🎙️ Feathered In Grace & Armor Podcast

Episode: 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting – Walking the Journey With Us

What happens when you intentionally slow down and invite God into your daily life for 21 days?

In this episode, Chadd and Gina share the personal commitments they’re making during their 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, and why this journey matters to them right now.

Gina opens up about why she’s fasting television and how removing that nightly distraction is helping her create more space for reflection, quiet time, and deeper connection with God.

Chadd gets real about something many people can relate to — fasting from cussing. He shares why he wants to clean up his vocabulary and how words have more power than we sometimes realize.

Together, they break down three simple steps anyone can use to pray, even if you’ve never felt comfortable praying before:

• Gratitude – Thank God for something in your life
• Guidance – Ask for wisdom for your day
• People – Pray for someone else who may need it

The goal of this episode isn’t perfection — it’s progress, intention, and walking the journey together.

Chadd and Gina also challenge listeners to join them for the 21 days, connect with them on social media, and share what they might be fasting or praying for.

The episode closes with Chadd leading a heartfelt prayer for listeners beginning this journey.

Whether you’re new to prayer, curious about fasting, or simply looking for a reset in life, marriage, or mindset… this episode is an invitation to walk alongside us.

You’re not doing it alone.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Feathered in Grace and Armor. I'm Gina.

SPEAKER_00 0:04

And I'm the Armor part of this podcast. I'm Chad.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Together, we're here to explore the beautiful balance between grace and strength in our lives.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

In a world that often pushes us to choose sides, softness or toughness, vulnerability or resilience, we believe the true power lies in embracing both.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Each week we'll dive into heartfelt conversations, share inspiring stories, and discuss the lessons we've learned on our journeys of faith, love, and personal growth.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

So join us as we uncover how to walk through life gracefully, all while wearing the armor of God against the challenges we face.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Whether you're a man or a woman, our hope is that this podcast becomes a source of encouragement and wisdom for you.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

So let's spread our wings and forge ahead together on this adventure of life, love, and the pursuit of grace. Hello, hello again. It's Chad and Gina.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Hi, Chad.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

On this special edition Feathered and Grace and Armor Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

I like that. Special edition.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

It's a special edition because I think what we're going to talk about is pretty special.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

It is special.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Don't you think?

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Mm-hmm. Do I need to do anything over here on this uh podcast?

SPEAKER_00 1:19

No assistant producer. It just rolls out. It just plays. We'll get our act together one of these days.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Or I not we, I will.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

So it just fades out like that, and then we're good.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

I mean, you're not going to be able to do this podcast producer. Oh, goodness.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Goodness, goodness, goodness.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

All right, we're gonna talk about fasting and praying. Fasting and praying.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Fasting and praying.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

And when you hear the word fasting, what what do you think of typically?

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Well, when I hear the word fasting, I'm like, oh, I'm gonna not eat for 24 hours or 72 hours.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Yes. I think that's what most people think.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Most people, most people do. They they they do think of you know a food fast. But there is Which is great.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Food fasts are great, but we are not going to be food fasting for 21 days.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

No, we are definitely not.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Just to let you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

But we are doing we are abstaining from something. Ooh. And what is that something?

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Well, let's let's share with our listeners that our our church is doing 21 days of fasting and praying leading up to Easter. Yes. And we are partaking, participating in that. Yes. And we've been for the past few weeks, you know, leading up to it. We've been talking about it and meditating and marinating and praying and, you know, just trying to be still and and listen for direction on what that was going to be. You know, what what were we going to fast and you know what kind types of things were we gonna pray for? Who were we gonna pray for? And I did a really really special and really, I don't know, I just think it I don't even know the word to use for it, but what we did at church a couple weeks ago where we wrote the names.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Names on walls.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Yeah, we um we were asked to go write a name or names on designated areas in our church around the four crosses that we have around the church. And you could write someone's name or like I said, names for someone that you you know really wanted to pray for, and it will stay up there for the next 21 days, right? Correct? I think so, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, and so that was really a powerful moment, I think, for all of us, and and just as a church too. So we did that. So we wanted to invite all of you to kind of just go along, I guess, with us on this and encourage you to do this because not just from a spiritual perspective, which I think at the core, you know, for us it is a spiritual perspective, but I think it's even more than that. Um because, like we said, fasting isn't just about food, it can be something that you are trying to abstain from because there's something about it that is holding you back, maybe perhaps from goals that you have. It could be something that's really unhealthy in your life that you need to let go of. Um and it can be something that maybe is causing you to be conflicted in some area of your life. And so that's why I think it's really important to sit and think about it, like not just, you know, hey, yeah, this is what I'm gonna do real quick. Like really give it some thought. And so I guess let's talk about that first. Let's talk about what we're going to fast. Ooh, okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

