Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome listeners, to the freedom and flourish podcast where we're breaking free from diet culture. It's the podcast for women who have struggled with the ups and downs of dieting, negative body image, emotional eating, and disordered eating habits. Join me as we talk with fitness professionals, dietitians, mental health professionals, and real women just like you and me who are sharing with us their experience and secrets to nourishing and loving the body God gave them while supporting our mental and emotional well being. To develop and support a strong, healthy body will feel confident in get ready for some laughs, cries and aha moments as we talk about weight stigma, disordered eating, body image, nutrition education, intuitive eating and more. But before we dive in, I want to remind you that this is not a substitute for professional or medical advice. This podcast is designed to provide general knowledge and support. Your health and well being is your responsibility and we recommend you seek the advice from a qualified healthcare professional with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, concern or treatment.
Welcome back to the freedom and flourish podcast. My name is Jill Mullering. I'm your host and today we're here with Monica Hansen. She is the host of the Grateful Warrior podcast. She is also an author of the book captured by his heart and she's a wife, mother and army veteran. She is passionate about encouraging listeners to put on the full armor of God daily by equipping them with the truth through the word of God. She is on a mission to spread the good news by encouraging and uplifting christian values in these dark times. I invited Monica on the show today to share with us God's unbounding love through her own testimony and to share with us more about spiritual warfare and how we can use that to help us conquer disordered eating habits like emotional eating, orthorexia binge eating, food addiction, and also negative body image. Monica, thanks for your service, first of all, and thank you for coming on the show. I'm happy to have you here today.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: Well, thanks Jill.
I am excited to sit down and talk with your audience about all things the Lord.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, the topic of spiritual warfare greatly interests me personally.
I didn't believe in it until a few years ago, and since learning about the enemy and how we are in this spiritual battle and being equipped to handle that, it has drastically impacted my life, my mental and emotional well being, my spirituality, obviously, which obviously has impacted my food journey. So I'd love to hear start with maybe your testimony and how that impacted your relationship with Christ, how you even got onto this spiritual warfare journey.
[00:02:53] Speaker B: Well, good question, Jill. Well, it all started with my life. As far as I grew up in a christian home and knew of God, but I didn't have that personal relationship with him. And in my mind, that was my mother's God. And so when I left, I basically told God, you know what? I'm going to go off and join the military, and you stay home and stay back with my family.
You know, knowing that we cannot put any of those parameters around God. You know, I go off to war, and it was in that time of just running and running and running from God that I actually knew that my mother's prayers were the ones to save me from the things that I had been involved in, the things of being in war. And so in those quiet moments of my life of just sitting there in the tent and in Iraq or in Cuba, wherever we were at, I actually just sat there. I was like, yeah, I know you're there. I know you're there. I know you're watching over me. And so then became the realization of, okay, God is real. I had to accept that fact, but I still didn't want him in my life. And so throughout the time of running from the Lord and about 30 years later, I came to the point where I just, I couldn't carry my burdens anymore of knowing the sin that I had in my life and running from God. You know, we're all sinners, but it's recognizing that the burden of that is too great that we just can't carry it anymore. And so in giving that to the Lord, I thought that that was all that was going to happen as far as, like, I just had to give it to him. Now I just be the good christian woman. I go to church, I read my Bible, do everything, those religious practices, but it wasn't what actually happened with me that obviously began to open my eyes to, okay, wait a minute. There is a God now there is. I have to face the reality of there is a demonic, there is Satan, there is the enemy that hates us. And when you. One thing that I've always told my listeners is that when you give your life to the Lord, you automatically put a target on your back.
You are now the enemy of the demonic world. And a lot of people, they say, well, wait a minute now, Monica. You know, that is there really that demonic world? A lot of people can't swallow the concept of there's a devil. There are demons or spirits out there that want to attack you, that want to come after you, that want to just, that seek, kill and destroy you, that the word of God says the devil is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
And you're just like, you know, if you've ever, any of your followers have ever been to the zoo and you go visit the lion and you see how massive they are and their paws about as big as our head, that that's when we can actually grasp the concept of, wow, the enemy wants to tear us to shreds.
