February 27, 2025 • 32 mins
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This week on The God Empowered Podcast, we’re tackling a question from a listener who’s feeling stuck in a negative headspace. If you’ve ever wrestled with self-doubt, discouragement, or those nagging thoughts that keep you from moving forward, this episode is for you.
We’ll walk through four key areas that will help you shift your mindset and step into unshakable confidence:
✅ Trusting God fully—even when things feel uncertain
✅ Owning your God-given gifts and using them boldly
✅ Remembering that challenges are temporary (this season won’t last forever!)
✅ Practicing stewardship over what’s in your hands right now
This isn’t about forcing yourself to "just think positive"...we’re getting real about what it takes to break free from a negative cycle and walk in the confidence God has for you.
Join me as we dive into practical steps to renew your mindset, embrace your unique calling, break free from self-doubt, and move forward with faith.
Episode Breakdown:
00:00 Welcome + Listener Shoutout
01:02 Why Negative Mindsets Feel So Hard to Break
05:12 Avoiding the Trap of Toxic Positivity
08:25 Confidence in God—The Ultimate Foundation
3:14 Owning Your Gifts + Stepping Into Your Calling
19:29 Remembering That This Season Is Temporary
24:48 Stewarding What God Has Already Given You
29:06 Closing Encouragement + Submit A Topic Request
Hit play and let’s grow together!
Prefer Video? Get the full podcast video experience on YouTube RIGHT HERE!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Angel Marie (00:00):
What's up and welcome back to this week's
(00:02):
episode of the God EmpoweredPodcast.
I'm really excited to dive intothis week's topics because this
topic is coming from fan mailthat came in.
Shout out to the anonymousamazing listener who had
submitted a request for us totalk about something that I
(00:23):
thought was so powerful.
Now this listener is coming infrom Cambridge, Massachusetts.
So if you're listening to thisand you know you submitted this
topic that I am about tomention, then huge shout out to
you.
I so appreciate you not onlybeing a dedicated listener, but
just being intentional insubmitting a topic idea.
We value that.
(00:44):
We want to make sure that we areproducing the kind of content
that you are wanting to learnmore about or feel encouraged by
something that is just helpful,uplifting, and gives you a sense
of hope.
So thank you for submitting.
Now, what is that topic?
My friend, today we are going todive into how you can finally
(01:09):
shift from having A negativeconsistent mindset to having a
positive consistent mindset.
I love this topic so muchbecause it is so easy to stay in
a negative headspace more oftenthan you think.
(01:30):
It's easy to have negativethoughts.
It's easy to feel insecure.
It's easy to feel like we're notgood enough all the time.
And it can become so frequentthat we start to view that
negative headspace as our norm.
We start to attach it to ouridentity.
Like that's just who we are.
That's just how we think.
(01:50):
And sometimes we even trickourselves into thinking that
that negative headspace is ushaving logic.
Let me give you an example.
You might be struggling withnegative thoughts that have to
do with you having self doubtaround your purpose in life.
You're doubtful about yourpurpose.
You don't know why you're here.
(02:10):
You're struggling in what God iseven calling you to do in this
world.
And ultimately, what is thepoint of your existence?
You struggle with self doubt.
Now.
You might not realize that youare allowing your brain to think
these negative thoughts andtherefore allowing yourself to
marinate in it and view it asyour norm.
(02:30):
Because to you, it feels likelogic.
feels factual that you don't,quote unquote, have a purpose.
Or you, quote unquote, aren'tgood enough to pursue the
specific calling, therefore, youhave self doubt.
And you don't even realize thatthe self doubt that you're
(02:50):
dealing with, you are believingthat it's just logic and you're
just being smart and wise andfactual, when in actuality, you
are viewing negative thoughts asyour norm to the point where it
is becoming your identity andyou can't see a way out.
This is where a lot of times wejust get stuck.
(03:12):
And I always like to say this,God calls us to get unstuck.
We are not meant to be stuck,trapped in a negative headspace,
believing that we aren't worthit, that we aren't good enough,
having self doubt, feelinginsecure.
We were never meant to be stuck.
to remain in that headspace.
(03:32):
God calls you to get unstuck.
On the other end, you might bestruggling with having a nonstop
negative headspace, talking downto yourself, thinking all of the
toxic thoughts unintentionally.
Because of all the experiencesthat you've had in life so far,
maybe you've got a story, okay?
(03:55):
A testimony of all of the badand tough circumstances that you
have gone through and maybeeverything that you've
experienced in your story upuntil this point has cultivated
the kind of mindset that is juststraight up negative, where you
lost hope.
(04:15):
Where you lose this sense of whoyou even are and what you're
here for.
You lose the belief that joy andpeace are available to you.
And it is possible to haveconsistent joy and peace in your
life.
If that is you today, if you'vegot a story and you know that
(04:37):
your experiences is what shapedyou to have a negative mindset,
or if you're on the other endand your negative mindset is
more so you thinking that it'slogic and that's, this is just
how it is when in actuality it'snot.
No matter what side of thespectrum you're on in regards to
a negative mindset, if you'rejust straight up struggling with
(04:57):
one.
There is a way out.
You can have a much morepositive mentality consistently
that can ultimately transformnot just your life, but your
perception of it.
Now, I want to be clear, becausewhat I'm about to talk about in
this episode today is not toxicpositivity.
(05:19):
We're not talking about youputting up a facade and trying
to make yourself believe thatyou're positive, everything's
good, you're just happy, whendeep down in your heart you know
you are far from that.
And God sees that more thananything.
Putting on a facade and actinglike everything's okay when it's
not, acting like you're just sopositive and everything's great
(05:40):
when it's not.
Putting on that facade becauseyou think that wearing that
attitude will eventually shapeyour mind to believe that things
are positive and things aregood.
Without even realizing it,you're really straight up not
just lying to yourself, but alsolying to God.
He sees it all.
He knows how you're reallyfeeling.
(06:01):
He knows the headspace thatyou're really in.
And eventually, trying to put upthat facade is going to exhaust
you.
You're gonna burn out.
You're gonna crash.
And you just might be diggingyourself a deep hole of
depression.
