January 15, 2025 • 43 mins
What if societal pressures have been masking the true roots of your struggles with food, eating, and body image? Join us as we uncover the hidden emotional and spiritual burdens often mislabeled as weight or diet issues, especially during the New Year resolution craze. Through personal stories and insights from our Revelation Within community, discover the life-changing journey of renewing your mind with God's truth. Learn practical tools, like personalizing scripture and practicing gratitude, to anchor your life in God's Word. Experience the peace and freedom that come from aligning your mindset with spiritual truth, supported by a welcoming community ready to help you transform your relationship with food, body image, and self-worth.
Learn more about our Revelation Within Community: https://www.revelationwithin.org
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi and welcome to our podcast Revelation Within On
the Go.
I'm Heidi Bilesma-Epperson, oneof your hosts and the owner and
lead coach of theRevelationWithinorg ministry.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a
Revelation Within coach andHeidi's partner in all things
Revelation Within, and we're sohappy to invite you to join us
for this episode of RevelationWithin.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
On the go.
Well, it's that time of yearagain.
We're in January and manypeople are full throttle in
their new plans for the new yearnew you, new me, that sort of
thing.
You know, it's a time of yearwhen you know we're filled with
ideas about how this year isgoing to be different.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Gyms get full, the diet programs are inundated, et
cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
And if you listener are likemany people, well, you're
probably, by the time you'rehearing this, it might be like
mid-January, and if you startedwith resolutions, you might
already have bailed.
(01:17):
Right, that's true, and if so,we have a place for you.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yes, we do because we understand.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yes, and you know, what really matters is the way
we think.
Anyway, today we're going totalk about this a little bit how
the world approaches, how ourculture, society, even our
churches kind of approach thiswhole food, eating and body
image thing, and we're going totalk about how God may be
calling us to somethingcompletely different.
So if you made resolutionsabout I'm going to do this and
(01:52):
I'm going to do that, so that Iget this size instead of that
size, you are in the right placebecause we're going to talk
about something different.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
That sounds very hopeful.
I'm grateful.
That sounds great, yeah.
So really, when, when you thinkabout it, the world diagnoses
the problem as a food, eating orweight problem, I mean, that's,
that's what the world says,this is what the problem is, but
God diagnoses our problem as astronghold issue, oh my gosh.
(02:28):
I mean, year after year afteryear, I remember thinking if I
could just find the right plan,the right exercise plan, the
perfect diet, if I could justlose this much weight, or if I
could just get into that sizethat I was in, you know, a
couple of years ago at this time, or whatever it is, then my
(02:50):
world would fall into place,everything would be okay, like I
could handle everything if Iwere just certain gene size.
I mean, it sounds so silly, butthat is absolutely what I
thought year after year.
But it never did.
And I have to say that evenwhen I did get to that gene size
(03:11):
, it didn't, it wasn't.
And it wasn't until I startedrenewing my mind with God's
truth that I realized, whoa,whoa, whoa.
The real issue it's not aboutfood, it's about my thinking.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, yeah, it really , it really is.
You know, as I get older and Iam older, I am in my yeah, I'm
63 now I hate to admit that onnational TV, national.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
TV.
I think we're all getting older, Heidi.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, but I have come to a place where I'm really
sensitive to other women who areolder, who say, you know, like
I've even met some people 70, 75, who are still obsessed, and I
hope you know I don't want tooffend anybody, but it's, it's
(04:08):
on their mind constantly, right,they're not happy with their
size or their shape, or theycan't have this food and they
need to have that instead andit's like, oh, my heart just
breaks.
I want everybody to be free ofthat, definitely by the time
they're 70.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
So the world diagnoses the problem that we're
talking about and as we said,as a food, eating and weight
issue, and many people I meanhow many people don't have this
on their mind.
I don't know, but I'm guessingthere aren't very many people
that don't.
Maybe it's just because I justknow a lot of people who are
(04:47):
struggling, but they diagnosethe problem as a food, eating
and weight issue and then theyhave their solutions that
address a food, eating andweight issue.
So if you control what you eatand how much you exercise,
you'll fix the problem.
That's all there is to it.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yes.
Well, I just have to jump inhere and say we have a whole
group of ladies in our communitywho are in their seventies and
and even a few in their eights,and many of them have found
peace with food and eating andtheir body image for the first
(05:28):
time in their whole lives.
And I just want to say it isnever too late, you are never
too old.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Well, let me ask you, since you're bringing that up
do you mean that they finallylost all their extra weight and
so they're at peace becausethey've arrived?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
They've arrived.
No, I think that what happensas we get older many of us I
mean, I just had a birthday, I'mdefinitely getting older I
think we get to the point whereit's like you know what,
Whatever my size is, I'm tiredof not having any peace.
I'm tired of being trapped bythis stronghold, Like I feel
(06:10):
chained.
And here I am in my seventhdecade or whatever, whatever
decade it is, and it's like Ican't believe.
I've dealt with this my wholelife, and so we've had a lot of
people come to us and say I'mready to be at peace with my
body and at peace with food andeating.
And then they start renewingtheir minds and all of a sudden
(06:35):
their thoughts are full of God'sthoughts, the way God sees them
, the way God sees food as thisbeautiful, abundant gift you
know the way God sees everything.
And the more they renew theirmind, the more, whatever it is,
they are feeling free for thefirst time in their lives and oh
(07:10):
my gosh, that's amazing.
I'm so grateful for that.
But really at any age, I'mgrateful for that at any age.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yes, definitely.
I just know that there aretimes when it feels like we
should be beyond this right now,when we start fussing at
ourselves about what we'reeating or our size or what we
think we see in the mirror.
I want to be a woman of God whois content in my skin and knows
(07:40):
her identity and delights inwho God has made me and he is.
I think it breaks his heartthat I allow that outside
appearance to cause me to betripping around,
self-deprecating, trying to hatemyself in a positive change.
I think that breaks his heartso much more than anything else
(08:03):
that related to this issue, likehow much I eat or how big I am
or whatever.
Anyway, let's look at the wordof God for just a minute and I'm
in Colossians, chapter two,verses 20 to 23.
Again, that's Colossians 2, 20to 23.
Here it reads since you diedwith Christ to the elemental
(08:24):
spiritual forces of this world,why, as though you still belong
to the world, do you submit toits rules?
Do not handle, do not taste, donot touch?
These rules, which have to dowith things that are all
destined to perish with use, arebased on merely human commands
(08:44):
and teachings.
All right, so this passage.
Obviously, paul was probablynot talking about modern day
diets and dieting and body imageand all of that, but God in his
wisdom knew that people in 2025would read this passage and see
(09:05):
a principle or two in thispassage that we can apply to
that.
I mean, seriously think aboutthis, do not handle, do not
taste, do not touch.
I mean, we have rules forourselves or others want to
impose rules for us about foodand eating, and I think that the
principle that's here is theserules, these diet rules that
(09:28):
come up, they have to do withthings that are going to perish
and, in fact, they may perish bynext year when there's a whole
new diet plan that says theopposite.
I mean, I had to laugh.
Somebody I know she's a medicaldoctor.
She's out there in the socialmedia world and talks a lot
(09:48):
about all kinds of things.
She used to promote veganismvery strongly when I knew her
well, and now she's got a newthing she's on the carnivore
diet, feeling better than ever.
Okay, yeah, well, it's likethat's just.
It is.
It's not about that.
It's totally not about that,and really what we want is
(10:11):
something that addresses ourhearts.
Um, and so we, you know, wecan't keep it up.
We just can't keep it up.
Do this and don't do that.
No, we can't keep that up.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Well and I'm just going to throw something out
there because this was true forme for so many years there's a
certain comfort in that wholedieting mentality.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
There's a certain familiarity.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
It's like, oh, there's a club, did you know?
There's a club?