What we're gonna what we're gonna abstain from. Yes. Well, I'm gonna let you go first.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Okay. So we're not I I I say this, but we're not real big TV watchers. I mean, we don't typically have it on during the day at all, ever, really. Yeah, no. Um we every now and then. We yeah, every now and then, but we just really don't. But at night, once like we finish dinner and it's the end of the day, we'll like we'll get into a show of some kind. And then it can be like two hours, and we're like, we've watched a couple episodes, and then sometimes it's like, oh, we got one more in us, let's do it, and we'll like stay up a little later and watch a third, like we get hooked in it. And then I'll find myself like then on the weekends, it w we'll like we'll binge a little bit more, like just depending on what's going on. And I I guess when I'm done, it just made me feel lazy. Um, it made me feel like, oh my gosh, I just we just wasted two hours or three hours or four hours of time that I can't get back. And what do I have to show for it?

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Nothing.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

And And it's not like we're watching like trash television, and I know that you can watch some things that like, you know, documentaries and things that like can be really good. But still, I'm like, I just felt like why am I watching somebody else's life or a story like somebody's living, like I want to live my life. Like, why am I, you know, watching somebody else live their life than I'm not doing the things that you know, and I just felt like I there I want to make, you know, so I will say, like, oh, I want to make more time for this and that. And but there's the two or three hours that I could have been doing that. Yeah, but I'm sitting there watching somebody else do their life.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

And I really just felt conflicted about it. And I thought, okay, then this is a thing I need to fast because every time, you know, I get up the next morning and I'm like, I really wanted to start reading that book that's sitting there. I really, you know, wanted to research this, or um I I really wanted to get this taken care of, but I didn't because I was watching television. And so I just decided that for the next 21 days, I am not going to be watching television. And I'm gonna see what happens. You know, there was a time when we first moved on this family compound and we're back here in our little 800 square feet, and we didn't have TV yet because we didn't have internet yet. Took a little bit to get that connected for us back here. Yeah, and we would play games, we would play card games, and um I loved it because again, it was a way for us to connect.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

And we still played card games when we got the internet here. But it might have it's it's been a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

It's tapered off, yes. Well, and I shared with with you, and and I'll share this too. Like there when I was growing up, my mom, our TV went out, and we couldn't, she didn't have money to get our TV repaired. Yeah, we went a whole year without television.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

We had to wait until she got our tax check to have the television fixed. And we played card games the whole time in games.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Holy moly.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

And I look back at that time and I'm like, that I because obviously I still remember it. Like it's a very like I I it's a it's a time that I remember with great joy and happiness that my mom's and I sat there and did that together and it was fun. And so I just, you know, I'm like, I I'm gonna give this up. So that is what I am doing. I am giving that up. Um because how many times do we say, I don't know, if you want to do something, like if people say, I want to run a marathon, but you don't run.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Yeah. It's kind of hard to run a marathon if you don't run, if you don't practice. Right. If you don't think about it intentionally, put some effort behind it.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Yeah. I'd like to have some like definitions in my arms and legs, like some muscle definition, but I don't pick up any weights.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

You don't go to the gym. Well, you don't have to go to the gym, but I don't pick up any weights. Do a little workout every now and then. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

You know, it's this it's the same thing. It's like, hey, I want to be a writer, but I don't ever write. So for me, I was just equating all of that, like there's so many things I want to do, and here's two or three hours that I'm sitting here watching this, and I could be doing something that I want to do. So that that's what I'm doing. Do you want to share what you're doing? What you're fasting from?

SPEAKER_00 10:21

I and uh I'm you know, I'm in a car a lot more than you, and I'm dealing with drivers that are crazy on the road, or I have a hammer in my hand and I might accidentally whack my thumb, and you know, a curse word might come out of my mouth. Words that are words that aren't pleasant to God's ears. And I'm going to try and abstain from cursing for 21 days. Okay. Um I think it's gonna be a real challenge. It's gonna make me think before I speak. Um, which I've tried to do in the past. It's just it's hard. It's hard. You don't really think about it when you're saying those words. You don't, you know, you drop an F bomb or you know, S-H-I, you know, double blah, blah, blah, blah. But you know, it it really, it really does kind of make you sound dumb. It makes me feel like I sound dumb when I use those words.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Yeah, it has to, it has to be something that conflicts you. So obviously that conflicts you.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

