My Three Weeks of Yoga, part two

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Part two of my yoga story will be the creeped out portion. I will be referring to snakes, parasites, and the stench of burnt plastic, so if you are faint of heart, please proceed with caution. You have now been warned.

When I first got sick, in my worst moments, I could close my eyes and see what I thought were parasites invading my brain. I could almost see them in my bloodstream. One night, as I closed my eyes to sleep, I saw a snake that had worked its way up to my head. It's head was inside of mine. 

Did I lose anybody yet? Before you decide I am insane and stop reading this blog forever, let me tell you the rest, and then you can decide. During the most acute part of this illness, my sister  made a decision to take a few days to fast and pray for me. I don't know what I'd do without that girl. During this time, she had a dream that she shared with me. In the dream, she had a snake coiled around her spine and her husband was trying to pull it out for her.



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 I'm telling you these creepy things to help you understand why this whole yoga issue is not something I am taking lightly. Months after these events, when I was first discovering the truth about yoga, I read about the "kundalini", which means "coiled". This kundalini, in yoga, is an energy, a force, or a power that lies coiled as a snake at the base of one's spine. It is believed that during yoga or meditation, this force is awakened and rises upward along the spine. The belief is that as it rises, higher levels of awakening or enlightenment are achieved, until at last this snake-like force reaches the head, where the ultimate enlightenment occurs. 

As I read through this information, I gasped in amazement and disgust. I was so ignorant about yoga when I first began. And in my ignorance, I stepped into a dangerous arena. I now felt so sorry for not listening to that nudge I had in Target that day not to buy those DVDs. (Yes, I bought not one, but two!) God always knows more about everything than I do, and He wants to protect me, but I've got to listen to Him! 

The other fascinating piece of this was how my illness seemed to mirror somehow this description of the kundalini. When I had my spinal tap, it was discovered that I had oligoclonal bands in my spinal fluid. What this indicates is that my immune system went up and crossed my blood-brain barrier and attacked some of the myelin, resulting in the lesion and my symptoms. 

So, what did I do about it? Well, I was at this point, already believing God for my healing and seeing exciting improvement. God had shown me that there were things He wanted to "burn" out of my heart to purify it. Each time He showed me something, I confessed it, prayed about it, and committed to let Him be the Lord of that particular issue, whatever it was. And each time, my eye would get a little better! The numbness had started to "drain" out of my body. It left my head, then my arm and hand, next my leg, until it was only remaining in my foot. I had my energy back, and I could talk and think very smoothly! 

So, what did I do? I already asked that, I know. I burned the DVDs! Yeah, I went out to our fire pit in the backyard and started a fire. This took me awhile, because I didn't have my usual fire starter, Bob. He knows how to start fires. Me, not so much. I was laughing and talking to myself, trying to get a fire going that would be hot enough to burn those things. Has anybody else ever burned a DVD? It stinks! It smells really bad, and the smoke is putrid! I was worried my neighbors would call the fire department.

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But, in the midst of all of it, I knew that I needed to do more than just burn those suckers. My heart needed to be involved in this, too. So, as I watched the putrid smoke rise, I committed to give the Lord full control of every area of my life, even what kind of exercise I do. He wants to be a part of every detail, and I want to let Him. Everything I do in my daily life I give to Him. Because the things that I think couldn't possibly matter might be more significant to Him than I realize. 

After the fire, the Lord ministered to my heart. He loved me and I loved Him back. He reminded me of the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from Daniel chapter 3. They loved God, but they lived in a land of idol worship. All the people were instructed to bow to a golden idol or be thrown into a fiery furnace.

By: rikahi at morguefile.com

 The Lord showed me that these young men could have reasoned that to spare their lives, they would go through the motions of bowing down, but in their hearts continue to worship the one true God. But they did not do this. They did not bow. They were thrown into the fiery furnace and were seen walking around in there with a fourth Man! They came out of the fire unharmed, without a trace of even the smell of fire. 

The Lord said to my heart that I had reasoned. I was not being forced to bow to an idol, not forced to do yoga or die. But I reasoned that I could do this thing that looks New Age and still worship the one true God. I saw in a flash that holy jealousy of His. He wants me all to Himself. He does not want me to have even the appearance of idol worship. This made me feel more love and respect for Him. He wants me! He wants my pure worship, and I want to give it to Him. 

Since this time, I've had a new sorrow for the many people who are living without Christ right now. I hurt for those who are deceived by Satan, for he is the one at work behind the scenes of every religion or belief that does not acknowledge Jesus is the only way to God the Father.

 My heart weeps for the Hindu who practice yoga, for the Muslims who worship Allah and yet are without Christ, for the Jews who have yet to accept Jesus as God's son, and for the many people who wander through this life aimlessly searching for love or enlightenment or meaning. 

As I sat down to write this post, I picked up my Bible and read a chapter of Isaiah. I've been reading a little of Isaiah each day. This morning's reading was so timely, I thought, considering that my post was going to involve snakes! Isaiah 27:1 says, "In that day, the Lord will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea." Wow! That serpent is Satan. He was defeated when Jesus died and rose again, and someday he will be thrown into the lake of fire for all eternity. Revelation 20:10 says that there he will be tormented for ever and ever.

By: mzacha at morguefile.com

 Isaiah calls him the monster of the sea. That makes me think of the reality of the sea of people living today who are being tormented and lied to by that monster, that serpent. I'm so thankful that I serve a God who has a rightful punishment in store for him!

Well, that's my yoga story! You might still think I'm crazy, but my prayer is that something in this post might stir your heart. I'm still praying all the time that you will know how much He loves you. Thanks for reading! Believe it or not, I still have more to share...