Yes, and there's also the clubof condemnation.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
That's like hitting my head, but it's almost like
you can't be a part of the clubunless you're doing the dieting
thing.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Well, yes, and not only that, but I feel like for
so many years really, you know,for decades, if something was
wrong in my life, anything,anything at all, that was
feeling wrong in my life,something with work, or the kids
, or my marriage, or the weather, or, you know, my body or
anything all I had to do wasblame it on my size.
(11:12):
All I had to do was blame it onhow I was eating.
And then I, I think I thoughtmaybe I had some control or
something.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
There was like a pull to that I always landed on well
, it's because I'm overweight,or, oh, well, it's because of my
size.
Well, I must not be eatingright, otherwise these other
problems would go away, and thatmakes no sense.
But I truly I lived that way, Ibelieved it, and when I was
(11:42):
struggling with something like Isaid anything, my go-to was I
got to get on a diet of somekind.
And that's just so sad to methat I lived so many years that
way, and I know that many of youout there can relate.
We are looking for something,we are longing for something.
(12:03):
That's what's going on here.
So the real issue is astronghold, as I mentioned
before.
So here we have 2 Corinthians,10, 4 and 5.
The weapons we fight with arenot the weapons of the world.
On the contrary, they havedivine power to demolish
(12:23):
strongholds.
I was watching this video theother day and it was a video of
a huge, high-rise building beingdemolished.
And, you know, they had put allwhatever they use these days
dynamite, whatever it wasexplosives at the bottom and in
different places in the buildingand they did like a countdown
(12:45):
and they had this whole safearea around it.
And then, of course, the videowas in slow motion and all of a
sudden, boom, boom, boom, boomand this building came crashing
down.
That's what I think of when Isee the word demolish.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah, yeah, it's like a big deal.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Totally it's a big deal.
We got explosives, it's likethis crazy big destruction, and
so I love that the word demolishis used here for strongholds in
2 Corinthians.
So strongholds are rooted inlies that we believe about food,
body image and identity and amillion other things.
(13:30):
So here's an example If I loseweight, I will be loved.
Oh my gosh that just bringstears to my eyes.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You know, so many of us struggle with that, and I can
change that word to accepted,you know.
Or I could change that word toadmired, yes, and to be loved.
(14:02):
Have you ever followed theworld's solutions and still felt
empty or frustrated?
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Oh yeah, I know the answer is yes, oh yeah.
I remember a year at WeightWatchers.
I had lost a boatload of weight.
I'd lost a hundred pounds.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Oh my gosh, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
I was my leader's star pupil, but my heart was
chained to food and compulsiveover-exercising more than ever
before.
I came out of that with abigger mind stronghold.
My body might've looked great,but my mind was heavily burned.
It's like the weight moved frombeing physical to being
(14:42):
emotional and spiritual.
I mean, it just was huge.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Well, and you and I didn't know each other at the
time, and you were in NorthernCalifornia and I was in Southern
California doing WeightWatchers and I was the failure
pupil and I showed up to themeetings and I was I had the
hardest time doing any of it andso I was on the other side of
it.
But again I felt the same way.
I felt chained, I felt trapped.
It was all I could think about.
(15:11):
My brain was full of thosethoughts constantly, and so
isn't that interesting that wewere in the same state, opposite
sides of the state, doing thesame program, feeling the same
way, but you had released theweight and I was just a disaster
.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
No, I had lost it because I found it again, okay,
so it wasn't releasing.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Releasing is when you just let it go forever.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Well, I wonder if those listening can identify at
all with that, where?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
I found the answer, I found the solution, but then it
ends up being empty or, yeah,they give up, and we're in the
middle of January, so it's agreat time to ask you, listener,
is there something God'schallenging you with?
Instead, instead of graspingfor the next diet, or reviewing
(16:05):
a diet that worked for you yearsago or whatever it might be, or
exercising harder, instead offocusing on the size and shape
of the tent that God has givenyou to live in and care for,
maybe there's something elsethat he has for us.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
And that, again, that's so hopeful, because I
think we're all hoping thatthat's true, and it is true, it
is true.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Yeah, I just want to revisit really quickly
Colossians 2, 20 to 23.
And that was the verse I quotedearlier, the one about do not
handle, do not taste.
And it goes on to say theserules, which have to do with
things that are all destined toperish with use, are based on
(16:51):
merely human commands andteachings.
And then the part that I didn'tquote yet is that they have an
appearance of wisdom with theirself-imposed worship.
Boy, that sure describes ourculture, their false humility
and their harsh treatment of thebody.
This is in verse 23 ofColossians 2.
I know, but I know it's crazy,isn't?
It Sounds just like dieting,but anyway it does.
(17:11):
But they these regulations thathave this really good
appearance?
They lack any value inrestraining sensual indulgence.
And again, we aren't trying tosay that Paul was talking about
dieting in this verse, but wow,it certainly applies, at least
(17:31):
from where I sit, my interactionwith dieting and food and
eating and body image and all ofthat, this really applies.
I don't want to be swept up inthe self-imposed worship that
Paul speaks of and you know thisharsh treatment of my body and
you know beating my body so thatit loses weight.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yeah, for the rest of your life.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, and it lacks any value in dealing with the
heart.
It says in verse 23, right Inrestraining sensual indulgence.
You know, because that's reallythe heart of you know, I'm
going after something for thispleasure that you know, god's
inviting me to step intosomething so much more rewarding
(18:17):
and so much more beneficial.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
We're not going to be transformed by diet and
exercise.
Nope, nope, no.
That might change the outside,although it's really tough to
sustain it, but it's not goingto transform us.
We need true bluetransformation, true
transformation, and right therein Romans 12 too.
Why don't you read that for us,Christina?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Do not conform to the pattern of this world.
How did God know?
I mean, he lived here for awhile.
Okay, do not conform to thepattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing ofyour mind.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Let me get this straight I'm not supposed to be
transformed by going to the gymfor two hours every day.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
No, wait, let me look again.
Does it say that here?
I don't see it.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I'm not supposed to be transformed by telling myself
what an awful person I ambecause I gave in to eating
whatever and didn't exercisewhatever.
I'm not supposed to betransformed that way.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
I'm looking again and I don't see that here.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
No, and I'm not supposed to be transformed by
you know what.
Let's go for another run.
I went for one this morning.
Let's go for another run thisevening.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
No, I'm looking again .
I don't see that here.
How about cutting out like anentire category of food?
Let's check for that.
No, I don't see that here.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
No, we have to be transformed by the renewing of
our minds, and so if we want tosee change, we want to get on
God's page with that.
What does this mean?
To renew my mind, and that'sthe key.
You know, the world's tools arerestriction, excessive exercise
, versus God's tools arerenewing his mind with truth,
(20:08):
thinking with the mind of Christ, like 1 Corinthians 2.16 says.
And we at Revelation Withinhave a mind renewal toolbox and
we're going to share a wholelong list of our mind renewal
tools with you.
We want to dangle these outthere in front of you all
(20:28):
listening, because we hope thatyou'll come to RevWithinteam and
check us out.
A free month, a whole month forfree, yes, so generous, oh my
gosh.
Yes, well, I'm excited about it.
And well, our theme for theyear is best year ever.
We're going to have the bestyear ever, and January,
specifically, is starting freshwith God's truth.
(20:49):
How awesome is that?
So all right.
So let's list some of thesemind renewal tools and if you
want to learn more, come on overand get your free month trial
at revwithinteam.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yes, yes, all right.
The first one is scripture wordfocus.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Yes, and we're even going to be doing a special Zoom
class for our community memberson this tool.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yep In a couple of weeks.
I think yeah, it's a couple ofweeks.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Yeah, I'm so excited.
I love this one.
Today is the 7th, that'll bethe 21st of January, so if you
get in there and start yourtrial before then, you can get
in on that training.