So it definitely conflicts me. So, you know, and there are a lot of great Bible verses in the Bible about, you know, guarding your tongue for profanity, no more lying through your teeth, turn your back on sin, do something good, embrace peace, and don't let it get away. You know, there's so there's several verses in Psalms. Um, and you know, that's the other thing. Like, there's always if you want to think of if you want an answer to something, go to the Bible. Yeah, go to sure. Go to Duck DuckGo or go to Go Daddy, or not Go Daddy, but Google and you know, you know, if you can't, you obviously most people aren't gonna be able to rifle through a Bible and be like, oh, where's this Bible verse? But yeah, you know, if you Google it or duck duck go it, you're gonna find the answers. And and let me tell you, all the answers are in the Bible. Um, so that's what I'm gonna do for the next 21 days. I'm gonna stop, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna give it my all. I'm gonna think about it daily when I wake up. Today I'm gonna choose not to cuss. I'm gonna choose grace and mercy and calmness and peace. And I will share a story the other day, because it was a couple days ago that I got my car washed. And there are two lines to go to the car wash. There's the VIPs, which I'm not a VIP because I don't want to pay that every month, and then there's the old regular line. And there was a guy in front of me in a truck, and you know, he put his credit card in, and I didn't see him put his credit card in the first time. I saw him take it out, and then, you know, and I'm I'm like, okay. And I bet you we were there for a good nine or ten minutes, and I was just like, grace and mercy, you know, it's not his fault that the bleeping bleepity bleep bleep bleeping machine didn't work. And I chose not, I didn't cuss, but I waited and I was patient. I grace and mercy, and then they had the attendant come out. And so I'm just gonna try to abstain from cussing and saying words that I really don't want to say in the first place. So I just am gonna abstain from cursing and and using those those words.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Yeah, and I think, you know, again, it's just about what conflicts you. You know, I've heard some people say, like, oh, I'm gonna give up chocolate, you know, for for my fasting or for whatever. And and there's nothing wrong with that. Like somebody might go, oh, well, that's not like really deep or anything, but it might be for that person because what if like it's become, you know, it's like coffee. Like we can we can use coffee as like an idol, right? And like chocolate can become an idol, TV can become an idol. You know, it's so I think that it really it's just about looking at like it's about taking something out of your life that is conflicting you, or like I said, distracting you from your goals, distracting you from connection, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Not pleasing to God, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Right. It's not pleasing to God, something that like is just getting in the way of you being the best version of yourself that you can be. So I, you know, and it doesn't always have to be about food fasting, but you can food fast as well. And then the second thing is prayer. So 21 days of fasting and 21 days of prayer. And, you know, we did the thing where we wrote the name on the wall, and so that definitely is gonna be, you know, that's gonna be one of the focuses of my prayer for the next 21 days, is the person that I wrote on the wall. And but I like how you can also just pray about anything, yeah, you know, and and sometimes I think prayer is people we complicate it. We complicate prayer.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

We think it has to be a certain way, a certain sound.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

We gotta pray about things, you have to say thou, the art, yeah, Father God. Yeah, and you don't just talk to him like you're talking to your buddy, like yeah, it doesn't matter, and there's no right or wrong way to pray. Um, the one thing I will say though is that I think that when we are still and we're quiet, sometimes we don't, it's not about talking. Sometimes it's just about being still.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Yeah, and you can be still in your car because I'm in my car a lot, and I'm still. I'll literally pull over to the side of the road and I'll find a grocery store or a gas station, and I can just sit there and have a conversation with God. And that's really all prayer is. It's just a conversation. Yeah. You got to be open to it. You know, tell him what you're feeling, tell him what your needs are. He knows what your needs are, he knows what you're feeling, but he wants to hear from you. And that that is the really cool thing about prayer is that it's not some extravagant thing. It's just a conversation.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

It is. And and I like that that you do that. And I think too, like what I said, like sometimes it's just it's just being quiet and being present and being still so that you can hear his voice. And when I say hear his voice, it doesn't mean like you're gonna hear an audible voice, but um, there's different ways that you know God presents himself to us. Um, but it's just it can just be a complete feeling of peace. But how often do we take the time to really be still and sit in silence and listen?

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Probably not as much as we should be.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

No, it's hard. If you've really if you've ever tried it, it's it's hard. It is not easy.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

So I'm gonna give you a three-minute formula. It's really super duper easy that you can remember and you can use to pray because it really is easy. You just have to do it, and it's gratitude. Thank God for something. I mean, one, thank God that you're alive, you know, because if you woke up this morning and you're listening to this podcast, you have something to be thankful for, and you have something to ask God for, right? So ask him for guidance, ask him for wisdom in your day, ask him about the people in your life. Pray for somebody else. We all have people who are sick, we all have people who are struggling, we all have people who are in need, we all have people that are going through something. So just be that person that prays for your family, your friends, your loved ones, strangers. Um I mean, I I do it all the time.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

So so you're saying like the first thing is gratitude. Start with gratitude and attitude of gratitude, yep. And then guidance, and then pray for people.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

I like it.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

And here's a shiny little example for you. God, thank you for today. Help me to make good decisions, help me not to curse. Please bless someone in my life who might be struggling. That was kind of my prayer because I know I'm gonna need that.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

