November 19, 2025 • 27 mins
Perfection cracks fast during the holidays—one party, one plate too many, one “I blew it” moment—and shame rushes in. In this episode, we take that story back. We talk about why God doesn’t turn away when we stumble with food, and how His Word re-frames failure through compassion and truth. Psalm 103 and Psalm 32 remind us that God meets us in honesty, not disappointment. We also look at Colossians 2 and Titus 2 to see that grace isn’t a pass—it’s a teacher. Grace trains us toward self-control and peace, not through rules, but through relationship with the One who knows our hearts.
We share our “holiday failure truth list” as a simple, powerful way to interrupt shame in real time: no condemnation in Christ, not disqualified by struggle, and this is not the end of the story. We walk through how to record your own truths, how to return to God quickly after a stumble, and how to learn from the moment without judgment. At the center of it all is identity—knowing who God is and who we are in Him changes everything. When we live from that truth, recovery comes faster, our choices grow gentler, and joy stretches far beyond the season.
Learn more about our Revelation Within Community: https://www.revelationwithin.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:01):
Hi, and welcome to our podcast, Revelation Within
on the Go.
I'm Heidi Files MaEpherson, oneof the hosts, and the owner and
the lead coach of theRevelationWithin.org industry.
SPEAKER_00 (00:14):
And I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a
Revelation Within coach, andHeidi's partner in all things
Revelation Within.
We are so happy to invite you tojoin us for this episode of
Revelation Within.
SPEAKER_01 (00:37):
Last week we laid a foundation.
Hopefully, you have had a chanceto listen to that.
If not, it's it's still outthere somewhere in in Etherland.
And that foundation was toprepare our hearts with God's
truth, maybe practice the fiveintentions of spirit-led eating.
So the holidays, we have asurvival guide going into it.
(00:58):
And if you missed it, do go backand listen.
It'll set you up beautifully forthis episode.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04):
Yeah.
Yeah, because we really want tofocus on keeping it real here.
What is the truth?
Even with your very bestintentions, you're probably
going to mess up.
I'm going to mess up.
You will, I will.
There is just no possibility ofany of us being perfect at
anything during the hot.
(01:26):
Oh man, then why try?
Why should I try?
Oh, because what's going tohappen is we're going to take
this to the Lord and He's goingto turn it into something good
and beautiful and amazing.
And we are going to learn moreand more and more.
And so it's going to be good.
And we're covered in grace, ofcourse.
(01:48):
Something is going to gosideways during the holidays.
You're going to eat pastsatisfied somewhere along the
way.
You might even, you might evenshut God out.
You might fall off the horse andlike you might get stuck.
And we want to help you not toget stuck.
Yeah.
You might yell at your kids oryour grandkids.
(02:11):
You might actually disappearinto a batch of fudge.
That could happen.
Yes, it could.
Let's just be ready.
SPEAKER_01 (02:21):
Well, that's one perspective.
That's a good perspective.
What then, though?
What does it look like to gofrom that kind of moment or
bunch of moments into walking ingrace?
Not just talk about it, not justtalk about grace when I feel
like I've fallen short, when Ifeel like I have failed.
(02:43):
What does it look like to walkin grace then?
SPEAKER_00 (02:47):
Oh my gosh, this was such a game changer for me,
Heidi, when I started eatingthis way and really surrendering
my food, eating, body,everything like that to the
Lord.
This was a game changer becauseI got stuck all the time.
I would mess up and then I wouldget stuck.
And it was like, now what?
(03:07):
I'm a failure.
I can't cross off my little, mylittle day on the calendar,
which please don't do that.
You know, I just felt like itwas all for nothing.
Yeah.
I felt like it was all fornothing, and I had to start
over.
SPEAKER_01 (03:23):
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
No, no.
SPEAKER_00 (03:26):
You don't have a coach that corrected you on that
one.
I did.
And her name, what was her name?
Hmm.
Heidi, Heidi, Heidi, Heidi.
Her name was Heidi.
This was one of the first thingsthat you taught me, Heidi, years
and years ago, 11 and a halfyears ago.
And it stuck with me and itfreed me from being so fearful
(03:47):
about getting stuck and havingto start over again.
That was the end of any startingover again for me.
I just kept right on going andI'm still looking and learning.
I'm still messing up and I'mdoing great.
And messing up.
SPEAKER_01 (04:08):
Well, sometimes, yes, I am doing great at that.
You know, and that's just thething, to be honest with you,
doing great with this wholeapproach to life, spirit-led
life, I think, is being able totake stock of places where there
are, you know, just mess ups,sploogies, we call them.
(04:30):
Um, and being able to do thatwell by going to God and
inviting him into that andsaying, what can I learn from
this?
And so you are failing well,Christina.
I have observed you for 11 and ahalf years.
Oh, you fail well.
You fail, girl.
SPEAKER_00 (04:50):
I am good at failing.
Um, that feels great andconfusing.
No, let's let's talk about thata little bit.
Yeah, we need to.
Let's start here.
When you mess up, God doesn'twithdraw.
What?
He doesn't.
I mean, this is huge.
I thought that when I messed upat really anything, but
(05:11):
especially food and eating, thatGod somehow went like way over
there, that he pulled away.
That is not true.
That is not biblical.
That's not who God is.
It doesn't line up with hischaracter.
How about this?
God doesn't roll his eyes.
Oh, that's great.
(05:32):
I know.
Or and he also doesn't say, Oh,Christina, I'm so disappointed
in you.
No, he doesn't.
SPEAKER_01 (05:41):
I can't believe you were you did that.