Another one of our tools is, Iwonder.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
How about this one Personalizing scripture?
Oh my gosh, one of my top, topfavorites.
Think it through.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Visualize.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
How about praying scripture?
Awesome Truth journaling,victory list, victory wall I
love it.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Yay.
Lessons learned list.
How about?
Speaker 2 (21:58):
the emergency kit.
That sounds like one we need tojump on.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Beads on a string.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Marble jar, gratitude , of course, the God list and
the praise fest, two of ourfavorites.
Yes, listening prayer Beautiful.
How about the happy list?
Yay.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
How about the stall tool Post mealtime prayer, yay,
observation and correction, orwhat we now call, gladly call,
look and learn.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Oh, and I love the what if tool what if so hopeful
conversation with god.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
How about letter to god or letter from god?
Ohorship music and hymns, truthcards and truth lists?
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Oh, I love this Look and learn journal.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Making our own audios so that we can speak truth into
our own heads.
Of course, it's all rooted, allof these are rooted in God's
word, and so what we're doing iswe have tools to bring home
God's truth into our hearts.
We use the word of God, weinvite God in every time.
(23:15):
Anyway, what else do we have,christina?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
We've got heart to hearts and porch chats.
Those are videos that Heidi andI make and post in our
community Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Heidi and I make and post in our community Fantastic
and a resource that we haveappreciated over the years and
continue to is.
I Deserve a Donut by BarbRaveling.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yes, and then praying God's word.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah, a posture of humility.
That's another one of our mindrenewal tools.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
I love this one.
You are and I am.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Yay, I love this one too.
I am, so I, and that has to dowith who God says I am.
Yes, because I am who he says Iam.
What is possible?
Speaker 2 (23:58):
You are the God who I could do that one for hours.
Yeah, I know you can.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I will fix my eyes on Jesus when.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Oh, this is one of our newer ones Jesus longs.
What does Jesus long for?
Love it.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Let me, which is taking the voice of the Lord and
putting an answer to that Likelet me love you, Let me show you
, let me draw you into a placeof strength, depending on me.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
How about I surrender all Do?
Speaker 1 (24:34):
you?
Yeah, we also have tools we useon the fly, so you don't have
to sit down and spend hours torenew your mind.
You can be on your way runningerrands.
I spy with my little eye.
I love this, you know.
Whatever is good, whatever isnoble, whatever is excellent and
praiseworthy, those are thethings God says to think on.
(24:54):
So, instead of playing, I spywith my little eye, like we do
with the kids.
Something blue how aboutsomething joyful, something
beautiful, something noble?
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Oh, that's fun.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
It is fun.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Okay, god, I love, love that tool, use it
constantly.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
What is true, what is good?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Yes, I believe, I am free to Lord.
Here I am Praise fest.
I love how about this one?
He will, and he really will.
(25:40):
He will.
Singing truth is a great way ofgetting it into your head.
So some of the things that Godlays on your heart that are true
from his word or from hisspirit to your own heart, you
could sing it and get it inthere nice and deep.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
How about truth in your pocket?
I love that one.
Do I have a pocket today?
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Scripture cards.
Oh breath, prayers, and eventhough how about?
Speaker 2 (26:03):
where are you?
God, God's good gift?
Oh, and I love this one.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Everything important is still in place and because
you God are, I will.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Because you are healing me.
I can, me, I can.
What do I?
Speaker 1 (26:33):
love about my new revelation within life.
I love that one Lord I choose.
This is hard because and I amthankful because- oh, and this
one.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
how about without you , with you looking at our lives,
our moments, our situations,without God as opposed to with
God?
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Which is where we really are.
You are the God who I love,that one too.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
You are enough for me .
Living the dream.
It's like you're dreaming,you're longing.
What?
What would it look like to livethe dream and then renewing
your mind about that, the dreamof being freed from the
stronghold, grief and gratitude.
I love that one and then I am.
(27:22):
Actually.
That can be done two ways.
That could be God saying I am.
It could also be I am talkingabout our identity in Christ and
then God's not worried, I lovethat one, I love that one.
Okay, so now let's go into alittle bit of some practical
steps for renewing of the mindand relate it to food, eating
(27:46):
and body image.
Yes, and you can do this withus right now here on this
podcast.
Just keep your eyes on the roadif you're in the car.
Anyway okay, step one is so, socritical, so important.
What we want to do first isidentify the worldly thought or
the lie.
(28:06):
So an example might be if I eatthis, or if I eat too much of
this, I am a failure.
Okay, so you know, there arehundreds, thousands of lies that
can come up in our minds, andwe want to grab a hold of those
(28:27):
and submit them to Christ.
And so step two is replacing itwith God's truth.
So here's an example my worthis not tied to food.
I am fearfully and wonderfullymade, and of course that's from
Psalm 139, 14, my favorite Psalm.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
And I love going a step further too with what can I
learn from this experience?
And invite God into that andsee what he actually tells me.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I can learn, you know what this was such a game
changer for me, heidi.
When I learned look and learn,when I learn how to do it
because I never knew what to dowith my failures, with my
stumbles I had like nowhere togo with them except an awful
place of shame and guilt andwallowing around in the mud
(29:18):
after I'd fallen.
That's just what I always did,and I always just felt so guilty
.
I also thought God wasdisappointed in me.
Oh, on and on and on.
And so I love, love, love.
This was just a huge thing forme to realize.
I'm going to mess up prettymuch every single day, and so
(29:40):
I'm going to expect it.
God expects it.
He knows I'm in progress, heknows that and I can accept that
and I can be in a position ofhumbly learning.
Lord, teach me, you know.
And so looking and learning isso incredibly valuable.
Okay, step three repeat dailyto transform patterns of
(30:04):
thinking.
So I'm going to take this truthand I'm going to say it to
myself again and again and again.
I might write it on note cardsand put it all around my house.
I might have it ready on myphone.
I might have other truths thatkind of go with it together,
which we call a truth list, oryou could make a deck of truth
(30:26):
cards.
I might tell someone, a trustedfriend, somebody who
understands, so they can bepraying that truth with me and
for me and asking me how are youdoing with that?
You know a littleaccountability.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
You're not talking about how are you doing with the
eating of the food as much asyou are about what.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Yeah, how are you doing with that truth?
My worth is not tied to foodOther examples of that.
My worth is not tied to my size.
My worth is not tied to howwell I can follow all these
rules.
You know, my worth is rootedfirmly in Christ, my identity,
(31:07):
my worth, my value.
I'm fearfully and wonderfullymade and we have an entire list,
a beautiful list of who we arein Christ, with scripture
references.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
You can grab that and download it, if you haven't yet
, from the web address.
Here it is teamlifeisgoodcom.
Forward slash identity.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Yeah, and so really that's one of my main go-tos
when I'm struggling with issuesof worth and identity and value.
It's like God who do you say Iam.
And so, as we've talked aboutso many times our thoughts, then
the more we think what is true,our beliefs actually change.
We begin to believe what istrue.
(31:51):
I had someone say to me theother day Christina, that sounds
great, but truly I don'tbelieve it.
I want to believe it, you know,I want to believe it.
I want to believe that my worthis not tied to what I eat or my
size.
But that's really what I'vebelieved since I was a teenager,
and so to that we say Juststart by saying it.
(32:15):
Start by saying the truth.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
God says it's true.
So we know it is, even if wedon't believe it yet.
By saying it again and again,and again, and by inviting God
to help us really believe it, wewill begin to believe it and
we'll act on it.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
I also had someone say to me this past week I love
the tool, lord, I love, but youknow what?
I'm not feeling it.
I'm not feeling it, I'm notgrateful.
I'm not in a posture ofgratitude right now.
I'm angry, I'm struggling, I'mupset.
You know, I don't like thethings that God has allowed for
me.
What do I do with that?
