September 5, 2025 • 18 mins
Leanne is back with Scott and Ketric for another episode of our "Ask the God Pod" series. This week they tackle a question many newcomers to faith share: "What if my faith-life is different from how I was raised?"
Raised in a Christian household, this question comes from a listener who grappled with uncertainty and doubt about her beliefs since leaving home. Struggling with feelings of guilt and obligation tied to her upbringing, she candidly expressed the internal conflict of adhering to a faith she's uncertain about.
Join us as we delve into the complexities of faith, exploring themes of personal conviction, authenticity, and the freedom to question and define your own spiritual journey. Through compassionate dialogue and insights grounded in both faith and reason, we aim to offer guidance and understanding to anyone navigating similar uncertainties on their path to spiritual discovery.
HOST: Leanne Ellington // StresslessEating.com // @leanneellington
GUEST: Ketric Newell & Scott Stephens
To learn more about Leanne, head over to www.LeanneEllington.com, and to share your thoughts, questions, feedback, or guest suggestions instantly, head on over to www.WhatsGodGotToDoWithIt.com.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
If you want to go on a journey.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
If you're skeptical, don't worry. Now here to preach.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I want to keep the clean and talk to me
and recall where faith needs stops nature, get in touch
with your creator with a baking.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Love and joke.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
She even speaks Hebrew.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
What's that? What's that?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
We'll send the talking transformation.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
What'stop down to.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Welcome back to what's God got to do with it?
We are here for another episode of Ask the God Pod.
We are so fortunate to have Ketrick and Scott back
for this next episode, and I will link their episodes
because you will recognize them from other episodes of the God.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
In the show notes.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
But today we're here with a question from and forgive
me if I'm pronouncing your name wrong. I think it's
sd ees t Ee sd or Esday. Esday says, I've
grown up in a Christian home, but I've really been
unsure about God and my faith since moving away from
home to go to university.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I have this guilt of feeling like I should be Christian.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Because that's how I grew up, but I am not
sure if I actually believe it. So I'll go ahead
and kick this one off. First of all, thank you
so much for asking this. I can only imagine how
challenging it is to be, you know, to have an
upbringing that is one certain way, and then as you
become an adult with your own set of beliefs and opinions,
you're questioning. So I think it's beautiful that you're questioning,
(01:41):
because you know that's what God is here to do.
He's here to answer questions, and he loved to me.
I believe he loves our curiosity, right, So giving yourself
permission to just be exploring and be experimenting. And just
from my own experiences, this was a big challenge for
me growing up in a Jewish home, I had a
lot of that same guilt. I'm like, oh my gosh,
am I a bad Jew because I'm exploring my own
(02:03):
faith down a Christian road, right. And so my first
piece of advice, or I should say, like, what I
would invite you into is really give yourself permission.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
To be air quote selfish, right, and give your self.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Permission to decide what's right for you and explore this
on your own. And I know it's so much easier
said than done, but just because you learned a certain
way of thinking growing up. It doesn't mean that you
don't have agency to create a new relationship.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
With God right now.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
And that's also what I wanted to invite you into,
is like, what if it wasn't about being an air
quotes Christian or not a Christian. What if it was
about first just starting and exploring your relationship with God.
And then like one of the things that I did
and you can, you can definitely check out the first
three episodes of this podcast because I shared that exploration
was I gave myself permission not to put any labels
(02:53):
on it and not to call myself a Christian, a Jew, whatever,
because those preconceived notions of what that looked like were
really limiting me.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
And what I did was, I was like, I'm just
going to try this on. I'm just going to explore.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
I'm going to create a relationship with God and see
what that looks like for me. And one of the
other things that I told myself is that it was
nobody else's business that it was between God and I.
