because God would not say about us the things we say about ourselves. - Right. (upbeat music) - Hello there, you're listening to The Girl Talk Podcast. My name is Carol. - I'm Kelly. - I'm Chisha. - Glad you're here today, we're gonna be talking about health. Springtime, time to get outside. I'm gonna get healthy, maybe renew those New Year's resolutions that you fell off in the first week in January, or maybe if you don't make those, it just, you can set some new ones right now. - I'm gonna renew your resolution in June and I fell off the wagon. - Yeah, yeah. - Oops, and then now I'm back. - Well, I think we wanna come to the table today and talk about this because in every season of life, I think there are women who struggle with how they're viewed. - We had this conversation this very morning, Trisha spotted some gray hair on one of our videos. - It's true. - Yeah, and I didn't see it. I thought it was the sunshine and on it. So that was-- - It's God's natural frost. - That's right, that's right. - Yes, I think it had a sugar. - We all know what culture says about aging bodies and everybody's trying to look younger and everybody's going to great lengths to take years off their life. They have now wearables that will tell you how fast you're aging. - What? - Yeah, I didn't even know that was a thing. - Yes, I didn't even. - Yeah, some of the wearables you can know if you're aging on target with the other 55-year-olds in the world. - You're not 55, but other 55-year-olds in the world. - They stop it. - They stop it. - Go stop it. - And. - I'm gonna age like a 35-year-old. - We'll see there's the point. They tell you where you are on the spectrum. If you're like on target where you are or if you're aging slower, - So if you're fast you'll pride or shame. - Or shame, either way. - If you don't feel enough already. - And that's where this conversation comes from, really, is because in every season I think you struggle with something. - Mm-hmm. - I mean, we struggle enough with not hitting 10,000 steps on my watch when I look down and it's been like 2,500 times. - Yeah. - Man, gotta move more. - Right. - I don't need more shame. - I mean, 20 years ago, we had no clue how many steps we took in a day. - I know, yeah. - Yeah, we were happier for it. - Exactly. - I used to track my sleep. And every time I would get like a C or a D and it made me feel so bad. I'm like, I don't care. I feel more sleepy knowing that I didn't sleep well. I just don't want to know. - You just want to know. - So I took that thing off. - Okay, wrist. - Okay. - Yeah, sports. - So every season I think comes with its own set of challenges. - Uh-huh. - I think when you're young, it's staying young. When you get older, it's trying to get younger. And how do we keep a healthy self, I don't want to say self-esteem because that's been overused and I think that means something totally different. But how do we see God the way he sees us? How do we see ourselves the way God sees us in every single season of our lives? - Well, what is the goal? I mean, what is the goal? Is the goal to look 10 years younger? Is the goal to be 10 years younger? Is the goal to look some certain way? Like what is the goal? 'Cause the goal keeps changing. And if the goal changes, you can never reach the goal. - That's so true. - Moving target. - Yeah, I mean, I think the world will tell us lots of different things every single day. You know, it's what we see in magazines. It's what we see. It's always look younger, be younger. Dinner, something. - Dinner, right. - Yeah, whatever. I think God would say, I want you to be healthy so that you can serve me for as long as possible. I have a purpose for your life. I have a calling on your life. I know the number of days that you've been given. Please don't short me those days that I gave you. You know, I want you to be able to be healthy and to be able to do the things that I am calling you to do for as long as you possibly can do it. That's about being healthy, not about being beautified. - Right, a size, or a number, or whatever. - Wrinkle free or, I don't know, whatever. - All the other things that we might want to be. - Yeah. - How do we learn this? Are we comparing ourselves to other people? Is that what's driving this? - I think that's what our culture perspective promotes. - Yeah, I think that and we're also comparing ourselves to our younger selves. I know at one point in time I looked better than I do now. I wade less than I do. I was healthier than I am now. And so if I dwell on that, then it's not necessarily going to push me forward. - Here's the sticky part of that. I don't think we, at least for me, I would say to you, oh, I don't look as good as I