October 1, 2025 • 35 mins
What drives your everyday choices? For many of us, particularly when it comes to food and our bodies, the answer involves some combination of guilt, shame, comparison, and a desperate desire to measure up. We’ve spent years caught in cycles of dieting, comparison, and feeling like our bodies—and our choices—were never enough. Guilt and shame often drove what we ate or how we cared for ourselves, and deep down, we carried the heavy belief that God was disappointed in us. In this episode, we share how our perspective shifted when we began to see God’s true character: loving, kind, and full of delight in us. When we stopped trying to perform and instead leaned into His grace, our choices around food and self-care became acts of worship rather than burdens.
Together, we talk honestly about how moving from duty to delight changes everything—not just how we eat, but how we live. Instead of chasing perfection, we’ve learned to embrace practices like gratitude and praise that reframe even ordinary moments. This way of living brings freedom, joy, and a new sense of purpose. We hope you’ll join us in discovering how your body, your eating, and your daily choices can reflect God’s goodness—not because of what you accomplish, but because of who you belong to.
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 Revelation Within On the Go.
I'm Heidi Bilesma Epperson, oneof your hosts and the owner and
lead coach ofRevelationWithinorg.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a
Revelation Within coach andHeidi's partner in all things
Revelation Within, and we are sohappy to invite you to join us
for this episode of RevelationWithin on the go.
Arms in the air for that one.
(00:37):
Oh, we're so excited to be heretoday.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Well, hey, we're going to talk about something
that we all have experienced,and we do experience it quite
frequently, every, every day.
We have choices that we canmake right.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yes, Every day, yeah, every every moment, really.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Really, that's true.
Every moment is a choice, or itseems like it.
Anyway, we continue what we'redoing, or change it up, or do
this or that.
Anyway, what motivates ourchoices?
Though?
That is a good question thatwe're going to have a look at
today.
Yeah.
What are the options for?
(01:16):
What could possibly possiblymotivate my choices?
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Well, there's a lot of things that can motivate, I
know.
For me, a big one is emotions.
Well, how am I feeling?
Well, is it good, is it bad?
Is it sideways?
You know, how was yesterday,how was today, how was the, you
know, five minutes ago?
Emotions are a big one for meand over the years I have had to
(01:43):
figure out how to pull apartemotions from some of the things
that I do, because it gets alltangled in.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I don't want my emotions to dictate my
decision-making.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Oh, that's a good point.
I know for me, one of thethings that kind of impacts my
decision making is what willpeople think?
Oh, of course, of course, andreally when push comes to shove,
I don't know what people willthink.
And so I'm just kind of makingup a story to go with.
(02:20):
Either way, I go on somethingand I could stop and invite God
into that and say what are yourthoughts about it and be free of
that.
It's like a tyranny, reallyworrying about what people think
can really just be like a balland chain around my ankles or
something.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, that's for sure .
How about past experiences?
Speaker 1 (02:42):
That's a big one, I think.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Well, how did this happen in the past?
What happened to me before?
If I had a bad experience withthis particular choice, I might
be very hesitant.
I might be giving way too muchpower to what happened in the
past.
Or if it was very positive forme, I might be going into it
(03:08):
without really thinking itthrough, because last time it
went so well, it'll go well thistime.
Maybe I don't even need toprepare whatever it is.
So I think past experiences canhinder us sometimes.
You know, when we're makingdecisions can be a huge
motivator for us.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
We could probably list even more things, but we
have a particular direction wewant to head with today's
podcast.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
So many have come to us over the years seeking help
with their bodies or for eatingtheir bodies, or for eating.
But the deeper work is notabout what's on the plate, it's
what's in the heart.
Romans 12, 2,.
It's our cornerstone verse.
We love the truth.
In this verse.
(03:55):
Do not be conformed to thisworld, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind.
The world constantly whispersand sometimes yells, shouts,
screams at us.
Performance, performance.
It's all about performance.
What can you do and how fastand how much?
(04:17):
But God, but God.
God invites transformation frominside out, so our choices
reflect grace, not guilt.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
And this is where I really wanted us to kind of
focus some time and attention on, because so many of us have
been swept up in shape-shiftingand attempting to change the way
we eat, the way we move, sothat our bodies will change into
a size or shape that we like.
We often become driven by asense of I should do this, I
(04:58):
should do that, and it's reallyduty and performance oriented,
and it's not because I'mdelighting in the Lord, it's not
because I'm delighting in theLord.
It's not because I'm delightingin this body that he's
entrusted to my care.
It's kind of sad, in a way,when you think about it.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Well, it's kind of a sad way to live, really.
We give so much of our kind ofbandwidth.
You know our thoughts to that.
You know I was thinking.
Our family went on this triprecently, for three weeks, you
know, and it was incredible, itwas wonderful, it was amazing.
I wouldn't trade it for theworld.
But you know, what I realizedwhen I got back was that for
(05:39):
three weeks, every day, all day,I was in pictures.
Every day, all day, I was inpictures.
That's, that's a long time.
Yeah, we took pictureseverywhere of everything,
because every day we weresomewhere new.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And so for me there was this constant pressure of
what am I going to look like inthe picture?
And then of course, I was incharge of deleting all the bad
ones.
But some of the relatives wouldtake pictures and they would
send them to me and I was like,oh my gosh, I would never choose
(06:19):
that picture.
Like delete that one.
And I thought, wait a minute,wait a minute.
What's important here?
Like delete that one.
And I thought, wait a minute,wait a minute, what's important
here?
It was really driving me, youknow and there was a real
pressure there.
When we got home I didn't take apicture for a long time because
I was kind of tired of thatfocus.
Um, and of course the focus iswe love being here, we're
(06:43):
together, we're seeing things,we're enjoying.
But for me who you know, for me, I mean I've had body image
issues since I was a youngteenager.
Those old lies and thoughts cameright up you know every day
when we were taking all thesepictures and the comparison.
Oh, I hate comparison.
(07:05):
It just brings you right down.
I think it's one of the enemy'sfavorite tools is comparison,
and so I just felt so muchrelief and when I got home I had
to really renew my mind aboutmy body and just stop that focus
.
That's my old, those are my oldpatterns is to be so condemning
(07:28):
about my own body, and Ithought I'm not living that way
that is a horrible way to live.
I want to go back to delightingin the Lord.
