Gleaning Truth at the Core

Focus on your center.” This phrase resounds in yoga classes across the nation. In Yoga, the Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness, Erich Schiffmann says, “When you experience yourself in stillness…you will experience the conflict-free, calm, dynamic peace of perfectly centered abundant life energy. This exquisite peace deep within you is actually the experience of God, life energy.” 

I’m sure Mr. Schiffmann and I would differ in a number of areas, but in my Christ-centered worldview this is a most powerful statement. He sees God as life energy. So do I. God, in fact created the world through his Word, Jesus. He holds the world together and sustains it. He breathes life into every living thing. He is, in fact, the life energy flowing through each of us. 

Now if this God, that created and sustains us, in whom we have our being, is the center of our life, then when we focus on our center, we focus on Him. We feel His strength at our core and we experience peace. 

Yoga teaches us to be still and quiet our minds. As we do, we will be able to focus on our Lord, our center. At times we may hear His voice, at times we’ll rehearse a Bible passage, and at 
times we’ll just be in His presence.

What a powerful way to rip ourselves from the chaos of our culture and strengthen our spirit—the center of our being. 

It’s also important to strengthen the core of our body. A practice of yoga builds balance, strength and flexibility, all originating at the core. Whether practicing yoga, T'ai Chi or some other form of exercise remember that any strength you have comes from God. Let physical movement be an opportunity for praise. 

If you choose a practice that incorporates non-Biblical, spiritual principles, be wise. Ask the Spirit of God to lead you in truth. Check what you’re learning against Scripture. Take what is true and separate it from untruth. In this way we glean truth in unexpected places and we are awed again by our God, surprised to discover He does not live exclusively in the little boxes of our making. 

”For I purpose not to strip thee of earthly ties and joys but I long to have thee give to Me the center of thy life that My blessing may flow out to the circumference.  For My Spirit moveth not from the circumference to the center, but from the center to the circumference.”

~Excerpt from Come Away My Beloved,

by Frances J. Roberts

Life in Defiance Review

Life in Defiance, released May 2010, is the third book in the Defiance Texas Trilogy by Mary DeMuth. The town of Defiance Texas has yet to discover the killer of one of their own, a young girl named Daisy Chance.

Ouisie Pepper is the mother of the girl’s best friend, Jed. She’s also the wife of the local pastor, Hap Pepper, and she has a number of secrets locked away inside her. These secrets threaten to ruin her if her husband doesn’t kill her first with his raging temper. Ouisie believes she can change him by becoming a better person herself. But change doesn’t come easily.

Throughout her journey, Ouisie struggles between exposing the truth, including the killer’s identity, and guarding her secrets to protect the guilty and the life she’s always known. She befriends Daisy’s mother, Emory, who’s grieving, but growing in her new found faith. Emory encourages Ouisie to get away from Hap for her own safety and that of her children, but she doesn’t want to believe it’s as bad as it really is.

Ouisie lies to herself most of all. She can’t see that most of the town already knows some of her secrets. And she doesn’t understand how the truth will, as the Bible says, set her free.

With the help of her friends and her faith in God, Ouisie is finally able to face the truth, speak it out and embark on a new life.

DeMuth weaves a powerful illustration in Life in Defiance to portray the biblical principle that the Truth will set you free. Ouisie’s story is one of abuse both physical and emotional. It is an authentic look into the mind of someone who’s been abused—a peek into the reasoning of an abuse victim. And it is a revelation of how a person can rely on loving, Christian friends to help them gain a right perspective.

Ouisie’s story is gripping and keeps the reader wondering what will happen next and who Daisy’s killer is. DeMuth’s writing is smooth, beautifully descriptive one moment and shockingly real the next. She portrays her characters well—the abuser, the abused and those who love them.

Most of us never have to suffer the things DeMuth’s characters suffer in the Defiance Texas Trilogy. For that we are grateful, but the lessons her characters learn are lessons we can each take to heart no matter what circumstances we face.


*Note: I received a complementary copy of Life in Defiance for the purpose of review.