SPEAKER_00 (05:43):
What are you thinking?
He doesn't say that either.
No, he doesn't sigh, he doesn'tshake his head.
God is not human, he's God, andhe loves us with a supernatural,
everlasting, totallygrace-infused love.
And so that's not him.
(06:03):
And if if you might be thinking,but I I think that might be what
I believe, listen carefully inthis next part.
SPEAKER_01 (06:11):
And ask God to reveal his real character to
you.
Because yeah, and this is onereason why we start people with
godless as one of the best waysto renew your mind, is as we get
to know what God is really like,as we take stock of what the
word says, which is where Godreveals what he's like to us, we
can jot down what is he reallylike, and it totally ministers
(06:34):
to our hearts in that placewhere we have attributed to him
attributes of very falliblehuman authority figures.
He's nothing like my dad.
SPEAKER_00 (06:45):
No, no.
I mean, I loved the Lord since Iwas a little girl, but I have to
admit, I had some very wrong,inaccurate views of who he
really is.
I mean, I I don't know.
I think I kind of turned himinto a big human for a while
there.
SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
Yeah, I know I did.
And so let's look right now atwhat the word tells us about
what God is, what he's like.
Psalm 103, verses 13 and 14.
And if you don't have a God listyet, you could take these verses
that we're gonna share in thisepisode and maybe start what is
God like and what does he do forpeople?
And just jot those down in ajournal page or in your phone.
(07:26):
So this verse says, As a fatherhas compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion onthose who fear him, for he knows
how we are formed, he remembersthat we are dust.
You know, he knows how fragilewe are, how fragile I am.
He knows how hard the holidayscan be.
And for those of you who havelost loved ones during the past
(07:50):
year, this will be your firstholiday season without that
loved one.
Or maybe you have a child thathas wandered away from the
faith, and this will be yourfirst season where they're not
gonna join you.
Uh, whatever it might be, whenwe turn to him, he will bring us
the comfort we need.
He calls his Holy Spirit ourcomforter, and he's also called
(08:13):
the God of all comfort.
So whether it's related to thoserelationships that are
challenging or food and eating,even after a third helping of
mashed potatoes with lots ofbutter, he welcomes us, he has
compassion on us, he has lovefor us, and he wants us to
invite him in to our heartache.
SPEAKER_00 (08:35):
That is beautiful, Heidi.
I love Psalm 32, verses 1through 5.
It is one of the most beautifulpost-failure psalms.
And David is writing here (08:45):
When I kept silent, my bones wasted
away through my groaning all daylong.
For day and night, your hand washeavy on me, my strength was
sapped as in the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin toyou and did not cover up my
iniquity.
(09:05):
I said, I will confess mytransgressions to the Lord, and
you forgave the guilt of my sin.
SPEAKER_01 (09:14):
That's who our God is.
He's not waiting there with, ohmy goodness, I have memories
from my childhood and my parentswaiting, waiting with the
hairbrush or whatever it mightbe, they're gonna whoop my gosh
their end with.
He's not like that.
He's not waiting withpunishment, he's waiting.
Get this with pardon.
(09:35):
The moment we turn, he meets us.
He meets us.
In fact, he runs to greet us.
I mean, picture that story ofthe prodigal son and the father.
Did the father just stay thereon the porch waiting for the son
to make his way all the way downthe road?
No, he ran out to greet him andembraced him and called to
(09:56):
everybody to let's slaughter thefatted calf and get the robe and
the ring and all that goodstuff.
Celebrate.
He didn't say, Well, you're infor it now, buddy.
It's a good thing you finallycame home to get what you
deserve, right?
SPEAKER_00 (10:12):
Heidi, this is a huge shift.
This is a huge shift.
Failure, then, is not the end ofintimacy with God.
God hasn't gone anywhere, he'sstill right there with us.
And like you said, he's actuallyrunning towards us.
Oh, I love that that picture inmy mind.
(10:33):
And really, it's a newbeginning.
It's it's something new that Godis doing in us.
He is always at work, he redeemseverything, he doesn't waste our
failures.
I mean, imagine that being thebeginning of something new.
That's really what it is.
SPEAKER_01 (10:51):
Yeah.
You know, the only real failure,because the Lord is who he is,
the only real failure is when wedon't invite him into, because
then we miss what he has for usthere.
And so by inviting him in, wecan learn so much from those
failures.
If the enemy can convince usthat messing up means you are
(11:13):
out, you're out of here.
Go sit on the step or whatever.
He's gonna try to isolate you.
He is, and that's just the thingis God wants to use your
failure, your mess up, yourslip, stumble, fall, failure,
sploogie to draw you near tohim.
He wants to use it to show youwhat you could do next time so
(11:36):
that you can experience victoryin a very similar situation,
which is so beautiful.
It's how we get to experiencerhythms of grace in our life.
If we never failed, we wouldmiss this.
And if we don't invite him in,we're gonna miss it.
When we fail, let's say, oh, Ihave an opportunity to learn
from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00 (11:55):
Exactly, exactly, exactly.
I want to share Hosea 6, verse1.
Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces, but hewill heal us.
He has injured us, but he willbind up our wounds.
And then verse 3 goes on (12:11):
let us acknowledge the Lord, let us
press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises, hewill appear.
God wants to be known.
SPEAKER_01 (12:26):
He's not holding us at arm's length because of our
food mistakes until you get thisfigured out, child.
I'm not going to love on you.
Go sit on the step.
He's not doing that.
He wants us to press in and walkwith him through it.
Because he's not after behaviormodification.
No, no, no.