I want to be motivated bydelight and gratitude for what
God has given me.
He's given me this body.
It doesn't look like everybodyelse's body, that's okay.
(07:51):
This is the one he made justfor me.
I want to be delighting in mybody, delighting in God who gave
it to me.
I want to be full of gratitudeto be full of gratitude, not,
you know, disappointment andcomparison and condemnation.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Oh my gosh, I am so done with living in that place.
Oh, I hear you.
Yeah, you know, and really whatwe're talking about is is not
about food and discipline, it'sabout devotion, and I kind of
wonder what that looks liketoday and how we steward our
bodies or steward the privilegereally of eating, not as duty
(08:34):
but as a response to thismarvelous God of ours who loves
us and is so generous with us.
I mean, really, when you stepback and think about it, how
many years did we live?
What should I eat?
What shouldn't I eat?
What should I do to lose weight?
What shouldn't I do?
I mean, it's all these shoulds,it's all about performance and
(08:57):
it just it ends up being thisbar we can never quite reach.
It sets a standard that isimpossible for us.
It beats us down is what itdoes.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Well, and when you think about so many of the
people that have come to youknow, Thin Within now,
Revelation Within over the years, just like you said, beaten
down by this idea that they arenot good enough, they're not
enough.
They don't compare, they haven'tdone enough, they're not
perfect enough.
(09:30):
I mean, it's so strong.
It's one of the biggest things,it's one of the biggest
commonalities, really, withpeople that come to us and they
feel that from everywhere theirchurches, even even their
christian friends it's like I'mnot enough, I'm a failure, I've
(09:51):
never done enough, I've neverkind of made it where I want to
go.
And then they, you know, bringin the fruits of the spirit and
the self-discipline and it'slike it just beats people down
into the ground.
It's very hard to live that way,very, very hard.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
And I don't think that God ever intended for you
know the verse in Galatians 5with the fruit of the spirit to
be a club of condemnationbeating us up.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
No, no, not at all.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Not at all.
No at all, not at all.
No, you know.
Let's.
Let's look at motivation andtaking care of who we are in the
world.
You know, whether it's ourminds, our bodies, our, our time
, our talent, our finances.
What motivation makes sense IfI'm going to be living a life
(10:40):
that is given to the Lord andoffering myself to him?
I have options there, anddefinitely legalism and duty is
one of those options.
We just have talked about wherethat takes us.
What's another option that ismore synchronous or more in
accordance with what God desires?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Well, if we know that God loves us utterly,
completely, without any limits,why does motivation even matter?
Because love invites response,not performance.
It's relational.
It's about a relationship whenwe see the heart of God.
(11:24):
It's relational it's about arelationship when we see the
heart of God generous kindpresent gratitude wells up and
suddenly and I love thissuddenly our choices begin to
flow from how can I bless him?
Not, how should I manage me?
Yes, right, oh, my gosh, what adifference is there?
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Yeah, definitely We've.
We're in our last week of ourfirst ever presentation,
launching, teaching, whatever oftransforming grace, discovering
peaceful eating course.
It's been 13 weeks with alovely group of people.
Oh my gosh, it's been amazing.
It has been so rich, and I knowthat a lot of times what strikes
(12:10):
me as I'm preparing for theclass and afterwards as I think
about how the live zooms wentand whatnot, I'm thinking, yes,
there's a difference betweenshoulds and want tos, and when
my want to takes over this areaof my life, this delighting in
(12:30):
the Lord, and I want to choosewhatever it might be, because I
love him and I'm grateful to him, because I am aware of his
character and just how trulygood he is, oh my goodness, it
flips everything that I havedone for decades on its list and
what I did for decades didn'twork.
(12:51):
I mean, I could lose weight, Icould shape shift and I could
get stronger and I could getmore fit, and I did many times
but it didn't last and I waslike so what is the difference?
It's that I delight in the Lordand I want to offer my body and
(13:13):
my mind and everything as aliving sacrifice, like Romans 12
says.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yeah, it is.
It's that delighting, like yousaid, and devotion.
We've got some D words going onhere Delight and devotion.
The motivation wells up in methe more I get to know who God
is.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Yes, and that's why we start there so very often in
our programs, our courses andour podcasts too, for that
matter.
We start with who is God andwhat does he say about me?
Those two things are soimportant and it causes an
igniting of love andappreciation and devotion and
(13:57):
delight in his presence that nocompulsion, no program, could
ever, no must do, could evermatch Never, I mean.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
I thought for years that God was so disappointed in
me.
I thought he was upset with me.
I thought he was tired of me inthis one area.
I mean I was okay In otherareas.
I was able to somehow make ithappen being a teacher, being a
(14:27):
mom, going to church, beinginvolved the different things
that I did but in this one areaI stumbled constantly.
I tripped constantly with foodand eating and gaining and
losing and up and down and andhere and this, and that I mean I
was.
I felt like the ultimate loserand failure in this area.
(14:49):
And I thought that God wasimpatient with me.
I had made up and I'm sure theworld helped me, but I had made
up this view and the enemy too.
I had made up this view of God.
That was not true and also, Ikept it very secret.
I didn't go around tellingpeople.
(15:11):
Well, I feel like God'sdisappointed in me.
I didn't do that.
It was all very secret.
Uh, I didn't go around tellingpeople.
Well, I feel like God'sdisappointed in me.
Right, I didn't do that.
It was all very secret.
It was in the wee hours of thenight when those tears would
come and I had that bowl ofwhatever it was in front of me
and I was just eating and eatingbecause I felt so much shame.
Shame is another commonality ofthe people that come to us.
(15:32):
They are soaked in shame, justlike I was and just like you
were, heidi, for a long time.
And shame is it's a killer,it's a joy killer and it's a
liar and it's not from God.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
No, no, it's not.
In fact, he came so that wecould experience freedom from
condemnation, because he lovesus so much.
And so when we see his heart,when we truly I tell you we've
got to start there.
This is why we stopped talkingall about weight loss and shape
shifting and have focused somuch on mind renewal.
I have to think true thoughtsabout God.
(16:10):
When I see him as he isgenerous and kind and present
and just all of the many thingsthat are true about him, I have
a totally different perspectiveon him and he's not like a
boogeyman keeping good and funand wonderful things away from
me.
