The Faithful Yogi

WHOLEness | The Cross is Enough

August 14, 2018August 14, 2018 by janereedhenson, posted in Uncategorized, Christian Living

Integrated Wellness begins within the soul. We cannot heal if we do not include all aspects of our lives and the soul is the biggest, yet most neglected, aspect of our lives.It is the soul that is damaged by hurtful words. It is the soul that is guarded when “enough is enough.” It is the soul that aches when loss occurs and it is the soul that disengages when trauma invades.

In essence, our soul is our everything here on earth. It is who we are. It is where our thoughts and our beliefs reside. It is the light within us and when we leave this earth, it is the only part of us that lives eternally.

It is time to think in terms of our souls when we seek wellness. Our souls play a significant part in our health. Our thoughts determine our healing. If we truly believe in what we are seeking then we will see true healing. For example, a sinus infection can be treated with antibiotics but it can also be treated with essential oils, food and rest. If we believe that only an antibiotic can heal the infection then all the essential oils in the world will not heal the infection. If we have a true belief in the healing benefits of oils, then we will see healing from the oils. The soul is a powerful aspect of our healing.

What happens when the soul is damaged? When pain and suffering invade? The hurt doesn’t even need to be of traumatic magnitudes to invade and darken the light of ones soul. A simple negative remark can cut deep. The soul is also them out delicate of our beings. It has to be protected.

How can we protect our soul when we cannot control the environment around it? The cross. The man who died on that cross. Jesus Christ. Our soul protector and healer. Faith in His abilities. A deep understanding that even our soul crushing encounters are a part of the greatness and will of our Father God.

When hurt invades our souls we will feel it. There is no getting around the human design of pain and sorrow. We will cry. We will grasp our chest as we cry out “why?” We will fall on our knees in despair but we have a choice when we have the cross. With Jesus Christ we can forgive and heal. We can see others through His eyes and find understanding and sympathy. We can seek to love even when we are not l loved in return. We can look past judgement to see the hurt, anger, or jealousy to see the soul of another. We can be free to return light to our souls because He is the light.

In the midst of a hurting soul one thing remains true to the end of time: the cross is enough. Today, let it be so. This week, let it be so. Let the cross be enough and see the changes it will bring to your soul and to your health and wellness. Healing begins at the cross.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5

Falling Apart Yet Held Together

August 13, 2018August 13, 2018 by janereedhenson, posted in Christian Living

My life is a hot mess at any given time of the day. Hell it’s a mess even in my sleep and if you were able to join in my dreams you would see the truth to that statement. I do not have it all together. I fall apart on a regular basis because I have a damaged heart. My soul has been burdened with so many heavy weights in this world that I often reflect on how I have survived as long as I have. The answer? God.

There is no strength left in me. I am tired. I am worn. My heart hurts at the sufferings I see in my world. I strive for goodness and see less and less of it in others. My peace waivers and my soul aches for unity and love to flood my fellow man. I work hard to show that love to others and some receive it while others stab my words with daggers flying from their tongues like warriors of discontent. Its easy to feel the glow of love but it is devastating to feel the blows of negativity.

Even in the mundane aspects of life the devil seeks to destroy my joy. He takes the daily joys of motherhood, friendship, and family to dark places in an effort to slowly scrape away the bonds so lovingly created and gifted by God. But God. But God. But God.

God has already gone before all of Satan’s attacks. God has held everything together from the beginning. ( Colossians 1:17) He is El Shaddai, the God of sufficiency and almighty power. In Him there is no sting in death, no suffering in sorrow and peaceful, joyous living in the treacherous trenches of daily living here on earth.

In Him the devils advances are nothing more than an annoying mosquito bite that aggravates temporarily but disappears without any more thought. In Him, strength returns with a flood of fury, peace encompasses our lives bit by beautiful bit, and day by day our resilience is a glorious example of His everlasting love.

