The Be One Life

Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength together a one.

Happy New Year!

by

Happy New Year!  Wait. Did we catch you off guard? It’s the beginning of April. What are they talking about?!?!

Have you ever wondered why the new year starts in the winter when its it cold, dark, and most of nature is dormant?  When the trees are bare and most of creation is resting and/or hibernating, does it really feel like the start of something new?  With winter comes dropping temperatures, short days, and long nights. While we believe it’s a beautiful season to rest and reflect–we aren’t so sure it is the time to start something new. Haven’t you always wondered why new year’s resolution never seem to work or they don’t last?  We have, and willpower aside, we realized that we are out of step with the rest of creation. Beginning the new year in the middle of the season of rest is simply out of step with the Creator’s design.


See, the YHWH’s (God) timing is different from man’s timing.  The Creator created everything with an order and a purpose. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

 

YHWH put seasons and times in their respective places for a reason. He set the new year to start in the spring when the temperature begins increasing, the days start getting longer, and new life begins.  We see this in multiple places in scripture:

It was on the first day of the first month, in the six hundred and first year, that all the water from the great flood of the earth dried up and Noah opened the covering of the ark (Genesis 8:13). Man and animals saw dry ground again and started a new life that day, that new year.  

In the book of Exodus, the YHWH told Moses that the beginning of the year, the first month of Abib, would be the month of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The final plague, where the Israelites homes that were covered by the blood of the lamb were passed over and the exodus from Egypt took place during the first month of the new year. This was a new beginning for the children of Israel, having been freed from slavery in Egypt. It was also the beginning of God leading them to the land he promised Abraham more the 400 years before. (Exodus 12-14)

Later, on another first day of the first month, the YHWH had the tabernacle erected where HE would dwell among His people (Exodus 40).  After 40 years in the wilderness, the Israelites crossed through the Jordan river on dry ground into the promised land in the first month of the 41st year after leaving Egypt. Again, the start of a new life in the land Yahuah promised started at the new year. (Joshua 4)

This first month of the year according to Creator’s timing is marked by new life and increasing energy. Before Noah left the ark he sent out a dove and it brought back an olive leave. This olive tree was a sign of new life (Genesis 8:10-13). The word for the first month, Abib (אביב) , is a Hebrew word that means young ear of grain. There is also a feast of first fruits in the first month of the year (Leviticus 23:9-14). At what point in the year do we see fresh young grain or harvest first fruits?

The book of Esther tells us that the Israelites began calling the first month of the year Nisan while in Assyrian captivity (Esther 3:7) .  We also know that historically, the month of Abib or Nisan has fallen in March or April. Our Messiah, Yeshua, was crucified and rose again during the first month.

It it clear that the YHWH never intended our new year to start in the winter, but rather in the spring.  The spring is the time to begin new projects and look forward to what is to come. Most importantly, it is our time as a community to remember our Passover Lamb and His ultimate sacrifice to make deliver us from sin and death.

 

Let’s start anew this new year…in Him.

 

The new year starts on the first new moon after the spring equinox.  This year the first day of the first month is around April 5-6. Look up at the moon for a tiny sliver of light and see for yourself.  Let’s celebrate the start of the new year at the time the Creator appointed. Happy New Year!

 

Unbreakable Marriage

by

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to have an amazing marriage that would last happily ever after like the fairy tales?  

 

That kind of marriage does exist and it is no fairy tale.  