Why am I saying that?
Because I've been there.
I have been that toxicpositivity person, super
(06:23):
optimistic and everything'sfine, everything's gonna work
out perfectly fine, I'm good,I'm positive, yes, yes, yes.
Will everything work out fine?
Absolutely, because the Biblesays everything works out for
the good of those that love God.
However, my viewpoint of that atthe time was acting like I
believed that when I reallydidn't.
(06:44):
When deep down I was hurting, Iwas struggling.
I was just headspace of feelinglike I wasn't good enough and
never will be.
And that caused me to bedepressed.
God had to work on me so heavilyto dig me out of that hole.
And my hope is that this episodetoday can help either pull you
(07:07):
out of that hole that maybe youfeel like you've been in for a
while, or just help you to getunstuck in transitioning from a
consistent negative mindset to aconsistent.
Positive one.
So how do we do that?
I'm going to give a summarizedanswer and then I want to dive
deep.
So stick with me throughout thisentire episode today if you can.
(07:31):
Summarized answer in shiftingfrom negative to positive and
being able to finally do thatconsistently.
You have got to build yourconfidence.
Now, I know you might bethinking, really Angel,
confidence?
That's the answer.
That's it.
Stick with me because I'm notjust talking about any
(07:53):
confidence where you just feelso good about yourself and all
of that.
No, I am talking about deeplyrooted confidence.
Okay, I'm about to pull up mynotes and we're going to dive
deep into it.
I want to talk about what youshould have competence in, in
the first place, because I'm nottalking about competence in
yourself.
I'm talking about competence inspecific, stable, secure,
(08:17):
foundational things thatnaturally will shape your mind
to think more positively.
First point.
You have got to have confidencein God.
Tuning into your spirit.
Tuning into who God is.
(08:39):
All that he says that he willdo.
All that he biblically promisesus.
And how well he will care foryou.
You need to have confidence inthat.
Now, you might be thinking, Ialready have confidence in God.
I believe in him.
I know he's God.
But, I want you to check youractions.
I want you to check yourthoughts.
(09:00):
Your current actions and yourcurrent thoughts will tell you
everything you need to knowabout just how strong your
confidence in God really is.
You could say you haveconfidence in God and all that
he is and all that he can do.
You can verbally say that allday long.
But what are you reallythinking?
How do your actions reflectthat?
If you are in a headspace whereyou're always worrying.
(09:24):
You're worrying about money.
You're worrying about yourcalling.
You're worrying about how you'regoing to do this and how is this
going to work out.
If you find yourself in aconstant state of worry or
stress, then you do not haveenough confidence in God.
I know that's a hard realitycheck, but I'm right there with
you.
I have to check myself on that alot more than I would like to
(09:46):
admit, but it's true.
I've struggled with worrying myentire life.
It's my norm.
It's a negative part of my brainthat has become my norm and God
has been really working on mewhen it comes to that.
Because, think about it, ifyou're worrying that much, you
don't fully trust God.
(10:07):
You don't fully believe thatHe's got you, that He will take
care of you, and therefore youlack confidence in Him and what
He can do.
This is especially essential.
When we are so low, you know,those moments where you're,
you're just straight up low,you're down, you're struggling
financially.
(10:28):
You feel like you're not goodenough.
You feel like it's too late.
You feel like you're not worthit.
You're feeling super insecure.
You're just feeling low.
When we feel like we are at ourlowest points, it's that much
more easier for us to marinatein a negative headspace, which
pulls us away from growing inconfidence in God.
(10:49):
We're so busy thinking negativethoughts when we're in those low
moments that we don't even giveour spirit the space to
supersede those negativethoughts, rise above it, And
build confidence in God that canhelp transform your negative
thoughts into more positivetrusting ones.
You have got to work on findingconfidence in God.
(11:14):
Read the promises that hementions in the Bible because
those promises that he hasmentioned, which by the way are
all throughout the Bible, thosepromises weren't just good for
that time being.
Those promises are still good tothis day.
God's word is yesterday, today,and forever.
(11:34):
It's strong.
It pierces, it is the moststable thing that you will ever
have in life.
Lean into that in order todevelop your competence in God
and how much he's got you.
You need to start viewing him asbigger than your problems.
(11:56):
When we're in a negativeheadspace, no matter what the
reason is.
We start viewing our problems asso massive that we cannot see
beyond it.
You have to position your spiritto see God as bigger than any
problem you will ever face.
Because God's perception of theproblems that you're going
(12:16):
through that are keeping you ina negative headspace, God's
perception of that is like, psh,that tiny little thing right
there, I know it feels big toyou, but that is so small in
comparison to my power.
But you have to decide tobelieve that.
And as you grow in faith, as yougrow in trust, as your
confidence in God grows, youwould be amazed at how naturally
(12:41):
your thoughts start totransition from negative to
positive, all because you'veallowed your spirit to supersede
those negative thoughts and helpyou grow in confidence with God
and all that he can do.
Whew, that was a deep one, andI'm sorry if that slapped you
across the face with all thelove in the world that I got,
but we are just on point numberone.
(13:04):
Let's move on to point numbertwo, okay?
Point number two, and what yourconfidence should be in to help
you transition into morepositive thinking.
You need to have confidence inyour gifts.
God has uniquely created everysingle human being on this
planet.
Not a single person is amistake.
(13:25):
I don't care if your parentsmeant to have you, your story of
how you got here.
At the end of the day, yourstory is valid.
I am not downplaying that.
All I'm saying is that God meantfor you to be here.
He knew that your existence wasgoing to be in this world at
this exact time in this specificgeneration.
(13:48):
He had it all planned out.
And he didn't just create yourexistence.
He created specific gifts tolive inside of you for you to
use and put out there into theworld.
You might be the mostintroverted person, the most
awkward person, doesn't matter.
You have gifts.
You have specific gifts in youthat God placed in you to use in
(14:11):
this world.
Gifts that bring glory to God,that praise God.
Gifts that make an impact toother people that need it.
Gifts that really showcase howpurposeful you are in your
unique calling.
Your gifts are not meant to bewasted.
And so many times, people wastethem.