That's gonna be Chad's prayer for the next 21 days.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

It is, because I, you know, cursing is it's it's a just a part of my it's a part of our vocabulary, whether we like it or not. And you know, so really think about that. Think about cussing, right? That's a that that's hard to cut out. I'm thinking 51 years old and I've done it for so long, and I've used it and for whatever, but think about how how disciplined you must be to be able to cut that out. Like, and and then I think, gosh, if God dropped down right now and you know, was out here, you know, would he want to hear me cussing? No.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

You know, so you're definitely conflicted about it.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Well, that's how you know that it's something for you that you want to fast.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

That's how you know. Okay. Okay. So we just wanted to do this special edition and let you know what we're doing for the next 21 days. And um, we would love to hear, you know, what everybody else is gonna fast for the next 21 days. So if you want to let us know that in our socials.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

Are we gonna check in on socials every day for the next 21 days?

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Well, we can definitely I'll put this on and then I'm gonna encourage people to kind of put in the comments like what you're fasting. Cause I'm just, I don't know. I like to hear what people are fasting or you know, praying for. Um, if you want to share that. So we will definitely do that. And um, you know, just want to encourage anybody that we can and hold each other accountable. And, you know, Chad and I are gonna have to hold each other accountable as well. So he's gonna have to make sure that I don't turn the TV on and try to watch something, especially, you know, if it's a stressful day and I'm like, I just want to turn my brain, you know, because I'll use the excuse, like, I just want to turn my brain off and I just I wanna, I wanna check out basically. And and not to say that there's anything wrong with that sometimes, but when it just becomes like I said, I was conflicted about it. It becomes a habit and it becomes a habit that I don't want to keep participating in, and it is distracting me from things that I want to do, that I have goals for.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

I have to be your accountability partner.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Yes, and I have to be yours.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

And you should get an accountability partner too, if you're gonna do this 21 days of prayer and fasting.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

So you might want to go get a roll of like quarters if they still have if we still have quarters, and because you're gonna have to put a quota in the swear jar.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

It's it's not easy, and it's not supposed to be easy. No, and it's not supposed to be fun, it's supposed to challenge you.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Absolutely. If if it's not challenging you, then it's not something you should fast. It needs to be challenged.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

And so let's talk about you, you know, journaling.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Because I think you could probably do a do a journal as well on your 21 days of prayer and fasting.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

Maybe you could put that, maybe you could put it each day down. You know, maybe today you succeeded and you you hit your goal and you abstained from the thing that you were abstaining from. And and write those down because those are those are good to go back and and look at, you know. down the road.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

I know Gina's a big Gina's a big proponent of journaling.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

I am. I'm a big proponent of journaling for a lot of reasons. But also I'm a I'm still a paper calendar girl. And so I use my phone and I use a paper calendar because I just like it. And I kind of use I think the reason I like it is because it's another journal for me. So I will like I keep track of how many days a week that I walk, how many days a week that I do weight training. Um and so and if there's anything I want to track I will put it in my paper calendar. So I will usually just have like a little code like you know walk is W and workout is W slash O. So I'm like on those days. So then I go back and go, okay, did I get in three times a week? Because last week I only did um weight training one once. And I think I got only maybe maybe two or three walks in and that was that was not good because I need more than that. So um so yeah I would encourage you to track it that way as well.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

I love it. Yeah. So we're gonna we're gonna ask you guys to help us out along this 21 day prayer and fasting. Yes. We want you guys to check in on our socials let us know what uh what you're abstaining from and uh let us know how we can help encourage you um we're gonna be able to share daily reflections on our socials I think we're gonna try to both both do that I'll have to send mine to the editor before it gets posted for uh for approval yes but uh absolutely I guess the last thing is here be be honest be honest about the struggle you know if you've got distractions you've got a busy schedule you've got temptations you got moments you forget um you know we're not perfect no it's gonna be uh it's gonna be uh a big challenge for 21 days yeah but uh we'll be better for it on the other end 100% we want to be alongside you with this we want to pray for you so pray for us pray for us please no TV and no cursing so Miss Gina we made it pretty simple today do you have anything else you want to share? I don't think it's great okay thanks for listening well hey we're gonna close out with a quick prayer if that's okay with you I love it Gina do it dear Father God we just thank you for this time together we thank you for the Feathered in Grace and Armor podcast we thank you for the people that are listening to this podcast for the feedback we've gotten for it we just ask that you would continue to be the guiding light in our life continue to push us towards telling more people about you we ask that you be with us on those 21 days of prayer and fasting and we just thank you for all of the blessings in our life Lord we we just thank you it's in your name we pray amen so from the Feathered and grace and armor podcast studios here at the clubhouse peace out Gina we'll see you on the next episode.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

Peace out sauerkraut later alligator after wild crocodile