There is no need for fear. There is no room for doubt and negativity when the doors to our heart and mind are open to God’s unfailing word and never-ending grace and mercy. He is the healer of all hurts. He is the army that destroys the devil’s minions. He is the power and the glory that heals all of the earth. Negativity has no place here. Satan has no place here. Only God. Only God.

We will have days where we feel misunderstood, shaken to our core and beat down by the evils in this world. There is no question about that. There are days that, in my imperfection, I am falling apart yet His Word is the glue that holds my fallen mind, body and soul together when I feel like falling apart.

Are you falling today? Will you let Him hold you together? No matter where you are and how dark it feels, pick up the Bible and see light. The light is there, you just have to seek it.

Listening as an Act of Love

August 9, 2018 by janereedhenson, posted in Christian Living

I am known for being the friend that listens. I receive phone calls on a weekly basis in which the few words I speak are “Right” and “Yes” as I listen to the words coming from their mouths. Do I have things to share? Is my day crazy? Do I disagree with them? Do I agree with them? Sure. All of the above, but that is not my purpose on those days when all that is needed is an ear to listen.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Just as to love God begins with listening to his Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them.” Listening is one of the greater aspects of love. It opens our heart to understand another sufferings and joys. It is an opportunity to learn and if we are so callous that we feel we know everything and have no room for learning then we have reached a point in life where we have a real problem.

In 100% of the conversations in which I have been the listener there has always been something to learn, something that touched me or something that opened my eyes to a deeper purpose in my life. I believe God uses the words of others to touch our lives and when the time is right our words are used to touch others. That is love. Touching each others lives in profound ways that bring us to a better place. We are here for each other and that includes listening to each other.

I have also found when I utilize listening as the ultimate act of love for my spouse or my children or friends and family, I find myself in a bette replace as well. There is a healing property to being able to just sit back, in silence and let another person speak. I find it has a profound affect on my health and my well being.

What about someone listening to me? I will be honest, there are not many in my circle that really want to listen to me because I am surrounded by a lot of people who need to be heard, and I am ok with that because I believe in purpose. I am also blessed with a handful of people who choose to listen to me as an act of love. I cherish them and I am so very thankful for them. I also find that when I am obedient in being a loving listener, God always provides me another who is willing to listen to me. It balances out.

So, take heart, if you are like me: the go to listener in your inner circle. Be obedient and listen in love and in return God will always send you someone willing to listen when you need it. He is good like that!

Perfection is A Lie

August 8, 2018 by janereedhenson, posted in Christian Living, Food and Drink

Writing a memoir about the worst parts of your life is so difficult and yet so healing. Today I am editing the chapter on my hellacious relationship with food over the years. Some of this is so embarrassing. I cannot believe the lengths I went to just to “look perfect” and the irony of it all is that now, I am so far from perfect that the young me would fall apart if she knew this is how we would look at 47 and I am this way because of the choices the younger me made! The healing aspect is so vivid though. I can look back and see where my disordered eating began and the raw truthfulness in my memoir has brought it to the surface where I have to face it and move past it. The opposite of disorder is order and I need a leveled out relationship with food now. Its the only way I will get healthy. There are no quick fixes. There are no magic pills. No amount of excess exercise will make permanent change. There is no perfection in disorder and in all honesty there is no perfection period. For years I have chased the dream of thin, tan perfect legs and arms with a flat tummy. I even attained it several times in my life but my disordered relationship with food always caused a downfall and weight gain. This is where the beautiful redemption of an amazingly loving Heavenly Father comes in and sweeps me right off my feet and reminds me that PERFECTION IS A LIE. He reminds me that my past may be a huge mess of imperfect disorderly relationships including one with food, but again, my past is past and today we move forward. Today we admit our wrongs and move forward step by step in recovery and redemption. Today we choose not to look at all these “perfect” women on instagram and instead focus on sharing the healing qualities of an Almighty God who loves me and thankfully renews me daily and today He has gently reminded me that food was created for my health. It was not created for relationship or for an emotional crutch. It is simply here for nourishment of my body. This is the shift in perspective that I needed to find redemption from a life long battle with disordered eating. I am so thankful. This memoir has been a healing journey and I am excited to start this blog and share more of my redemption story as it continues!!!