did when I was 20. Okay, well, A, I wasn't eating healthy at 20. I was eating whatever I wanted to, 'cause I could, 'cause my metabolism still worked, right? As we age, how can we get more comfortable with those changes and normalize the way our bodies progress instead of shaming each other for that? - I think it's embracing a different set of goals, a different set of realities. I think it's health, it's health, it's strength and health. I don't, I feel like I don't care as much how I look if I got a good night's sleep. - Oh, you know what I mean? There are different goals. Can I rest well? Can I take care of myself well today? So that I feel good today and I'm able to pour out the people in my life that I love and serve in the way that I want to. If that's the goal, then it's different than, can you see the gray hair patch on my head in the latest reel? - So you think it's like misaligned goals? - I think it's redefining what your goal is. - Yeah, yeah. - Instead of letting somebody else define the goal for you, you need to look like this or be like this or have that number or whatever. It's how can I take care of myself best so that I can love other people well, like you said? - Yeah, I think too, a lot of it has to do with stage in life. So yeah, I think that all of us are older than we used to be. And so I think now we're at a stage in our life where we look back and go, you know, we don't, I don't really care as much how I look. I care more about how I feel. And so I want to feel healthier. I want to feel better because I don't feel good now. You know, it's the consequences of not taking care of myself 20 years ago, experiencing now, that we're probably all experiencing now, or we're menopausal or, you know, perimenopausal or whatever, and we're feeling the effects of all of that. And so we want all of the things so that we can feel better, not so that we can look better. But there's definitely 20 years ago in my life. I would have worked out in order or gotten healthier, eating healthier, done better, so that I could look better, not so that I could feel better. - Right, that's true. - So I think part of it is stage of life, also think part of it is maturity, that the older we get, the more we're like, yeah, I'm going to wear my red hat with my purple shirt because I can do whatever I want to do. Because, you know, I've gotten here, finally gotten here and I don't have to care anymore. Wouldn't it be nice if we could tell our 20 year old selves some of this, because this is wisdom. And it is maturity. And you know, you could look back at yourself and go, wow, I looked pretty good. But if you ask that girl in that picture how she felt, she'd be like, oh, I'm overweight and I don't, I've got frizzy hair and I don't look good. You know what I mean? We, what we know now would be nice to have known earlier. And we can encourage each other with that. If you're younger, know that. Grab a hold of some of the truth. So, how do we really lean into that identity and lean into that goal of becoming more like Christ, instead of becoming more looking more like the supermodel or feeling like we've had a sip of water from the fountain of youth? I think part of it is that we have to remind ourselves what God would say about us. So, here's your idea. Okay, I don't know that I, I'm gonna do this. (all laughing) Oh, this is being recorded, Kelly. Just so you know. - That was what I said, not as I do, okay. - Okay, okay, because it's hard, it's a hard thing to do. But go stand in front of the mirror completely naked. I can't do that. - Or if you the drapes first. (all laughing) - I'm in your door. You know, your teenage son doesn't walk at all. - But, so maybe wear a sports bra and you know, underwear or something. But go stand in front of the mirror and really, really look at yourself. And then I want you to replace what you're saying about yourself when you're looking at yourself in the mirror with what God says about you. So, I'm gonna give you some specific scriptures. So, get out your pieces of paper. - Okay. - To write all of this down on. So, the first one I want you to-- - I need to put this in the show notes too. - Oh, excellent. One of the first scripture I want you to say over yourself is Psalm 139, 13 through 18. Read the whole thing to yourself. Focus on, verses 13, on verses 14, and verses 17. So, I'm gonna read those to you. Verse number 13, this is the NLT, says, "You made all the delicate inner parts of my body "and knit me together in my mother's womb." 14, "Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. "Your workmanship is marvelous. "How will I know it?" And dropping down to 17, how precious are your thoughts about me, O God?