So during my discovery of the Lord and during all of the awakening of the holy scriptures and allowing it to penetrate my heart, I also experience that there is a demonic that will come and attack you. And getting into all of that is really opened my eyes to, wait a minute, now. I've got to be able to have something to fight with. I need something to be able to. There's got to be something that I've got to be able to say, no, you can't have us to be able to stand my ground like we did when we were in the military, how we set up our parameters, how we were able to keep watch. And then I discovered it in the word of God, and I discovered that in Ephesians, where it talks about putting on the full armor of goddess, and I was like, whoa. Now I can understand this. I understand the helmet of salvation.
I understand what it means to put that on, because when I was in Iraq, I understood that my cavalier that I put on helped protect my head from anything coming or going in the blast or anything that was going on in war.
And so it began to just open up for me and understand the impact of every piece of armor that God gives to us. You know, the breastplate of righteousness. I remember putting on our flak. We used to call it a flak. It's f l a k flak vest that would protect our internal organs. You know, what if we got shot at? And I understood the concept of that, and I was like, wow, I have to be able to protect the, my heart, my spirit from all the attacks of the enemy. And I've got to put that on the breastplate of righteousness to live righteously for our king.
And so it's taking each one of those pieces that I began to understand.
I now know spiritual warfare and getting into all of that, I'm sure we'll get into later on in this program.
[00:08:25] Speaker A: Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah. I want to just break this down because these are all terms that we maybe have heard of, but I want to put them in a practical application. Somebody is listening and they're struggling with emotional eating or binge eating, yo yo dieting, or they're struggling with their body image and maybe their worth and their self confidence.
What does it look like to be in a spiritual warfare? Can you explain what that means and how that's happening? Like, in that person's life? What would that look like as, like, what's the demonic world look like for them?
[00:09:04] Speaker B: The demonic world looks the same for anybody. No matter if they are going through the low self esteem, the lack of identity, it all looks the same across the board, for one. That is, maybe you could even go as far as someone that's knee deep in the pornography world. It's all dark. No matter what it is. There is no. Well, it's not as dark for this person as it is for this person. It is complete and utter darkness because of the fact that God is not in that. It's the absence of God, where the demonic world is. And for someone that is going through those hard points of binge eating or maybe the anorexia and doing all of that, it actually is an internal thing of identity, and it is understanding. And that's the thing. I just had a guest on my show the other day, and we got into this knee deep discussion, which totally fits here about our identity. It is actually not having that identity. We are searching for it out there in society. We are searching for it amongst our friends or our family, our coworkers. We are needing that identity of who we are, and we are searching for it in the wrong areas. And then we end up going internally and we are either starving ourselves or we are overeating to try to comfort the hurt and the pain inside. But in all actuality, God has told us throughout scripture who we are, that we are more than conquerors through Christ. You know, even when. Remember the Bible story, when the angel came to Gideon and he called him the great warrior, and he called him out, and Gideon turned around and he was like, who, me? You're not talking to me, are you? You know, because Gideon was from the tribe that was the lesser tribe of all in Israel. And so God came to him and said, yes, you are that great warrior. And it is realizing that we one, we are our worst critics. We all know that.
But it is finding our true identity in Christ and allowing him to build us up to see who we are in him and to recognize that he sees us for who we are, who he has created us to be, not who we think we are. And in demonic attacks. I only know from my own experience. I haven't been through the.
The struggles of the food aspect, as far as either starving or binge eating. I've been through other situations in my life, other attacks in my life, but it's still all the same. It's still an attack of the enemy. And it is. We notice that when or not what we notice. Let me take that back. We get into a point where we're trying to decipher.
There's three voices always, that we will always hear.
