Why I NO LONGER participate in Yoga: more to follow

As I was reading through the past entries of my journals, and of this very blog from as much as a year ago, I came across something that I wish to clarify on and now state my stance as to why I NO LONGER participate in Yoga. There was a time, in this quest to become healthy and to honor God with my body, that I would do Yoga as a means to stretch, "refocus," "relax" and "breathe." I fooled myself, for a time, thinking that I could somehow be able to separate the roots of Yoga from the practice of Yoga. Please allow me the time briefly explain how separating Yoga from its Hindu roots is not possible.

I do wish to come back on here and really go in depth on the reasons that I have ceased to participate in "Yoga." Know that this is being written by one who has lived it, and quite frankly, knows that this may not be taken well by those who read. but for now, this must suffice in order to no longer allow time to retrain me from at least sharing with you the conclusion I have come to and what I believe the Lord has shown in His word.

The conclusion is this:
Yoga is rooted in Hinduistic beliefs. Each pose was created to be a form of worship to the gods of Hinduism. I am a Christian. I believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, I believe in the existence of ONE Triune God. Worship and honor and glory belongs to God alone. There is no way to separate the roots of Yoga from this animistic-polytheistic belief system, therefore to say that I am a Christian (believing there is only ONE God who deserves all glory, honor, praise and worship) and practice in anything that is rooted in worshiping and idolizing anything contrary to what Scripture says, I would be a liar and with my actions, I would be claiming my God to be a liar. God is NOT a liar.

"“Romans 12:1-2 says we are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God,” added Laurette. “Here they are doing something very similar with these postures to their 330 million gods, and it is scary. So we abstain from things offered to idols—Acts 15:29.”" (Bagby)

It is impossible to be a Christian and participate in Yoga without grieving the Spirit in the process. As part of the work Christ does in our life in revealing His truth to us by His grace is the transformation that takes place through the "renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:1-2). Don't be ignorant to the effect your actions have on how you display Christ. Learn from my mistakes, be informed- seek the Lord in prayer, read scripture, heed conviction and warnings, seek godly council, repent and do not be the cause of the Spirit's grief.

For more information, check out these articles:
"Should Christians Practice Yoga?" By Jeremy Butler
"Should Christians Do Yoga?" By Laura J. Bagby

I leave you with this quote to consider:
"The Only Thing Necessary For Evil to Triumph is for Good Men to do Nothing" -- Edmund Burke

Entry 2: Tamed

Gentle and Meek
that is what i hope to one day be.
no longer wild
like a bronco
filled with energy that spreads as chaos around me.
but instead- my energized being will be
channeled and tamed for a purpose.
For HIS PURPOSE.
which Christ has called me to.
NOT driven by my flesh and its desires.
YES, gentle and meek in spirit are skills I long to acquire.

Musings of Recent Days

There are moments in my life where the Lord pops an idea, a connection or illustration involving the things around me to the thoughts in my head. He so graciously shows me beautiful connections, visuals involving His creation or the various things that I encounter in life and grants me deeper understanding of a life lesson through the illustration that He has played out before me. Many times, I am simply left in awe of the picture. tears or giggles result. Words can sometimes never seem to to truly express what it is that I have just been shown. But, there are times when it becomes more than a fleeting thought or hapless memory and He provides the words to lock in the beauty of how He is teaching me.
I then have 2 choices: I can keep these things to myself (call it selfish-hoarding His guidance for myself as it if were only ever meant for solely me; or call it humility-which is not truly humility because though it may mean I do not have confidence in my own writings, I still have not recognized that it was not of myself that I was even able to write them) OR I can share them with others, and pray that the Lord would use them as HE sees fit in His will to do (maybe to give comfort, to challenge others, to encourage others, or as an example of what NOT to DO/How NOT to be...)
So, upon approaching this crossroad, I have decided this: Any words that the Lord enables me to compile into some semblance of sense to relate what He is teaching and showing me through illustrations or in anyway that could connect or make sense to another individual and possibly aid in their better understanding of the Lord and how He moves in our lives, I will post.
(And that was a really LONG run-on sentence...my English professor would be flabbergasted)

Here is Entry 1. It has no name as of yet, feel free to suggest one :)

Night sounds and this seemingly endless cloud.
Your thoughts are MUCH HIGHER THAN OURS, Lord.
and it seems as though i cannot even wrap my mind around.
these times, when the full strand of images and words and
pieces of the puzzle remain in a pile.
that has been dumped.
from a box.
which contains a picture that i just can.not.see.CLEARLY!

