holding

STRESS, LET’S BREAK UP!

Posted on by pennyjoliver

Do you feel it too? All tensed up and nothing to help you?

Sometimes in life your going along and – pow! – you are all tensed up. Well, that’s me today. Actually that’s me all last week. I’m sitting here with achy shoulders that won’t stay down. They disobey my command to relax and quietly try to climb up into my neck all day. Then the neck becomes strained from holding the shoulders up. Tension then rides down my back and takes up space in other places. Sometimes, my ears ring and I feel my face all crinkled up from holding all my body’s tension. My mood is not kind, and fatigue sets in despite my efforts to get a good night sleep. I wonder how I got this way. I can’t imagine why, because I did yoga last week and yoga is my little stress reliever. Thinking upon God while I stretch and flex is my way of breaking up with stress before it becomes a problem. But today is a culmination of a week’s worth of unreleased tension, and I have been trying to analyze why it’s happening to me.

Bing! The light bulb goes on! “I think I know why,” I exclaim to myself… and now to you, because although my body engaged in the yoga I did everyday, my mind did not join me. I rushed through the yoga poses without being fully there. I did not come to the yoga party fully dressed! It’s not that our minds need to be on the mat at all times, but we do need to let our thoughts arise, whatever they may be, so that we can let go of them. Letting each thought that arises go, in the flow of your breath, lets tensions release. Once we let go of any stress in our minds, our stress will disappear in our bodies. That’s the gift of yoga. Our outer world shifts to reflect our new perspective.

We can enhance the gift of yoga by handing over all our cares, worries, fears and doubts to God and really break up with stress. Then make it your practice within your yoga to hand it over to the care and responsibility of Almighty God. Proverbs 4:23, tells us to,

Be careful what you think because your thoughts run your life.

Medical research is just catching up with God’s words from thousands of years ago. Studies and medical research are increasingly proving that you become what you think. I’m thinking that me and stress, yeah, we’re gonna break up!

How about you?

 

GOT BALANCE?

Posted on by pennyjoliver

Got Balance?

God says you do.

And I’m not just talking about balancing on one leg. Or, holding yourself up in a yoga pose for a minute or two. I’m talking about living a balanced life. Holding it all together no matter what life throws at you. Not simply surviving. I’m talking about thriving. You and me as people. You and me in our lives. Can you believe it? God has big plans for you, “…to give you a future and a hope”! (Jeremiah 29:11)

In God’s great book He wrote for you and I, He says that we are not left here to do this life on our own. He wants to help us. He wants to be that solid rock for us. The one that we can stand and build our life upon. He tells us that, “Everyone who hears my words and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on a rock.” (Matthew 7:24) We must not worry either. He also promises that He will hold us up. We must simply trust Him. We must believe in His ways for He says,” My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, declare the Lord.” ( Isaiah 55:8)

And balance we discover in God’s world comes down to rock level. An ordinary, everyday, common object: the rock. God uses a simple object to show His precious,” created in His image” creation  an exceedingly great truth. (Genesis 1:27) Though God’s love for us is beyond what we humans can comprehend, it is as simple, firm and sturdy as a rock in practice!

I am sure that everyone would agree that it gets tough balancing life sometimes. Just like a yoga pose, we start out strong. Before you know it, we are wobbling, crumbling, and falling down while trying desperately to hold ourselves up. Soon we are totally out of balance. We can be strangled with the cares, worries fears and doubts of this life. Life no longer feels free, light, or buoyant or balanced. But, our God never intended that kind of life for us. God came to set us free from a life of burden and the guilt of sin. He says,” I came so that you may have life and live it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)

Next time you feel out of balance, choose to have calm in your chaos instead of trying to keep yourself up. “…build your life on the rock!”  (Matthew 7:24)

Next time you practice balancing poses, try to remember that “He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand”, (Psalm 40:2) and that, “He alone is my rock and my salvation, He is my fortress I will not be shaken.”  (Psalm 62:6)

Amazingly, God the “rock” is mentioned in 59 Bible verses.

Stand firm. You can have balance. I also know from my life that sometimes it takes a long time to get unbalanced. And so we learn to adjust and accept things that throw us off balance without even realizing it. Soon, we are so used to living this way it becomes our way of life. Thankfully, God wants us to have better. We are His children, after all. The Creator of everything and King of the universe: That is our Father. We are His children. What would you not do for your children in need? I’m only here to remind you. You already know that our Heavenly Father can do anything. Just ask.