Your one voice is our own. We're always listening to our own. Okay, well, we start contemplating in our minds. And then you have the spirit of God. The spirit of God always convicts in the heart, always speaks inside of here, in our hearts, in our being.
Then you have the enemy. And that's where we get it through the earth. And we start hearing those thoughts, and we start hearing those, well, you know what? A giant bowl of ice cream or a whole entire pizza or whatever it is that we're binge eating, those are the three voices that we start. And it's. Getting into the word of God is the only thing I could say. Getting into the word of God. So much so that I've learned that the scripture that my mom used to tell me all the time as a young kid, and I used to give her that deer in the headlight look. When she used to tell me, she's like, you know, Monica, the Bible says that you must deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow him, and you need to do that.
And I was like, right, mother? What does that even mean? But it wasn't until I gave my heart to the Lord and I gave it all to him, and that I understood, okay, I have to give all of my flesh to him. In the aspect of what we're talking about today, as far as the binge eating or the anorexia, having that problem with the food is that when we get into the word of God and we start filling our spirit with the word and start flipping the script, as I used to say, and going, I want to feed my spirit the word of God, and I want to starve my flesh. You know, Paul said, why is it that I do what I don't want to do? And I'm paraphrasing it, but it's in Romans, why do I do what I don't want to do? And I don't do what I want to do? And it's a battle of fighting the flesh. Our flesh has that desire to either binge eater or to starve ourselves or because we're searching for that acceptance out in society. We're searching for that, for maybe our spouse to love us now, because now we're. We're beautiful, we're skinny, we're this. With that. That fake image. And you look out in society today, and you have identity crisis in men. They are. They are stripped of who they are. They are told who they need to be.
You know, that the whole lesbian or not lesbian, the whole homosexual lifestyle is now what you need to be.
And it's the identity thing that the enemy has always. If he could destroy your identity and strip you of everything and cause you to pay attention to the desires of the flesh, which is binge eating, which is starving yourself, whatever it is that we are dealing with in the food category, that he will do that to utterly destroy you.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: Yeah, it's funny that you should mention that verse. It's actually one of my favorites. I think it's Romans 518, for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
And, yeah, I see that.
I think the way that the spiritual warfare specifically kind of has helped me with the emotional eating, the binge eating, the yoyo dieting and all of that is like understanding that if it's anything, that's not the truth, right? If it doesn't come from love, if I have any thought that isn't about joy, peace, and love, it's coming from the enemy. So, like, throughout my life, throughout my day, if I experience things like fear or judgment or jealousy or bitterness, that those are all the enemy working in my life and telling me right lies about what's going on around me, what my life looks like, and God's truth is usually the opposite of that, right? The love, right? Understanding that that's not truth and that is the enemy working in my life that is coming from him.
So if we would then talk about how do we put on that armor, then what does that look like to put on spiritual armor? So when I am going through these hard, dark times or, you know, the enemy has its grip on me, what does it look like? What are practical tips where we're actually putting on that spiritual armor?
[00:17:16] Speaker B: So, for me, even, there was a time in my life when I first got saved, and I was. I looked at my life and went, wait a minute. Where is this moment of, you know, everything's good, you feel the change, the difference? And I was like, why didn't I have that? Why? I just feel the same. There was no spiritual thing going on with me when I gave my life to the Lord. And then what that did was it opened up the door for the enemy to start attacking my salvation. Oh, see, nothing happened. See? So it's probably all fake. And so all of the thoughts that start coming in, you're really not saved. Did God really save you?
[00:18:06] Speaker A: Just God real?
[00:18:07] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. So what I began to understand was the helmet of salvation means, wait.
But Jesus said, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But I have given my heart to the Lord and he has washed me clean from all of my sins. It says, for whoever believes in him shall be saved. And that is the putting on it, the helmet of salvation, going, stop. I know what the word of God says, and the word of God tells me. And that's when getting into scripture, so much so that that helmet of salvation, of the scriptures come into your mind and you turn it around and you remind the enemy. But I know that all who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. That's our helmet of salvation. That is putting the word of God up in here so that we can quote those scriptures and use it and cause the end. And that is what it means to resist the devil. And he will flee from you because you are reminding him of what scripture is.
