Week 12/52 week challenge!!! Take a chance

MEDITATION/MESSAGE
“How easily,” my heart says, “I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain.” Yet I believe in what is unseen. My pain night and day is that I believe in what is unseen. I believe in a fire that burns within me---transforming me from glory to glory. I believe in strength that is not of this world, welling up and forming within me. I believe in the power of barren prayers and unseen tears. I believe in the Holy Spirit ever abiding within me. All unseen realities.
I wait for YOU. I am still waiting for YOU. Oh, how YOU test my soul with YOUR tarrying. Yet what choice have I? There is no movement forward without YOU. So here I wait. How YOU ruin the lives of YOUR beloved ones with a love that cannot be argued away and a faith that is an immovable Rock in the journey’s way. I do not remain in this place of waiting because my heart is noble, but I wait because my love and my faith have become greater than I and I cannot convince them to depart from me. They are towers that have risen within me and now are indeed the strength of my city. I cannot move them for they are my essence. No longer portions of me but all of me. They are God Himself within me.  ~DEEP UNTO DEEP


May each of us come to know the tower that is being built within us. We are yours Lord; may we spend each breath becoming more aware that we are always in Your Loving Presence!!! Enjoy....


HEAD STAND POSE DESCRIPTION
~starting from childs pose, lift your hips up from your heal and bring yourself onto your forearms
~interlace your finger tips and create a basket shape with your hands;  creating a place to cradle your head
~placing the crown of your head into the cradle of your hands
~you must draw your abdominal muscles in and lift from the rib cage in order to move smoothly into the head stand
~shoulders are drawn together and away from the ears, supporting the weight of your body

~the head is just resting in the hands, there is little weight on the neck. The shoulders are bearing the load

~begin to lift the hips towards the sky coming onto the toes

~ then slowing start to walk the feet closer and closer towards the heart

~YOU MAY STOP AT ANY POINT IN THIS and then build up each time you revisit this pose
~If you are able take the right foot off of the floor completely, and tuck the knee up by the right armpit
~If the right leg feels secure, you may also bring the left knee to the left armpit
~Finally using your core you can send one leg at a time up towards the sky
~Understand that He gives us our strength, so wherever you find yourself in this pose, celebrate and know He will be the one building the Tower inside of you!
~Hold the pose as long as you feel comfortable and then slowly, with the core engaged, begin to release both feet to the floor
~rest in childs pose for a few moments to allow your blood flow to return to normal 

MEDITATION/MESSAGE

As followers of Jesus Christ, we should strive to have a good reputation. We are told in the Bible that having a good name is very important: 

 Proverbs 22:1 “A sterling reputation is better than striking it rich; a gracious spirit is better than money in the bank.” 

From a worldly perspective, we usually estimate the value of a person’s name by the value of their bank account, but the God of heaven puts more value on a good name than on the riches in this world. The name Bill Gates, Kennedy’s, and Mark Zukerberg may stand out in the world, But…The name of Mother Teresa, Job, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and other persons of integrity stand out in heaven!

Job 1:1 “Job was a man who lived in Uz. He was honest inside and out, a man of his word, who was totally devoted to God and hated evil with a passion.”

^{8 “}God said to Satan, Have you noticed my friend Job? There's no one quite like him—honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil." 

Job was a man of integrity; we are able to see how proud God was over Job, a man that had a good name.

In life, there are a lot of things we can buy, but not a good name, we have to earn it. A few things to think about to earn a good name:

1. seeking truth

2. having integrity 

3. not being overcome by laziness

4. not letting anger control you

5. not becoming a busy body

6. learning how to be faithful to Christ

There is no such thing as a perfect human. Having a “good” name doesn’t mean you’re perfect but it does mean you are being perfected by the one who is! The same can be said for yoga postures, there is no such thing as a “perfect” posture. Each of us have our own variation that is perfect for us, this may change, even from day to day.

EXTENDED HERO POSE DESCRIPTION
1. Start Kneeling with shins and tops of feet flat on the floor, thighs and inner knees together 

2. Slide the feet about shoulder distance apart, while keeping the knees together

3. Exhale and sit back halfway, with your torso leaning slightly forward

4. Then sit down between your feet, placing the buttocks flat on the floor

1. a. outer sides of the thighs are touching the inner sides of the calves 

1. b. soles of the feet are exposed facing up

~ If your bottom doesn’t comfortably rest on the floor, place a block under the buttocks 

~ Make sure both sitting bones are evenly supported

~ Allow a thumb's-width space between the inner heels and the outer hips
1. Then lay your hands in your lap, one on the other, palms up, or on your thighs, palms down

~ Paying attention to firm the shoulder blades against the back and lifting the top of your sternum like a proud HERO, whose name stands for integrity!

~You may also begin to lean back deepening this pose as you feel able (full expression pictured)

~ Widen the collarbones and release the shoulder blades away from the ears 

~Stay in this pose from 30 seconds to 1 minute. 

~To come out, press your hands against the floor and lift your buttocks up, slightly higher than the heels

~Cross your ankles underneath your buttocks, sit back over the feet and onto the floor, then stretch your legs out in front of you; It may feel good to bounce your knees up and down a few times on the floor.

SONG SUGGESTIONS
All the Poor and Powerless by All Sons & Daughters
Just Remember I Love You by Firefall
You Have Me by Gungor