So I wanted to just plant that seed as we
open up this conversation and before I turn it over
to our very wise gentleman over on the microphones.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Thanks leanne Esdea hope you uh let us know if
we pronounce your name right. If not, we at least
know what it means. I looked it up. It means
two things, one hidden or concealed and a star. So
this is interesting. There's a really cool proverb. It says,
it's the glory of God to conceal things, but the
glory of kings or in this in sance a queen
(03:46):
to search things out. And here's what's also interesting about
her name as a Jew. You may or may not
know this. It's a reference back to Queen Esther.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I know Esther, you know Esther Ortify Hayman, the story
of POORU.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
So if we were talking, I understand what it means
to grow up in a Christian family. There's a lot
of great things. Sometimes there's some religious baggage. Sometimes it's
not all perfect. But I believe as you've stepped out
of the nest right and God for you wants to say,
you're a queen. So search this out. You can understand
(04:22):
me in a way that's even a deeper than your
parents have. I think one of the things that about
growing up religious for me is sometimes things didn't always
make sense. Sometimes they were just off. Because religion goes
back to the rules and the podcast episode where Ketrick
(04:42):
talked about that before. So all that to say, if
I'm sitting with you, I'm probably asking are there inconsistencies
with what you were taught and what you're experiencing or
what you expected? Because if so, I get it, I
would say, don't give up. Actually double down, search it out, Queen, like,
(05:04):
go find out what it means for you, and what
I believe you'll find happens is probably a deeper revelation,
a deeper understanding of God than maybe even your parents have.
Take it from me, like, be nice, don't tell them
how they were wrong, and but let them experience what
you've experienced over the next few years, and you'll really
step back and say, Wow, I know God in an
(05:24):
amazing way. And now my parents and I are even closer.
And this became such a journey as God made me
who I'm supposed to be, which is a star.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I love that.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
And just to stack on that before I turn it
over to Ketrick. One of the things that Kevin Queen
mentioned on the first episode he was on on our
podcast I'll link it in the show notes. Was it's
the difference between religion and relationship, you know, And I
think that when we enter into a conversation where and
I don't know, you're not here to answer this, like
if it was more of a religious type of Christianity,
where there was like you can be a good Christian
(05:55):
or a bad Christian. It's legalism and there's based on
rules that that might be something to explore for you
and see if it's just maybe what you were kind
of indoctrinated into doesn't align with the kind of relationship
that you want to have. And that's where i'd invite
you to look at it instead of a religion, really
a relationship. But that being said, I'll turn it over
to you ketch it because I know you have a
(06:16):
lot to say on this matter.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I would say to you the best thing that you
could pray is, Lord, help me unlearn anything that I've
learned that's not from you. That's the prayer. You just
need to pray that, and pray that until you see
the inconsistencies of how you grew up and what Jesus
actually said and what he actually did. Because a lot
(06:41):
of times we can put Jesus name on things that
Jesus never signed. We can have people growing up they
think that the religious aspect of how they're living is God,
and so they co sign it. But what they never
looked at did God sign it first? And I think
a lot of times in our own lives that's what happens.
And so we don't actually get to see the true
(07:02):
picture of Jesus. We get to see a distorted picture
of Jesus. But there's things about that distorted Jesus that
makes you curious and you want that, but there's some
things about it that don't feel like it's safe. Those
unsafe places is where someone has traded religion for relationship,
(07:24):
and that is where that stuff starts to break down.
But try not to judge Jesus based upon what someone
else said he was. You can go to the source
because you have the ability to do so. And the
best place to start to saying, Jesus, help me unlearned
anything I've learned that it's not from you. And as
you do that, and as I've done that in my
own life. I wasn't raised in church, but I was
(07:46):
raised in a church. When I started going, I started
going with a certain denomination around a certain group of people,
and there were things that were inconsistent as I jumped
into the Bible that I went, oh, that says that here,
and people like, oh, yeah, no, that's not and I
would be like, but hold on, it's in the Bible,
and it begin to make me go, Okay, Jesus, help
(08:07):
me unlearn anything I've learned. It's not from you. Does
it make the people bad? You don't have to do
any of that stuff. You can just go help me
understand what I don't know and do that. And so
I think that's been one of the biggest helpful things
for me in that process, because you can you can
mix in a bunch of stuff and pick up a
bunch of stuff and Jesus going, that's not even me,
(08:28):
Like there's a parts of me that's in there, but
it's not who I am. And when you can hear
it from the source, it'll really make some of these
things come to life and be clear and help you
step into it. I would also say that there's a
nudge in that where you feel a tugging and a
pool of you're asking that question like I think I
should be, And so I would just follow that out. Lord,
(08:50):
show me what it looks like to walk with you.