[00:19:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Knowing those promises and those truths that come from God. And then I think for me, a big one was first it starts with the awareness, too. So aware of being aware of the enemy working in our, which usually comes into the mind. Right? Usually thoughts like you said, it's not coming from our heart, it's coming from our thoughts. So knowing the counteraction of the truth and the promises that you can identify that that's not truth. But then the Bible says that we've been given power over the enemy. And so, you know, being able to understand, like through Jesus, I have the power over the enemy. And kind of rebuking those lies of the enemy, like I said, kind of the fear, the bitterness, the judgment that they have no stronghold over you and they have no place, you know, in your life.
I think that all kind of comes together with what you're saying, with knowing the truths of the Bible.
[00:20:18] Speaker B: Right? And, you know, even, even, just saying we have to remember, too, is that even though we have the power over the enemy, see, the enemy has power. But the difference between, if you look at it like this, this is the best way I can explain it, is that if you have a police officer that comes to you, pulls you over and says, hey, give me your driver's license, you know, all of the normal things that he says. And he approaches you in civilian clothes and he says, give me your driver's license. I caught you for speed. You're going to look at him and go, wait, wait. Who are you? Well, I'm Officer Monica that has no power or authority over you. You're going to look at him and go, where's your uniform? You know? But if he puts that uniform on and that badge on now he has power and authority and he pulls you over and now you're going, oh, my gosh, now that heart is fluttering. Am I getting a ticket? What happened? And it's the same way with us. If we don't put on the full armor of God and recognize that we have been given all power and authority because that authority is in Christ, we are mimicking the authority that God has given us over him because Satan is powerful.
But power without authority means absolutely nothing.
And so when we put that badge on of, I am the daughter of the king. I am the child of the living God. Now we're coming with authority, and now we're coming with, and then our power is the word of God, not us. We cannot come out and say, you know, I, and that's a thing that I tell a lot of my listeners. And when I'm speaking is like, we have to remember that we cannot go out there and say, I rebuke you. I this, I that, no, it is the Lord God almighty. And even the angel, when he was approached Satan, and there was the tussling back and forth and everything, the angel didn't say, I rebuke you. The angel says, the Lord rebuke you. That is our authority. That is our power that has been given to us.
[00:22:35] Speaker A: Mm hmm. Yeah. I really do like that example of the police officer that you used. And it reminded me of how the enemy uses partial truths to make us think that it's real. So, you know, maybe I gotten, you know, something bad happened, got an argument or something, or I didn't do something the way that I wanted to do it. And he'll use that to say, see, I know you. I know you're not any good. I know you're not good enough. You know, so those partial truths.
So I like that story. I felt like it really went along with the partial truth there.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: Yeah, it gives a good visual because we all see police officers no matter where we are. You know, you see that when it's just a good analogy of how I like to share the authority that we have in Christ.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: Yeah, I think for me it was really helpful to understand spiritual warfare. Because up until that point, I thought that there was something kind of not wrong with me, right? Like these were kind of my, I don't know, defects or of character or something. And I understand that they also can be, but I know that they also come from the enemy because I know they aren't. The truth of me, right, of who God made me to be is not fearful, bitter or any of that. And so understanding that that's the enemy working in my life, that those the way that I'm acting. Just like how it said in the Romans 18, I have the desire to do it as good, but I don't have the power to carry it out. And so just understanding that, like, that's not me. Emotional eating, weight loss, resistance, binge eating, you're not alone. There is hope for everyone. And the good news is you're just one click away from gaining the clarity you need. Click on the link in the show notes or go to www.tinyurl.com wbw 24 to book a free discovery call. The calendar does fill up quickly, so if you are ready to transform your life and achieve a healthy, strong body that you'll feel confident in, don't wait. Also, as my gift to you listeners on the podcast, I'd like to offer you a free, personalized health report when you sign up. This valuable report provides key insights into your body's functioning, identifying imbalances and deficiencies that could be hindering your ability to lose weight, feel your best and truly thrive. With this report, we will have the crucial information needed to start balancing your hormones, reducing your cravings, boost your energy levels and improve your overall health. It ensures that you receive a plan uniquely tailored to you, offering the most effective strategies for your specific needs and goals. Don't miss this opportunity to take control of your health and well being. And now back to the show. That's not who I am, right?