He has boundaries in my lifebecause he cares about how
(16:33):
precious I am and he knowswhat's best.
But there's so much generosityfrom this God of ours my choices
can flow from.
I want to bless him, I want tohonor him, I want to give him
glory, I want him to to smile,and I think he smiled a lot more
than we realized.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Oh, yes, yes.
So I mean, what's the contrastthere in terms of our lives and
how we live and respond topeople?
You know the one if I'm livingin secret, shame.
I am depressed.
I am irritable, I'm criticizingothers, I'm comparing, I'm in a
really tough place or I'mpretending not to be.
(17:14):
That was a big part of it too.
But what about this?
What about being motivated bydevotion and delight in a God
who is not disappointed and whois on the journey with us and
who greets us with compassionand new mercies every single
morning and it's always morningsomewhere?
(17:34):
I mean, I love the idea ofliving in joy and gratitude and
love for my heavenly father, whois faithful and protecting me,
and so the more I learn aboutwho he really is, the more my
motivation is all about thatPleasing him and loving him and
(17:57):
being in relationship with him.
It's life giving.
The depression goes away, thoseawful thoughts of condemnation
they go away as we fill ourminds, renew our minds, with his
thoughts.
Who he is.
That's where we have to start,and then where do we go next?
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Where I think we need to go next is what does God say
is true about me and who I am?
And when I really tap into whathe says about me, I mean wow.
He says I am chosen, I ambeloved, I am called out of
darkness into his marvelouslight so that I can proclaim his
praises and other things too.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Yes, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made.
I belong to him, I'm a memberof his family, I'm an heir to
the throne.
It goes on and on and on.
We have lists of these from theword of God, with references.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Definitely, and you can get a copy of that at
teamlifeisgoodcom.
Forward slash identity.
Let's look for a minute atProverbs 16, 3.
I'd like to anchor there forjust a moment.
It says commit your works tothe Lord and your plans will be
established.
(19:11):
Now, many of the people we'veshared with you some of the
things they have in common thatcome to us and have over the
years we were thin within andthen, when we switched to
revelation within, they have somany things in common.
One of the things some of themhave in common with one another
is they don't invite God intothis area of their lives.
They want to jump on whateverbandwagon is the new, improved
(19:36):
plan from last year or whatever,and so this verse speaks
directly to this, but we'regoing to take it from the
perspective of delight or duty,okay.
So again, proverbs 16, threesays commit your works to the
Lord and your plans will beestablished, and this isn't
about perfection or duty, butit's for devotion.
(19:59):
I mean, when you think of whoGod is and we've talked about
that for a moment and who hesays I am, don't you want to?
Just, oh, my goodness, I justwant to give him anything he
could possibly find joy in in mylife.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Yeah, well, and those are the two things that don't
ever change, ever, ever.
We can hang on to those likethat rock jetty, where you used
to live, heidi, on CatalinaIsland, that rock jetty.
We can hang on to who God isand we can hang on to how he
sees us, and they're not goinganywhere and there is no
(20:36):
condemnation in Christ.
We can cling to those truths.
Knowing this truth is forever.
It's for today and tomorrow,and it's not based on what we do
or don't do.
It's not about me, no, it's not.
And that, oh, it's so freeing.
It's so freeing.
(20:56):
We can choose our thoughts, wecan choose to think what is true
forevermore.
And it changes everything.
It changes the way we respond,it changes the way we make
decisions.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
It changes.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
When our choices come from commitment to him, not
self-control, self-discipline,self, self, self, right, right,
right, no, they become acts ofworship.
Wow, I mean, think about that.
I want my life to be an act ofworship.
(21:32):
I want my life to be an act ofworship.
I want the choices that I maketo be, for that reason, not out
of some kind of duty orcondemnation or some kind of
pressure.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yeah, no, not pressure.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
No.
So we move from duty intodelight, and it changes
everything.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
It does, it really does.
So, christina, how about youlead us through a breath prayer
that reminds us of who God isand how I can respond out of
that.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
This is a very beautiful prayer.
So remember breath.
Praying is simply breathing andthen saying God's truth.
It could be a scripture, itcould be a truth, it could be
anything that lines up withscripture.
It's so simple.
It calms our bodies whilefilling our minds with truth,
which fills our hearts really.
(22:27):
So we're going to breathe inand say Lord, you are beautiful
and good, and we're going tobreathe out and say and I
respond with delight, not duty.
So let's take a nice deepbreath and say Lord, you are
(22:50):
beautiful and good, lord you arebeautiful and good.
Breathe out and I respond withdelight, not duty.
One more time Nice, big deepbreath.
Nice, big deep breath.
(23:22):
Lord, you are beautiful andgood.
Breathe out and I respond withdelight, not duty.
Yay, yeah.
Thank you for joining us inthat.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yeah, yeah, thank you for yeah.
Take that with you into yourweek too.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Lord, you were beautiful and good and I respond
with delight, not duty.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Yeah, what a beautiful thing to use for mind
renewal, beautiful.
So we have some questions thatwe want you to ponder a little
bit, and we're going to visitabout some of these questions
for a minute too.
How can you shift in your lifefrom duty to delight when it
comes to your everyday choices?
Maybe it's with food, eatingand movement, maybe it's with
(24:04):
worship, maybe it's withspending or not spending, or
time management.
Does something come to yourmind?
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
What comes to your mind there's two things that
come to my mind immediately, andif I'm not engaging in these
two things each day, I'm goingto have problems, because it's
so easy for me to get distracted.
I get so distracted with theworld, with all the information
coming at me, with my healthproblems, with my schedule, my
(24:37):
kids, I mean there are so manydistractions, but if I can hang
on to these two things, thefirst one is praise, so that, of
course, comes back to what wejust talked about who is God,
who is he really?
And if I'm engaging andpraising him for who he is every
(24:59):
single day, I'm going to befocused on him.
My mind will be fixed on him, Iwill have my heart turned and
soft toward him and that'sreally going to help me to
delight in my everyday choices.
It lifts my burdens off of myshoulders.
He's the one in charge.
(25:20):
It's all about him.
There's relief that pressuregoes away.
For me, praise is powerful, andit's one of the things that he
talks about in his word.
That is important to do.
Something happens to us inside,spiritually, when we praise him
, and he designed it that way,whether it's with music or
(25:41):
without.
And I love praise music as well.