(14:33):
Because we get scared, or wedon't know how to do it, or we
start playing the comparisongame, or we start trying to
chase way too hard after moneywhen it comes to putting our
gifts out there into the world,and not focused enough on impact
or mission.
In any of those examples, thosegifts are ultimately being
wasted if they're not being usedfor His glory in the way that
(14:55):
God is calling you to use Thinkabout your gifts, and I know
that your specific gifts arecoming to mind right now as
you're listening to thisepisode.
Do you have gifts of teaching,of preaching, of creating?
Gifts when it comes to certainexpertise, certain ways of
serving people, certainhospitality, certain way with
(15:17):
your words or advice.
Gifts when it comes to skillsets.
And experiences, you have giftsand they are not meant to be
wasted, but you, my friend, havegot to build up the confidence
in the unique gifts that youhave.
And this can be really hard todo.
(15:38):
Why?
Because the only way to build upyour confidence in the gifts
that you have.
Is one, to steward your giftswell by using them and managing
them for God's glory and to makean impact in the world, whether
it be to one person or many.
And two, you've got to practicethem.
(15:59):
You got to use them.
Rather than pushing it off,putting it on standby, putting
it on the back burner, you haveto consistently practice using
them.
Even if you have no idea how orwhere to start, just start
somewhere and it's probablygoing to look like a hot mess,
but that's okay because youstarted and God will meet you in
(16:21):
the middle of that mess to helppivot your steps.
You got to practice them.
I'm going to give you anexample.
I knew that I had a gift forspeaking.
However, I was terrified.
Whether this surprises you ornot, I was an extremely shy and
insecure child.
That carried with me into myearly adult years when I got my
(16:44):
first corporate job and a partof my responsibilities at this
job were to speak at conferencesand events on behalf of the
company.
Now, I knew that I had a giftfor speaking.
However, actually speakingterrified the heck out of me.
I did not want to do it.
I get, sorry if this is TMI, butI get nervous poops, okay?
(17:05):
I went to the bathroom like 10times before I had to speak
anywhere because I was thatterrified.
So it came time for my firstspeaking engagement with this
company.
I was newly hired.
It was my first speakingengagement.
I'm like 23 years old.
I get up on that stage.
I start my presentation.
It's like 30 minutes long.
(17:27):
The whole time, shaking.
My body is shaking so bad onthat stage that I know that it
was visible to everyone in theaudience.
On top of that, to make mattersworse, my voice was shaking so
horrendously to the point whereafter the presentation was done,
I had an audience member come upto me giving me water because he
(17:49):
said I sounded like I was sick.
I sounded like I was reallystruggling up there.
Do you know how embarrassingthat was?
I am a professional, I amspeaking on behalf of this
company and someone comes up tome offering me water because my
voice sounds that bad?
It was embarrassing, but, I knewthat if I was going to get
better at using these gifts,getting more comfortable with
(18:12):
it, getting more confident withit, and leveraging them more and
more, then I needed to keeppracticing.
I needed to keep showing up, Ineeded to keep speaking, even
when it was awkward, even when Iwas shaking, even when I had
nervous poops all day, I justneeded to keep showing up and
practicing them.
And over time I got better overtime.
(18:33):
I got way more confident overtime in using my gifts showing
up in them and allowing the HolySpirit to work through me.
Now when I speak, especially onstage, it feels natural.
I'm confident and I'm ready tokeep using these gifts for God's
glory.
That is just an example of mystory.
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You have your own story.
You need to practice your owngifts.
You need to put them to use andyou need to steward them well so
that you can grow in yourconfidence in them.
And as you do, you start tothink more positively about
yourself because you haveconfidence in your gifts, which
can ultimately help showcaseyour calling and why you're here
(19:16):
and what God wants you to do.
Get confident in your gifts, myfriend.
It's time.
It's time.
Point number three in how youcan transition from a negative
to a more consistent positivementality.
You need to get confident in thefact that everything is
temporary.
A lot of times we have such anegative headspace.
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Because, as I mentioned earlier,we're viewing our problems as
bigger than God.
And when we view problems asbigger than God, it feels like
forever.
It feels like we're in thissuper low season of feeling
stuck, feeling insecure, feelingdoubtful, feeling not worth it.
We start to just feel like it'sforever.
(20:01):
We're always going to feel likethis.
Why can't this go away?
But you have to get confident inremembering and believing the
fact that everything istemporary.
Every season you go through istemporary.
Why?
Because if you're in a lowseason, and as you trust God in
that low season, and put in theeffort to get out of it while
(20:22):
growing your faith in gettingout of it, That season is
temporary because there is ahigher season coming, a season
where there is joy and peace andopened doors and success God's
way on his timing.
In addition to that, if you'realready in more of those higher
seasons, guess what?
God wants to continue growingyou.
(20:43):
So he might bring you to ahigher one, or he might take you
low afterwards to challenge you,to teach you to shape you, and
then bring you high again,everything is temporary.
Even this life, our lifespan onearth is temporary because when
we believe in God, when we trustin the name of Jesus as Lord,
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and when we do life God's way,heaven is waiting for us in
eternity.
Your life is so short on earthin comparison to eternity that's
waiting for you in heaven.
Everything is temporary.
And it's so hard for us toremember that because we just
get caught up.
We get caught up in ourproblems.
We get caught up in our lowmoods.
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We get caught up in feeling likethings are forever and oh my
goodness, why can't I get out ofthis?
But when you realize that thingsare temporary and you know that
God's got you.
You start to have confidence inthat and having hope and peace
even in the lowest moments.
Even when you are trying to workthrough a negative headspace,
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there's peace there because youknow it's temporary and you know
you're working through it andyou know that there's a better
side coming.
Quick story time just to kind ofhelp give a little analogy here.
I had the beautiful, amazingexperience of witnessing my best
friend give birth to her firstbaby.
This girl is my best friendsince we have been like five
(22:10):
years old.
And when it was time for her togive birth, she wanted her
husband and she wanted me inthere as her support systems.
So I was, I was there.
She called me saying she wentinto labor.
I got my butt on a plane and bythe grace of God, I made it
there in time for the birth ofmy little niece.