[00:25:45] Speaker B: You know, even, even fear. I've learned that fear is a stench as an aroma to God. He goes, what is this? I mean, we all know if we ever had, you know, we left food in the fridge for weeks and we're like, oh, what is that God awful smell? You know, fear is a stench to God because he has said in his word, 300 and what is it? 65, 66 times in the word of God, do not fear. You know, and if we walk in the spirit and give our spirit the word of God daily, daily, you know, and, and I'm not talking being religious. Religious is for the birds, you know, that's what the Lord dealt with the sadducees and the pharisees so much about religion, but it's a true personal relationship with the Lord and is understanding who we are in Christ.
And even when I got out of the military, I got out angry and bitter and very not trusting. I've been been to three deployments. You come back changed. And so when I got out, it was like I lost all identity.
There was no purpose in life, and it gave way to the enemy to come in and attack and to bring you to those points of, why live? Why do this? Why do that? But it's understanding of who God is in our lives and who he has created us to be. And when we see ourselves as less than imperfect, I've got to feed the emotion rollercoaster that's going on when we binge eat or I've got to starve myself because I should not have done that. We use it as maybe a way of punishment.
God paid the price by sending his son to the cross. Why are we punishing ourselves more like that? His blood shed for all of our sins paid that price. And it's for us. When we tend to try to punish ourselves for what we have done, then we are taking away what Christ did on the cross and saying, you know what? That wasn't good enough.
What you went through was not good enough. That I have to punish myself more and I have to, like, starve myself or I have to binge eat to cover the emotional stress that I'm going through, because there's nothing that can fulfill that. There's no peace that I could find to fulfill my heart.
And we are actually sinning when we do that. And we are telling God that he is not worthy for us. He is not the answer for us.
And so we. We actually dishearten the Lord when we do that.
[00:28:58] Speaker A: It does kind of remind me what you said a little bit ago. It kind of goes along with, it is about carrying our cross.
And I know in one way it can mean, you know, I'm going to carry my. My cross, I guess, basically kind of to do what it takes to follow the Lord. But then I also think it's about, you know, that some people have certain struggles in life that they struggle with, whether it's. Yeah. Anxiety or disordered eating habits or whatever, you know, whatever it is that they struggle with, that that's their burden, I guess, that they carry. I think there's certain kind of beliefs in which we've kind of grown up to believe about ourselves. Right. There's certain things that we just kind of struggle with, and that's, like, our. Our burden. And to be reminded, as, you know, Jesus did, carrying his cross, you know, that. That I can be strong enough and that he gives me the grace and the power to get through these things.
[00:29:57] Speaker B: To carry my cross.
[00:30:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:01] Speaker B: Yeah, it is, I think, you know, the Lord says to cast our burdens before him because he cares for us. You know, to sit there and go, you know what? Instead of going for what we say is the norm, where I binge eat or I starve is to actually go.
Maybe if that's not all working and we continue to go to those. Those habits, maybe try something else and go into the Lord God almighty and say, you know what?
I have a problem with this, and I don't know what to do. You know, I need help. I mean, that's all Peter said is, lord, help.