So praise, god, you are God,you are my redeemer God, you are
my strength.
God, you are the God.
You are my redeemer God.
You are my strength God, youare the one who makes things.
So, god, you are my protector.
So praise.
Praise is powerful, not in ourpower, but in God's power, yes.
(26:04):
The second thing is gratitude,and we're doing a whole month of
gratitude in our revelationwithin community and Heidi and I
have been smiling so much ourcheeks hurt.
Yes, it's true.
Yes, it's true because I knowand I see this in my life and
(26:24):
other people's lives when I amengaged in gratitude, everything
feels different and I amdelighting in God because of
what he has so generously givenme.
Even in the worst ofcircumstances, he is blessing me
constantly and if I can put onmy gratitude glasses and I can
(26:47):
see, of course, I invite God into show me.
If I'm engaged in gratitude,wow, that shifts my whole day.
It shifts my viewpoint againfrom me, me, me, it's all about
me, woe is me, I'm not gettingenough, or whatever.
It is my whole mindset, mywhole day is shifted into a
(27:10):
focus on God and what he has sogenerously given me.
And all of a sudden, my eyes areopen to every blessing or many
of them, I'm sure I don't seethem all, but those are the two
big ones for me that jump outright away.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Yeah, I would say the same.
And for those that might bewondering, well, what's the
difference between praise andthanksgiving, or praise and
gratitude?
And to me, simply enough.
Praise is recognizing God'sattributes, what is he like and
what does he do for people on alarge scale.
But gratitude can be in theminutiae, like what has he given
(27:49):
to me?
Gratitude can be in the minutia, like what has he given to me,
what has he done in my life andhow does he show up in my life,
so that's and that's one wayanybody could shift from a
perspective of duty.
I must do this, I must eat thisway, or must move my body that
way, or must save money, orwhatever it might be.
To delight is by focusing onthe Lord, who he is, what he
(28:12):
says and does, and all that.
So that's our first questionhow can you shift from duty to
delight in your everyday choices?
Give that a try and see if itdoesn't impact you profoundly.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yes and it will.
It absolutely will, Okay.
Our second question is whatmotives need to be surrendered
so that delight becomes yourdefault?
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Yeah, that's a really good question.
What people think of me has gotto be surrendered.
That's a motive that has animpact on me anyway far too
often, and and it ends upfeeling brutal when I have that
as a motive.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
I need.
I know, for me, I, for prettymuch my whole adult life I have
felt this pressure to just doeverything perfectly, to be
amazing.
You know, and I'm just not.
Nobody is nobody's amazing.
I'm not without the strengthand provision of God.
And so for me to be able to laythat down and say I do not have
(29:19):
to be amazing, I can have a Cplus day, I can have an F moment
.
I don't have to be A plus Bplus all the time.
That's not from God.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
No, no, and really it's very much connected to what
will people think of me?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
at least for me, it is yes definitely, and there's
just a tremendous pressure therethat so many of us put on
ourselves and then we're sodisappointed all the time
because we can't seem to makethe mark.
But if we let go of that, if wesurrender that and say, god,
(29:56):
this is all you, what do youwant to do in me today?
You know, what do you need mefor and what can I let go of
that you don't need?
Me for today.
You know if we can surrenderthat that helps us so much to
delight in the Lord and helpsthat delight become a default.
(30:16):
It's there, it's just for sure.
It's going to come when wesurrender that pressure.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
And it's just striking me as you're talking,
christina, that with thisconstant pressure that I feel,
if I have the view of God thatI'm always letting him down or
he can be let down by me or he'sdisappointed with me, it's no
wonder I can't imagine living mylife in any way related to
delighting in the Lord.
(30:42):
Who would delight in a God likethat?
I mean I could never delight ina God that, if that's the way I
view him.
I mean I could never delight ina God that, if that's the way I
view him.
Yeah, I'd be more, if anything,afraid of him, but probably not
even that, just resentful, yeah.
So having a right view of Godis going to shift.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
I think all of this completely.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
The third question you might want to consider is
what area of your life eatingincluded, maybe movement
included could become a form, anact of worship in your life.
And I know for me, definitely,the eating and the moving and
the just well, how I spend, howI don't spend, those are all
aspects of my life that can behonoring to God or not.
(31:32):
I could do it from a positionof delight or a position of duty
, and really I'd much rather doit from delight.
How about you, christina?
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah, you know, I'm in a season right now, a season
with my health, where I'm havingto not eat a lot of things that
.
I'm used to eating because ofthe way my body is responding.
I don't know that it will beforever.
I don't think it will be, butfor this season I really do feel
(32:01):
like very strongly, because ofphysical things that are
happening in my body, that Godis calling me away from a lot of
the foods that I've eaten mywhole life, and that's hard,
that's frustrating and difficult.
So how can I look at that in away that it's worship, not
(32:24):
restriction?
You know I grew up and spentdecades dieting and restricting,
but this isn't that.
This is being called away for aseason from foods that make me
feel physically bad.
And if I can renew my mind aboutthis and I can say, lord, I
(32:45):
want to worship you, I want todo what you're asking of me.
I want to submit this andsurrender these foods to you for
however long you ask, itbecomes worship.
I can do it.
I can be motivated to do itbecause I'm doing it as worship,
not because there's a listsomewhere.
(33:08):
Somebody said you should dothis, you have to do this Some
kind of a diet or restrictionbut because God has asked it of
me and he's blessing my body asI choose these other foods right
now.
That's pretty amazing to me inmy life of having been stuck in
dieting mentality for so long.
(33:30):
I still struggle.
I mean, I have to renew my mindabout this often, really daily,
but I love the idea ofworshiping God with the way that
I eat and drink.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Second, samuel, 24, 24, david said I will not offer
burned offerings to the Lord, myGod, that cost me nothing.
And so really, what you'retalking about, christina, and
what many of us might refer to,is there are choices that are
costly, choices that are doneout of delight, not duty.
(34:05):
I delight in who God is, and soif he asks this of me, even
though it's something that Ivalue, I can lay it down,
because I know he sees it as anoffering and it's precious to
him.
So I think that's kind of animportant thing to consider.
Absolutely so.
(34:26):
Your body, your eating, my body, my eating, are moment by
moment choices.
They aren't supposed to beburdens to manage.