(32:55):
Again, just start, just say it,one thing that you're grateful
for, just start into it with astep of faith.
God will help you and meet youin that place.
So you know, you might want toconsider what lie have you
believed about food, eating oryour body?
(33:18):
What truth from God's word canyou replace it with?
Maybe once a day you'renoticing, you might want to ask
God, help me to find these lies,help me to see them.
And then, wow, lord, what areyour thoughts?
Speaker 1 (33:33):
on this, right, yeah, and Lord, please show me the
root cause of this, right, yeah,and Lord, please show me the
root cause of this, so oftenovereating or obsessing about
our body image.
You know our obsession withdieting.
I mean, it's really the flipside of the same coin.
It's obsession with overeating,obsession with dieting,
(33:54):
restricting, and it's stillobsessing about food, and so it
often stems from deeper issues,things that often were a part of
an experience or manyexperiences growing up, or as a
teen or in college.
There might be fear, shame, adesire for control.
I must have control over this,and so invite God to show you
(34:18):
and recognize that he'saddressing your heart.
He wants your heart.
I don't know.
I've said this for years.
He doesn't want us to be thinor skinny, or even healthy, I
think, as much as he wants us tobe his hook, line and sinker.
(34:38):
He wants our hearts.
He wants our hearts.
He's not just about thebehavior.
He's about what the behavior isfed by, and you know, for
instance, emotions.
When we face difficult emotions, we want to get in the habit of
thinking God's thoughts aboutwhat we're feeling and turning
to him instead of food to numbout or to have a little
(35:01):
happiness in our lives.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Okay, so I wanted to share about one of my dear, dear
friends that has been withRevelation Within for years and
who I have coached one-on-oneand am still coaching, even
though half the time it's reallyher coaching me.
Anyway, it is such a joy tomeet with her.
She has an incredible story ofdealing with and being trapped
(35:28):
by this stronghold of foodeating body image for her whole
life.
She is in her 60s, late 60s,heading towards 70.
And it has been an incrediblestruggle for her all these years
.
All these years she has turnedto food for all the different
reasons, all the differentthings, everything that is for
(35:52):
the wrong reason.
You know, not hunger, fullness,not fueling our bodies.
And she had done, you know,thin within, now revelation
within.
She had done, you know, some ofthose things the Bible studies
for years and years.
But what happened was a shift, ahuge shift, when she committed
with two feet in to renew hermind and she said you know what?
(36:16):
I'm tired of this battle.
I'm so tired of it, I don'twant to do this anymore.
I've been doing it my wholelife.
I want to be at peace.
Whatever, whatever it takes, Iwant to be at peace.
Now, notice she didn't say Iwant to lose the weight.
It was on her mind, certainlybecause you know those of us I
mean we we know what it feelslike.
(36:37):
There's the sense of I'm, I'mnot there, I'm not finished, I
haven't figured this out, and sowe're uncomfortable in our
bodies.
But she was at a point where shethought I'm going to learn to
renew my mind, I'm going to putall my focus on that, I'm going
to focus on what I'm thinking.
And this is while she wasworking full time.
(36:58):
This is while she had a fulllife, full career, family,
everything.
And she jumped in with two feet.
At first it felt kind ofawkward, I think.
At first it was like what am Idoing?
Do I really believe thesethings?
I'm not really sure.
Is this really how God sees me?
She had to grapple with a lot ofthose things.
But once, really how God seesme, you know she had to grapple
with a lot of those things.
(37:19):
But once those thoughts reallytook hold in her mind, they
turned into her beliefs and somore and more her beliefs lined
up with God's thoughts and thenthings started changing.
Now she wasn't weighing herself, she was focused on the
renewing of the mind, but slowlyshe was releasing weight More
(37:43):
important than physical weight.
She was releasing the guilt andthe shame that she had been
carrying all those years, allthose years and of course I can
relate, you know, we can relateto that kind of guilt and shame,
but the renewing of the mindwas what made the difference.
And, of course, surrendering,letting go of her own thoughts,
(38:08):
those lies that had driven herfor so long, letting go of those
, surrendering every day, not inher own strength, but in God's
strength.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Certainly not doing anything perfectly, I just want
to throw that out there Right.
Sometimes we need to surrenderour obsession with getting to be
a certain size or shape.
That, that is what thestumbling stone is, and it's so
interesting.
I keep coming back to the wayGod designed us and how, when we
put pressure on ourselves, ourbody interprets.
(38:39):
That are marvelously made,fearfully and wonderfully made
bodies interpret that as stress,and that means that our bodies
don't operate their best, thatwe don't metabolize as well.
We add cortisol to our body.
Anyway, it's so interesting tome that the very thing that we
do to try to change our physicalshape can actually cause
(39:02):
problems in our lives, make usunhealthy, you know, by adding
cortisol.
Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked, but but that's true, I mean
it's like we make it so hard onourselves.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
So this person that I'm thinking of and there's been
many, many hundreds, hundreds,thousands of people over the
years but this person that I'mthinking of and there's been
many, many hundreds, hundreds,hundreds, thousands of people
over the years but this personthat I'm thinking of, she is
walking in freedom, with food,eating and body image.
She is at peace Now.
She trips and she stumbles andshe does look and learn every
day and she takes it all to theLord and she's had some really
(39:35):
tough things happen in the lastcouple of years, but she is
walking in freedom, in peace,and it's beautiful and it's
amazing and I'm so grateful forher and her story.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Let's go ahead and wrap up now that reviewing some
of our points that we've beentrying to make here today.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Oh, we've gone all over the place it feels like.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
but first and foremost is you know, god looks
at our hearts, not our behavioralone and not our physical
appearance.
That's not the point.
The point is what is going onin our hearts and if our quote
solution is in any way focusingon our physical appearance
(40:21):
instead of the heart, we'remissing it and it's easy to miss
.
And it's easy to fix thatmissing.
We get back on track or we geton track by turning to him.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Oh, I love that, Heidi.
It's easy to miss, but it'seasy to fix that.
I love that.
It is just one step in thatdirection.
So the solution isn'trestriction or outward
appearance.
It's renewing our minds andthinking with the mind of Christ
.
That's the solution.
That's the only thing that Ihave found in my life that has
(40:54):
brought peace and freedom in allkinds of areas, all kinds of
struggles.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
Yeah, and and my experience is the same too when
I renew my mind, things fallinto place.
There's peace.
When I seek first the kingdomof God and his righteousness,
all these things are added to meas well.
But when I don't renew my mind,things go sideways, it's.
It is like clockwork.
I tell you what?
Speaker 2 (41:19):
it really is yes.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
True freedom does come when we embrace God's truth
about who we are in him andrest in his grace instead of in
our performance.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
So we want to encourage you, we want to give
you a little challenge herebefore we go, to give you a
little challenge here before wego this week.
Go to God, invite him in andask him to help you identify one
stronghold this week, maybeeven just one lie that you have
been believing, that has beentaking you down, and begin to
(41:51):
replace that lie with God'struth.
Go to the word, ask him, lord,what are your thoughts about
this?
And begin to renew your mind.
Just start so simple and seewhat happens.
Yeah, we think you're going tolove it.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Definitely, and if you want more support in this
area, there's two things.
Two things you can do.
One visit RevWithinteam and geta one month free trial of our
community.
But there's also another thingyou can try.
You can have a discovery callwith Christina If you think
(42:31):
one-on-one coaching might besomething that could work for
you if you had just the rightamount of encouragement and
support and accountability.
Christina is an amazing coach.
You can reach out to her at heremail address, christina at
revelationwithinorg, and reachout and let her know you would
(42:51):
love a discovery call.
It's free for that.
You guys can see if you are agood fit together.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
You don't have to go it alone is what we're trying to
say.
You don't have to go it alone.
We have so much support for youin our community.