Bouncing Back

August 2, 2018 by janereedhenson, posted in Christian Living

adult back view beautiful blur — Photo by Maria Tyutina on Pexels.com

Bouncing back can be difficult. Just the word “bouncing” seems painful to me because it insinuates the need to hit something very hard and recoil back into the air. Yet, that is exactly what happens each time we “bounce back”. In order to bounce back we have to be falling first, we hit rock bottom and BAM we bounce back. In my life, if I were to literally hit the proverbial “rock” I would have bruise after bruise considering the number of times I have had to bounce and the truth is: I do have them. I have a lot of emotional bruises that often times become very tender when I am reminded of the great fall that caused them in the first place. We all have them and they are repeatedly going to be poked at throughout our lives.

Growing up I wanted to be accepted, just like everyone else. I was on a great track all through elementary school and middle school but something happened my freshman year and rejection became my name. I had been forced by a very popular senior into a position I was uncomfortable with and confided in a “friend”. Within just a few hours the entire school knew and everyone turned against me because I was the newer kid and how dare I say this boy did this!! In an instant I was a pariah. I was no longer accepted and so the fall began. Eventually we moved but my self esteem had taken a hit and making new friends was more difficult this time around but I had hit the rock and was bouncing back. The bruise was still deep but healing.

Throughout my life it has been poked several times. If I must admit anything, it is that I still feel that pain every time a slight rejection happens. Sometimes I fall again and gain another bruise. Life is like that. We fall down and get up again…a lot. For the longest time, when I would fall, I had to pull myself up. It wasn’t easy. It took a lot of strength and oftentimes it was very tiring. Now, I am thankful that I no longer have to pull myself up, instead, I let Jesus lift me up. Admittedly, I often fight Him as He reaches for me. The pain gets to me and I sink a little deeper into the shadows for a while but He always brings me out.

It has been a long time since I have bounced back from rejection because Jesus does not let me hit the rock anymore. He has saved me from ever falling that far from rejection because HE never rejects me. Even when I have made massive mistakes, HE still loves me. I am. never alone.

If you are healing bruises of rejection, shame, suffering & etc., I pray that you will let Jesus soften the blow. I pray you let Him lift you up, because in His strength you have power and support. In His love you have hope and forgiveness. In Him you will survive this life covered in armor that softens your falls until eventually you don’t even fall anymore. Instead, you just trip and He steadies you.

I Can Do ALL Things

July 3, 2018 by janereedhenson, posted in adoption, Christian Living

I love this photo. This woman looks content and happy. She looks relaxed and strong. Her photograph is a gentle reminder of how I should feel, at all times, on this inside because of the strength I have in Jesus Christ. Philippians 4:13 says ” I can do ALL things through Him who strengthens me”. ALL THINGS.

The great things about Jesus is this: He gives inner strength and a confident peace. It is in HIs sufficiency that I am self-sufficient. Without Him there is no “self” sufficiency. This was a freedom bomb dropped my lap this morning as I prayed over my life: you can let go of your “self” sufficiency and relax because it isn’t “you” who empowers and strengthens, it is Jesus. Let that soak in. I had to allow it to wash over me like a cool ocean wave on a hot summer day. Pure freedom. I can relax because Jesus has my strength. I can be content because Jesus brings peace. I can make it through anything because Jesus empowers me. I don’t need to do anything other than to release my idea of my own self-sufficiency, recognize my weakness and sin and accept the salvation of God’s sweet, free and undeserved grace in Jesus Christ. When I do that, I find Jesus residing in my heart with HIS strength that is made perfect in my weakness.

When life gives me trials, when raising my children becomes difficult, when my marriage is struggling, when my finances are less than desirable, when I feel overwhelmed, I can be like the woman in this photo: happy, relaxed, strong and confident in my Jesus. Confident in His strength. Confident in knowing I will make it through because He make me who I am. He is my strength, my peace, and my power and He constantly lives within me.

