What Are You Giving Up? | Lent Without Performance

So… what are you giving up for Lent? Chocolate? Social media? Your last ounce of patience?

In this Lent kickoff episode of Divine Shenanigans, Brynn Whited unpacks what Lent actually is—and what it absolutely is not. Spoiler alert: it’s not a spiritual diet plan, a 40-day personality detox, or a holiness competition.

With humor, honesty, and deeply grounding truth, Brynn explores:

• Why Lent isn’t about performance (Matthew 6:16–18)
 • What “Return to Me with all your heart” really means (Joel 2:12)
 • The difference between giving something up and making room
 • Fasting from habits that numb us (doom scrolling, comparison, perfectionism)
 • How to add something holy instead of just subtracting sugar

You’ll hear a personal story about the year Brynn gave up sugar and just became angrier (because apparently deprivation without devotion is not sanctification). Plus, community responses to what people are actually giving up this year—and a powerful reframe that might change how you approach the entire season.

This episode includes:

✨ A practical Lent reset
 ✨ “Holy Homework” to help you discern what God wants to remove—or restore
 ✨ The Lent season song Hungry for Holy by Brynn Elise (played at the end of the episode)

If you’re tired of religious pressure and ready for honest faith for real life, this episode will help you approach Lent with intention, intimacy, and a little holy humor.

Because if we’re going to be hungry anyway… let’s hunger for holy.