I search for the edges,
try to find the frame
BUT its like i have no aim.
The picture, in pieces before me is so unclear
that i can't even see.
the IMPRESSIONIST.
who takes some color and spreads it out,
claiming to know exactly what HE wishes to convey.

BUT with my face nose-to-nose with the mix of
RED and PURPLE, BLUE and GREEN,
I just can't seem to see what the artist has seen.
and now this picture,
this image,
this vision,
it's in pieces before me.
Leaving me to wonder about what I cannot see.
(copyright: BC 2012)

ThirtyOneWall

Because the fact stands that I have greatly neglected this blog, I highly doubt anyone still reads what I have to say. I am ok with that. If, however, there are those who have been on the edge of their seat for months waiting for the next post then you may notice there is a change. I have changed the site title to "thirtyonewall" from its original "bigtoechic" title.
there are a few reasons and here they are:

1. There is a level of maturity that seemed to me to be lacking in the previous title.


2. "ThirtyOne" represents Proverbs 31, the example and image of what a Godly woman looks like, the kind of woman I seek to glean from and model my life after.


3. "Wall" is a reference to the woman mentioned in Song of Soloman 8:8-9. The woman who is like a wall shall be fortified with a battlement of silver, referencing that she is not loose or vulnerable to manipulation (wolves in sheeps clothing) or danger because she is guarded and has set her boundries, holding firmly to them. yet another goal of mine, I pray the Lord would teach me, mold me, stretch me, grow me, and shape me more and more with each day to be the woman He has called me to be. That I may bring Him honor and glory and also that I may honor my future husband in all my days, even now.

These are the musings of a young woman learning more each day about Biblical Womanhood. I am unsure of what will continue to fill this blog, or how often I will post. I hope that, if there are readers, you would be able to learn from what I am learning and share on here your journey as well.

What is lost (and I Hope to Never Find!)

Here is an update:
Today, I weigh in at 178lbs. I have managed to maintain around this weight through the chaos and stress of finals and winter break. This is God's faithfulness and mercy and grace revealed. He alone is the reason I have been able to lose 82#'s.

{"lose," "lost," "am loosing," these terms are connected in relation to weight. I believe I do not intend to "find" these #'s again, so "shed," "remove," "rid self of," These are terms that seem to say it so much better. :) }

The Knots of Life

Here marks 6 days before my last regular semester of BCF starts. I am sitting in my RD suite, typing away in the empty time pondering. Pondering? Can I really call it "pondering" if there is not a set subject on my mind?
I feel as though I have mentally been in a cloud since the completion of the Fall Semester and now a new semester begins.
My thoughts are as a knot. Tangled and taught, and I am unsure of where to begin in order to successfully untangle the bunch. God has been working, moving, visibly active in my life over this time. In my desire to not neglect full comprehension of the lessons to learn I believe I have managed to build the knot even more. Day to day, I am taught more, shown more, love more... and I've yet to unpack what has been displayed before me to this point. In fear of doing a disservice to these lessons so they were not in vain, I have done just that. It is time to unpack, unravel, and delve into it all!
For tomorrow I will complete the welcoming of new girls to Napier, nine in total for this semester. And the remainder of Napier will be here by Sunday. The semester will begin, more days will pass, more lessons will daily be added to the knot and the opportunities to use what the Lord has been showing and teaching me will pass.
I cannot let this pass.
I look forward to reminising on each way God's faithfullness, soveriegnty, grace, love, mercy, justice, etc. have been displayed.