 

That unbreakable marriage is between Jesus and His church. Saying yes to Jesus and becoming his follower is like a wedding ceremony where you are becoming part of the bride of Christ, the church, and Jesus is the groom.  During His time on earth, Jesus never married in the traditional sense; however, he did commit his life to his bride, the church. Every disciple of Jesus, comes together as one in Christ to make up his bride, the church.  Ephesians 5:31-32 says,

 

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”  

 

When we confess that Jesus is Lord and submit to him, it is like saying our wedding vows, beginning the covenant of marriage. Jesus established the Lord’s supper as his marriage covenant with us at the meal with the apostles the night before he was crucified as we read in Matt 26:26-28:

 

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

 

When a believer is baptized into Christ, washed with his blood, and transformed into a new self by the Holy Spirit, it is like the Holy Spirit is the wedding officiant pronouncing the couple husband and wife, sealing the covenant, adding the believer to the church and making them one with Jesus.  Romans 6:3-4 (ESV) tells us,

 

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

 

We are no longer the same old person living with sin, but a new, complete person made whole, through the blood of Christ. Best of all, we are part of the bride of Christ, the church, sealed with a covenant the no man can break. This is a marriage of our spirit to Jesus and it is the only marriage that is sealed for eternity.  There is no ‘til death do us part; there is no divorce between Christ and the Church, we are His bride forever.

 

Now that is unconditional love.  

This is the kind of love and marriage we want everyone to experience.  May we always celebrate our spiritual marriage to Jesus through our lives, and let it reflect in our actions so that others may experience Jesus’ love.  

Be One.

Gratitude

by

gratitudeLet all that I am praise the Lord. O Lord my God, how great you are! You are robed with honor and majesty. -Psalms 104:1 (NLT)

How great is our God! He is the Creator and sustainer of this world and everything in it. He spoke it all into existence, without having to left a finger. He is eternal and has infinite wisdom. He carefully crafted each one if us, and knows us right down to the hairs on our head. The best part? We are his most prized creation because He made us in his own image.

How can we not be grateful for such a wonderful creator? We are good because he made us good.

We are blessed because He left his place in heaven to come to earth to rescue us from yourselves, from our sins. We are blessed because Christ has set us free from our sins to live a life of gratitude in worship to him. Every day that we wake up, breathe, and move is a day to be thankful to God.

The beautiful thing about being in the kingdom of God is that we don’t have to work for our salvation. Our salvation is a gift–through grace by faith. For that reason alone, we get to be grateful to God. That’s right, friend, our gratitude is a “get to.”

If you are in a dark place right now and are finding it difficult to be thankful, remember this: the Lord our God is faithful and He will never leave you. There is NO place that His light cannot reach. There is nothing powerful enough to separate us from God’s love. Stay connected to him through prayer and His word–it will light your path out of the darkness. You are redeemed, and are set free.

This month our focus will be on gratitude. So let each of us live daily with thankful hearts for our Creator. Instead of working to earn the salvation that God freely gives, let’s serve Him and one another wholeheartedly.

Renewed Strength

by

Renewed StrengthWe are 7 days into our Move into Stillness journey. It is a great time to check in with each other, with ourselves, and with God.

Today’s verse, Isaiah 40:31, says “But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” It could not have come at a better time in this journey. You see, during this first week, I have found myself exhausted by my own thoughts, fears, and worries. I worried what you all thought, why you were not participating, and whether social media is the best outlet for what I am trying to accomplish.

It.was.exhausting.

But God. His Word. ALWAYS speaks.

He gave me new strength, and reminded me that I need NOT accomplish anything. This ministry, Be One, my life, and all of you are His. His word will stir hearts and open eyes as He sees fit. I am only to do my part in the journey.

So here I am; still fidgeting and moving my way into stillness. This time, I am doing it with renewed strength and a promise from our Creator that I will not grow weary or faint.

You won’t either, my friend.

So in the coming weeks, let’s keep trusting in Him. Let’s gather our new strength. Let’s soar on wings like eagles–together.

I would love to hear from you. How is your journey going? What has been your favorite posture so far? Do you have any new insights?

Share, please. You may just encourage someone else.

You can join the journey on our Facebook or Instagram page.

 

Moving into Stillness…

by

StillnessOh friend! 90 days. 3 months. A quarter of a year. It has been that amount of time since our family followed God’s nudges and moved to Puerto Rico. It is a turning point for sure. The experts say that it is at this point that a transition happens. The novelty fades. We realize we that this is not temporary, we are no longer tourists. This.is.our.home.