But I will never forget thatwhile she was having
(22:31):
contractions and she had anatural birth by the way.
So just straight up pain that Ican't even begin to imagine
because I don't have kids yet.
Throughout that whole time, shekept telling me to remind her
that this is temporary.
Any time a contraction wouldcome, any time she'd be hit with
(22:52):
this unimaginable pain, shewould tell me.
Angel, I need you to remind methat this is temporary.
Tell me that over and over againso that I remember it because
it's going to help get methrough this pain.
So I did.
I held her hand and I kepttelling her, it's temporary.
It's not forever.
You can do this.
It's temporary.
It's not forever.
(23:12):
You can do this over and overagain.
And me telling her that.
That has stuck with me eversince, because it is such a
beautiful reminder to live by.
When you are going through painin your life, physical, mental,
emotional, even confusion whenit comes to your calling, why
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you're here, what's your nextstep, anything like that.
It.
This is temporary.
This is not forever.
You will be okay.
You just need to push through bytaking one step at a time and
working your way forward evenwhen it's painful, even when
it's confusing, even when you'renot sure of what's next.
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You just keep moving forward andallow God to hold your hand and
guide you in moving forward.
The reminder of it is temporarycan help keep you going.
And it can help you build thekind of confidence that there is
another season coming.
There is a next coming.
(24:15):
The season you're in, whatyou're dealing with, the
headspace you're in right now,it is not forever.
It does not need to be yourforever, as long as you build up
the confidence that it istemporary, you are working
through it, and you build upconfidence in God that He has
got you.
He will help you work throughit.
He will help you figure it out.
(24:36):
Everything is temporary.
Everything.
Okay, last thing, last pointthat I want to make in where you
should be growing yourconfidence in to help you
transition from negativethinking to more positive
thinking.
You have got to get confident instewardship.
I had hinted at the wordstewardship earlier, and I want
(24:57):
to bring it up again as a mainpoint because it is that
important.
A lot of times we pray to Godfor answers.
We're praying for more of thisor clarity here.
We're just praying for him to dosomething right.
It's good that you're praying toGod about anything and
everything, but a lot of timeswe pray to God about future
(25:19):
things when we're notprioritizing putting effort into
the current things.
And when I say effort, I'mtalking about stewardship.
What does it look like tosteward your life well now?
Steward your gifts, steward yourtime.
By managing it better.
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Stewarding your health by caringfor yourself.
Stewarding your spirit bygrowing in relationship with God
and prioritizing that more thanyou have been.
Stewarding your money bymanaging the money you do have
in your bank account.
Spending your money the way thatGod would want you to.
You need to build up theconfidence to steward things
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well.
And when I say competence inthis regard, I'm talking about
the strength, I'm talking aboutthe assurance, I'm talking about
the drive to actually steward.
When you steward things wellnow, you naturally transition
into more positive thinkingbecause your current season of
life starts to look not so bad.
(26:27):
Think about it.
The current season of your lifewhere you are struggling and
just that negative thinking.
A lot of times it's because wejust don't like where we're at.
We don't like who we are or howwe are and we just kind of
envision a different future forourselves.
We want to be somewhere else.
We want our season to lookdifferent and therefore our
(26:47):
brain is in the future.
But when you flip it and youallow your brain to be in the
present moment, deal with yourproblems head on and simply say,
okay, how can I just stewardwhat I have now and do it?
You start to have a differentperspective on them.
You start to look at themdifferently.
Why?
Because when you steward thingswell, your character naturally
(27:12):
starts to improve.
Because you're handling things,you're managing things, you're
doing a better job of beingGod's vessel in the life that he
gave you.
For example, let's say you worka 9 to 5 job and you hate it.
Maybe it's a toxic workenvironment.
Maybe you don't like the workthat you do.
Maybe you are so desperate toget out of it.
(27:33):
It's easy to have negativethinking when you don't like
your job, right?
But what does it look like tosteward the job well?
To put on Jesus's attitude ofhard work and compassion and
impact and humility to put onthat attitude when you go to
that job because you want tosteward it well even though you
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don't like it.
When you do, your perspective onthe job changes.
Now that's not to say thatyou're not putting in effort to
find another job or a differentsituation or anything like that,
it's just to say while you'redoing that, you're not hating
the season of life that you'rein, your perspective around it
just changes.
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You start to view the job as theblessings it does give you,
like, Financial stability, orum, community, if you enjoy your
coworkers, or even valuing thelearning lessons.
What you're learning at that jobthat's helping you build your
skill sets, even if you don'tlike it.
Or, what you're learning in thatjob that helps you to see what
(28:40):
you will not do in the future.
Because of the experience you'regoing through now.
All I'm trying to say.
Is that perspective can changeso much and changing your
perspective can come from youhaving confidence, the strength,
the drive in stewarding theseason of your life better.
And as you do, you naturallystart to transition into more
(29:04):
positive thinking.
So, I know that this episodeprobably left you with a lot to
reflect on and to think about,and I just want to encourage you
to take your time with that.
Growth does not happenovernight.
Having a positive mindsetconsistently, a sustainable one,
does not happen overnight.
(29:24):
It takes time.
Give yourself grace to make thetransition.
From a negative headspace to apositive one and allow God into
that journey with you.
It is truly a daily battle.
I'm going to be real with you.
It is not something that youwork on and then a few months
from now you're good.
(29:45):
No, you're probably going towork on it.
You're going to get better overtime.
One day you're going to havemoments where you are
consistently positivelythinking.
And then you're going to findyourself in a rut where now
you're struggling with negativethoughts again.
But when you do, you know how toget back up quicker.
Based off of what you'velearned, what you've been
(30:06):
implementing to help you thinkmore positively.
Because you found competence inGod, competence in your gifts,
competence in the very real factthat everything is temporary,
and competence in stewardship.
You can do this.
If I was able to get through it,if I was able to accomplish it,
(30:28):
even now, I still struggle withnegative thoughts.
But I'm quicker to bounce backinto positive thinking.
If I can do that, you can too.
You can too.