What does it look like to have an intimate relationship
with you, even maybe that I haven't seen or seeing
from my family? Show me what it looks like to
walk with you.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I wanted to add one more idea. You surround yourself
with who are like experiencing life the way you want
to experience it. And wise Christian people right. So you know,
I actually have a board for my company and Ketrick's
one of my board members because he's wise, because he
lives a life that that's how I want to live.
That's why I want to operate. When I was in college,
(09:25):
the best thing I ever did was I went to
this church and they said, if you want to be adopted,
let us know. And this family of husband and wife
and five kids they adopted me and I went to
their house for dinner every Friday night, and that relationship
changed my life. I have a great family, but it
showed me an even better example model right, and the
(09:47):
way that they experienced God was just a little different
and allowed me to experience God differently. So find people
who know Jesus the way you want to know him.
Find wise people and you will surround yourself with them
and you will receive things. Like we've talked about it, it's
all about receiving. You will receive things you've always dreamed
of and ways that you can understand God and unlearned
(10:07):
like Ketrick said, and re engage with the Lord in
a really refreshing line.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
I know, for me, when I was first finding a
relationship with God and creating that relationship, you know, I was,
I was a single gal or I was that was
what I was calling myself, right, and so what did
I do? I found amazing married couples and I was like,
what's it look like to be around a beautiful faith
based couple because I'd never had that.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I'd never been in that, you know.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
In business, I remember I was part of a like
a mastermind, and I dropped out because I was like,
I don't want to be led in business by anyone
who's not being led by God.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
And it's like about the type of people that are
influencing you and leading you. I know that my clients
come to me not because they think I'm cool, but
because they know that I know something about how to
have a relationship with my body and with food that
serves me and that sets me free.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
And they want to know how to think that way.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
So it is really about, you know, surrounding yourself with
people that will can pour into you, but that also
like they exude something that you want to take on
and they have a way of thinking or a way
of being that really lights you up. And then one
other thing that really came up for me when I
was rereading your question ESTI is you know, for me personally,
I gave myself permission to have way more questions than answers,
(11:28):
you know that childlike faith. I was literally looking up
the etymology of words like grace and faith and sanctification
like I cause I didn't know what any of those
words meant, and so I was just asking questions when
I and I joined you know, women's groups and Bible studies,
and I didn't I wasn't afraid to be like, hey,
I'm going to ask the you know, fifth grader level question,
(11:50):
but like what does that mean? You know, in asking
questions like we answered on the last asked the godpod of.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
What does it look like to pray?
Speaker 4 (11:57):
And so giving yourself permission to be a freshman and
with that childlike wonder to ask more questions because I
think with our upbringing, we are hearing from like an
air quotes authority of like this is so or this
is what to believe. And so that's where I want
to give you permission to kind of clear away the cobwebs,
create a blank slate and just ask way more questions
(12:18):
than you have answers.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
The last thing I want to share, because Leanne's a
great model, let's just get on her level. When you're
in college, you're surrounded by smart people quote unquote, and
they want you to get on their level, which is intellectual,
and there's a place for that. But if you want
to experience God, you gotta get on Leanne's level, right,
You got to think like a kid. So that's the
(12:43):
opportunity in college is all these intellects, they want you
to get on their level. Get on Leanne's level. I'm
seeing how she lives life. It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Thank you I received that.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
So the last thing I think I'll say in this
is that there is a moment in life where even
with your background, you're going to be led by fear
or you're going to be led by peace, and fear
always comes in that religious ball. When you're being led
in that religion, there's always a fear of I'm not
adding up, I'm not being I can't become. I'm always
(13:15):
missing the mark. You can always be moved by peace.
