That Sounds Fun with Annie F. Downs Comparison, Obedience, and the Heart of Fasting with Ryan Wekenman- Episode 1052
7 snips
Apr 13, 2026 
Ryan Wekenman, pastor and author focused on spiritual formation, returns to unpack fasting and promote his new book Free Me From Me. They explore personal fasting rhythms and how communal fasting works. Conversations cover avoiding comparison and performance, practical ways to fast and re-enter food, and how fasting exposes self-centered patterns.
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Tithe The Month With Short Monthly Fasts
- Do create small, repeatable fasting rhythms like tithing the month by fasting the first three days to build consistency.
- Ryan shares his rhythm: church-wide 21 days in January and attempting the first three days of each month as a spiritual tithe.
Food Exposes The Flesh And Hidden Insecurities
- Food often brings up fleshly responses like comparison, shame, and performance, so fasting exposes these tendencies.
- Ryan links the first recorded sin to food and says fasting surfaces insecurities rooted since Eden.
Don't Call A Partial Fast A Failure
- Do consider any attempt at fasting a success; the failure is never starting.
- Annie reframes the metric of failure: even doing one meal counts as progress and reduces shame that stops you from coming back.