What an amazing community wehave, oh, my goodness, and.
Heidi has prepared so manybeautiful things that are there
waiting for you, and we're thereall the time.
We're coaching the communityall the time as well.
(43:18):
Come and join us One month forfree, and we'd also like to
invite you to join us for ournext podcast episode here at
Revelation Within On the go.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
Oh, we'll see you next time.
Hi and welcome to our podcast Revelation Within On
the Go.
I'm Heidi Bilesma-Epperson, oneof your hosts and the owner and
lead coach of theRevelationWithinorg ministry.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a
Revelation Within coach andHeidi's partner in all things
Revelation Within, and we're sohappy to invite you to join us
for this episode of RevelationWithin.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
On the go.
Well, it's that time of yearagain.
We're in January and manypeople are full throttle in
their new plans for the new yearnew you, new me, that sort of
thing.
You know, it's a time of yearwhen you know we're filled with
ideas about how this year isgoing to be different.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Gyms get full, the diet programs are inundated, et
cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
And if you listener are likemany people, well, you're
probably, by the time you'rehearing this, it might be like
mid-January, and if you startedwith resolutions, you might
already have bailed.
(01:17):
Right, that's true, and if so,we have a place for you.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yes, we do because we understand.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yes, and you know, what really matters is the way
we think.
Anyway, today we're going totalk about this a little bit how
the world approaches, how ourculture, society, even our
churches kind of approach thiswhole food, eating and body
image thing, and we're going totalk about how God may be
calling us to somethingcompletely different.
So if you made resolutionsabout I'm going to do this and
(01:52):
I'm going to do that, so that Iget this size instead of that
size, you are in the right placebecause we're going to talk
about something different.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
That sounds very hopeful.
I'm grateful.
That sounds great, yeah.
So really, when, when you thinkabout it, the world diagnoses
the problem as a food, eating orweight problem, I mean, that's,
that's what the world says,this is what the problem is, but
God diagnoses our problem as astronghold issue, oh my gosh.
(02:28):
I mean, year after year afteryear, I remember thinking if I
could just find the right plan,the right exercise plan, the
perfect diet, if I could justlose this much weight, or if I
could just get into that sizethat I was in, you know, a
couple of years ago at this time, or whatever it is, then my
(02:50):
world would fall into place,everything would be okay, like I
could handle everything if Iwere just certain gene size.
I mean, it sounds so silly, butthat is absolutely what I
thought year after year.
But it never did.
And I have to say that evenwhen I did get to that gene size
(03:11):
, it didn't, it wasn't.
And it wasn't until I startedrenewing my mind with God's
truth that I realized, whoa,whoa, whoa.
The real issue it's not aboutfood, it's about my thinking.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, yeah, it really , it really is.
You know, as I get older and Iam older, I am in my yeah, I'm
63 now I hate to admit that onnational TV, national.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
TV.
I think we're all getting older, Heidi.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, but I have come to a place where I'm really
sensitive to other women who areolder, who say, you know, like
I've even met some people 70, 75, who are still obsessed, and I
hope you know I don't want tooffend anybody, but it's, it's
(04:08):
on their mind constantly, right,they're not happy with their
size or their shape, or theycan't have this food and they
need to have that instead andit's like, oh, my heart just
breaks.
I want everybody to be free ofthat, definitely by the time
they're 70.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
So the world diagnoses the problem that we're
talking about and as we said,as a food, eating and weight
issue, and many people I meanhow many people don't have this
on their mind.
I don't know, but I'm guessingthere aren't very many people
that don't.
Maybe it's just because I justknow a lot of people who are
(04:47):
struggling, but they diagnosethe problem as a food, eating
and weight issue and then theyhave their solutions that
address a food, eating andweight issue.
So if you control what you eatand how much you exercise,
you'll fix the problem.
That's all there is to it.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yes.
Well, I just have to jump inhere and say we have a whole
group of ladies in our communitywho are in their seventies and
and even a few in their eights,and many of them have found
peace with food and eating andtheir body image for the first
(05:28):
time in their whole lives.
And I just want to say it isnever too late, you are never
too old.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Well, let me ask you, since you're bringing that up
do you mean that they finallylost all their extra weight and
so they're at peace becausethey've arrived?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
They've arrived.
No, I think that what happensas we get older many of us I
mean, I just had a birthday, I'mdefinitely getting older I
think we get to the point whereit's like you know what,
Whatever my size is, I'm tiredof not having any peace.
I'm tired of being trapped bythis stronghold, Like I feel
(06:10):
chained.
And here I am in my seventhdecade or whatever, whatever
decade it is, and it's like Ican't believe.
I've dealt with this my wholelife, and so we've had a lot of
people come to us and say I'mready to be at peace with my
body and at peace with food andeating.
And then they start renewingtheir minds and all of a sudden
(06:35):
their thoughts are full of God'sthoughts, the way God sees them
, the way God sees food as thisbeautiful, abundant gift you
know the way God sees everything.
And the more they renew theirmind, the more, whatever it is,
they are feeling free for thefirst time in their lives and oh
(07:10):
my gosh, that's amazing.
I'm so grateful for that.
But really at any age, I'mgrateful for that at any age.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yes, definitely.
I just know that there aretimes when it feels like we
should be beyond this right now,when we start fussing at
ourselves about what we'reeating or our size or what we
think we see in the mirror.
I want to be a woman of God whois content in my skin and knows
(07:40):
her identity and delights inwho God has made me and he is.
I think it breaks his heartthat I allow that outside
appearance to cause me to betripping around,
self-deprecating, trying to hatemyself in a positive change.
I think that breaks his heartso much more than anything else
(08:03):
that related to this issue, likehow much I eat or how big I am
or whatever.
Anyway, let's look at the wordof God for just a minute and I'm
in Colossians, chapter two,verses 20 to 23.
Again, that's Colossians 2, 20to 23.
Here it reads since you diedwith Christ to the elemental
(08:24):
spiritual forces of this world,why, as though you still belong
to the world, do you submit toits rules?
Do not handle, do not taste, donot touch?
These rules, which have to dowith things that are all
destined to perish with use, arebased on merely human commands
(08:44):
and teachings.
All right, so this passage.
Obviously, paul was probablynot talking about modern day
diets and dieting and body imageand all of that, but God in his
wisdom knew that people in 2025would read this passage and see
(09:05):
a principle or two in thispassage that we can apply to
that.
I mean, seriously think aboutthis, do not handle, do not
taste, do not touch.
I mean, we have rules forourselves or others want to
impose rules for us about foodand eating, and I think that the
principle that's here is theserules, these diet rules that
(09:28):
come up, they have to do withthings that are going to perish
and, in fact, they may perish bynext year when there's a whole
new diet plan that says theopposite.
I mean, I had to laugh.
Somebody I know she's a medicaldoctor.
She's out there in the socialmedia world and talks a lot
(09:48):
about all kinds of things.
She used to promote veganismvery strongly when I knew her
well, and now she's got a newthing she's on the carnivore
diet, feeling better than ever.
Okay, yeah, well, it's likethat's just.
It is.
It's not about that.
It's totally not about that,and really what we want is
(10:11):
something that addresses ourhearts.
Um, and so we, you know, wecan't keep it up.
We just can't keep it up.
Do this and don't do that.
No, we can't keep that up.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Well and I'm just going to throw something out
there because this was true forme for so many years there's a
certain comfort in that wholedieting mentality.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
There's a certain familiarity.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
It's like, oh, there's a club, did you know?
There's a club?
Yes, and there's also the clubof condemnation.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
That's like hitting my head, but it's almost like
you can't be a part of the clubunless you're doing the dieting
thing.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Well, yes, and not only that, but I feel like for
so many years really, you know,for decades, if something was
wrong in my life, anything,anything at all, that was
feeling wrong in my life,something with work, or the kids
, or my marriage, or the weather, or, you know, my body or
anything all I had to do wasblame it on my size.