Thing is, it doesn’t feel like home yet. We are still transitioning, still learning, still adjusting (all normal). We long to feel at home here, while at the same time longing for all the things and people we left behind. It is difficult to explain this to people–especially because many people think we are one long vacation. Yet we long to be understood.

Thank God for the gift of yoga–especially yin yoga.

My mat and my yoga practice gives me a safe place to be understood, to be myself. It also provides the perfect metaphor for my life. This year, I have fallen in love with yin yoga. It has been such a reflection of what is currently happening in my life. In the yin style of yoga, we hold postures for a 3-10 minutes (sometimes longer) in order to get into the deeper spaces of our bodies–our ligaments, tendons, and joints. To the unfamiliar eye, it looks like one is doing nothing. That could not be further from the truth.

When coming into a posture, you move and you fidget your way into stillness. In the stillness, you are doing the hard and holy work of waiting, waiting, waiting.

Sounds boring huh?

A favorite quote of mine says “When you’re waiting, you’re not doing nothing, you’re doing the most important thing there is. You’re allowing your soul a chance to grow up. If you can’t be still and wiat, you can’t become what God created you to be. “ (Sue Monk Kidd)

In other words, “Be still and know.” (Ps. 46:10)

As you move into stillness and waiting, something almost magical happens. You feel places in your body, and sometimes deep within your soul begin to open up and release. If you can move past very human and cultural desire of always needing to move and to “do,” you can enter into the holy space of BEing still. This process teaches us both who we are and who God created us to be.

So back to the move. That’s where we are with this move. For three months (or more if you count all of the preparation), we have been moving, fidgeting, and trying very hard to find a soft place to land so that we can get still.

We have had flashes of some beautiful and difficult out-of-our-comfort-zone things that God has invited us here to do. But we have committed to getting still first. First, we will create space for our new lives to open up and for our souls to get quiet so that we can hear the only voice that matters. We will not run ahead of God’s plan.

But we can not do this alone. We are list making, to do list checker, get things done-ers. We are also recovering perfectionists. This month, I would love for you to journey with us into stillness. Everyday for the month of September, I will post a yin yoga posture, instructions for practicing the posture, and an intention. All you need to do is set a timer and practice the posture in your own home along with me while focusing on the intention.

That’s it. One pose per day. 30 days.

We will learn together how to sit in the hard and holy spaces, and wait for God to move us.

I cannot wait to hear about how God works in your life through this.

Will you join me?

You can find the the daily poses on our Instagram: @thebeonelife

Goodness

by

GoodnessOur Abba is good. We are good. You are good. We know this because His word tells us so. This months theme is goodness. We will be focusing not only on the goodness of God, but also all the goodness He created. So often, we are bombarded with images of negativity, destruction and sadness; for this month, we want to simply meditate on goodness.

This month, today actually, our family will be making a huge life transition. We will uproot and move our family to the Caribbean. It is a God-sized dream come true, and a gift we honestly don’t have words for. This is what we consider a highlight. It’s easy to see the highlights as good, but I want to focus on the goodness that led to this.

I struggle with depression and anxiety. Towards the end of last year, I lapsed into a deep depression that I thought I would never be able to climb out of. I felt nothing but sadness, loneliness, despair, anger, exhaustion, and indifference. I definitely thought our world, or at least my part of it was ending.

But God.

As I look back at my journaling through the depression, the work I did, and the help I received, I am in awe of Abba’s goodness in all things. He used that time in the wilderness to teach me about waiting, cocooning, and loving myself and him well. He used depression–my recognition of it and my continual healing from it to teach me that though I am flawed, though I stumble, I am GOOD. Not because of anything I have done or will do, but because He is good. Before creation, God declared that I was good because He is good.

You are good too, friend. Will you believe that today? No matter where you find yourself. Whether it be marriage troubles, parenting strife, illness, depression, or any other transition. Look for His goodness, and you will inevitably find yours.