(12:48):
He's after transformation thatcomes to us through renewing our
mind and through being in arelationship with him, through
coming to him again and again.
SPEAKER_00 (12:59):
Well, and that's why mind renewal is so central to
what we teach at RevelationWithin.
It's like the main, main, mainthing, not just after a win, but
especially after a loss.
That's where truth has the mostpower.
Isn't that just like our God?
SPEAKER_01 (13:19):
Yes.
It's like you don't have to beperfect.
Well, but but but no, no buts.
Let him redeem the failure, themess up, the slip.
Let him, you know, thatsideways, you know, the way we
go sideways, he can redeem it.
Yes.
So what do we say to ourselvesin those vulnerable moments when
(13:40):
we slipped maybe back into oldpatterns and want to either
hide, which is something I wantto do a lot of times, or punish
ourselves.
You know, can I ever hate myselfin a positive change?
No, but I sure try.
SPEAKER_00 (13:56):
Yeah, we've done that really, really well for
decades, haven't we, Heidi?
But no more, no more.
No more.
SPEAKER_01 (14:03):
This, no more.
I can honestly say I'm free fromthat.
I mean, when it comes to foodand eating, especially, now
there are other situations thatmight come up that I haven't
gotten so good at it, but God'sshowing me, okay, this area
needs to also benefit from mygrace.
SPEAKER_00 (14:23):
Yeah.
We're works in progressconstantly.
That's what we are.
And for me, at least, I knowthat the more I embrace that,
the better that it is.
The more that I embrace, I'm awork in progress.
That's that's good.
That's a good thing.
So we have a holiday failuretruth list that we would love to
share with you.
(14:43):
You can borrow it, you can adaptit, you can speak it out loud.
I thought Heidi and I could goback and forth on these.
Oh, okay.
And you can also write your own.
But these are truths that willcarry you through the holiday
season and will carry youthrough when you stumble.
And you will, and that's okay.
SPEAKER_01 (15:04):
Yep, it's okay.
No, you know what?
I just have to say before we dothis holiday failure truthless,
it's a struggle for many peopleto hear that it's okay if I fail
because of a million reasons,but not the least of which is if
I give myself permission tofail, then what's to keep me
from just not trying at all?
(15:24):
Right.
Just whatever.
I'm just, it doesn't matter.
Yeah, tell tell me about that.
Well, how can we how can we besure that we're not gonna go
down that road?
SPEAKER_00 (15:33):
When we approach this, like, okay, I am a work in
progress, I am going to trip andstumble.
Honestly, we live in an imperimperfect world.
There is just no way that we cando anything perfectly.
We just can't.
And so if we're going to Godwith our struggles and we're
asking Him for help and wisdomand grace, we are not going to
(15:57):
be in any kind of a posturewhere we're like, I'm gonna do
whatever I want.
And honestly, we don't want todo that because we know it
doesn't feel good.
It brings us down, it drains us.
We end up wallowing in a pit ofself-pity.
We are frustrated, we don'tactually want to be there.
(16:19):
I have shared this before, butfor myself, there were two
phrases that I used to hear inmy mind all the time.
And basically, it was me puttingmy defenses up, almost like a
little kid, you know, like,don't mess with me.
The first one was, I don't care.
And the second one was, itdoesn't matter.
(16:42):
Honestly, I didn't believeeither of those things.
I did care, I cared so much thatit hurt, and then I knew that it
mattered.
I knew that it mattered so much,but I struggled with I have
nowhere to go with this.
I have nowhere to go.
I struggled with that.
And so I would put up my fistskind of and say, I don't care.
(17:04):
It doesn't matter.
What I was really needing to dowas go to the Lord and replace
those phrases with, God, I needhelp.
Help me to surrender to you.
I am your girl.
I need something, and food isnot giving it to me.
I need to be satisfied in you.
So it's kind of that place ofletting go and being
(17:28):
surrendered, and that bringspeace.
It brings wisdom from God, itbrings life.
It's the very opposite of what Iwas describing before, how that
brings you down.
We don't want to live thereanymore.
Certainly not in the holidays.
We want to live in a place thatbrings life to our hearts and
(17:48):
souls and minds.
And that's God's way.
We want his way.
We really do deep down.
SPEAKER_01 (17:56):
And you know what?
I feel like the more I've gottento know what God's character
really is like and gotten somedistance from the errors that I
had in what I thought he waslike, it causes me to love him
more.
And and I mean, I do.
My heart just swells with loveand appreciation for him as I
practice gratitude, as I've asI've shared that, Lord, I love a
(18:19):
mind-renewal tool with him, youknow, if you know, and and gone
on.
I find that I'm not all aboutwanting to just go my own way,
like you were saying.
I now want to.
What would you have me do here,Lord?
What would you I want to do?
What makes you happy?
What causes a little jig in yourstep, Lord?
SPEAKER_00 (18:41):
Okay, so we're we're back to our list.
And you again make it your own.
Go ahead and write your own.
This isn't rocket science, butthis might give you an idea of
where to begin.
Go ahead, Heidi.
I am not disqualified by mystruggle.
Yes, that is a beautifullife-giving truth.
(19:03):
How about this one?
Romans 8:1.
There is no condemnation for mein Christ.
None.
Zip zero, no condemnation.
SPEAKER_01 (19:13):
Yeah, and I mean, a picture saying these after you
have had a slip or a stumble, ormaybe even in the middle of the
slip or stumble.
God is not surprised by thismoment.
SPEAKER_00 (19:25):
He still loves me.
Yes, I love this one.
Grace is still mine.