(11:12):
All I had to do was blame it onhow I was eating.
And then I, I think I thoughtmaybe I had some control or
something.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
There was like a pull to that I always landed on well
, it's because I'm overweight,or, oh, well, it's because of my
size.
Well, I must not be eatingright, otherwise these other
problems would go away, and thatmakes no sense.
But I truly I lived that way, Ibelieved it, and when I was
(11:42):
struggling with something like Isaid anything, my go-to was I
got to get on a diet of somekind.
And that's just so sad to methat I lived so many years that
way, and I know that many of youout there can relate.
We are looking for something,we are longing for something.
(12:03):
That's what's going on here.
So the real issue is astronghold, as I mentioned
before.
So here we have 2 Corinthians,10, 4 and 5.
The weapons we fight with arenot the weapons of the world.
On the contrary, they havedivine power to demolish
(12:23):
strongholds.
I was watching this video theother day and it was a video of
a huge, high-rise building beingdemolished.
And, you know, they had put allwhatever they use these days
dynamite, whatever it wasexplosives at the bottom and in
different places in the buildingand they did like a countdown
(12:45):
and they had this whole safearea around it.
And then, of course, the videowas in slow motion and all of a
sudden, boom, boom, boom, boomand this building came crashing
down.
That's what I think of when Isee the word demolish.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah, yeah, it's like a big deal.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Totally it's a big deal.
We got explosives, it's likethis crazy big destruction, and
so I love that the word demolishis used here for strongholds in
2 Corinthians.
So strongholds are rooted inlies that we believe about food,
body image and identity and amillion other things.
(13:30):
So here's an example If I loseweight, I will be loved.
Oh my gosh that just bringstears to my eyes.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You know, so many of us struggle with that, and I can
change that word to accepted,you know.
Or I could change that word toadmired, yes, and to be loved.
(14:02):
Have you ever followed theworld's solutions and still felt
empty or frustrated?
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Oh yeah, I know the answer is yes, oh yeah.
I remember a year at WeightWatchers.
I had lost a boatload of weight.
I'd lost a hundred pounds.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Oh my gosh, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
I was my leader's star pupil, but my heart was
chained to food and compulsiveover-exercising more than ever
before.
I came out of that with abigger mind stronghold.
My body might've looked great,but my mind was heavily burned.
It's like the weight moved frombeing physical to being
(14:42):
emotional and spiritual.
I mean, it just was huge.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Well, and you and I didn't know each other at the
time, and you were in NorthernCalifornia and I was in Southern
California doing WeightWatchers and I was the failure
pupil and I showed up to themeetings and I was I had the
hardest time doing any of it andso I was on the other side of
it.
But again I felt the same way.
I felt chained, I felt trapped.
It was all I could think about.
(15:11):
My brain was full of thosethoughts constantly, and so
isn't that interesting that wewere in the same state, opposite
sides of the state, doing thesame program, feeling the same
way, but you had released theweight and I was just a disaster
.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
No, I had lost it because I found it again, okay,
so it wasn't releasing.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Releasing is when you just let it go forever.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Well, I wonder if those listening can identify at
all with that, where?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
I found the answer, I found the solution, but then it
ends up being empty or, yeah,they give up, and we're in the
middle of January, so it's agreat time to ask you, listener,
is there something God'schallenging you with?
Instead, instead of graspingfor the next diet, or reviewing
(16:05):
a diet that worked for you yearsago or whatever it might be, or
exercising harder, instead offocusing on the size and shape
of the tent that God has givenyou to live in and care for,
maybe there's something elsethat he has for us.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
And that, again, that's so hopeful, because I
think we're all hoping thatthat's true, and it is true, it
is true.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Yeah, I just want to revisit really quickly
Colossians 2, 20 to 23.
And that was the verse I quotedearlier, the one about do not
handle, do not taste.
And it goes on to say theserules, which have to do with
things that are all destined toperish with use, are based on
(16:51):
merely human commands andteachings.
And then the part that I didn'tquote yet is that they have an
appearance of wisdom with theirself-imposed worship.
Boy, that sure describes ourculture, their false humility
and their harsh treatment of thebody.
This is in verse 23 ofColossians 2.
I know, but I know it's crazy,isn't?
It Sounds just like dieting,but anyway it does.
(17:11):
But they these regulations thathave this really good
appearance?
They lack any value inrestraining sensual indulgence.
And again, we aren't trying tosay that Paul was talking about
dieting in this verse, but wow,it certainly applies, at least
(17:31):
from where I sit, my interactionwith dieting and food and
eating and body image and all ofthat, this really applies.
I don't want to be swept up inthe self-imposed worship that
Paul speaks of and you know thisharsh treatment of my body and
you know beating my body so thatit loses weight.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yeah, for the rest of your life.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, and it lacks any value in dealing with the
heart.
It says in verse 23, right Inrestraining sensual indulgence.
You know, because that's reallythe heart of you know, I'm
going after something for thispleasure that you know, god's
inviting me to step intosomething so much more rewarding
(18:17):
and so much more beneficial.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
We're not going to be transformed by diet and
exercise.
Nope, nope, no.
That might change the outside,although it's really tough to
sustain it, but it's not goingto transform us.
We need true bluetransformation, true
transformation, and right therein Romans 12 too.
Why don't you read that for us,Christina?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Do not conform to the pattern of this world.
How did God know?
I mean, he lived here for awhile.
Okay, do not conform to thepattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing ofyour mind.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Let me get this straight I'm not supposed to be
transformed by going to the gymfor two hours every day.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
No, wait, let me look again.
Does it say that here?
I don't see it.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I'm not supposed to be transformed by telling myself
what an awful person I ambecause I gave in to eating
whatever and didn't exercisewhatever.
I'm not supposed to betransformed that way.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
I'm looking again and I don't see that here.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
No, and I'm not supposed to be transformed by
you know what.
Let's go for another run.
I went for one this morning.
Let's go for another run thisevening.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
No, I'm looking again .
I don't see that here.
How about cutting out like anentire category of food?
Let's check for that.
No, I don't see that here.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
No, we have to be transformed by the renewing of
our minds, and so if we want tosee change, we want to get on
God's page with that.
What does this mean?
To renew my mind, and that'sthe key.
You know, the world's tools arerestriction, excessive exercise
, versus God's tools arerenewing his mind with truth,
(20:08):
thinking with the mind of Christ, like 1 Corinthians 2.16 says.
And we at Revelation Withinhave a mind renewal toolbox and
we're going to share a wholelong list of our mind renewal
tools with you.
We want to dangle these outthere in front of you all
(20:28):
listening, because we hope thatyou'll come to RevWithinteam and
check us out.
A free month, a whole month forfree, yes, so generous, oh my
gosh.
Yes, well, I'm excited about it.
And well, our theme for theyear is best year ever.
We're going to have the bestyear ever, and January,
specifically, is starting freshwith God's truth.
(20:49):
How awesome is that?
So all right.
So let's list some of thesemind renewal tools and if you
want to learn more, come on overand get your free month trial
at revwithinteam.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yes, yes, all right.
The first one is scripture wordfocus.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Yes, and we're even going to be doing a special Zoom
class for our community memberson this tool.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yep In a couple of weeks.
I think yeah, it's a couple ofweeks.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Yeah, I'm so excited.
I love this one.
Today is the 7th, that'll bethe 21st of January, so if you
get in there and start yourtrial before then, you can get
in on that training.
Another one of our tools is, Iwonder.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
How about this one Personalizing scripture?
Oh my gosh, one of my top, topfavorites.
Think it through.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Visualize.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
How about praying scripture?
Awesome Truth journaling,victory list, victory wall I
love it.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Yay.
Lessons learned list.
How about?
Speaker 2 (21:58):
the emergency kit.