The Greatest Designer

by

IMG_3259My wife and our girls grew the plants in this picture from seeds. I’m so grateful that my little ones will know tomatoes come from plants, not the produce section.

As I look at our garden grow each year from seeds to full grown plants that produce fruits and vegetables, I am in awe of the complexity, yet elegance of the process and how it was designed.

As an engineer, I know it is impossible to create even the simplest of machines like a lever without at least a  basic design. When I look at everything involved in making a plant grow from planting the right seeds to having the right soil, sunlight, water, and temperature, it is impossible for me to look at all the evidence and conclude that plants were created by chance or billions of years of evolution.

When I buy something that requires assembly, I can’t just shake up the box and out it pops fully assembled–wouldn’t that  be nice?

 How can something so brilliantly created, not have a designer?

If this was not the process used to grow plants from their creation, how did the interaction between other systems like sunlight for photosynthesis evolve over billions of years? I can barely get my DVR remote and TV to interact together correctly all the time.

I say all this to say, I believe there is a designer of it all. Looking at the love and care He took in designing each plant, imagine how much He must have put into creating you and me. I give praise to the Greatest Designer of All Time for creating us, our plants, our marriages, our families and everything else.

 

The Mother’s Day Gift That Keeps On Giving

by

mother's dayI’m a motherless mother, a parentless parent, actually, and I’m writing this post with tears in my eyes. My mother never saw me graduate from college. She never met my husband. She was not at my wedding, and has never met my children.

Mother’s Day is a day to honor moms for the immeasurable joy they bring to our lives, the lessons they teach and the sacrifices they make for us. For many, this day is filled with love, laughter, and happiness.

For me, it brings a bittersweet sadness that is difficult to escape.

A lot of people ask me why I’m so passionate about wellness. They are curious about why I became a wellness teacher, a fitness trainer, and why I write about whole living.

The answer is complex, yet simple at the same time: In short, I watched my mother die.

Growing up, I watched my mother’s health slowly deteriorate until she passed away shortly after I turned 20. Her poor health was due partially to illnesses and situations beyond her control. Many factors, though, came from her neglecting to take care of herself.

Early in my adult life, I was in the same cycle of self-neglect and poor self care as my mother. I ate lots of processed food, didn’t exercise, was always on the go, didn’t get enough sleep, and experienced a ton of unnecessary stress.

Then I became a MOM.

When I had my first daughter, I realized I could NEVER leave my sweet baby motherless because of careless choices. I decided that I would always do everything in my power to model the wellness lifestyle for her. I want her to know that living a whole life, one that is focused on being spiritually, physically and emotionally whole is really the best gift that she can give herself and the world.

Are there situations and factors beyond my control that could happen? Sure, but my health and wellness is one thing that I DO have some power over. I can choose to feed my body whole foods, to exercise regularly, and to make self-care a priority so that I am at my best to serve others.

Mother’s Day for me is often focused on reflection rather than celebration. This year, I find myself realizing that the reason I’m so passionate about health and wellness is because it is the way I honor my mom’s memory. In honoring her memory, I want her to know a few things:

  • I want her to know that I’ve learned from both her successes and her mistakes.
  • I want her to know that her grandchildren have a mother who is breaking the cycle of illness and self-neglect.
  • I want her to know that her life was meaningful and that I love and miss her dearly.

Wellness is really the Mother’s Day gifts that keep on giving. Taking care of yourself and giving yourself that gift is a way to honor yourself as a mom. Passing that on to your children is a powerful legacy that can be passed on to your children.

What’s your favorite Mother’s Day gift?

P.S. If you know a motherless mom, show her a little extra care and attention on Mother’s Day. Don’t tell her to snap out of her funk and to just celebrate being a mom. Instead, help her honor her own mother in some small way. Talk to her about her mom, and really listen to her pain instead of trying to fix it.

The Be One Life

The Be One Life

Social

Recent Posts

Contact Info.

Hampton, VA
757-880-6838
thebeonelife@gmail.com
Appointment only