I'm swimming in it.
There, it's unlimited,unlimited.
SPEAKER_01 (19:38):
Jesus is still my shepherd, even in this valley.
SPEAKER_00 (19:42):
Yes, and this is not the end of the story.
Not at all.
It might be the beginning of abrand new story for me.
SPEAKER_01 (19:51):
Yes, and then Philippians 1:6.
He who began a good work in mepromises he's going to carry it
on to completion.
I love that promise.
SPEAKER_00 (20:01):
How about this?
I can run to God, not from him.
God is with me right now.
Lord, I'm turning to you rightin this moment.
Let's talk about this and thenboom, move on.
It's over.
SPEAKER_01 (20:15):
And if I am relating to him like I did my parents,
okay, and in my case, thatwouldn't have been an accurate
picture of God at all, ofcourse, I'm not gonna want to
run to him.
But that's a really goodindication that my perspective
on what God is like and what hedoes for people, how he operates
in my life is in error.
(20:35):
And so if I really understandthat God is who he says he is,
and I am who he says I am, I runto him.
I want to run to him rather thanfrom him.
I mean, as a child growing up, Iwanted to run from my parents,
but I want to run to the Lord.
(20:56):
I'm so grateful for that.
You know, you can take that listand add a few of your own truths
to it.
You can stick it on yourbathroom mirror, or you can even
record it as a voice memo sothat you can listen to it on
repeat if you want to whileyou're driving in your car going
somewhere or coming back fromsomewhere.
Just don't let the enemy havethe last word when you fall.
(21:20):
Let God's truth speak louder,okay?
SPEAKER_00 (21:22):
Yes, yes, yes, definitely.
Okay, so we say this a lot, butit bears repeating.
Your value does not hang in thebalance of your holiday food
choices.
It does not.
Your identity in Christ is adone deal.
If you have accepted Christ intoyour heart, it's a done deal.
(21:46):
It's over with.
It is not gonna change.
You are God's girl or God's guy,no matter what you do or don't
do.
That's not where your value orworth comes from.
It's not.
SPEAKER_01 (21:59):
Here's the truth, though, that these truths that
we're talking about can feelreally elusive or even untrue.
If you've spent your whole lifetrying to earn your worth
through your appearance or yourweight or your willpower or your
ability to stick to a plan oranything else, it can feel like
(22:20):
these things that we're sharingwith you aren't true.
Check the word of God out andsee what it says, and then tell
yourself that truth that youfind in the word of God over and
over and over again.
We get to choose what we think,and what we think is going to
establish our beliefs, and whatwe believe is going to establish
our actions.
And so we want to think what istrue according to God, and his
(22:45):
word is full of that.
SPEAKER_00 (22:46):
It is.
How about Colossians 2, verses20 to 23?
Paul writes, Since you died withChrist to the elemental
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 are based merely onhuman commands and teachings.
(23:10):
Such regulations indeed have anappearance of wisdom, but they
lack any value in restrainingsensual indulgence.
That one hits hard.
It does.
It's like, wait, is that reallyin the Bible?
Yes, it is.
SPEAKER_01 (23:30):
It is.
You know, the law can'ttransform us, rules can't change
our hearts.
No, only Jesus can do that, andthat's what he wants to do.
Only a renewed mind filled withthe truth from the Lord is gonna
produce lasting peace andfreedom.
That's all there is to it.
SPEAKER_00 (23:49):
That's it's so true.
It's so true.
And those of us that have beenchasing after it on our own for
years and years and years, weknow there's more to it than
that.
We can't do it on our own.
Titus 2, verses 11 and 12 says,For the grace of God has
appeared that offers salvationto all people.
(24:09):
It teaches us to say no toungodliness and worldly passions
and to live self-controlled,upright, and godly lives in this
present age.
SPEAKER_01 (24:22):
Grace is not a past, it's a teacher.
And you know, it's true.
It teaches us to say no toungodliness and worldly
passions, to live aself-controlled, upright, and
godly life.
And I think that's a beautifultruth.
So often we think of grace as aexcuse.
You know, I think it's in Romans6 where Paul says, So shall I
(24:43):
sin all the more so that gracemay increase?
And depending upon whichtranslation you're reading from,
it might say, Absolutely not, noway.
Grace is not a pass, it's ateacher.
No, it's gonna keep showing upin your life this holiday
season, isn't that awesome?
SPEAKER_00 (25:03):
Not to shame you, but to shape you, to shame that
it's beautiful.
Imagine, imagine, I mean, whatif every single time you
struggled, stumbled, messed up,you spent a few minutes with the
Lord.
Imagine that this holidayseason.
What would that?
I mean, wow, would that justchange your whole holiday
(25:25):
season?
So even if you mess up today,what if you're messing up right
now?
It could be even while you'relistening and you're not hungry.
Today, right now, tell yourself,I have a plan.
I know what I'm gonna do whenI'm gonna mess up.
I'm gonna turn to Jesus.
(25:47):
Let his truth reset yourthoughts and let his love
restore your heart.
SPEAKER_01 (25:57):
I love that.
Psalm 34, 18 says, the Lord isnear to the brokenhearted and
saves the crushed in spirit.
Don't you just love him so?
SPEAKER_00 (26:09):
That's what he's like.
That is that's what he's reallylike.
Yes.
Okay, so be sure to come nextweek.
We're gonna talk aboutnavigating relationships and
difficult people during theholidays.
Do we know anybody that's notwanna do that?
Let's just talk about otherthings.
(26:30):
No, yeah, um, we're gonna talkabout navigating relationships
without overeating or isolating.