The beauty of this is not lost on me today as we meet this week to discuss our possible adoptive placement. We have an opportunity to place with a sweet boy with a beautiful smile and a heart that is severely wounded. His needs will be plenty. His healing will take time. We will need patience and guidance. There will be struggles as we help him navigate through a permanent transition into our home, yet, this morning all those struggles do not seem insurmountable. In Christ we can provide his every need. In Christ he will overcome and his wounds will heal. In Christ every need will be met.

Our adventure is about to begin, and as I enter the gate of our new journey, I feel confident in Jesus. That is ALL I need.

Living in the Spirit | Forbearance

June 12, 2018June 12, 2018 by janereedhenson, posted in Christian Living

The fruits of the Spirit have always gained my attention. I know that if I can have those fruits in my life that I will be living in the Spirit and therefore living my best life. Easier said than done. The devil knows the exact moment that you ask for those fruits and does his best to derail any effort you are making to allow the Spirit to fill you with a certain fruit. The past few days I have been focused on forbearance. This particular fruit has evaded me daily and I truly wanted to understand and allow the Spirit to fill me with it and the devil has put my teenager front and center to derail me each day.

As I write this I have just finished another confrontation with her. She walked into my room to tell me good morning and saw me studying my Bible. She excused herself and five minutes later I can hear her voice right outside my bedroom door that leads to the patio. I assume she is talking to her sister or someone on the phone because she is being terribly loud. This is the second day that she has been very loud as I am trying to study the Word of God making it difficult to concentrate. Yesterday I failed. I had no forbearance whatsoever. I tried, I promise I did, but I wasn’t living in the Spirit. I entered the room on my own strengths, or shall I say weakness, and initially politely asked her to stop. She kept going. I tried to be nice. She kept going. BAM. I yelled at her. Not so forbearing.

This morning, as I studied, I realized what I had done wrong yesterday. I had tried on my own without inviting the Spirit to overcome my weakness. This morning, as the frustration welled up inside the deepest depths of my soul at the teenager outside my door, I stopped before I walked through the door. I learned this morning that forbearance is patience. It is mercy. It is a gentle and tolerant way of handling aggravating situations, including rude teenagers. Proverbs 25:15 had been brought to my attention ” By forbearance is a ruler persuaded and a soft tongue breaks the bone”. Before I opened that door I prayed:

Lord God in Heaven, cause my tongue to be soft. Cover my anger and frustration with your mercy and patience. Don’t let me speak, let your Holy Spirit speak for me.

Then I opened the door. There sat my teen with a book and my dog. There was no one outside with her. She deemed it necessary to take a book right outside my door and read it out loud to the dog. Not just out loud…but LOUD! Never in my life have I been more thankful for the Holy Spirit than I was at that moment. My weakness would have reacted in a very negative way. I would have yelled, because if I am being honest, that was the most annoying and aggravating thing I have experienced this week so far. I would have ranted and gave an hour long lecture on the respect of space and my time with the Lord. I would have made it a point to make a point, but not the Spirit.

I stood in the doorway and asked gently, “what are you doing? who are you talking to?” She responded that she was reading the book out loud to the dog as if there was no problem with that at all. My response, or rather the Spirits, was ” You know I am in my room studying my Bible. You are being loud and causing me to not be able to concentrate or even pray. That is not acceptable. I am going to need you to come inside and read quietly, to yourself, on the couch.” That was it. It was simple. It was gentle. It was merciful and above all, it was spiritual. It was ALL the Spirit.

Bones do not break easily and neither do teens. They are in a struggle with their parents for control. Yelling and lecturing have not served our situation well but a soft tongue can handle even the most difficult teen.

As I sat to finish my study and pray I realized the lesson I had just received from the Lord:

In order to have the fruit of forbearance I must ask and allow the Spirit to soften my speech and increase my patience always remembering that the outcome of this is that I will automatically call on Him before approaching any situation with my teen, or anything else for that matter, and mercy and patience will be the response. Today I was shown just how easy that can be if I stop, pray and then move forward!!