SC11

David Platt, Pastor of The Church at Brooke Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, hosts an event twice a year at his church called Secret Church. the purpose of the event began as a way to gather and pray for those believers who are persucuted around the world for thier belief in the Gospel and in Jesus Christ. It was and is also a means by which time is set aside specifically to delve into Scripture on various topics for a set, intentional period of time. the material that is taught in these sessions is then translated into various languages and used to equip believers around the world.
Last night, the 11th Secret Church meeting was held. It was simulcasted to include over 48,000 people, spanning 6 continents and also in 42 of our 50 states here in America. in a very real sense, we were gathered together with our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ as some of the locations experienceing the simulcast were in areas where, had they been discovered to be participating it could be dangerous for them.

I have had the opportunity to participate in the live simulcast last night with the association that the church i attend is a part of. the topic title was "Marriage, Family, Sex and the Gospel."
Platt took us through scripture for 6 hours (my kind of Friday night!!) seeing what scripture, and says about all the facets of these topics.

The Questions of the night were:

1. What does the Bible say about family?



2. What does the Bible say about marriage?



3. What does the Bible say about sex and sexuality?



4. How do all of these relate to the gospel?



5. How do all of these relate to the Greate Commission?

just to list some of what was discussed, check this out:
------------------------------------------------
God's Design:
1. The Gospel and Sexuality
2. The Gospel and Marriage
3. The Gospel and Parenting
4. The Gospel and the Orphans
5. The Gospel and Singleness
6. The Gosepl and the Widow

Man's Distortion:
1. The Gospel and Divorce
2. The Gospel and Homosexuality
3. The Gospel and Abortion
4. The Gospel and Polygamy
5. The Gospel and Pornography

Special Issues:
1. Sexual Distinction in the Church
2. Sexual Sin in the Church
3. Sexual Satisfaction in Marriage
---------------------------------------------------

To say the least, it was a blessed time. As a single woman, the points in the Gospel and Singleness section were great to ponder, be challenged by and see how to glorify the Lord Biblically in my singleness. It was encouraging and also, to be honest, parts were hard to hear because i do have a desire to be a wife and have children and raise them to fear and love the Lord. There were 2 things i really had jump at me from this section:
1. Singlness and Marriage are both gifts. during singleness, i need to recognize this beautiful gift from the Lord and not flounder it.
2. "Contentment is deep trust in the sovereignty of God and deep enjoyment of the grace of God."

{These are two areas i have had mulling and wrestling back and forth with this semester as i found myself "distracted" in this particular area. I had/have begun to see my attitude toward being content in my singleness a difficult battle. I had not been really struggling with contentment much prior to this because, well, frankly there were no prospects. easy to be unaffected when theres nothing tempting around. For whatever reason, that changed this semester. an attractive, God-fearing man is a fierce combination). It is prudent for me to cling to the Cross now more then ever, not letting this distraction keep me from serving the Lord and living for the Lord in attitude, word and deed. should something progress from this, that is not my concern. at this time, i am to be solely concerened with seeking and obtaining a "deep trust in the soveriegnty of God and deep enjoyment of the grace of God." Pray for me in this. Pray that I can obtain this deep trust and deep enjoyment.}

I learned valuable truths in each section and was reminded of the Grace of God and how His hand has been on my life to this point and will continue to be in the future. In each section, truth was revealed of God's perspective on my role as a woman in relation to Christ, in relation to my brothers in Christ, to my future husband, as a mother one day, in how live now.
I challenge you to check out the link to resources of Secret Church. this link will take you to the secret churchs of the past which are available in audio and video and also have PDF files of the study guides both with the blanks filled in and also with the blanks empty. Last night's wont have the audio or video available online for another 2-3 weeks, but the study guide is up and is well worth being checked out.

Platt always begins one of these sessions explaining that it is "not for the faint of heart." His purpose is to pour the truth into you like a fire hose and then you can soak in it all. Im still processing what was discussed last night!

The Association that the church i attend down here is a part of is doing something awesome with these. They have begun back at the first Secret Church recording and have met together twice already with the same set up as if it were live, but we gather together to learn. We have done "The Survey of the Old Testament" (which was over the summer and i missed that one...) and "The Survey of the New Testament"> which was phenominal! Next up is "How to Study the Bible" then "Who Is God?" and you can see the rest of them by going here.