And if we go to him and ask him for help, and a lot of people go, well, you know what? I've prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed, but the Lord just doesn't answer my prayers. I don't know why he doesn't answer my prayers, you know? But when we are doing the things of having the binge eating or all of those things in our life and it's a habit or it's a problem or it's a sin or it's a. Or it's a concept of having that low self esteem or lack of confidence when we do that, that actually pulls us away from the Lord. Because, see, God always stays in that one. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. Right? But yet, when we sin, when we give way to the desires of our flesh, we separate ourselves from the Lord God Almighty.
But when we come back to him and say, hey, I need help, I'm having this problem, and I don't know what to do. I've tried the medical world. I've tried medication. I've tried either starving, or I've tried binge eating, or I've tried this, this and this, you know? So take it to the Lord, because he cares for us. He loves us. He created you in the way that he saw Fitzhe. He created your brown eyes, your blue eyes. He created you tall, skinny, short. You know, he created you for a purpose and to go and to try to take over all of that. And women, we do that. We find fault in our body all the time, and. But to accept, to go, God created me beautiful. He knit me in my mother's womb, you know, to accept who we are.
[00:32:33] Speaker A: Mm hmm. Yeah.
I do believe that is a key piece, is asking God for the help.
[00:32:40] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:32:41] Speaker A: And then I think another key piece of the puzzle is admitting that that's a sin, you know, that God doesn't want us to live that way, that we are sinning. And then I think the next piece that can often go missed, which is a key piece, is having that faith, that complete faith that God will heal us and that we can be healed through him. And I think that's where we have to stay in. So, you know, yes, the first two, but we've got to remain in the faith that God is all powerful, almighty, works miracles beyond our understanding, and he's working in our life, and he will continue to work in our life.
[00:33:21] Speaker B: Amen. Amen. It was, you know, when I.
During my prayer times with the Lord, when I started going, okay, I know I've got to pray. I'm supposed to be. And actually, I started learning to pray by praying for my boys as a mother. And I remember, and this goes with the whole faith thing, is I would go for walks and I would start saying those simple prayers. Okay, I know that I'm supposed to pray. I don't know what I'm supposed to say. But I do know that I have two boys who I absolutely love.
Will you please just watch over them? And I started saying just those simple prayers.
And then how faith came in, and I was living in Texas at the time. Both my boys were in Idaho. And next thing you know, I would get calls from my boys, mom, you wouldn't believe this. So I'm working at this job, and I'm putting in all this overtime, and the boss calls me in. I thought I was in trouble. And I'm like, what did I do? I'm sitting here going over, and my thoughts. Did I clock in on time? Did I say something wrong? And they. They said they were starting to go through their days. And he goes, mom, I walked in, and the boss gave me $1.50 raise out of nowhere. And I'm like, are you serious, son? You know? And I was like, I found a. That what I was praying for my boys, that the lord would reward them for being out there and working and not being lazy, you know, sitting on their butts at home or, you know, living scot free with somebody or getting themselves into trouble, that I found that the Lord was answering those prayers in due time.
And I was like, oh, my gosh, you know? And so it encouraged me to pray more because, see, now I came to the Lord, with something that was near and dear to my heart. My boys, as moms, we all know that. And so that's what encouraged my faith to go. He does answer, you know, there's times where the Lord answers like that, and there are times where the Lord goes, I'm going to make you continue to press in. So I know that you're true in heart. I want you to press into me.
And when we start pressing in and coming to him and coming to him, then he's going to say, now I know, now I know that your heart is true.
And he will answer. It says that the Lord hears the prayers of the righteous. If we are faithful to continue to come and press into him with our prayers, he will hear us and he will answer. Not in our own time, because if he answers in our own time, perfect time, guess who gets the glory? We do.
Because we planned it. We took control of it.
But if we give it to the Lord and pray and give it all to him and leave it at his feet, and that's the key, too, is in building that faith. We have to learn to leave it at his feet, because that's not faith. If we turn around and go, oh, yeah, I need to take that baggage back and put it back on my bag and go throughout my day and carry that burden. But we haven't left it at his feet, have we?