They can be opportunities toreflect his goodness.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yeah, so we want to let each day be full of small
offerings of time, gratitude,presence.
You know that carry weightbefore God, because the fragrant
life is the one that reflectshim.
You know the joyful life is theone that reflects him.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Yeah, I'm so glad we got to talk about these things
today.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
We are so glad that you've been here today with us.
So glad and we hope that youfound something here that might
really help you.
We would love to invite you tocome to our next podcast episode
here at Revelation Within Onthe go.
We will see you next time.
(35:29):
Bye for now, bye, bye-bye.
Hi and welcome to Revelation Within On the Go.
I'm Heidi Bilesma Epperson, oneof your hosts and the owner and
lead coach ofRevelationWithinorg.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a
Revelation Within coach andHeidi's partner in all things
Revelation Within, and we are sohappy to invite you to join us
for this episode of RevelationWithin on the go.
Arms in the air for that one.
(00:37):
Oh, we're so excited to be heretoday.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Well, hey, we're going to talk about something
that we all have experienced,and we do experience it quite
frequently, every, every day.
We have choices that we canmake right.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yes, Every day, yeah, every every moment, really.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Really, that's true.
Every moment is a choice, or itseems like it.
Anyway, we continue what we'redoing, or change it up, or do
this or that.
Anyway, what motivates ourchoices?
Though?
That is a good question thatwe're going to have a look at
today.
Yeah.
What are the options for?
(01:16):
What could possibly possiblymotivate my choices?
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Well, there's a lot of things that can motivate, I
know.
For me, a big one is emotions.
Well, how am I feeling?
Well, is it good, is it bad?
Is it sideways?
You know, how was yesterday,how was today, how was the, you
know, five minutes ago?
Emotions are a big one for meand over the years I have had to
(01:43):
figure out how to pull apartemotions from some of the things
that I do, because it gets alltangled in.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I don't want my emotions to dictate my
decision-making.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Oh, that's a good point.
I know for me, one of thethings that kind of impacts my
decision making is what willpeople think?
Oh, of course, of course, andreally when push comes to shove,
I don't know what people willthink.
And so I'm just kind of makingup a story to go with.
(02:20):
Either way, I go on somethingand I could stop and invite God
into that and say what are yourthoughts about it and be free of
that.
It's like a tyranny, reallyworrying about what people think
can really just be like a balland chain around my ankles or
something.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, that's for sure .
How about past experiences?
Speaker 1 (02:42):
That's a big one, I think.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Well, how did this happen in the past?
What happened to me before?
If I had a bad experience withthis particular choice, I might
be very hesitant.
I might be giving way too muchpower to what happened in the
past.
Or if it was very positive forme, I might be going into it
(03:08):
without really thinking itthrough, because last time it
went so well, it'll go well thistime.
Maybe I don't even need toprepare whatever it is.
So I think past experiences canhinder us sometimes.
You know, when we're makingdecisions can be a huge
motivator for us.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
We could probably list even more things, but we
have a particular direction wewant to head with today's
podcast.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
So many have come to us over the years seeking help
with their bodies or for eatingtheir bodies, or for eating.
But the deeper work is notabout what's on the plate, it's
what's in the heart.
Romans 12, 2,.
It's our cornerstone verse.
We love the truth.
In this verse.
(03:55):
Do not be conformed to thisworld, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind.
The world constantly whispersand sometimes yells, shouts,
screams at us.
Performance, performance.
It's all about performance.
What can you do and how fastand how much?
(04:17):
But God, but God.
God invites transformation frominside out, so our choices
reflect grace, not guilt.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
And this is where I really wanted us to kind of
focus some time and attention on, because so many of us have
been swept up in shape-shiftingand attempting to change the way
we eat, the way we move, sothat our bodies will change into
a size or shape that we like.
We often become driven by asense of I should do this, I
(04:58):
should do that, and it's reallyduty and performance oriented,
and it's not because I'mdelighting in the Lord, it's not
because I'm delighting in theLord.
It's not because I'm delightingin this body that he's
entrusted to my care.
It's kind of sad, in a way,when you think about it.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Well, it's kind of a sad way to live, really.
We give so much of our kind ofbandwidth.
You know our thoughts to that.
You know I was thinking.
Our family went on this triprecently, for three weeks, you
know, and it was incredible, itwas wonderful, it was amazing.
I wouldn't trade it for theworld.
But you know, what I realizedwhen I got back was that for
(05:39):
three weeks, every day, all day,I was in pictures.
Every day, all day, I was inpictures.
That's, that's a long time.
Yeah, we took pictureseverywhere of everything,
because every day we weresomewhere new.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And so for me there was this constant pressure of
what am I going to look like inthe picture?
And then of course, I was incharge of deleting all the bad
ones.
But some of the relatives wouldtake pictures and they would
send them to me and I was like,oh my gosh, I would never choose
(06:19):
that picture.
Like delete that one.
And I thought, wait a minute,wait a minute.
What's important here?
Like delete that one.
And I thought, wait a minute,wait a minute, what's important
here?
It was really driving me, youknow and there was a real
pressure there.
When we got home I didn't take apicture for a long time because
I was kind of tired of thatfocus.
Um, and of course the focus iswe love being here, we're
(06:43):
together, we're seeing things,we're enjoying.
But for me who you know, for me, I mean I've had body image
issues since I was a youngteenager.
Those old lies and thoughts cameright up you know every day
when we were taking all thesepictures and the comparison.
Oh, I hate comparison.
(07:05):
It just brings you right down.
I think it's one of the enemy'sfavorite tools is comparison,
and so I just felt so muchrelief and when I got home I had
to really renew my mind aboutmy body and just stop that focus
.
That's my old, those are my oldpatterns is to be so condemning
(07:28):
about my own body, and Ithought I'm not living that way
that is a horrible way to live.
I want to go back to delightingin the Lord.
I want to be motivated bydelight and gratitude for what
God has given me.
He's given me this body.
It doesn't look like everybodyelse's body, that's okay.
(07:51):
This is the one he made justfor me.
I want to be delighting in mybody, delighting in God who gave
it to me.
I want to be full of gratitudeto be full of gratitude, not,
you know, disappointment andcomparison and condemnation.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Oh my gosh, I am so done with living in that place.
Oh, I hear you.