Thanks so much for tuning in tothis week's episode and again, a
huge thank you to our anonymouslistener who submitted this
topic request.
I pray that it has blushed yourears for those listening.
(30:52):
And hey, if you have a topicthat you would love for us.
To dive into on this podcast,please submit a request at the
link down below in the podcastshow notes or in the YouTube
description where you'rewatching this video.
We put a lot of those requestsinto our upcoming podcast
episode backlog.
So feel free to submit it.
(31:13):
We'd love to see it.
We'd love to hear it.
We want to value it andhopefully make it a topic in a
future episode very soon.
Thanks for tuning in.
God bless you.
I am rooting for you, always,and I will see you next week for
another episode of the GodEmpowered Podcast.
What's up and welcome back to this week's
(00:02):
episode of the God EmpoweredPodcast.
I'm really excited to dive intothis week's topics because this
topic is coming from fan mailthat came in.
Shout out to the anonymousamazing listener who had
submitted a request for us totalk about something that I
(00:23):
thought was so powerful.
Now this listener is coming infrom Cambridge, Massachusetts.
So if you're listening to thisand you know you submitted this
topic that I am about tomention, then huge shout out to
you.
I so appreciate you not onlybeing a dedicated listener, but
just being intentional insubmitting a topic idea.
We value that.
(00:44):
We want to make sure that we areproducing the kind of content
that you are wanting to learnmore about or feel encouraged by
something that is just helpful,uplifting, and gives you a sense
of hope.
So thank you for submitting.
Now, what is that topic?
My friend, today we are going todive into how you can finally
(01:09):
shift from having A negativeconsistent mindset to having a
positive consistent mindset.
I love this topic so muchbecause it is so easy to stay in
a negative headspace more oftenthan you think.
(01:30):
It's easy to have negativethoughts.
It's easy to feel insecure.
It's easy to feel like we're notgood enough all the time.
And it can become so frequentthat we start to view that
negative headspace as our norm.
We start to attach it to ouridentity.
Like that's just who we are.
That's just how we think.
(01:50):
And sometimes we even trickourselves into thinking that
that negative headspace is ushaving logic.
Let me give you an example.
You might be struggling withnegative thoughts that have to
do with you having self doubtaround your purpose in life.
You're doubtful about yourpurpose.
You don't know why you're here.
(02:10):
You're struggling in what God iseven calling you to do in this
world.
And ultimately, what is thepoint of your existence?
You struggle with self doubt.
Now.
You might not realize that youare allowing your brain to think
these negative thoughts andtherefore allowing yourself to
marinate in it and view it asyour norm.
(02:30):
Because to you, it feels likelogic.
feels factual that you don't,quote unquote, have a purpose.
Or you, quote unquote, aren'tgood enough to pursue the
specific calling, therefore, youhave self doubt.
And you don't even realize thatthe self doubt that you're
(02:50):
dealing with, you are believingthat it's just logic and you're
just being smart and wise andfactual, when in actuality, you
are viewing negative thoughts asyour norm to the point where it
is becoming your identity andyou can't see a way out.
This is where a lot of times wejust get stuck.
(03:12):
And I always like to say this,God calls us to get unstuck.
We are not meant to be stuck,trapped in a negative headspace,
believing that we aren't worthit, that we aren't good enough,
having self doubt, feelinginsecure.
We were never meant to be stuck.
to remain in that headspace.
(03:32):
God calls you to get unstuck.
On the other end, you might bestruggling with having a nonstop
negative headspace, talking downto yourself, thinking all of the
toxic thoughts unintentionally.
Because of all the experiencesthat you've had in life so far,
maybe you've got a story, okay?
(03:55):
A testimony of all of the badand tough circumstances that you
have gone through and maybeeverything that you've
experienced in your story upuntil this point has cultivated
the kind of mindset that is juststraight up negative, where you
lost hope.
(04:15):
Where you lose this sense of whoyou even are and what you're
here for.
You lose the belief that joy andpeace are available to you.
And it is possible to haveconsistent joy and peace in your
life.
If that is you today, if you'vegot a story and you know that
(04:37):
your experiences is what shapedyou to have a negative mindset,
or if you're on the other endand your negative mindset is
more so you thinking that it'slogic and that's, this is just
how it is when in actuality it'snot.
No matter what side of thespectrum you're on in regards to
a negative mindset, if you'rejust straight up struggling with
(04:57):
one.
There is a way out.
You can have a much morepositive mentality consistently
that can ultimately transformnot just your life, but your
perception of it.
Now, I want to be clear, becausewhat I'm about to talk about in
this episode today is not toxicpositivity.
(05:19):
We're not talking about youputting up a facade and trying
to make yourself believe thatyou're positive, everything's
good, you're just happy, whendeep down in your heart you know
you are far from that.
And God sees that more thananything.
Putting on a facade and actinglike everything's okay when it's
not, acting like you're just sopositive and everything's great
(05:40):
when it's not.
Putting on that facade becauseyou think that wearing that
attitude will eventually shapeyour mind to believe that things
are positive and things aregood.
Without even realizing it,you're really straight up not
just lying to yourself, but alsolying to God.
He sees it all.
He knows how you're reallyfeeling.
(06:01):
He knows the headspace thatyou're really in.
And eventually, trying to put upthat facade is going to exhaust
you.
You're gonna burn out.
You're gonna crash.
And you just might be diggingyourself a deep hole of
depression.
Why am I saying that?
Because I've been there.
I have been that toxicpositivity person, super
(06:23):
optimistic and everything'sfine, everything's gonna work
out perfectly fine, I'm good,I'm positive, yes, yes, yes.
Will everything work out fine?
Absolutely, because the Biblesays everything works out for
the good of those that love God.
However, my viewpoint of that atthe time was acting like I
believed that when I reallydidn't.
(06:44):
When deep down I was hurting, Iwas struggling.
I was just headspace of feelinglike I wasn't good enough and
never will be.
And that caused me to bedepressed.
God had to work on me so heavilyto dig me out of that hole.
And my hope is that this episodetoday can help either pull you
(07:07):
out of that hole that maybe youfeel like you've been in for a
while, or just help you to getunstuck in transitioning from a
consistent negative mindset to aconsistent.