Peace is always in the room. And I think that
that's a big thing in this process for you is
to be able to be led by peace and don't
move until you have that, and I think that will
be helpful. The other thing is, and I want Scott,
before we end it, I want you to read that
(13:37):
verse again, the one that you said in the beginning
when you dropped a bomb.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yeah, Proverbs twenty five to two. It's the glory of
God to conceal things, to hide things, Essie. But the
glory of kings or in the sentstence queen is to
search things out.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
So for you you're on this journey, the question shows
that you're doing exactly that. The thing that someone said
a long time ago, and I remember who said it,
but it said, when God is hiding things from us,
it's like an Easter egg hunt. It's not a hiding
from them so that you never find them. And that's
what the journey that you're on God is giddy about
the things that he's hidden. When I was a kid,
(14:15):
we used to do Easter egg hunts every Easter, and
I'd be so pumped to go grab the easter egg
that had the dollar bill on it or had the
candy in it. My parents were so pumped not to
hide them from me so that I could never find them,
but giddy for me to find them because of the
treasure that would bring joy on my face to receive.
And that would be what I would say to you
(14:35):
in this season.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
I love that so good.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
And you know, when it comes to family dynamics too,
I think oftentimes it comes down to the certainty versus
doubt conversation. Wherever you have doubt, you're probably going to
borrow somebody's certainty. And it might feel like that's the
authority is where somebody's more certain than you.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Right.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
So I remember for me, like when I shut down
my first business to pursue what I'm doing now, everybody
thought I was crazy and they're like, what are you
going to do?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Like how are you gonna make money?
Speaker 4 (15:01):
All the things, And so my lack of certainty made
me feel a lot of doubt about myself, and so
other people's fear and certainty about the fear was overshadowing
my level of certainty.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
But as I.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Grew belief and I got clarity about like this is
what it looks like, this is what I'm gonna do,
my certainty over shadowed their uncertainty, right, And so coming
back to this conversation full circle, I gave myself permission
not to share my experiences around my faith with my
family until I was certain about what I wanted to
say about it, because I didn't want my uncertainty to
(15:36):
be overshadowed by somebody else's doubt or their certainty about
that it wasn't right or that like you know, Christianity
was whatever, like, and they never ever said that in
the end, But that being said, like, give yourself permission
to find certainty in what you believe so that you
can stand in it before you feel like you have
to share it with anybody else, because like I said
(15:57):
at the beginning, and I mean, this was so much
love and it's not an anti high them kind of thing.
It's just a pro you kind of thing where your
relationship with God is nobody's business, right, it's your business,
it's his business. But nobody else really has a seat
at the table to say what.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You should be doing or what you shouldn't be doing.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
And I know that's so hard when you feel like
your family might be judging you, or you feel like
you might be turning your back on them.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
But I want to invite you to.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Question that with questions rather than answers as well, because
you might be really surprised at what you find.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
But give yourself permission to kind of incubate.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Yourself and go on this exploration, Go on this experiment,
go on this ride with childlike faith, and ask God
to show you who he is right.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
He will show you who he is right.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
And so if you have any preconceived beliefs or notions
about what that looks like, I would just invite you
to empty your cup. And if you have beliefs based
on what your family said or what your upbringing was,
I invite you to empty that out too. You can
always put some of that stuff back in at if
you choose it again as the adult that you are.
But oftentimes our beliefs we download something when young that
(17:00):
we didn't even vote on, right, So give yourself permission
to vote on whatever gets put back in this cup
of yours. Thank you so much SD for sending in
that question. I guarantee you you are speaking into the
questions that other people listening have, So thank you for
your courage to ask. And that is it for this
episode of Ask the Godpod, and we'll be back soon
with more.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Bye. We'll be back with more What's God Got to
Do with It?
Speaker 4 (17:26):
But in the meantime, I would definitely love to hear
from you, so just tell me where you are in
your story or maybe what questions you have, like where
do you feel you need clarity or support or wisdom
in your own journey. I definitely want to hear from you,
So head on over to What's God Got to Do
with It? Dot com and scroll down to the form
(17:47):
to share your thoughts, your questions, your feedback, and you
can do that instantly. So What's God Got to Do
with It? Dot com you'll find all the ways to
do that.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
And if you like this podcast and want to hear more,
go ahead and follow, like, and.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts to get your weekly dose.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Of What's God Got to Do with It?