Yeah, you know, and really whatwe're talking about is is not
about food and discipline, it'sabout devotion, and I kind of
wonder what that looks liketoday and how we steward our
bodies or steward the privilegereally of eating, not as duty
(08:34):
but as a response to thismarvelous God of ours who loves
us and is so generous with us.
I mean, really, when you stepback and think about it, how
many years did we live?
What should I eat?
What shouldn't I eat?
What should I do to lose weight?
What shouldn't I do?
I mean, it's all these shoulds,it's all about performance and
(08:57):
it just it ends up being thisbar we can never quite reach.
It sets a standard that isimpossible for us.
It beats us down is what itdoes.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Well, and when you think about so many of the
people that have come to youknow, Thin Within now,
Revelation Within over the years, just like you said, beaten
down by this idea that they arenot good enough, they're not
enough.
They don't compare, they haven'tdone enough, they're not
perfect enough.
(09:30):
I mean, it's so strong.
It's one of the biggest things,it's one of the biggest
commonalities, really, withpeople that come to us and they
feel that from everywhere theirchurches, even even their
christian friends it's like I'mnot enough, I'm a failure, I've
(09:51):
never done enough, I've neverkind of made it where I want to
go.
And then they, you know, bringin the fruits of the spirit and
the self-discipline and it'slike it just beats people down
into the ground.
It's very hard to live that way,very, very hard.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
And I don't think that God ever intended for you
know the verse in Galatians 5with the fruit of the spirit to
be a club of condemnationbeating us up.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
No, no, not at all.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Not at all.
No at all, not at all.
No, you know.
Let's.
Let's look at motivation andtaking care of who we are in the
world.
You know, whether it's ourminds, our bodies, our, our time
, our talent, our finances.
What motivation makes sense IfI'm going to be living a life
(10:40):
that is given to the Lord andoffering myself to him?
I have options there, anddefinitely legalism and duty is
one of those options.
We just have talked about wherethat takes us.
What's another option that ismore synchronous or more in
accordance with what God desires?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Well, if we know that God loves us utterly,
completely, without any limits,why does motivation even matter?
Because love invites response,not performance.
It's relational.
It's about a relationship whenwe see the heart of God.
(11:24):
It's relational it's about arelationship when we see the
heart of God generous kindpresent gratitude wells up and
suddenly and I love thissuddenly our choices begin to
flow from how can I bless him?
Not, how should I manage me?
Yes, right, oh, my gosh, what adifference is there?
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Yeah, definitely We've.
We're in our last week of ourfirst ever presentation,
launching, teaching, whatever oftransforming grace, discovering
peaceful eating course.
It's been 13 weeks with alovely group of people.
Oh my gosh, it's been amazing.
It has been so rich, and I knowthat a lot of times what strikes
(12:10):
me as I'm preparing for theclass and afterwards as I think
about how the live zooms wentand whatnot, I'm thinking, yes,
there's a difference betweenshoulds and want tos, and when
my want to takes over this areaof my life, this delighting in
(12:30):
the Lord, and I want to choosewhatever it might be, because I
love him and I'm grateful to him, because I am aware of his
character and just how trulygood he is, oh my goodness, it
flips everything that I havedone for decades on its list and
what I did for decades didn'twork.
(12:51):
I mean, I could lose weight, Icould shape shift and I could
get stronger and I could getmore fit, and I did many times
but it didn't last and I waslike so what is the difference?
It's that I delight in the Lordand I want to offer my body and
(13:13):
my mind and everything as aliving sacrifice, like Romans 12
says.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yeah, it is.
It's that delighting, like yousaid, and devotion.
We've got some D words going onhere Delight and devotion.
The motivation wells up in methe more I get to know who God
is.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Yes, and that's why we start there so very often in
our programs, our courses andour podcasts too, for that
matter.
We start with who is God andwhat does he say about me?
Those two things are soimportant and it causes an
igniting of love andappreciation and devotion and
(13:57):
delight in his presence that nocompulsion, no program, could
ever, no must do, could evermatch Never, I mean.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
I thought for years that God was so disappointed in
me.
I thought he was upset with me.
I thought he was tired of me inthis one area.
I mean I was okay In otherareas.
I was able to somehow make ithappen being a teacher, being a
(14:27):
mom, going to church, beinginvolved the different things
that I did but in this one areaI stumbled constantly.
I tripped constantly with foodand eating and gaining and
losing and up and down and andhere and this, and that I mean I
was.
I felt like the ultimate loserand failure in this area.
(14:49):
And I thought that God wasimpatient with me.
I had made up and I'm sure theworld helped me, but I had made
up this view and the enemy too.
I had made up this view of God.
That was not true and also, Ikept it very secret.
I didn't go around tellingpeople.
(15:11):
Well, I feel like God'sdisappointed in me.
I didn't do that.
It was all very secret.
Uh, I didn't go around tellingpeople.
Well, I feel like God'sdisappointed in me.
Right, I didn't do that.
It was all very secret.
It was in the wee hours of thenight when those tears would
come and I had that bowl ofwhatever it was in front of me
and I was just eating and eatingbecause I felt so much shame.
Shame is another commonality ofthe people that come to us.
(15:32):
They are soaked in shame, justlike I was and just like you
were, heidi, for a long time.
And shame is it's a killer,it's a joy killer and it's a
liar and it's not from God.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
No, no, it's not.
In fact, he came so that wecould experience freedom from
condemnation, because he lovesus so much.
And so when we see his heart,when we truly I tell you we've
got to start there.
This is why we stopped talkingall about weight loss and shape
shifting and have focused somuch on mind renewal.
I have to think true thoughtsabout God.
(16:10):
When I see him as he isgenerous and kind and present
and just all of the many thingsthat are true about him, I have
a totally different perspectiveon him and he's not like a
boogeyman keeping good and funand wonderful things away from
me.
He has boundaries in my lifebecause he cares about how
(16:33):
precious I am and he knowswhat's best.
But there's so much generosityfrom this God of ours my choices
can flow from.
I want to bless him, I want tohonor him, I want to give him
glory, I want him to to smile,and I think he smiled a lot more
than we realized.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Oh, yes, yes.
So I mean, what's the contrastthere in terms of our lives and
how we live and respond topeople?
You know the one if I'm livingin secret, shame.
I am depressed.
I am irritable, I'm criticizingothers, I'm comparing, I'm in a
really tough place or I'mpretending not to be.
