Have you ever considered that your identity might be intricately woven by the Creator? Join us, as we delve into the profound realization of our identities as defined by God. We tackle the liberating journey from self-pity to praise, examining how recognizing God's character can free us from the shackles of counterfeit comforts like overeating. Christina opens up about her transformative experience, moving from skepticism to a deepened faith through the practice of the God List and Praise Fest.
Stumbling upon a dusty old painting in a garage could lead to a story for the ages, especially when it might just be a lost Van Gogh! This episode isn't just a stroll down memory lane—it's a treasure hunt in the attic of our past. I share a heartwarming tale of uncovering my grandfather's legacy through artifacts in his old garage, bringing to life the precious memories and untold stories that family heirlooms hold. It's a journey of discovery that connects the dots between the history we inherit and the emotional value we attach to the most unexpected finds.
The final brushstroke of our conversation paints a vivid picture of self-worth and the artistry of our existence. Drawing inspiration from Ephesians 2:10, we contemplate the parallels between the value of art and our own inherent worth as individuals. Whether you're a young person just beginning your journey or you've been down the road a while, this message is timeless, and we're eager to nurture this seed of positivity in the hearts of our listeners. Join us for this inspiring dialogue and let the ripple of God-affirmation reach the shores of your own life.
Ashley T Lee Podcast Ashley T. Lee Podcast will cover many life issues such as overcoming stress, anxiety...
Learn more about our Revelation Within Community: https://www.revelationwithin.org
Speaker 1:
Hi, welcome to our podcast Revelation Within on the Go. I'm Heidi Bausma-Epperson, one of your hosts and the owner and lead coach of the revelationwithinorg ministry.
Speaker 2:
And I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a Revelation Within coach and Heidi's partner in all things Revelation Within. We're so happy to invite you to join us for this episode of Revelation Within. On the Go, let's go, let's go. Where are we going?
Speaker 1:
today, Heidi. Yeah well, we're going to talk about one of the most fundamental, actually two of the most fundamental truths in our Revelation Within journey. One of them is understanding who God is. I mean, that's where it all begins, Because if I don't think he cares about me, why do I care about me?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, no, I mean, that is absolutely the best place to begin, and it's not where a lot of us begin, I don't think.
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, I think that's true. The second place is understanding who God says I am. In both cases, we want to believe what God says, because if I don't believe what God says, I'm basically, oh, calling him a liar, ouch, ouch. So who is God and who am I? And we're going to turn to one of my favorite passages to have a quick look.
Speaker 2:
Yes, and when I learned to read my mind, this is where we began, heidi, and I knew as my coach and I know that you began that way, and that's how the God list and the praise fest was born, focusing on who is God and who does he say I am, I mean. There's no better place to begin. So. In Ephesians 2.10, we have this very powerful presentation of both in this little short verse. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us a new in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and that's Ephesians 2.10 from the New Living Translation. I would love us to just stop and look at this for a moment before we launch into what we're going to be talking about today. What do we learn from this verse, Christina? What do you see here about who God actually is in this short verse?
Speaker 2:
God is the master. Yes, he's the one that started everything. He's the one that created everything. He created me and you. He is the master?
Speaker 1:
Yes, exactly, and I see too that he again you said it already but he has created us a new in Christ. So he created us and he created us new in him. What else do you see about who God is in this short verse?
Speaker 2:
You know what? What I see is that God is the planner. Yes, and that he has planned, he's the designer, he's the organizer. He's the one that put it all together and he planned for our lives. He planned for us long ago.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you know I just want to interject here that the reason why who God is is so vital to our journey to be free from counterfeit comforts like overeating is because so very often it's my perspective on me myself and I that takes me to a place where I feel sorry for myself. I need to be comforted, and so if I can get in the habit of, instead of whoa is me, life is just awful. I instead think you know, god is awesome. He is the master, he is the creator, he is a planner, he is the designer.
Speaker 1:
If I focus my attention on him and exalting him, it does something inside of me. It switches me from being this victim to one who goes, wow, god is on that. I mean it says in the scriptures that he who did not spare his own son, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? He's a giver. I mean, it's just amazing to me. So this is one of the reasons why I think having a good grasp on who God is and who he says he is, and practicing thinking about him in that way can really help us break free from I mean, we get closer to him anyway but break free from some of those counterfeit comforts like overeating.
Speaker 2:
Well, and I mean I have to be honest with you, heidi, I'm going to think back all the way to when you and I started coaching and you introduced me to this idea of actually writing out who is God and what does he do for people and then using that list to praise him. I mean I was thinking you know what? I've been a Christian for a long time. I mean I think I know who God is. Yeah, this is so basic. Why are we going there? I don't know. I would love for you to share just how that came to be for you. Would you share that the God list and the praise of us? Why did you come up with that? And then I can share how it affected me.
Speaker 1:
Well, the first idea came to me when we were doing online than within classes in a chat format, because we didn't have phone calls and we didn't have Zoom and all of that. This was way back in the dark ages and we were experiencing a great influx of people out of another program that taught hunger, satisfied eating, but it had a very different view of who God was than the view that's presented in scripture.