Speaker 4 (18:07):
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Speaker 2 (18:11):
Be sure to rate and review to show your support.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
It really means so much. What's God Got to Do
With It? Is an iHeartRadio podcast on the Amy Brown
Podcast Network.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
It's written and hosted
Speaker 4 (18:24):
By me Leanne Ellington, executive produced by Elizabeth Fozzio, post
production and editing by Houston Tilley, and original music written
by Cheryl Stark and produced by Adam Stark
If you want to go on a journey.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
If you're skeptical, don't worry. Now here to preach.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I want to keep the clean and talk to me
and recall where faith needs stops nature, get in touch
with your creator with a baking.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Love and joke.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
She even speaks Hebrew.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
What's that? What's that?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
We'll send the talking transformation.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
What'stop down to.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Welcome back to what's God got to do with it?
We are here for another episode of Ask the God Pod.
We are so fortunate to have Ketrick and Scott back
for this next episode, and I will link their episodes
because you will recognize them from other episodes of the God.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
In the show notes.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
But today we're here with a question from and forgive
me if I'm pronouncing your name wrong. I think it's
sd ees t Ee sd or Esday. Esday says, I've
grown up in a Christian home, but I've really been
unsure about God and my faith since moving away from
home to go to university.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I have this guilt of feeling like I should be Christian.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Because that's how I grew up, but I am not
sure if I actually believe it. So I'll go ahead
and kick this one off. First of all, thank you
so much for asking this. I can only imagine how
challenging it is to be, you know, to have an
upbringing that is one certain way, and then as you
become an adult with your own set of beliefs and opinions,
you're questioning. So I think it's beautiful that you're questioning,
(01:41):
because you know that's what God is here to do.
He's here to answer questions, and he loved to me.
I believe he loves our curiosity, right, So giving yourself
permission to just be exploring and be experimenting. And just
from my own experiences, this was a big challenge for
me growing up in a Jewish home, I had a
lot of that same guilt. I'm like, oh my gosh,
am I a bad Jew because I'm exploring my own
(02:03):
faith down a Christian road, right. And so my first
piece of advice, or I should say, like, what I
would invite you into is really give yourself permission.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
To be air quote selfish, right, and give your self.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Permission to decide what's right for you and explore this
on your own. And I know it's so much easier
said than done, but just because you learned a certain
way of thinking growing up. It doesn't mean that you
don't have agency to create a new relationship.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
With God right now.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
And that's also what I wanted to invite you into,
is like, what if it wasn't about being an air
quotes Christian or not a Christian. What if it was
about first just starting and exploring your relationship with God.
And then like one of the things that I did
and you can, you can definitely check out the first
three episodes of this podcast because I shared that exploration
was I gave myself permission not to put any labels
(02:53):
on it and not to call myself a Christian, a Jew, whatever,
because those preconceived notions of what that looked like were
really limiting me.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
And what I did was, I was like, I'm just
going to try this on. I'm just going to explore.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
I'm going to create a relationship with God and see
what that looks like for me. And one of the
other things that I told myself is that it was
nobody else's business that it was between God and I.
So I wanted to just plant that seed as we
open up this conversation and before I turn it over
to our very wise gentleman over on the microphones.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Thanks leanne Esdea hope you uh let us know if
we pronounce your name right. If not, we at least
know what it means. I looked it up. It means
two things, one hidden or concealed and a star. So
this is interesting. There's a really cool proverb. It says,
it's the glory of God to conceal things, but the
glory of kings or in this in sance a queen
(03:46):
to search things out. And here's what's also interesting about
her name as a Jew. You may or may not
know this. It's a reference back to Queen Esther.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I know Esther, you know Esther Ortify Hayman, the story
of POORU.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
So if we were talking, I understand what it means
to grow up in a Christian family. There's a lot
of great things. Sometimes there's some religious baggage. Sometimes it's
not all perfect. But I believe as you've stepped out
of the nest right and God for you wants to say,
you're a queen. So search this out. You can understand
(04:22):
me in a way that's even a deeper than your
parents have. I think one of the things that about
growing up religious for me is sometimes things didn't always
make sense. Sometimes they were just off. Because religion goes
back to the rules and the podcast episode where Ketrick
(04:42):
talked about that before. So all that to say, if
I'm sitting with you, I'm probably asking are there inconsistencies
with what you were taught and what you're experiencing or
what you expected? Because if so, I get it, I
would say, don't give up. Actually double down, search it out, Queen, like,
(05:04):
go find out what it means for you, and what
I believe you'll find happens is probably a deeper revelation,
a deeper understanding of God than maybe even your parents have.