That sounds like one we need tojump on.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Beads on a string.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Marble jar, gratitude , of course, the God list and
the praise fest, two of ourfavorites.
Yes, listening prayer Beautiful.
How about the happy list?
Yay.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
How about the stall tool Post mealtime prayer, yay,
observation and correction, orwhat we now call, gladly call,
look and learn.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Oh, and I love the what if tool what if so hopeful
conversation with god.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
How about letter to god or letter from god?
Ohorship music and hymns, truthcards and truth lists?
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Oh, I love this Look and learn journal.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Making our own audios so that we can speak truth into
our own heads.
Of course, it's all rooted, allof these are rooted in God's
word, and so what we're doing iswe have tools to bring home
God's truth into our hearts.
We use the word of God, weinvite God in every time.
(23:15):
Anyway, what else do we have,christina?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
We've got heart to hearts and porch chats.
Those are videos that Heidi andI make and post in our
community Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Heidi and I make and post in our community Fantastic
and a resource that we haveappreciated over the years and
continue to is.
I Deserve a Donut by BarbRaveling.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yes, and then praying God's word.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah, a posture of humility.
That's another one of our mindrenewal tools.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
I love this one.
You are and I am.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Yay, I love this one too.
I am, so I, and that has to dowith who God says I am.
Yes, because I am who he says Iam.
What is possible?
Speaker 2 (23:58):
You are the God who I could do that one for hours.
Yeah, I know you can.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I will fix my eyes on Jesus when.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Oh, this is one of our newer ones Jesus longs.
What does Jesus long for?
Love it.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Let me, which is taking the voice of the Lord and
putting an answer to that Likelet me love you, Let me show you
, let me draw you into a placeof strength, depending on me.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
How about I surrender all Do?
Speaker 1 (24:34):
you?
Yeah, we also have tools we useon the fly, so you don't have
to sit down and spend hours torenew your mind.
You can be on your way runningerrands.
I spy with my little eye.
I love this, you know.
Whatever is good, whatever isnoble, whatever is excellent and
praiseworthy, those are thethings God says to think on.
(24:54):
So, instead of playing, I spywith my little eye, like we do
with the kids.
Something blue how aboutsomething joyful, something
beautiful, something noble?
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Oh, that's fun.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
It is fun.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Okay, god, I love, love that tool, use it
constantly.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
What is true, what is good?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Yes, I believe, I am free to Lord.
Here I am Praise fest.
I love how about this one?
He will, and he really will.
(25:40):
He will.
Singing truth is a great way ofgetting it into your head.
So some of the things that Godlays on your heart that are true
from his word or from hisspirit to your own heart, you
could sing it and get it inthere nice and deep.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
How about truth in your pocket?
I love that one.
Do I have a pocket today?
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Scripture cards.
Oh breath, prayers, and eventhough how about?
Speaker 2 (26:03):
where are you?
God, God's good gift?
Oh, and I love this one.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Everything important is still in place and because
you God are, I will.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Because you are healing me.
I can, me, I can.
What do I?
Speaker 1 (26:33):
love about my new revelation within life.
I love that one Lord I choose.
This is hard because and I amthankful because- oh, and this
one.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
how about without you , with you looking at our lives,
our moments, our situations,without God as opposed to with
God?
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Which is where we really are.
You are the God who I love,that one too.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
You are enough for me .
Living the dream.
It's like you're dreaming,you're longing.
What?
What would it look like to livethe dream and then renewing
your mind about that, the dreamof being freed from the
stronghold, grief and gratitude.
I love that one and then I am.
(27:22):
Actually.
That can be done two ways.
That could be God saying I am.
It could also be I am talkingabout our identity in Christ and
then God's not worried, I lovethat one, I love that one.
Okay, so now let's go into alittle bit of some practical
steps for renewing of the mindand relate it to food, eating
(27:46):
and body image.
Yes, and you can do this withus right now here on this
podcast.
Just keep your eyes on the roadif you're in the car.
Anyway okay, step one is so, socritical, so important.
What we want to do first isidentify the worldly thought or
the lie.
(28:06):
So an example might be if I eatthis, or if I eat too much of
this, I am a failure.
Okay, so you know, there arehundreds, thousands of lies that
can come up in our minds, andwe want to grab a hold of those
(28:27):
and submit them to Christ.
And so step two is replacing itwith God's truth.
So here's an example my worthis not tied to food.
I am fearfully and wonderfullymade, and of course that's from
Psalm 139, 14, my favorite Psalm.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
And I love going a step further too with what can I
learn from this experience?
And invite God into that andsee what he actually tells me.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I can learn, you know what this was such a game
changer for me, heidi.
When I learned look and learn,when I learn how to do it
because I never knew what to dowith my failures, with my
stumbles I had like nowhere togo with them except an awful
place of shame and guilt andwallowing around in the mud
(29:18):
after I'd fallen.
That's just what I always did,and I always just felt so guilty
.
I also thought God wasdisappointed in me.
Oh, on and on and on.
And so I love, love, love.
This was just a huge thing forme to realize.
I'm going to mess up prettymuch every single day, and so
(29:40):
I'm going to expect it.
God expects it.
He knows I'm in progress, heknows that and I can accept that
and I can be in a position ofhumbly learning.
Lord, teach me, you know.
And so looking and learning isso incredibly valuable.
Okay, step three repeat dailyto transform patterns of
(30:04):
thinking.
So I'm going to take this truthand I'm going to say it to
myself again and again and again.
I might write it on note cardsand put it all around my house.
I might have it ready on myphone.
I might have other truths thatkind of go with it together,
which we call a truth list, oryou could make a deck of truth
(30:26):
cards.
I might tell someone, a trustedfriend, somebody who
understands, so they can bepraying that truth with me and
for me and asking me how are youdoing with that?
You know a littleaccountability.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
You're not talking about how are you doing with the
eating of the food as much asyou are about what.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Yeah, how are you doing with that truth?
My worth is not tied to foodOther examples of that.
My worth is not tied to my size.
My worth is not tied to howwell I can follow all these
rules.
You know, my worth is rootedfirmly in Christ, my identity,
(31:07):
my worth, my value.
I'm fearfully and wonderfullymade and we have an entire list,
a beautiful list of who we arein Christ, with scripture
references.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
You can grab that and download it, if you haven't yet
, from the web address.
Here it is teamlifeisgoodcom.
Forward slash identity.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Yeah, and so really that's one of my main go-tos
when I'm struggling with issuesof worth and identity and value.
It's like God who do you say Iam.
And so, as we've talked aboutso many times our thoughts, then
the more we think what is true,our beliefs actually change.
We begin to believe what istrue.
(31:51):
I had someone say to me theother day Christina, that sounds
great, but truly I don'tbelieve it.
I want to believe it, you know,I want to believe it.
I want to believe that my worthis not tied to what I eat or my
size.
But that's really what I'vebelieved since I was a teenager,
and so to that we say Juststart by saying it.
(32:15):
Start by saying the truth.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
God says it's true.
So we know it is, even if wedon't believe it yet.
By saying it again and again,and again, and by inviting God
to help us really believe it, wewill begin to believe it and
we'll act on it.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
I also had someone say to me this past week I love
the tool, lord, I love, but youknow what?
I'm not feeling it.
I'm not feeling it, I'm notgrateful.
I'm not in a posture ofgratitude right now.
I'm angry, I'm struggling, I'mupset.
You know, I don't like thethings that God has allowed for
me.
What do I do with that?
(32:55):
Again, just start, just say it,one thing that you're grateful
for, just start into it with astep of faith.
God will help you and meet youin that place.
So you know, you might want toconsider what lie have you
believed about food, eating oryour body?
(33:18):
What truth from God's word canyou replace it with?
Maybe once a day you'renoticing, you might want to ask
God, help me to find these lies,help me to see them.