This is a big one.
You don't want to miss it.
This is huge.
SPEAKER_01 (26:43):
Oh, okay.
Until then, let's walk in grace,let's run to truth and let's
renew our minds as many times aswe can.
SPEAKER_00 (26:51):
We could never do it too much.
Yes, that's right.
Because God's mercies really arenew every morning, even after
pie and mashed potatoes.
Too much of them.
All right.
We are so glad that you've beenhere today, and we would love to
invite you to come to our nextpodcast, Revelation Within.
Hi, and welcome to our podcast, Revelation Within
on the Go.
I'm Heidi Files MaEpherson, oneof the hosts, and the owner and
the lead coach of theRevelationWithin.org industry.
SPEAKER_00 (00:14):
And I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a
Revelation Within coach, andHeidi's partner in all things
Revelation Within.
We are so happy to invite you tojoin us for this episode of
Revelation Within.
SPEAKER_01 (00:37):
Last week we laid a foundation.
Hopefully, you have had a chanceto listen to that.
If not, it's it's still outthere somewhere in in Etherland.
And that foundation was toprepare our hearts with God's
truth, maybe practice the fiveintentions of spirit-led eating.
So the holidays, we have asurvival guide going into it.
(00:58):
And if you missed it, do go backand listen.
It'll set you up beautifully forthis episode.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04):
Yeah.
Yeah, because we really want tofocus on keeping it real here.
What is the truth?
Even with your very bestintentions, you're probably
going to mess up.
I'm going to mess up.
You will, I will.
There is just no possibility ofany of us being perfect at
anything during the hot.
(01:26):
Oh man, then why try?
Why should I try?
Oh, because what's going tohappen is we're going to take
this to the Lord and He's goingto turn it into something good
and beautiful and amazing.
And we are going to learn moreand more and more.
And so it's going to be good.
And we're covered in grace, ofcourse.
(01:48):
Something is going to gosideways during the holidays.
You're going to eat pastsatisfied somewhere along the
way.
You might even, you might evenshut God out.
You might fall off the horse andlike you might get stuck.
And we want to help you not toget stuck.
Yeah.
You might yell at your kids oryour grandkids.
(02:11):
You might actually disappearinto a batch of fudge.
That could happen.
Yes, it could.
Let's just be ready.
SPEAKER_01 (02:21):
Well, that's one perspective.
That's a good perspective.
What then, though?
What does it look like to gofrom that kind of moment or
bunch of moments into walking ingrace?
Not just talk about it, not justtalk about grace when I feel
like I've fallen short, when Ifeel like I have failed.
(02:43):
What does it look like to walkin grace then?
SPEAKER_00 (02:47):
Oh my gosh, this was such a game changer for me,
Heidi, when I started eatingthis way and really surrendering
my food, eating, body,everything like that to the
Lord.
This was a game changer becauseI got stuck all the time.
I would mess up and then I wouldget stuck.
And it was like, now what?
(03:07):
I'm a failure.
I can't cross off my little, mylittle day on the calendar,
which please don't do that.
You know, I just felt like itwas all for nothing.
Yeah.
I felt like it was all fornothing, and I had to start
over.
SPEAKER_01 (03:23):
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
No, no.
SPEAKER_00 (03:26):
You don't have a coach that corrected you on that
one.
I did.
And her name, what was her name?
Hmm.
Heidi, Heidi, Heidi, Heidi.
Her name was Heidi.
This was one of the first thingsthat you taught me, Heidi, years
and years ago, 11 and a halfyears ago.
And it stuck with me and itfreed me from being so fearful
(03:47):
about getting stuck and havingto start over again.
That was the end of any startingover again for me.
I just kept right on going andI'm still looking and learning.
I'm still messing up and I'mdoing great.
And messing up.
SPEAKER_01 (04:08):
Well, sometimes, yes, I am doing great at that.
You know, and that's just thething, to be honest with you,
doing great with this wholeapproach to life, spirit-led
life, I think, is being able totake stock of places where there
are, you know, just mess ups,sploogies, we call them.
(04:30):
Um, and being able to do thatwell by going to God and
inviting him into that andsaying, what can I learn from
this?
And so you are failing well,Christina.
I have observed you for 11 and ahalf years.
Oh, you fail well.
You fail, girl.
SPEAKER_00 (04:50):
I am good at failing.
Um, that feels great andconfusing.
No, let's let's talk about thata little bit.
Yeah, we need to.
Let's start here.
When you mess up, God doesn'twithdraw.
What?
He doesn't.
I mean, this is huge.
I thought that when I messed upat really anything, but
(05:11):
especially food and eating, thatGod somehow went like way over
there, that he pulled away.
That is not true.
That is not biblical.
That's not who God is.
It doesn't line up with hischaracter.
How about this?
God doesn't roll his eyes.
Oh, that's great.
(05:32):
I know.
Or and he also doesn't say, Oh,Christina, I'm so disappointed
in you.
No, he doesn't.
SPEAKER_01 (05:41):
I can't believe you were you did that.
SPEAKER_00 (05:43):
What are you thinking?
He doesn't say that either.
No, he doesn't sigh, he doesn'tshake his head.
God is not human, he's God, andhe loves us with a supernatural,
everlasting, totallygrace-infused love.
And so that's not him.
(06:03):
And if if you might be thinking,but I I think that might be what
I believe, listen carefully inthis next part.
SPEAKER_01 (06:11):
And ask God to reveal his real character to
you.