Take it from me, like, be nice, don't tell them
how they were wrong, and but let them experience what
you've experienced over the next few years, and you'll really
step back and say, Wow, I know God in an
(05:24):
amazing way. And now my parents and I are even closer.
And this became such a journey as God made me
who I'm supposed to be, which is a star.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I love that.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
And just to stack on that before I turn it
over to Ketrick. One of the things that Kevin Queen
mentioned on the first episode he was on on our
podcast I'll link it in the show notes. Was it's
the difference between religion and relationship, you know, And I
think that when we enter into a conversation where and
I don't know, you're not here to answer this, like
if it was more of a religious type of Christianity,
where there was like you can be a good Christian
(05:55):
or a bad Christian. It's legalism and there's based on
rules that that might be something to explore for you
and see if it's just maybe what you were kind
of indoctrinated into doesn't align with the kind of relationship
that you want to have. And that's where i'd invite
you to look at it instead of a religion, really
a relationship. But that being said, I'll turn it over
to you ketch it because I know you have a
(06:16):
lot to say on this matter.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I would say to you the best thing that you
could pray is, Lord, help me unlearn anything that I've
learned that's not from you. That's the prayer. You just
need to pray that, and pray that until you see
the inconsistencies of how you grew up and what Jesus
actually said and what he actually did. Because a lot
(06:41):
of times we can put Jesus name on things that
Jesus never signed. We can have people growing up they
think that the religious aspect of how they're living is God,
and so they co sign it. But what they never
looked at did God sign it first? And I think
a lot of times in our own lives that's what happens.
And so we don't actually get to see the true
(07:02):
picture of Jesus. We get to see a distorted picture
of Jesus. But there's things about that distorted Jesus that
makes you curious and you want that, but there's some
things about it that don't feel like it's safe. Those
unsafe places is where someone has traded religion for relationship,
(07:24):
and that is where that stuff starts to break down.
But try not to judge Jesus based upon what someone
else said he was. You can go to the source
because you have the ability to do so. And the
best place to start to saying, Jesus, help me unlearned
anything I've learned that it's not from you. And as
you do that, and as I've done that in my
own life. I wasn't raised in church, but I was
(07:46):
raised in a church. When I started going, I started
going with a certain denomination around a certain group of people,
and there were things that were inconsistent as I jumped
into the Bible that I went, oh, that says that here,
and people like, oh, yeah, no, that's not and I
would be like, but hold on, it's in the Bible,
and it begin to make me go, Okay, Jesus, help
(08:07):
me unlearn anything I've learned. It's not from you. Does
it make the people bad? You don't have to do
any of that stuff. You can just go help me
understand what I don't know and do that. And so
I think that's been one of the biggest helpful things
for me in that process, because you can you can
mix in a bunch of stuff and pick up a
bunch of stuff and Jesus going, that's not even me,
(08:28):
Like there's a parts of me that's in there, but
it's not who I am. And when you can hear
it from the source, it'll really make some of these
things come to life and be clear and help you
step into it. I would also say that there's a
nudge in that where you feel a tugging and a
pool of you're asking that question like I think I
should be, And so I would just follow that out. Lord,
(08:50):
show me what it looks like to walk with you.
What does it look like to have an intimate relationship
with you, even maybe that I haven't seen or seeing
from my family? Show me what it looks like to
walk with you.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I wanted to add one more idea. You surround yourself
with who are like experiencing life the way you want
to experience it. And wise Christian people right. So you know,
I actually have a board for my company and Ketrick's
one of my board members because he's wise, because he
lives a life that that's how I want to live.