they cannot be numbered. Just picture yourself standing in front of the mirror and all the negative thoughts that are coming in and then replacing it with that word from the Lord. Yeah. And then the next one, Isaiah 43 verses 1b through 3a and then verse 4b. It says, "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name. You are mine." When you go through deep waters, I will be with you where when you go through the rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. In the skipping down 3a, "For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." You are precious to me. You are honored and I love you. And then the last one, Ephesians 210, "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us a new in Christ Jesus. So we can do the good things that He planned for us long ago." That's good. And these are the things that God says about us. He says that we are cherished. He says that we are loved. He says, "I created you in my own image." He says, "I created you on purpose for a purpose." And if you can stand in front of the mirror and go, "This is your workmanship." Go ahead and argue with God. I mean, it's okay to say, "But I am, but I am, but I am." And He can just lovingly look at you again and go, "No, you are my masterpiece. You are loved and you are cherished and I created you on purpose." That's good. "I created you with all of your bumps and bruises. I created you with all of your lumps and hang your parts." "I created you and it's on purpose and I think you're a masterpiece." Can we also extend this beyond just the physical and have mental health too? Because I feel like physical is definitely one piece of it but also feeling healthy emotionally. And those verses are also good, I think, for not just physical, like looking at yourself in a mirror, but also looking deeper inside at some of the struggles that you might have on an emotional level. Because sometimes I feel a lot of deep shame about the emotional health. Physical health is one thing, but the emotional health is also a struggle and we go through different seasons with that as well. And comparing yourself to someone else on an emotional level can be equally as painful as comparing your physical body to someone else. Because even if you change the physical and you can see those results, if you don't change the emotional, it will be just something different. Absolutely. I think you treat the symptom not the actual problem, right? Yes. The emotional part of it is such a huge, huge big part of that. The treatment is the same. Reminding ourselves that God loves us, chose us, planned us. Has us. Got a plan for us, even if we struggle at one moment in life. God's got a plan. What matters, what matters is that we are following hard after Him. Not laugh, not laugh lines, not something funny, what did it say? Look to myself in the mirror, I saw laugh lines. Somebody said that's evidence of all the different times you've laughed and said, I don't remember anything being quite so funny. That was that funny. That's good. That's good. The idea that we can embrace who God says we are on a not just physical level, but an emotional level as well and find the health there. And I want to ask you this question. Do you think it matters? Do you think the enemy uses insecurity and shame and regret and guilt and all those things comparison to keep us from doing the good work that God has for us? Absolutely. Because if you're insecure or if you're battling your thoughts, you're going to be ineffective. And God has a purpose for us. He created these good works for us long before we were ever even a sparkle in our parents' eyes. He created these good works for us when he created us, when he dreamt us up, when he dreamt up these masterpieces. He created these good works for us. And so, yes, he wants us to be physically healthy to do it, mentally healthy to do it, emotionally and spiritually healthy to be able to do it. And the enemy wants with everything he's got to undermine everything God tries to do. And when God's working out something good, which is what we are, we are good. I mean, we are good works. We are good creatures that are loved by God and he wants to undermine every single bit of that. Well, and I just struck me, as you were saying that, as I think back on my own life, the enemy is already always attacked one of those, whereas God has a holistic approach to health. You know, but the enemy focuses on one thing like you're nobody's ever going to find you attractive. Because you're too big or you're not as, you don't have a figure like hers or you don't, you know, all any number of things. The enemy focuses in on that one thing and he bears down. Man, does he bear down? And it essentially makes us back up from our calling. And not step into it. So, I think it can be dangerous in that regard. But I love that you brought up the emotional part of it, because I think that does matter. What do you think? We'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic, because I don't know if you've noticed it yet, but we don't have all the answers. We're in process just like you. And we love hearing from you. She can email us at
[email protected]. You can also get in touch on the Facebook pages. And hey, I want to just let y'all know that Vicki got in touch. Hey, Vicki. And she left her review on Apple podcasts so sweet. She said, "I anxiously await Wednesday every week for a new episode. Love, love, love your podcast. Helps me in so many ways." Thanks to all three of you for speaking truth and sharing your hearts to help us all get through hard stuff and also just to laugh sometimes. Vicki, thank you so much for your comment. We love that. And hey, if God has used GirlTalk to encourage you, we would love it if you left us a rating or a review wherever you listen to the podcast. So, on any platform, because what happens is that helps more people know about the GirlTalk podcast. And we are doing this podcast simply so we can share the gospel with people. We want people to come to know Jesus. We want them to grow in their relationship with him. And then we want to we want to encourage them to serve the body of Christ with the gifts they've been given. So yeah, just leave in a comment or a rating helps with that. So before you go, would you do that for us? We'd love to hear from you and you know what we're going to save you a seat next time we gather around these microphones for the next GirlTalk podcast.
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