Because yeah, and this is onereason why we start people with
godless as one of the best waysto renew your mind, is as we get
to know what God is really like,as we take stock of what the
word says, which is where Godreveals what he's like to us, we
can jot down what is he reallylike, and it totally ministers
(06:34):
to our hearts in that placewhere we have attributed to him
attributes of very falliblehuman authority figures.
He's nothing like my dad.
SPEAKER_00 (06:45):
No, no.
I mean, I loved the Lord since Iwas a little girl, but I have to
admit, I had some very wrong,inaccurate views of who he
really is.
I mean, I I don't know.
I think I kind of turned himinto a big human for a while
there.
SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
Yeah, I know I did.
And so let's look right now atwhat the word tells us about
what God is, what he's like.
Psalm 103, verses 13 and 14.
And if you don't have a God listyet, you could take these verses
that we're gonna share in thisepisode and maybe start what is
God like and what does he do forpeople?
And just jot those down in ajournal page or in your phone.
(07:26):
So this verse says, As a fatherhas compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion onthose who fear him, for he knows
how we are formed, he remembersthat we are dust.
You know, he knows how fragilewe are, how fragile I am.
He knows how hard the holidayscan be.
And for those of you who havelost loved ones during the past
(07:50):
year, this will be your firstholiday season without that
loved one.
Or maybe you have a child thathas wandered away from the
faith, and this will be yourfirst season where they're not
gonna join you.
Uh, whatever it might be, whenwe turn to him, he will bring us
the comfort we need.
He calls his Holy Spirit ourcomforter, and he's also called
(08:13):
the God of all comfort.
So whether it's related to thoserelationships that are
challenging or food and eating,even after a third helping of
mashed potatoes with lots ofbutter, he welcomes us, he has
compassion on us, he has lovefor us, and he wants us to
invite him in to our heartache.
SPEAKER_00 (08:35):
That is beautiful, Heidi.
I love Psalm 32, verses 1through 5.
It is one of the most beautifulpost-failure psalms.
And David is writing here (08:45):
When I kept silent, my bones wasted
away through my groaning all daylong.
For day and night, your hand washeavy on me, my strength was
sapped as in the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin toyou and did not cover up my
iniquity.
(09:05):
I said, I will confess mytransgressions to the Lord, and
you forgave the guilt of my sin.
SPEAKER_01 (09:14):
That's who our God is.
He's not waiting there with, ohmy goodness, I have memories
from my childhood and my parentswaiting, waiting with the
hairbrush or whatever it mightbe, they're gonna whoop my gosh
their end with.
He's not like that.
He's not waiting withpunishment, he's waiting.
Get this with pardon.
(09:35):
The moment we turn, he meets us.
He meets us.
In fact, he runs to greet us.
I mean, picture that story ofthe prodigal son and the father.
Did the father just stay thereon the porch waiting for the son
to make his way all the way downthe road?
No, he ran out to greet him andembraced him and called to
(09:56):
everybody to let's slaughter thefatted calf and get the robe and
the ring and all that goodstuff.
Celebrate.
He didn't say, Well, you're infor it now, buddy.
It's a good thing you finallycame home to get what you
deserve, right?
SPEAKER_00 (10:12):
Heidi, this is a huge shift.
This is a huge shift.
Failure, then, is not the end ofintimacy with God.
God hasn't gone anywhere, he'sstill right there with us.
And like you said, he's actuallyrunning towards us.
Oh, I love that that picture inmy mind.
(10:33):
And really, it's a newbeginning.
It's it's something new that Godis doing in us.
He is always at work, he redeemseverything, he doesn't waste our
failures.
I mean, imagine that being thebeginning of something new.
That's really what it is.
SPEAKER_01 (10:51):
Yeah.
You know, the only real failure,because the Lord is who he is,
the only real failure is when wedon't invite him into, because
then we miss what he has for usthere.
And so by inviting him in, wecan learn so much from those
failures.
If the enemy can convince usthat messing up means you are
(11:13):
out, you're out of here.
Go sit on the step or whatever.
He's gonna try to isolate you.
He is, and that's just the thingis God wants to use your
failure, your mess up, yourslip, stumble, fall, failure,
sploogie to draw you near tohim.
He wants to use it to show youwhat you could do next time so
(11:36):
that you can experience victoryin a very similar situation,
which is so beautiful.
It's how we get to experiencerhythms of grace in our life.
If we never failed, we wouldmiss this.
And if we don't invite him in,we're gonna miss it.
When we fail, let's say, oh, Ihave an opportunity to learn
from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00 (11:55):
Exactly, exactly, exactly.
I want to share Hosea 6, verse1.
Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces, but hewill heal us.
He has injured us, but he willbind up our wounds.
And then verse 3 goes on (12:11):
let us acknowledge the Lord, let us
press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises, hewill appear.
God wants to be known.
SPEAKER_01 (12:26):
He's not holding us at arm's length because of our
food mistakes until you get thisfigured out, child.
I'm not going to love on you.
Go sit on the step.
He's not doing that.
He wants us to press in and walkwith him through it.
Because he's not after behaviormodification.
No, no, no.
(12:48):
He's after transformation thatcomes to us through renewing our
mind and through being in arelationship with him, through
coming to him again and again.
SPEAKER_00 (12:59):
Well, and that's why mind renewal is so central to
what we teach at RevelationWithin.
It's like the main, main, mainthing, not just after a win, but
especially after a loss.
That's where truth has the mostpower.
Isn't that just like our God?
SPEAKER_01 (13:19):
Yes.
It's like you don't have to beperfect.
Well, but but but no, no buts.
Let him redeem the failure, themess up, the slip.