That's why I want to operate. When I was in college,
(09:25):
the best thing I ever did was I went to
this church and they said, if you want to be adopted,
let us know. And this family of husband and wife
and five kids they adopted me and I went to
their house for dinner every Friday night, and that relationship
changed my life. I have a great family, but it
showed me an even better example model right, and the
(09:47):
way that they experienced God was just a little different
and allowed me to experience God differently. So find people
who know Jesus the way you want to know him.
Find wise people and you will surround yourself with them
and you will receive things. Like we've talked about it, it's
all about receiving. You will receive things you've always dreamed
of and ways that you can understand God and unlearned
(10:07):
like Ketrick said, and re engage with the Lord in
a really refreshing line.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
I know, for me, when I was first finding a
relationship with God and creating that relationship, you know, I was,
I was a single gal or I was that was
what I was calling myself, right, and so what did
I do? I found amazing married couples and I was like,
what's it look like to be around a beautiful faith
based couple because I'd never had that.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I'd never been in that, you know.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
In business, I remember I was part of a like
a mastermind, and I dropped out because I was like,
I don't want to be led in business by anyone
who's not being led by God.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
And it's like about the type of people that are
influencing you and leading you. I know that my clients
come to me not because they think I'm cool, but
because they know that I know something about how to
have a relationship with my body and with food that
serves me and that sets me free.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
And they want to know how to think that way.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
So it is really about, you know, surrounding yourself with
people that will can pour into you, but that also
like they exude something that you want to take on
and they have a way of thinking or a way
of being that really lights you up. And then one
other thing that really came up for me when I
was rereading your question ESTI is you know, for me personally,
I gave myself permission to have way more questions than answers,
(11:28):
you know that childlike faith. I was literally looking up
the etymology of words like grace and faith and sanctification
like I cause I didn't know what any of those
words meant, and so I was just asking questions when
I and I joined you know, women's groups and Bible studies,
and I didn't I wasn't afraid to be like, hey,
I'm going to ask the you know, fifth grader level question,
(11:50):
but like what does that mean? You know, in asking
questions like we answered on the last asked the godpod of.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
What does it look like to pray?
Speaker 4 (11:57):
And so giving yourself permission to be a freshman and
with that childlike wonder to ask more questions because I
think with our upbringing, we are hearing from like an
air quotes authority of like this is so or this
is what to believe. And so that's where I want
to give you permission to kind of clear away the cobwebs,
create a blank slate and just ask way more questions
(12:18):
than you have answers.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
The last thing I want to share, because Leanne's a
great model, let's just get on her level. When you're
in college, you're surrounded by smart people quote unquote, and
they want you to get on their level, which is intellectual,
and there's a place for that. But if you want
to experience God, you gotta get on Leanne's level, right,
You got to think like a kid. So that's the
(12:43):
opportunity in college is all these intellects, they want you
to get on their level. Get on Leanne's level. I'm
seeing how she lives life. It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Thank you I received that.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
So the last thing I think I'll say in this
is that there is a moment in life where even
with your background, you're going to be led by fear
or you're going to be led by peace, and fear
always comes in that religious ball. When you're being led
in that religion, there's always a fear of I'm not
adding up, I'm not being I can't become. I'm always
(13:15):
missing the mark. You can always be moved by peace.
Peace is always in the room. And I think that
that's a big thing in this process for you is
to be able to be led by peace and don't
move until you have that, and I think that will
be helpful. The other thing is, and I want Scott,
before we end it, I want you to read that
(13:37):
verse again, the one that you said in the beginning
when you dropped a bomb.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yeah, Proverbs twenty five to two. It's the glory of
God to conceal things, to hide things, Essie. But the
glory of kings or in the sentstence queen is to
search things out.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
So for you you're on this journey, the question shows
that you're doing exactly that. The thing that someone said
a long time ago, and I remember who said it,
but it said, when God is hiding things from us,
it's like an Easter egg hunt. It's not a hiding
from them so that you never find them. And that's
what the journey that you're on God is giddy about
the things that he's hidden. When I was a kid,
(14:15):
we used to do Easter egg hunts every Easter, and
I'd be so pumped to go grab the easter egg
that had the dollar bill on it or had the
candy in it. My parents were so pumped not to
hide them from me so that I could never find them,
but giddy for me to find them because of the
treasure that would bring joy on my face to receive.