Positive one.
So how do we do that?
I'm going to give a summarizedanswer and then I want to dive
deep.
So stick with me throughout thisentire episode today if you can.
(07:31):
Summarized answer in shiftingfrom negative to positive and
being able to finally do thatconsistently.
You have got to build yourconfidence.
Now, I know you might bethinking, really Angel,
confidence?
That's the answer.
That's it.
Stick with me because I'm notjust talking about any
(07:53):
confidence where you just feelso good about yourself and all
of that.
No, I am talking about deeplyrooted confidence.
Okay, I'm about to pull up mynotes and we're going to dive
deep into it.
I want to talk about what youshould have competence in, in
the first place, because I'm nottalking about competence in
yourself.
I'm talking about competence inspecific, stable, secure,
(08:17):
foundational things thatnaturally will shape your mind
to think more positively.
First point.
You have got to have confidencein God.
Tuning into your spirit.
Tuning into who God is.
(08:39):
All that he says that he willdo.
All that he biblically promisesus.
And how well he will care foryou.
You need to have confidence inthat.
Now, you might be thinking, Ialready have confidence in God.
I believe in him.
I know he's God.
But, I want you to check youractions.
I want you to check yourthoughts.
(09:00):
Your current actions and yourcurrent thoughts will tell you
everything you need to knowabout just how strong your
confidence in God really is.
You could say you haveconfidence in God and all that
he is and all that he can do.
You can verbally say that allday long.
But what are you reallythinking?
How do your actions reflectthat?
If you are in a headspace whereyou're always worrying.
(09:24):
You're worrying about money.
You're worrying about yourcalling.
You're worrying about how you'regoing to do this and how is this
going to work out.
If you find yourself in aconstant state of worry or
stress, then you do not haveenough confidence in God.
I know that's a hard realitycheck, but I'm right there with
you.
I have to check myself on that alot more than I would like to
(09:46):
admit, but it's true.
I've struggled with worrying myentire life.
It's my norm.
It's a negative part of my brainthat has become my norm and God
has been really working on mewhen it comes to that.
Because, think about it, ifyou're worrying that much, you
don't fully trust God.
(10:07):
You don't fully believe thatHe's got you, that He will take
care of you, and therefore youlack confidence in Him and what
He can do.
This is especially essential.
When we are so low, you know,those moments where you're,
you're just straight up low,you're down, you're struggling
financially.
(10:28):
You feel like you're not goodenough.
You feel like it's too late.
You feel like you're not worthit.
You're feeling super insecure.
You're just feeling low.
When we feel like we are at ourlowest points, it's that much
more easier for us to marinatein a negative headspace, which
pulls us away from growing inconfidence in God.
(10:49):
We're so busy thinking negativethoughts when we're in those low
moments that we don't even giveour spirit the space to
supersede those negativethoughts, rise above it, And
build confidence in God that canhelp transform your negative
thoughts into more positivetrusting ones.
You have got to work on findingconfidence in God.
(11:14):
Read the promises that hementions in the Bible because
those promises that he hasmentioned, which by the way are
all throughout the Bible, thosepromises weren't just good for
that time being.
Those promises are still good tothis day.
God's word is yesterday, today,and forever.
(11:34):
It's strong.
It pierces, it is the moststable thing that you will ever
have in life.
Lean into that in order todevelop your competence in God
and how much he's got you.
You need to start viewing him asbigger than your problems.
(11:56):
When we're in a negativeheadspace, no matter what the
reason is.
We start viewing our problems asso massive that we cannot see
beyond it.
You have to position your spiritto see God as bigger than any
problem you will ever face.
Because God's perception of theproblems that you're going
(12:16):
through that are keeping you ina negative headspace, God's
perception of that is like, psh,that tiny little thing right
there, I know it feels big toyou, but that is so small in
comparison to my power.
But you have to decide tobelieve that.
And as you grow in faith, as yougrow in trust, as your
confidence in God grows, youwould be amazed at how naturally
(12:41):
your thoughts start totransition from negative to
positive, all because you'veallowed your spirit to supersede
those negative thoughts and helpyou grow in confidence with God
and all that he can do.
Whew, that was a deep one, andI'm sorry if that slapped you
across the face with all thelove in the world that I got,
but we are just on point numberone.
(13:04):
Let's move on to point numbertwo, okay?
Point number two, and what yourconfidence should be in to help
you transition into morepositive thinking.
You need to have confidence inyour gifts.
God has uniquely created everysingle human being on this
planet.
Not a single person is amistake.
(13:25):
I don't care if your parentsmeant to have you, your story of
how you got here.
At the end of the day, yourstory is valid.
I am not downplaying that.
All I'm saying is that God meantfor you to be here.
He knew that your existence wasgoing to be in this world at
this exact time in this specificgeneration.
(13:48):
He had it all planned out.
And he didn't just create yourexistence.
He created specific gifts tolive inside of you for you to
use and put out there into theworld.
You might be the mostintroverted person, the most
awkward person, doesn't matter.
You have gifts.
You have specific gifts in youthat God placed in you to use in
(14:11):
this world.
Gifts that bring glory to God,that praise God.
Gifts that make an impact toother people that need it.
Gifts that really showcase howpurposeful you are in your
unique calling.
Your gifts are not meant to bewasted.
And so many times, people wastethem.
(14:33):
Because we get scared, or wedon't know how to do it, or we
start playing the comparisongame, or we start trying to
chase way too hard after moneywhen it comes to putting our
gifts out there into the world,and not focused enough on impact
or mission.
In any of those examples, thosegifts are ultimately being
wasted if they're not being usedfor His glory in the way that
(14:55):
God is calling you to use Thinkabout your gifts, and I know
that your specific gifts arecoming to mind right now as
you're listening to thisepisode.
Do you have gifts of teaching,of preaching, of creating?
Gifts when it comes to certainexpertise, certain ways of
serving people, certainhospitality, certain way with
(15:17):
your words or advice.
Gifts when it comes to skillsets.
And experiences, you have giftsand they are not meant to be
wasted, but you, my friend, havegot to build up the confidence
in the unique gifts that youhave.