You know, and so it's leaving it. Having the faith and trust in God to go here is my issue. I leave it at your feet because I know. I trust you. I know that your plans for me are for good, not to harm.
[00:37:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I like that. That is actually what you said about basically giving God the glory and the praise. Like when that. When it happens in his time and even when it's not happening in his time, where it's unanswered prayers, where you're going through time and day and months and years of unanswered prayers, to still be praising God throughout that, as part of spiritual warfare, is I can find something to praise him about, something. There is something to praise him about, whether it's now or what he's done in the past or what he's getting ready to do. But I think that, you know, yes, ask for help, yes, admit our sins, then have faith and then praise him.
[00:37:49] Speaker B: Amen. You know, it is. You know, it really is. The Lord gave me a poem a long time ago, and I don't even remember the words because the words came from him. And all I could do is just write is that one of the things that the Lord had shown me is that we have to praise him in the storm no matter what we see, you know, and, because what we see is not the outcome of what God has for us, you know, walking through, you know, and a lot of times tell my listeners when, be careful what you ask God for. If you ask him for patience, do you think. And we know that it's the fruit of the spirit, do you think that he's just going to say, okay, I dropped the box with a big red bow at your door, go get patience?
No, it's not that. It's not how it goes. He says, you want patience now you're going to walk through those lessons in life to learn patience. You know, it's like teaching our kids, you want to make that $5 when they were young, go mow my yard, you know, and so they had to work for it. And the reward was at the end where they were given that $5 back in the days when $5 was worth something, you know, and. But it is walking through those spiritual food, the fruit of the spirit, you know, and to learn those things as we go through the storm and go, I will. I'll trust you. I will praise you. I know it looks crazy, but so it did for the Israelites when their wall was or their back was to the wall of the ocean or the Red Sea, you know, and they still had to trust in the Lord, you know?
[00:39:39] Speaker A: Mm hmm. I think if for me, if I can't find anything else to give praise about, it is giving praise that I'm going through a storm. And I know that sounds silly, but throughout my life, any trials and tribulation, every struggle that I've been in, God has brought me through and transformed that into his good. He's changed my heart. He's changed my character. Right. He's created and shaped me to be who I am to today through all of those struggles. And so I used to have someone that tell me a long time ago, you know, if you're going through a hard time right now, praise God, because he's working hard in your life. And now that I look back and see he was. He was. Every time. I don't understand it sometimes I don't understand it for years.
But he does turn it into his good.
[00:40:35] Speaker B: He does. He does. It's. It's. It's. It's hard to.
To flip that script in our mind of going, what do you mean, praise the Lord? Do you see where I'm at? And you're just. You know, makeup's coming down the face, hairs in a wreck, you know, and. And you're just like, there is nothing worse than when you're going through it. You're like, how could I possibly come out of this? And, you know, as women that are, we're just so drama filled when something drastic happens in our life. Yeah. But it's actually just looking up and saying, lord, I know that you got me. I mean, he says that he holds us close to his heart, that he looks at us as the apple of his eye, that he's just not dropping this off the middle of our desert moment and sits there and eats popcorn and says, well, let me see what she does today, folks. You know, he's, like, right there with us. And he says, don't worry, I've got you. And we're going to walk this together.
[00:41:44] Speaker A: Mm hmm. And here's the truth. For someone going through the storm, I'm not downplaying this storm. But what I can say is we have a choice of, we have a choice to live what the enemy is telling us, to live in that fear, to live in that desperation, to live in that victim mentality. Or we have a choice to live in gratitude and love and faith. And it is simply that. It's a choice. And in the beginning, it's a hard choice to make. It doesn't come naturally. You don't even remember that you're supposed to make it. You just get an autopilot stuck in these negative thoughts, right? Negative patterns. And then you start having that awareness, and it's like, okay, I have a choice. I have a choice right now to turn to God. I have a choice to open the Bible.