Let him, you know, thatsideways, you know, the way we
go sideways, he can redeem it.
Yes.
So what do we say to ourselvesin those vulnerable moments when
(13:40):
we slipped maybe back into oldpatterns and want to either
hide, which is something I wantto do a lot of times, or punish
ourselves.
You know, can I ever hate myselfin a positive change?
No, but I sure try.
SPEAKER_00 (13:56):
Yeah, we've done that really, really well for
decades, haven't we, Heidi?
But no more, no more.
No more.
SPEAKER_01 (14:03):
This, no more.
I can honestly say I'm free fromthat.
I mean, when it comes to foodand eating, especially, now
there are other situations thatmight come up that I haven't
gotten so good at it, but God'sshowing me, okay, this area
needs to also benefit from mygrace.
SPEAKER_00 (14:23):
Yeah.
We're works in progressconstantly.
That's what we are.
And for me, at least, I knowthat the more I embrace that,
the better that it is.
The more that I embrace, I'm awork in progress.
That's that's good.
That's a good thing.
So we have a holiday failuretruth list that we would love to
share with you.
(14:43):
You can borrow it, you can adaptit, you can speak it out loud.
I thought Heidi and I could goback and forth on these.
Oh, okay.
And you can also write your own.
But these are truths that willcarry you through the holiday
season and will carry youthrough when you stumble.
And you will, and that's okay.
SPEAKER_01 (15:04):
Yep, it's okay.
No, you know what?
I just have to say before we dothis holiday failure truthless,
it's a struggle for many peopleto hear that it's okay if I fail
because of a million reasons,but not the least of which is if
I give myself permission tofail, then what's to keep me
from just not trying at all?
(15:24):
Right.
Just whatever.
I'm just, it doesn't matter.
Yeah, tell tell me about that.
Well, how can we how can we besure that we're not gonna go
down that road?
SPEAKER_00 (15:33):
When we approach this, like, okay, I am a work in
progress, I am going to trip andstumble.
Honestly, we live in an imperimperfect world.
There is just no way that we cando anything perfectly.
We just can't.
And so if we're going to Godwith our struggles and we're
asking Him for help and wisdomand grace, we are not going to
(15:57):
be in any kind of a posturewhere we're like, I'm gonna do
whatever I want.
And honestly, we don't want todo that because we know it
doesn't feel good.
It brings us down, it drains us.
We end up wallowing in a pit ofself-pity.
We are frustrated, we don'tactually want to be there.
(16:19):
I have shared this before, butfor myself, there were two
phrases that I used to hear inmy mind all the time.
And basically, it was me puttingmy defenses up, almost like a
little kid, you know, like,don't mess with me.
The first one was, I don't care.
And the second one was, itdoesn't matter.
(16:42):
Honestly, I didn't believeeither of those things.
I did care, I cared so much thatit hurt, and then I knew that it
mattered.
I knew that it mattered so much,but I struggled with I have
nowhere to go with this.
I have nowhere to go.
I struggled with that.
And so I would put up my fistskind of and say, I don't care.
(17:04):
It doesn't matter.
What I was really needing to dowas go to the Lord and replace
those phrases with, God, I needhelp.
Help me to surrender to you.
I am your girl.
I need something, and food isnot giving it to me.
I need to be satisfied in you.
So it's kind of that place ofletting go and being
(17:28):
surrendered, and that bringspeace.
It brings wisdom from God, itbrings life.
It's the very opposite of what Iwas describing before, how that
brings you down.
We don't want to live thereanymore.
Certainly not in the holidays.
We want to live in a place thatbrings life to our hearts and
(17:48):
souls and minds.
And that's God's way.
We want his way.
We really do deep down.
SPEAKER_01 (17:56):
And you know what?
I feel like the more I've gottento know what God's character
really is like and gotten somedistance from the errors that I
had in what I thought he waslike, it causes me to love him
more.
And and I mean, I do.
My heart just swells with loveand appreciation for him as I
practice gratitude, as I've asI've shared that, Lord, I love a
(18:19):
mind-renewal tool with him, youknow, if you know, and and gone
on.
I find that I'm not all aboutwanting to just go my own way,
like you were saying.
I now want to.
What would you have me do here,Lord?
What would you I want to do?
What makes you happy?
What causes a little jig in yourstep, Lord?
SPEAKER_00 (18:41):
Okay, so we're we're back to our list.
And you again make it your own.
Go ahead and write your own.
This isn't rocket science, butthis might give you an idea of
where to begin.
Go ahead, Heidi.
I am not disqualified by mystruggle.
Yes, that is a beautifullife-giving truth.
(19:03):
How about this one?
Romans 8:1.
There is no condemnation for mein Christ.
None.
Zip zero, no condemnation.
SPEAKER_01 (19:13):
Yeah, and I mean, a picture saying these after you
have had a slip or a stumble, ormaybe even in the middle of the
slip or stumble.
God is not surprised by thismoment.
SPEAKER_00 (19:25):
He still loves me.
Yes, I love this one.
Grace is still mine.
I'm swimming in it.
There, it's unlimited,unlimited.
SPEAKER_01 (19:38):
Jesus is still my shepherd, even in this valley.
SPEAKER_00 (19:42):
Yes, and this is not the end of the story.
Not at all.
It might be the beginning of abrand new story for me.
SPEAKER_01 (19:51):
Yes, and then Philippians 1:6.
He who began a good work in mepromises he's going to carry it
on to completion.
I love that promise.
SPEAKER_00 (20:01):
How about this?
I can run to God, not from him.
