actually be the end of me. Some sacrifices are necessary, but there are limits. I also finished reading 2 Timothy and moved on to Acts. While reading, I realized I probably should have started with Acts first since it takes place before 1–2 Timothy. But hey, we all make mistakes and learn from them. That’s part of the process. After all, we’re only human. Conclusion So far in this short, yet somehow very long and difficult challenge, I’ve realised something important. Social media is basically a digital drug. It’s designed to get you hooked with flashing lights, quick videos, endless scrolling, and constantly engaging content. And while it can be fine in moderation, the way people normally use social media can be dangerous and even harmful. But there is one “drug” I’ve discovered more deeply during this journey, and it’s one I would gladly be addicted to: the Word of God. Reading about the blessings He gave humanity and how He sent His own Son to save humanity from itself is something I can truly get behind. The more I read, the more I realise how powerful and meaningful it really is. Blessed be the person who reads this. I hope this has shown you, even just a little, how stepping away from social media and focusing on the real, proven, and powerful God can improve you, not just physically and mentally, but spiritually as well