Speaker 1:
A lot of these women were feeling like God is condemning that he is judge and that is all he is that if they ate this way versus that way, that he was disappointed with them, that he wouldn't accept them into heaven. I mean, oh my goodness, there were so many errors in that. So I thought, you know, we need to get a good grasp on who God says he is. My own personal story, though related to that, was when I was struggling with putting together you know, really, am I going to walk this out? I write about it, I talk about it.
Speaker 1:
I've had these roles within, within, for so long Now. Revelation within, of course, and yet I'm not experiencing the victory God is inviting me to step into. What is that about? And when I ask God, why am I struggling so much? That Roman 715 question, why is the very good I want to do, not what I'm doing, and the very thing I hate is that which I do? And God told me very, not audibly, but in my spirit you resent me. And it's like wait a minute, I'm a good Bible study girl. Have you seen all the Bible studies I've led? Have you seen all the material I've written for people? And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, clanging gong Anyway. And God said trust me, you resent me. And as I looked at that more deeply I realized I did. And I won't go into all the reasons why, but at the time.
Speaker 2:
Hard things, hard things that come into your life really. Yes.
Speaker 1:
Yes, and so he invited me to just open his word to the Psalms and begin to pull out. God reveal himself to be, and what does he do for people? What does he like? What does he do for people? And it was interesting because, yes, god is jealous, yes, there seems to be some uncomfortable things about God, but do you know that you could put those in a thimble compared to the huge abundance of other words that are used to describe him compassionate, patient, merciful, kind, on and on and on and on, in huge amounts? And that was where I thought you know, this is definitely something that has changed me and I bet it would help others too. So that's how the God list and praise fest with birth on those two different levels.
Speaker 2:
Well, that makes me want to run to the Psalms right now and start pulling out words. So, anyway, if it's, if it's something that you have not done, listener, you might want to try this. It is absolutely a fantastic activity. So for me, at the time here, I'm thinking well, I've been a Christian since I was a little girl and you know, I mean, I feel like I know who God is. But once I started diving in to the word not a Bible study, someone else had written for me to fill in the blanks, but actually just going into Psalms and Isaiah and Ephesians and all kinds of places, you know, I'm pretty much anywhere in the Bible and I started writing it out and I thought, oh my gosh, you know this. I didn't realize. I didn't realize I had a view of God that was kind of not all the way colored in. You know what I mean it was. They had this little part and I had this part, okay, and this one.
Speaker 2:
But the more I do this and I'm still doing it and Heidi's still doing it, these same things, these activities all the time renewing our minds with who God is, the more we do it, the more clear our view of God is. I mean, until we get to heaven, we're not going to know everything about God, of course not. We won't even when we get there, I don't think. But the more we get to know him, the more our relationship deepens. And I don't know about you, but when I feel more intimate with the Lord, I can trust him more easily. So I just I love that, I absolutely love that, and thank you for sharing that, heidi. I think it was. It's so, so valuable what your process was, how you came to that.
Speaker 1:
Of course, we also have this other issue that, okay, God says we are his masterpiece, right, and that he has made us his beautiful. You know, that word in Greek masterpiece is actually poema, poetry in motion, which, oh, my goodness, doesn't that conjure. I mean, I just love being his poema.
Speaker 2:
I just think it's awesome, Just awesome yes.
Speaker 1:
But I don't know about you, christina. I have had a hard time wrapping my mind around this idea that, okay, in my head, I know God says I am his masterpiece and he speaks truth. Only he is truth. So in my head it's like but I am his masterpiece. And in my heart I'm like, uh, how could I possibly be his masterpiece After all I've done to my body, after the way I've overeaten, after I've brutalized my body, I've abused it in so many ways? We hear people all the time who feel the same way that yeah, okay, god made me a masterpiece, but then I ruined it.
Speaker 2:
Have you ever heard people say that, oh my gosh? All the time, and, as you know, I've heard myself say it so many times. We have so many amazing, amazing people, lovers of Jesus, who come to Revelation within and feel this way. They are just carrying around bags of bricks of shame on your back Shame and guilt.
Speaker 2:
Well, you might be a masterpiece, but you don't know what I've done. You don't know what I've done to this body. You don't know what I've done in my life, what sin I've been a part of. You have no idea. I am certainly not. I was maybe when God created me. Right Now I am not. There's just no way and we're going to blow that lie out of the water. Yes, and that is the lie from the world, from our society. That's what the world tells us is you messed everything up, and so here's a 10-step plan to fix this.
Speaker 1:
Yes, yes. So what's interesting is they catch us in our guilt and shame, which is a powerful motivator to get fixed, and then they want to charge us a bunch of money. But we can't hate ourselves into positive change, no matter how much money we invest in it and how much skin we have in the deal. We just can't hate ourselves into positive change.