God is with me right now.
Lord, I'm turning to you rightin this moment.
Let's talk about this and thenboom, move on.
It's over.
SPEAKER_01 (20:15):
And if I am relating to him like I did my parents,
okay, and in my case, thatwouldn't have been an accurate
picture of God at all, ofcourse, I'm not gonna want to
run to him.
But that's a really goodindication that my perspective
on what God is like and what hedoes for people, how he operates
in my life is in error.
(20:35):
And so if I really understandthat God is who he says he is,
and I am who he says I am, I runto him.
I want to run to him rather thanfrom him.
I mean, as a child growing up, Iwanted to run from my parents,
but I want to run to the Lord.
(20:56):
I'm so grateful for that.
You know, you can take that listand add a few of your own truths
to it.
You can stick it on yourbathroom mirror, or you can even
record it as a voice memo sothat you can listen to it on
repeat if you want to whileyou're driving in your car going
somewhere or coming back fromsomewhere.
Just don't let the enemy havethe last word when you fall.
(21:20):
Let God's truth speak louder,okay?
SPEAKER_00 (21:22):
Yes, yes, yes, definitely.
Okay, so we say this a lot, butit bears repeating.
Your value does not hang in thebalance of your holiday food
choices.
It does not.
Your identity in Christ is adone deal.
If you have accepted Christ intoyour heart, it's a done deal.
(21:46):
It's over with.
It is not gonna change.
You are God's girl or God's guy,no matter what you do or don't
do.
That's not where your value orworth comes from.
It's not.
SPEAKER_01 (21:59):
Here's the truth, though, that these truths that
we're talking about can feelreally elusive or even untrue.
If you've spent your whole lifetrying to earn your worth
through your appearance or yourweight or your willpower or your
ability to stick to a plan oranything else, it can feel like
(22:20):
these things that we're sharingwith you aren't true.
Check the word of God out andsee what it says, and then tell
yourself that truth that youfind in the word of God over and
over and over again.
We get to choose what we think,and what we think is going to
establish our beliefs, and whatwe believe is going to establish
our actions.
And so we want to think what istrue according to God, and his
(22:45):
word is full of that.
SPEAKER_00 (22:46):
It is.
How about Colossians 2, verses20 to 23?
Paul writes, Since you died withChrist to the elemental
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 are based merely onhuman commands and teachings.
(23:10):
Such regulations indeed have anappearance of wisdom, but they
lack any value in restrainingsensual indulgence.
That one hits hard.
It does.
It's like, wait, is that reallyin the Bible?
Yes, it is.
SPEAKER_01 (23:30):
It is.
You know, the law can'ttransform us, rules can't change
our hearts.
No, only Jesus can do that, andthat's what he wants to do.
Only a renewed mind filled withthe truth from the Lord is gonna
produce lasting peace andfreedom.
That's all there is to it.
SPEAKER_00 (23:49):
That's it's so true.
It's so true.
And those of us that have beenchasing after it on our own for
years and years and years, weknow there's more to it than
that.
We can't do it on our own.
Titus 2, verses 11 and 12 says,For the grace of God has
appeared that offers salvationto all people.
(24:09):
It teaches us to say no toungodliness and worldly passions
and to live self-controlled,upright, and godly lives in this
present age.
SPEAKER_01 (24:22):
Grace is not a past, it's a teacher.
And you know, it's true.
It teaches us to say no toungodliness and worldly
passions, to live aself-controlled, upright, and
godly life.
And I think that's a beautifultruth.
So often we think of grace as aexcuse.
You know, I think it's in Romans6 where Paul says, So shall I
(24:43):
sin all the more so that gracemay increase?
And depending upon whichtranslation you're reading from,
it might say, Absolutely not, noway.
Grace is not a pass, it's ateacher.
No, it's gonna keep showing upin your life this holiday
season, isn't that awesome?
SPEAKER_00 (25:03):
Not to shame you, but to shape you, to shame that
it's beautiful.
Imagine, imagine, I mean, whatif every single time you
struggled, stumbled, messed up,you spent a few minutes with the
Lord.
Imagine that this holidayseason.
What would that?
I mean, wow, would that justchange your whole holiday
(25:25):
season?
So even if you mess up today,what if you're messing up right
now?
It could be even while you'relistening and you're not hungry.
Today, right now, tell yourself,I have a plan.
I know what I'm gonna do whenI'm gonna mess up.
I'm gonna turn to Jesus.
(25:47):
Let his truth reset yourthoughts and let his love
restore your heart.
SPEAKER_01 (25:57):
I love that.
Psalm 34, 18 says, the Lord isnear to the brokenhearted and
saves the crushed in spirit.
Don't you just love him so?
SPEAKER_00 (26:09):
That's what he's like.
That is that's what he's reallylike.
Yes.
Okay, so be sure to come nextweek.
We're gonna talk aboutnavigating relationships and
difficult people during theholidays.
Do we know anybody that's notwanna do that?
Let's just talk about otherthings.
(26:30):
No, yeah, um, we're gonna talkabout navigating relationships
without overeating or isolating.
This is a big one.
You don't want to miss it.
This is huge.
SPEAKER_01 (26:43):
Oh, okay.
Until then, let's walk in grace,let's run to truth and let's
renew our minds as many times aswe can.
SPEAKER_00 (26:51):
We could never do it too much.
Yes, that's right.
Because God's mercies really arenew every morning, even after
pie and mashed potatoes.
Too much of them.
All right.
We are so glad that you've beenhere today, and we would love to
invite you to come to our nextpodcast, Revelation Within.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.