(17:14):
That was a big part of it too.
But what about this?
What about being motivated bydevotion and delight in a God
who is not disappointed and whois on the journey with us and
who greets us with compassionand new mercies every single
morning and it's always morningsomewhere?
(17:34):
I mean, I love the idea ofliving in joy and gratitude and
love for my heavenly father, whois faithful and protecting me,
and so the more I learn aboutwho he really is, the more my
motivation is all about thatPleasing him and loving him and
(17:57):
being in relationship with him.
It's life giving.
The depression goes away, thoseawful thoughts of condemnation
they go away as we fill ourminds, renew our minds, with his
thoughts.
Who he is.
That's where we have to start,and then where do we go next?
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Where I think we need to go next is what does God say
is true about me and who I am?
And when I really tap into whathe says about me, I mean wow.
He says I am chosen, I ambeloved, I am called out of
darkness into his marvelouslight so that I can proclaim his
praises and other things too.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Yes, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made.
I belong to him, I'm a memberof his family, I'm an heir to
the throne.
It goes on and on and on.
We have lists of these from theword of God, with references.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Definitely, and you can get a copy of that at
teamlifeisgoodcom.
Forward slash identity.
Let's look for a minute atProverbs 16, 3.
I'd like to anchor there forjust a moment.
It says commit your works tothe Lord and your plans will be
established.
(19:11):
Now, many of the people we'veshared with you some of the
things they have in common thatcome to us and have over the
years we were thin within andthen, when we switched to
revelation within, they have somany things in common.
One of the things some of themhave in common with one another
is they don't invite God intothis area of their lives.
They want to jump on whateverbandwagon is the new, improved
(19:36):
plan from last year or whatever,and so this verse speaks
directly to this, but we'regoing to take it from the
perspective of delight or duty,okay.
So again, proverbs 16, threesays commit your works to the
Lord and your plans will beestablished, and this isn't
about perfection or duty, butit's for devotion.
(19:59):
I mean, when you think of whoGod is and we've talked about
that for a moment and who hesays I am, don't you want to?
Just, oh, my goodness, I justwant to give him anything he
could possibly find joy in in mylife.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Yeah, well, and those are the two things that don't
ever change, ever, ever.
We can hang on to those likethat rock jetty, where you used
to live, heidi, on CatalinaIsland, that rock jetty.
We can hang on to who God isand we can hang on to how he
sees us, and they're not goinganywhere and there is no
(20:36):
condemnation in Christ.
We can cling to those truths.
Knowing this truth is forever.
It's for today and tomorrow,and it's not based on what we do
or don't do.
It's not about me, no, it's not.
And that, oh, it's so freeing.
It's so freeing.
(20:56):
We can choose our thoughts, wecan choose to think what is true
forevermore.
And it changes everything.
It changes the way we respond,it changes the way we make
decisions.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
It changes.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
When our choices come from commitment to him, not
self-control, self-discipline,self, self, self, right, right,
right, no, they become acts ofworship.
Wow, I mean, think about that.
I want my life to be an act ofworship.
(21:32):
I want my life to be an act ofworship.
I want the choices that I maketo be, for that reason, not out
of some kind of duty orcondemnation or some kind of
pressure.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yeah, no, not pressure.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
No.
So we move from duty intodelight, and it changes
everything.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
It does, it really does.
So, christina, how about youlead us through a breath prayer
that reminds us of who God isand how I can respond out of
that.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
This is a very beautiful prayer.
So remember breath.
Praying is simply breathing andthen saying God's truth.
It could be a scripture, itcould be a truth, it could be
anything that lines up withscripture.
It's so simple.
It calms our bodies whilefilling our minds with truth,
which fills our hearts really.
(22:27):
So we're going to breathe inand say Lord, you are beautiful
and good, and we're going tobreathe out and say and I
respond with delight, not duty.
So let's take a nice deepbreath and say Lord, you are
(22:50):
beautiful and good, lord you arebeautiful and good.
Breathe out and I respond withdelight, not duty.
One more time Nice, big deepbreath.
Nice, big deep breath.
(23:22):
Lord, you are beautiful andgood.
Breathe out and I respond withdelight, not duty.
Yay, yeah.
Thank you for joining us inthat.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yeah, yeah, thank you for yeah.
Take that with you into yourweek too.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Lord, you were beautiful and good and I respond
with delight, not duty.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Yeah, what a beautiful thing to use for mind
renewal, beautiful.
So we have some questions thatwe want you to ponder a little
bit, and we're going to visitabout some of these questions
for a minute too.
How can you shift in your lifefrom duty to delight when it
comes to your everyday choices?
Maybe it's with food, eatingand movement, maybe it's with
(24:04):
worship, maybe it's withspending or not spending, or
time management.
Does something come to yourmind?
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
What comes to your mind there's two things that
come to my mind immediately, andif I'm not engaging in these
two things each day, I'm goingto have problems, because it's
so easy for me to get distracted.
I get so distracted with theworld, with all the information
coming at me, with my healthproblems, with my schedule, my
(24:37):
kids, I mean there are so manydistractions, but if I can hang
on to these two things, thefirst one is praise, so that, of
course, comes back to what wejust talked about who is God,
who is he really?
And if I'm engaging andpraising him for who he is every
(24:59):
single day, I'm going to befocused on him.
My mind will be fixed on him, Iwill have my heart turned and
soft toward him and that'sreally going to help me to
delight in my everyday choices.
It lifts my burdens off of myshoulders.
He's the one in charge.
(25:20):
It's all about him.
There's relief that pressuregoes away.
For me, praise is powerful, andit's one of the things that he
talks about in his word.
That is important to do.
Something happens to us inside,spiritually, when we praise him
, and he designed it that way,whether it's with music or
(25:41):
without.
And I love praise music as well.
So praise, god, you are God,you are my redeemer God, you are
my strength.
God, you are the God.
You are my redeemer God.
You are my strength God, youare the one who makes things.
So, god, you are my protector.
So praise.
Praise is powerful, not in ourpower, but in God's power, yes.
(26:04):
The second thing is gratitude,and we're doing a whole month of
gratitude in our revelationwithin community and Heidi and I
have been smiling so much ourcheeks hurt.
Yes, it's true.