And this can be really hard todo.
(15:38):
Why?
Because the only way to build upyour confidence in the gifts
that you have.
Is one, to steward your giftswell by using them and managing
them for God's glory and to makean impact in the world, whether
it be to one person or many.
And two, you've got to practicethem.
(15:59):
You got to use them.
Rather than pushing it off,putting it on standby, putting
it on the back burner, you haveto consistently practice using
them.
Even if you have no idea how orwhere to start, just start
somewhere and it's probablygoing to look like a hot mess,
but that's okay because youstarted and God will meet you in
(16:21):
the middle of that mess to helppivot your steps.
You got to practice them.
I'm going to give you anexample.
I knew that I had a gift forspeaking.
However, I was terrified.
Whether this surprises you ornot, I was an extremely shy and
insecure child.
That carried with me into myearly adult years when I got my
(16:44):
first corporate job and a partof my responsibilities at this
job were to speak at conferencesand events on behalf of the
company.
Now, I knew that I had a giftfor speaking.
However, actually speakingterrified the heck out of me.
I did not want to do it.
I get, sorry if this is TMI, butI get nervous poops, okay?
(17:05):
I went to the bathroom like 10times before I had to speak
anywhere because I was thatterrified.
So it came time for my firstspeaking engagement with this
company.
I was newly hired.
It was my first speakingengagement.
I'm like 23 years old.
I get up on that stage.
I start my presentation.
It's like 30 minutes long.
(17:27):
The whole time, shaking.
My body is shaking so bad onthat stage that I know that it
was visible to everyone in theaudience.
On top of that, to make mattersworse, my voice was shaking so
horrendously to the point whereafter the presentation was done,
I had an audience member come upto me giving me water because he
(17:49):
said I sounded like I was sick.
I sounded like I was reallystruggling up there.
Do you know how embarrassingthat was?
I am a professional, I amspeaking on behalf of this
company and someone comes up tome offering me water because my
voice sounds that bad?
It was embarrassing, but, I knewthat if I was going to get
better at using these gifts,getting more comfortable with
(18:12):
it, getting more confident withit, and leveraging them more and
more, then I needed to keeppracticing.
I needed to keep showing up, Ineeded to keep speaking, even
when it was awkward, even when Iwas shaking, even when I had
nervous poops all day, I justneeded to keep showing up and
practicing them.
And over time I got better overtime.
(18:33):
I got way more confident overtime in using my gifts showing
up in them and allowing the HolySpirit to work through me.
Now when I speak, especially onstage, it feels natural.
I'm confident and I'm ready tokeep using these gifts for God's
glory.
That is just an example of mystory.
(18:54):
You have your own story.
You need to practice your owngifts.
You need to put them to use andyou need to steward them well so
that you can grow in yourconfidence in them.
And as you do, you start tothink more positively about
yourself because you haveconfidence in your gifts, which
can ultimately help showcaseyour calling and why you're here
(19:16):
and what God wants you to do.
Get confident in your gifts, myfriend.
It's time.
It's time.
Point number three in how youcan transition from a negative
to a more consistent positivementality.
You need to get confident in thefact that everything is
temporary.
A lot of times we have such anegative headspace.
(19:39):
Because, as I mentioned earlier,we're viewing our problems as
bigger than God.
And when we view problems asbigger than God, it feels like
forever.
It feels like we're in thissuper low season of feeling
stuck, feeling insecure, feelingdoubtful, feeling not worth it.
We start to just feel like it'sforever.
(20:01):
We're always going to feel likethis.
Why can't this go away?
But you have to get confident inremembering and believing the
fact that everything istemporary.
Every season you go through istemporary.
Why?
Because if you're in a lowseason, and as you trust God in
that low season, and put in theeffort to get out of it while
(20:22):
growing your faith in gettingout of it, That season is
temporary because there is ahigher season coming, a season
where there is joy and peace andopened doors and success God's
way on his timing.
In addition to that, if you'realready in more of those higher
seasons, guess what?
God wants to continue growingyou.
(20:43):
So he might bring you to ahigher one, or he might take you
low afterwards to challenge you,to teach you to shape you, and
then bring you high again,everything is temporary.
Even this life, our lifespan onearth is temporary because when
we believe in God, when we trustin the name of Jesus as Lord,
(21:05):
and when we do life God's way,heaven is waiting for us in
eternity.
Your life is so short on earthin comparison to eternity that's
waiting for you in heaven.
Everything is temporary.
And it's so hard for us toremember that because we just
get caught up.
We get caught up in ourproblems.
We get caught up in our lowmoods.
(21:26):
We get caught up in feeling likethings are forever and oh my
goodness, why can't I get out ofthis?
But when you realize that thingsare temporary and you know that
God's got you.
You start to have confidence inthat and having hope and peace
even in the lowest moments.
Even when you are trying to workthrough a negative headspace,
(21:50):
there's peace there because youknow it's temporary and you know
you're working through it andyou know that there's a better
side coming.
Quick story time just to kind ofhelp give a little analogy here.
I had the beautiful, amazingexperience of witnessing my best
friend give birth to her firstbaby.
This girl is my best friendsince we have been like five
(22:10):
years old.
And when it was time for her togive birth, she wanted her
husband and she wanted me inthere as her support systems.
So I was, I was there.
She called me saying she wentinto labor.
I got my butt on a plane and bythe grace of God, I made it
there in time for the birth ofmy little niece.
But I will never forget thatwhile she was having
(22:31):
contractions and she had anatural birth by the way.
So just straight up pain that Ican't even begin to imagine
because I don't have kids yet.
Throughout that whole time, shekept telling me to remind her
that this is temporary.
Any time a contraction wouldcome, any time she'd be hit with
(22:52):
this unimaginable pain, shewould tell me.
Angel, I need you to remind methat this is temporary.
Tell me that over and over againso that I remember it because
it's going to help get methrough this pain.
So I did.
I held her hand and I kepttelling her, it's temporary.
It's not forever.
You can do this.
It's temporary.
It's not forever.
(23:12):
You can do this over and overagain.
And me telling her that.