And then, wow, lord, what areyour thoughts?
Speaker 1 (33:33):
on this, right, yeah, and Lord, please show me the
root cause of this, right, yeah,and Lord, please show me the
root cause of this, so oftenovereating or obsessing about
our body image.
You know our obsession withdieting.
I mean, it's really the flipside of the same coin.
It's obsession with overeating,obsession with dieting,
(33:54):
restricting, and it's stillobsessing about food, and so it
often stems from deeper issues,things that often were a part of
an experience or manyexperiences growing up, or as a
teen or in college.
There might be fear, shame, adesire for control.
I must have control over this,and so invite God to show you
(34:18):
and recognize that he'saddressing your heart.
He wants your heart.
I don't know.
I've said this for years.
He doesn't want us to be thinor skinny, or even healthy, I
think, as much as he wants us tobe his hook, line and sinker.
(34:38):
He wants our hearts.
He wants our hearts.
He's not just about thebehavior.
He's about what the behavior isfed by, and you know, for
instance, emotions.
When we face difficult emotions, we want to get in the habit of
thinking God's thoughts aboutwhat we're feeling and turning
to him instead of food to numbout or to have a little
(35:01):
happiness in our lives.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Okay, so I wanted to share about one of my dear, dear
friends that has been withRevelation Within for years and
who I have coached one-on-oneand am still coaching, even
though half the time it's reallyher coaching me.
Anyway, it is such a joy tomeet with her.
She has an incredible story ofdealing with and being trapped
(35:28):
by this stronghold of foodeating body image for her whole
life.
She is in her 60s, late 60s,heading towards 70.
And it has been an incrediblestruggle for her all these years
.
All these years she has turnedto food for all the different
reasons, all the differentthings, everything that is for
(35:52):
the wrong reason.
You know, not hunger, fullness,not fueling our bodies.
And she had done, you know,thin within, now revelation
within.
She had done, you know, some ofthose things the Bible studies
for years and years.
But what happened was a shift, ahuge shift, when she committed
with two feet in to renew hermind and she said you know what?
(36:16):
I'm tired of this battle.
I'm so tired of it, I don'twant to do this anymore.
I've been doing it my wholelife.
I want to be at peace.
Whatever, whatever it takes, Iwant to be at peace.
Now, notice she didn't say Iwant to lose the weight.
It was on her mind, certainlybecause you know those of us I
mean we we know what it feelslike.
(36:37):
There's the sense of I'm, I'mnot there, I'm not finished, I
haven't figured this out, and sowe're uncomfortable in our
bodies.
But she was at a point where shethought I'm going to learn to
renew my mind, I'm going to putall my focus on that, I'm going
to focus on what I'm thinking.
And this is while she wasworking full time.
(36:58):
This is while she had a fulllife, full career, family,
everything.
And she jumped in with two feet.
At first it felt kind ofawkward, I think.
At first it was like what am Idoing?
Do I really believe thesethings?
I'm not really sure.
Is this really how God sees me?
She had to grapple with a lot ofthose things.
But once, really how God seesme, you know she had to grapple
with a lot of those things.
(37:19):
But once those thoughts reallytook hold in her mind, they
turned into her beliefs and somore and more her beliefs lined
up with God's thoughts and thenthings started changing.
Now she wasn't weighing herself, she was focused on the
renewing of the mind, but slowlyshe was releasing weight More
(37:43):
important than physical weight.
She was releasing the guilt andthe shame that she had been
carrying all those years, allthose years and of course I can
relate, you know, we can relateto that kind of guilt and shame,
but the renewing of the mindwas what made the difference.
And, of course, surrendering,letting go of her own thoughts,
(38:08):
those lies that had driven herfor so long, letting go of those
, surrendering every day, not inher own strength, but in God's
strength.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Certainly not doing anything perfectly, I just want
to throw that out there Right.
Sometimes we need to surrenderour obsession with getting to be
a certain size or shape.
That, that is what thestumbling stone is, and it's so
interesting.
I keep coming back to the wayGod designed us and how, when we
put pressure on ourselves, ourbody interprets.
(38:39):
That are marvelously made,fearfully and wonderfully made
bodies interpret that as stress,and that means that our bodies
don't operate their best, thatwe don't metabolize as well.
We add cortisol to our body.
Anyway, it's so interesting tome that the very thing that we
do to try to change our physicalshape can actually cause
(39:02):
problems in our lives, make usunhealthy, you know, by adding
cortisol.
Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked, but but that's true, I mean
it's like we make it so hard onourselves.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
So this person that I'm thinking of and there's been
many, many hundreds, hundreds,thousands of people over the
years but this person that I'mthinking of and there's been
many, many hundreds, hundreds,hundreds, thousands of people
over the years but this personthat I'm thinking of, she is
walking in freedom, with food,eating and body image.
She is at peace Now.
She trips and she stumbles andshe does look and learn every
day and she takes it all to theLord and she's had some really
(39:35):
tough things happen in the lastcouple of years, but she is
walking in freedom, in peace,and it's beautiful and it's
amazing and I'm so grateful forher and her story.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Let's go ahead and wrap up now that reviewing some
of our points that we've beentrying to make here today.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Oh, we've gone all over the place it feels like.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
but first and foremost is you know, god looks
at our hearts, not our behavioralone and not our physical
appearance.
That's not the point.
The point is what is going onin our hearts and if our quote
solution is in any way focusingon our physical appearance
(40:21):
instead of the heart, we'remissing it and it's easy to miss
.
And it's easy to fix thatmissing.
We get back on track or we geton track by turning to him.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Oh, I love that, Heidi.
It's easy to miss, but it'seasy to fix that.
I love that.
It is just one step in thatdirection.
So the solution isn'trestriction or outward
appearance.
It's renewing our minds andthinking with the mind of Christ
.
That's the solution.
That's the only thing that Ihave found in my life that has
(40:54):
brought peace and freedom in allkinds of areas, all kinds of
struggles.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
Yeah, and and my experience is the same too when
I renew my mind, things fallinto place.
There's peace.
When I seek first the kingdomof God and his righteousness,
all these things are added to meas well.
But when I don't renew my mind,things go sideways, it's.
It is like clockwork.
I tell you what?
Speaker 2 (41:19):
it really is yes.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
True freedom does come when we embrace God's truth
about who we are in him andrest in his grace instead of in
our performance.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
So we want to encourage you, we want to give
you a little challenge herebefore we go, to give you a
little challenge here before wego this week.
Go to God, invite him in andask him to help you identify one
stronghold this week, maybeeven just one lie that you have
been believing, that has beentaking you down, and begin to
(41:51):
replace that lie with God'struth.
Go to the word, ask him, lord,what are your thoughts about
this?
And begin to renew your mind.
Just start so simple and seewhat happens.
Yeah, we think you're going tolove it.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Definitely, and if you want more support in this
area, there's two things.
Two things you can do.
One visit RevWithinteam and geta one month free trial of our
community.
But there's also another thingyou can try.
You can have a discovery callwith Christina If you think
(42:31):
one-on-one coaching might besomething that could work for
you if you had just the rightamount of encouragement and
support and accountability.
Christina is an amazing coach.
You can reach out to her at heremail address, christina at
revelationwithinorg, and reachout and let her know you would
(42:51):
love a discovery call.
It's free for that.
You guys can see if you are agood fit together.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
You don't have to go it alone is what we're trying to
say.
You don't have to go it alone.
We have so much support for youin our community.
What an amazing community wehave, oh, my goodness, and.
Heidi has prepared so manybeautiful things that are there
waiting for you, and we're thereall the time.
We're coaching the communityall the time as well.
(43:18):
Come and join us One month forfree, and we'd also like to
invite you to join us for ournext podcast episode here at
Revelation Within On the go.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
Oh, we'll see you next time.
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