Yes, it's true because I knowand I see this in my life and
(26:24):
other people's lives when I amengaged in gratitude, everything
feels different and I amdelighting in God because of
what he has so generously givenme.
Even in the worst ofcircumstances, he is blessing me
constantly and if I can put onmy gratitude glasses and I can
(26:47):
see, of course, I invite God into show me.
If I'm engaged in gratitude,wow, that shifts my whole day.
It shifts my viewpoint againfrom me, me, me, it's all about
me, woe is me, I'm not gettingenough, or whatever.
It is my whole mindset, mywhole day is shifted into a
(27:10):
focus on God and what he has sogenerously given me.
And all of a sudden, my eyes areopen to every blessing or many
of them, I'm sure I don't seethem all, but those are the two
big ones for me that jump outright away.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Yeah, I would say the same.
And for those that might bewondering, well, what's the
difference between praise andthanksgiving, or praise and
gratitude?
And to me, simply enough.
Praise is recognizing God'sattributes, what is he like and
what does he do for people on alarge scale.
But gratitude can be in theminutiae, like what has he given
(27:49):
to me?
Gratitude can be in the minutia, like what has he given to me,
what has he done in my life andhow does he show up in my life,
so that's and that's one wayanybody could shift from a
perspective of duty.
I must do this, I must eat thisway, or must move my body that
way, or must save money, orwhatever it might be.
To delight is by focusing onthe Lord, who he is, what he
(28:12):
says and does, and all that.
So that's our first questionhow can you shift from duty to
delight in your everyday choices?
Give that a try and see if itdoesn't impact you profoundly.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yes and it will.
It absolutely will, Okay.
Our second question is whatmotives need to be surrendered
so that delight becomes yourdefault?
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Yeah, that's a really good question.
What people think of me has gotto be surrendered.
That's a motive that has animpact on me anyway far too
often, and and it ends upfeeling brutal when I have that
as a motive.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
I need.
I know, for me, I, for prettymuch my whole adult life I have
felt this pressure to just doeverything perfectly, to be
amazing.
You know, and I'm just not.
Nobody is nobody's amazing.
I'm not without the strengthand provision of God.
And so for me to be able to laythat down and say I do not have
(29:19):
to be amazing, I can have a Cplus day, I can have an F moment
.
I don't have to be A plus Bplus all the time.
That's not from God.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
No, no, and really it's very much connected to what
will people think of me?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
at least for me, it is yes definitely, and there's
just a tremendous pressure therethat so many of us put on
ourselves and then we're sodisappointed all the time
because we can't seem to makethe mark.
But if we let go of that, if wesurrender that and say, god,
(29:56):
this is all you, what do youwant to do in me today?
You know, what do you need mefor and what can I let go of
that you don't need?
Me for today.
You know if we can surrenderthat that helps us so much to
delight in the Lord and helpsthat delight become a default.
(30:16):
It's there, it's just for sure.
It's going to come when wesurrender that pressure.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
And it's just striking me as you're talking,
christina, that with thisconstant pressure that I feel,
if I have the view of God thatI'm always letting him down or
he can be let down by me or he'sdisappointed with me, it's no
wonder I can't imagine living mylife in any way related to
delighting in the Lord.
(30:42):
Who would delight in a God likethat?
I mean I could never delight ina God that, if that's the way I
view him.
I mean I could never delight ina God that, if that's the way I
view him.
Yeah, I'd be more, if anything,afraid of him, but probably not
even that, just resentful, yeah.
So having a right view of Godis going to shift.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
I think all of this completely.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
The third question you might want to consider is
what area of your life eatingincluded, maybe movement
included could become a form, anact of worship in your life.
And I know for me, definitely,the eating and the moving and
the just well, how I spend, howI don't spend, those are all
aspects of my life that can behonoring to God or not.
(31:32):
I could do it from a positionof delight or a position of duty
, and really I'd much rather doit from delight.
How about you, christina?
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah, you know, I'm in a season right now, a season
with my health, where I'm havingto not eat a lot of things that
.
I'm used to eating because ofthe way my body is responding.
I don't know that it will beforever.
I don't think it will be, butfor this season I really do feel
(32:01):
like very strongly, because ofphysical things that are
happening in my body, that Godis calling me away from a lot of
the foods that I've eaten mywhole life, and that's hard,
that's frustrating and difficult.
So how can I look at that in away that it's worship, not
(32:24):
restriction?
You know I grew up and spentdecades dieting and restricting,
but this isn't that.
This is being called away for aseason from foods that make me
feel physically bad.
And if I can renew my mind aboutthis and I can say, lord, I
(32:45):
want to worship you, I want todo what you're asking of me.
I want to submit this andsurrender these foods to you for
however long you ask, itbecomes worship.
I can do it.
I can be motivated to do itbecause I'm doing it as worship,
not because there's a listsomewhere.
(33:08):
Somebody said you should dothis, you have to do this Some
kind of a diet or restrictionbut because God has asked it of
me and he's blessing my body asI choose these other foods right
now.
That's pretty amazing to me inmy life of having been stuck in
dieting mentality for so long.
(33:30):
I still struggle.
I mean, I have to renew my mindabout this often, really daily,
but I love the idea ofworshiping God with the way that
I eat and drink.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Second, samuel, 24, 24, david said I will not offer
burned offerings to the Lord, myGod, that cost me nothing.
And so really, what you'retalking about, christina, and
what many of us might refer to,is there are choices that are
costly, choices that are doneout of delight, not duty.
(34:05):
I delight in who God is, and soif he asks this of me, even
though it's something that Ivalue, I can lay it down,
because I know he sees it as anoffering and it's precious to
him.
So I think that's kind of animportant thing to consider.
Absolutely so.
(34:26):
Your body, your eating, my body, my eating, are moment by
moment choices.
They aren't supposed to beburdens to manage.
They can be opportunities toreflect his goodness.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yeah, so we want to let each day be full of small
offerings of time, gratitude,presence.
You know that carry weightbefore God, because the fragrant
life is the one that reflectshim.
You know the joyful life is theone that reflects him.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Yeah, I'm so glad we got to talk about these things
today.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
We are so glad that you've been here today with us.
So glad and we hope that youfound something here that might
really help you.
We would love to invite you tocome to our next podcast episode
here at Revelation Within Onthe go.
We will see you next time.
(35:29):
Bye for now, bye, bye-bye.
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