That has stuck with me eversince, because it is such a
beautiful reminder to live by.
When you are going through painin your life, physical, mental,
emotional, even confusion whenit comes to your calling, why
(23:33):
you're here, what's your nextstep, anything like that.
It.
This is temporary.
This is not forever.
You will be okay.
You just need to push through bytaking one step at a time and
working your way forward evenwhen it's painful, even when
it's confusing, even when you'renot sure of what's next.
(23:54):
You just keep moving forward andallow God to hold your hand and
guide you in moving forward.
The reminder of it is temporarycan help keep you going.
And it can help you build thekind of confidence that there is
another season coming.
There is a next coming.
(24:15):
The season you're in, whatyou're dealing with, the
headspace you're in right now,it is not forever.
It does not need to be yourforever, as long as you build up
the confidence that it istemporary, you are working
through it, and you build upconfidence in God that He has
got you.
He will help you work throughit.
He will help you figure it out.
(24:36):
Everything is temporary.
Everything.
Okay, last thing, last pointthat I want to make in where you
should be growing yourconfidence in to help you
transition from negativethinking to more positive
thinking.
You have got to get confident instewardship.
I had hinted at the wordstewardship earlier, and I want
(24:57):
to bring it up again as a mainpoint because it is that
important.
A lot of times we pray to Godfor answers.
We're praying for more of thisor clarity here.
We're just praying for him to dosomething right.
It's good that you're praying toGod about anything and
everything, but a lot of timeswe pray to God about future
(25:19):
things when we're notprioritizing putting effort into
the current things.
And when I say effort, I'mtalking about stewardship.
What does it look like tosteward your life well now?
Steward your gifts, steward yourtime.
By managing it better.
(25:40):
Stewarding your health by caringfor yourself.
Stewarding your spirit bygrowing in relationship with God
and prioritizing that more thanyou have been.
Stewarding your money bymanaging the money you do have
in your bank account.
Spending your money the way thatGod would want you to.
You need to build up theconfidence to steward things
(26:04):
well.
And when I say competence inthis regard, I'm talking about
the strength, I'm talking aboutthe assurance, I'm talking about
the drive to actually steward.
When you steward things wellnow, you naturally transition
into more positive thinkingbecause your current season of
life starts to look not so bad.
(26:27):
Think about it.
The current season of your lifewhere you are struggling and
just that negative thinking.
A lot of times it's because wejust don't like where we're at.
We don't like who we are or howwe are and we just kind of
envision a different future forourselves.
We want to be somewhere else.
We want our season to lookdifferent and therefore our
(26:47):
brain is in the future.
But when you flip it and youallow your brain to be in the
present moment, deal with yourproblems head on and simply say,
okay, how can I just stewardwhat I have now and do it?
You start to have a differentperspective on them.
You start to look at themdifferently.
Why?
Because when you steward thingswell, your character naturally
(27:12):
starts to improve.
Because you're handling things,you're managing things, you're
doing a better job of beingGod's vessel in the life that he
gave you.
For example, let's say you worka 9 to 5 job and you hate it.
Maybe it's a toxic workenvironment.
Maybe you don't like the workthat you do.
Maybe you are so desperate toget out of it.
(27:33):
It's easy to have negativethinking when you don't like
your job, right?
But what does it look like tosteward the job well?
To put on Jesus's attitude ofhard work and compassion and
impact and humility to put onthat attitude when you go to
that job because you want tosteward it well even though you
(27:55):
don't like it.
When you do, your perspective onthe job changes.
Now that's not to say thatyou're not putting in effort to
find another job or a differentsituation or anything like that,
it's just to say while you'redoing that, you're not hating
the season of life that you'rein, your perspective around it
just changes.
(28:16):
You start to view the job as theblessings it does give you,
like, Financial stability, orum, community, if you enjoy your
coworkers, or even valuing thelearning lessons.
What you're learning at that jobthat's helping you build your
skill sets, even if you don'tlike it.
Or, what you're learning in thatjob that helps you to see what
(28:40):
you will not do in the future.
Because of the experience you'regoing through now.
All I'm trying to say.
Is that perspective can changeso much and changing your
perspective can come from youhaving confidence, the strength,
the drive in stewarding theseason of your life better.
And as you do, you naturallystart to transition into more
(29:04):
positive thinking.
So, I know that this episodeprobably left you with a lot to
reflect on and to think about,and I just want to encourage you
to take your time with that.
Growth does not happenovernight.
Having a positive mindsetconsistently, a sustainable one,
does not happen overnight.
(29:24):
It takes time.
Give yourself grace to make thetransition.
From a negative headspace to apositive one and allow God into
that journey with you.
It is truly a daily battle.
I'm going to be real with you.
It is not something that youwork on and then a few months
from now you're good.
(29:45):
No, you're probably going towork on it.
You're going to get better overtime.
One day you're going to havemoments where you are
consistently positivelythinking.
And then you're going to findyourself in a rut where now
you're struggling with negativethoughts again.
But when you do, you know how toget back up quicker.
Based off of what you'velearned, what you've been
(30:06):
implementing to help you thinkmore positively.
Because you found competence inGod, competence in your gifts,
competence in the very real factthat everything is temporary,
and competence in stewardship.
You can do this.
If I was able to get through it,if I was able to accomplish it,
(30:28):
even now, I still struggle withnegative thoughts.
But I'm quicker to bounce backinto positive thinking.
If I can do that, you can too.
You can too.
Thanks so much for tuning in tothis week's episode and again, a
huge thank you to our anonymouslistener who submitted this
topic request.
I pray that it has blushed yourears for those listening.
(30:52):
And hey, if you have a topicthat you would love for us.
To dive into on this podcast,please submit a request at the
link down below in the podcastshow notes or in the YouTube
description where you'rewatching this video.
We put a lot of those requestsinto our upcoming podcast
episode backlog.
So feel free to submit it.
(31:13):
We'd love to see it.
We'd love to hear it.
We want to value it andhopefully make it a topic in a
future episode very soon.
Thanks for tuning in.
God bless you.
I am rooting for you, always,and I will see you next week for
another episode of the GodEmpowered Podcast.
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