And that would be what I would say to you
(14:35):
in this season.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
I love that so good.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
And you know, when it comes to family dynamics too,
I think oftentimes it comes down to the certainty versus
doubt conversation. Wherever you have doubt, you're probably going to
borrow somebody's certainty. And it might feel like that's the
authority is where somebody's more certain than you.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Right.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
So I remember for me, like when I shut down
my first business to pursue what I'm doing now, everybody
thought I was crazy and they're like, what are you
going to do?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Like how are you gonna make money?
Speaker 4 (15:01):
All the things, And so my lack of certainty made
me feel a lot of doubt about myself, and so
other people's fear and certainty about the fear was overshadowing
my level of certainty.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
But as I.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Grew belief and I got clarity about like this is
what it looks like, this is what I'm gonna do,
my certainty over shadowed their uncertainty, right, And so coming
back to this conversation full circle, I gave myself permission
not to share my experiences around my faith with my
family until I was certain about what I wanted to
say about it, because I didn't want my uncertainty to
(15:36):
be overshadowed by somebody else's doubt or their certainty about
that it wasn't right or that like you know, Christianity
was whatever, like, and they never ever said that in
the end, But that being said, like, give yourself permission
to find certainty in what you believe so that you
can stand in it before you feel like you have
to share it with anybody else, because like I said
(15:57):
at the beginning, and I mean, this was so much
love and it's not an anti high them kind of thing.
It's just a pro you kind of thing where your
relationship with God is nobody's business, right, it's your business,
it's his business. But nobody else really has a seat
at the table to say what.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You should be doing or what you shouldn't be doing.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
And I know that's so hard when you feel like
your family might be judging you, or you feel like
you might be turning your back on them.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
But I want to invite you to.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Question that with questions rather than answers as well, because
you might be really surprised at what you find.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
But give yourself permission to kind of incubate.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Yourself and go on this exploration, Go on this experiment,
go on this ride with childlike faith, and ask God
to show you who he is right.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
He will show you who he is right.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
And so if you have any preconceived beliefs or notions
about what that looks like, I would just invite you
to empty your cup. And if you have beliefs based
on what your family said or what your upbringing was,
I invite you to empty that out too. You can
always put some of that stuff back in at if
you choose it again as the adult that you are.
But oftentimes our beliefs we download something when young that
(17:00):
we didn't even vote on, right, So give yourself permission
to vote on whatever gets put back in this cup
of yours. Thank you so much SD for sending in
that question. I guarantee you you are speaking into the
questions that other people listening have, So thank you for
your courage to ask. And that is it for this
episode of Ask the Godpod, and we'll be back soon
with more.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Bye. We'll be back with more What's God Got to
Do with It?
Speaker 4 (17:26):
But in the meantime, I would definitely love to hear
from you, so just tell me where you are in
your story or maybe what questions you have, like where
do you feel you need clarity or support or wisdom
in your own journey. I definitely want to hear from you,
So head on over to What's God Got to Do
with It? Dot com and scroll down to the form
(17:47):
to share your thoughts, your questions, your feedback, and you
can do that instantly. So What's God Got to Do
with It? Dot com you'll find all the ways to
do that.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
And if you like this podcast and want to hear more,
go ahead and follow, like, and.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts to get your weekly dose.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Of What's God Got to Do with It?
Speaker 4 (18:07):
New episodes drop every single Tuesday, and while you're there.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Be sure to rate and review to show your support.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
It really means so much. What's God Got to Do
With It? Is an iHeartRadio podcast on the Amy Brown
Podcast Network.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
It's written and hosted
Speaker 4 (18:24):
By me Leanne Ellington, executive produced by Elizabeth Fozzio, post
production and editing by Houston Tilley, and original music written
by Cheryl Stark and produced by Adam Stark
Feeling Things with Amy & Kat News
Host
Amy Brown
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