So it's not that. It's just like, oh, I'm just well and wonderful. I make that choice daily, sometimes every hour. I'm making that choice throughout the day to live in that gratitude and to have love and to have faith.
[00:42:45] Speaker B: Amen. Amen. It really is. That's. That's half the battle right there is to stop the noise that's coming to us and feeding us, you know, that habit or those lies, and go, okay, wait a minute. And realizing that you do have that choice is powerful. To even, even to say that, to recognize that in one's life is to, to turn around. I mean, that's. Even when we look at the word repent, it totally means to turn around.
And so when we repent of what we're going through, we're turning around and saying, ah, but wait a minute. I know the Lord God's right here. So instead of going for this that we are, we have created a habit to go to. We realize there's an answer and call upon the name of the Lord. And he hears the prayers of the righteous, and he will help us no matter how deep and dark. Believe me, I have been in the deep and dark moments in my life, and I have found that when I turn around, he was always there. And there's times where I've heard him tell me it's about time, Monica, you know? And I'm like, yes, Lord, you help me get out of here. And he does.
He doesn't let you just sit in that moment of weakness. He gives you the strength. And what is that strength? He gives you the word of God, because he is the word of God.
And he lifts you up, and he will guide you out of that situation.
Mm hmm.
[00:44:30] Speaker A: Absolutely.
Oh, Monica, thank you so much for this conversation that we've had. Just, you know, I don't get to talk too much about my faith, and so it just. I just love being able to talk with you and to hear the truth from somebody else.
[00:44:49] Speaker B: That's good.
[00:44:50] Speaker A: Where can our listeners go and find you online if they want to follow you?
[00:44:56] Speaker B: You know, I am on a lot of the audio platforms out there on Spotify, Amazon, Apple.
If you just go and look for the graceful warrior, I am out there all over on audio platforms. And then if your listeners like to watch videos, then I am on Rumble and YouTube, and it's still under the exact same name, the graceful warrior.
[00:45:25] Speaker A: Awesome. And your book captured by his heart, they can get that through probably Amazon.
[00:45:30] Speaker B: And yes, Amazon and Barnes and nobles. And it is actually when I got saved, the Lord not only saved me from the darkness, from the enemy snare, is that he began to heal my heart of all of the questions that we as humans have, of what is my purpose, what is heaven really like? And looking at all of the creation that he has here on earth. And he began answering those questions in my heart through poetry.
And I was like, oh, my gosh. And he began to just write poetry. And I would wake up 02:00 in the morning and begin writing through tears or grabbing my phone and putting it on my notepad and just write, write, write, write. And after four years, the Lord had said, it's time, Monica. It's time to release this. And I was like, ah, wait, no. You know, and I didn't understand the concept of this is his words in poetry of what I was saying to him in my heart. And so it just released the end of May. You can buy it as an ebook, you can buy it as paperback, and I just hope that it blesses the readers and that it draws them closer to the Lord God Almighty and it's called captured by his heart.
[00:46:54] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your work and spreading the truth. And thank you for coming on the podcast. I love talking to you today.
[00:47:02] Speaker B: Thank you Jill for having me.
[00:47:06] Speaker A: Did you enjoy this episode and are looking for more? Join the private Facebook group Freedom and flourish where we continue these podcast discussions. You're able to ask questions and connect with other like minded women who want to support and encourage you on your journey. So make sure to join that group and subscribe to this podcast so you get notified of newly released episodes. Before you go, I'd like to pray a blessing over you today that you know and feel God's love for you. You are beautifully and wonderfully made in his image. You are enough. You're not broken and nothing is wrong with you. You've just been misled. I pray you find the peace, freedom and joy around food and that you fall in love with who you are while you're on this journey to becoming a stronger, healthier version of yourself that you radiate with confidence and are no longer held captive by those negative beliefs. I pray for your health, happiness and well being. Much love.