Speaker 2:
That's exactly where I was at. Nobody would have known it from the outside. I was really good at pretending and I was really good at hiding these secret bags of bricks that I was carrying. I was hiding, I was in the dark. It was an awful place to be. I was hopeless and full of shame. I just thought I ruined myself. I have ruined my body. I have done everything wrong. I'm too far gone. Nobody understands. Nobody could be this far gone. That was me, oh my goodness, yeah, absolutely, and I kept it all secret. I felt like nobody understood that. Anyway, I can relate, and for anyone who's out there and Heidi, can you relate to that as well?
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, of course, as I mentioned, I was just filled with that myself, that shame and stuff. But God is now taking me very deep into this truth found in Ephesians 2.10. And I continued to renew my mind about what God says about me and what's happening. I mean, it's a powerful season. Ephesians 2.10 has come alive to me in a whole new way. It's really true that God's word is living and active and we can go to a verse we've been through a thousand times and it will still be new. And this is what's happening with me. I want to kind of share today the truth about being a masterpiece or not. You know, can we un-masterpiece ourselves?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, exactly. And is our value dependent? Is our worth dependent on what we've done or what we haven't done?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you know, let's get into that today.
Speaker 2:
That's a tough one.
Speaker 1:
So when I was a kid growing up, my grandma and grandpa Janino yes, they were Italian and they were beautifully well, my grandpa was the Italian and he spoke lots of Italian and custom Italian and I learned some of those words and I didn't know they were Cuss words, oh, my goodness. Anyway, they had this old old house that had an old old garage out back and it was strictly off limits for me. I was not allowed to go in that treasure trove of a garage. It wasn't until they passed and then the property was for sale. I think my mom and her two sisters pilfered all the stuff they wanted from the property and I was allowed to go in the garage and I could just picture it again right now, my eyes popping out of my head. What I found in that garage of my grandfather's was a young explorer's dream railroad lanterns from his days as a Southern Pacific railroad boiler maker. I mean, if that doesn't take you back, antique cigar boxes, these vibrantly colored tobacco in cookie tins tinged with rust I've never seen anything like those before and fascinating bottles of all shapes and sizes. Okay, I gotta admit I didn't know grandpa did any drinking. I didn't know he did any tobacco in whatever. So that was illuminating.
Speaker 1:
But imagine and this is something that God kind of gave me recently Imagine if, as I'm looking around in this garage for the next great treasure I'm going to grab to take home, along with the lanterns of fruit grates and tins and other interesting trinkets and treasures, there's a piece of brown canvas tarp covering what appears to be some sort of a, maybe a frame or something, and it's covered with dust and cobwebs and of course it's like well, that looks interesting, let's take it and joins the rest of my hall for the ride back home. So I mean, imagine I was so excited. If I still remember, I had the hardest time letting go of these treasures when I grew up and knew I needed to clean out my life. So continue to imagine with me for a moment that I have sequestered that canvas covered and it's still dusty and still cobwebby. It's in the back of my closet.
Speaker 1:
But now I'm 19 and it's time to move out into my own space and I uncover that relic from the back of my closet and uncover it and the painting seems faded and kind of unremarkable. The colors are weird and well, my young I it's. The whole painting is ugly and just plain weird. So I take it out to the garage where the garbage can is kept and leave it there next to the garbage can to be put out with the trash when the trashmen come and I, for art, see this from the trash. Now, my mom was really involved in the art world, if I could be quite frank, in the Sacramento area, and so her connections I could imagine her connections in the art world would lead to her having this painting that was uncovered and she dusted it off and in cobwebs removed. She had it appraised and an astonishing revelation. And this just imagine me. Oh, my goodness. This is an unknown work by Vincent van Gogh.
Speaker 2:
Yes, you know what, Heidi. This actually happened to me, not exactly but I have been to Van Gogh not a van Gogh, no, but okay.
Speaker 2:
So this really happened. We don't have an ending to the story yet, but a couple years ago it was time for us to clean out my parents house and their basement maybe was something like what you were talking about about your grandparents garage. Yeah, both of my parents were now living at the Alzheimer's Center and we had to hurry up and clean up their house and get it ready for the next thing. And so we're in the basement and we're going through things and you know you're thinking, okay, what's to? You know, give away, what's to throw away, and then what's? To kind of think, what is this? Is it worth anything? We came across some paintings. Oh, they were mostly not in color, they were mostly like pen drawings, but they were large and they were on this very thin paper.
Speaker 2:
And I thought what is this? I had never seen them before, I had never heard of the artist the little name was scribbled in the corner. They weren't really my favorite. You know, I like paintings with color and I like kind of more of an impressionistic. Maybe I don't know.
Speaker 2:
Anyway so it wasn't like oh, these are beautiful. They were fantastic, though, and some of them were buildings very, very detailed. So I went to the internet and I looked up this person's name and it turns out that in Europe at the time, many, many years ago, he was very, very famous. Oh, wow, so we never really took it past that. Someday I'm gonna take the time and figure out what those might be and if they're worth anything. Wow, so you saved them.
Speaker 2:
They didn't make it to the trash. No, we saved them. We kind of rolled them up and put them under our house and they're safe. I mean, they're like in a role that saves art. But when I started the process of looking it up and everything and I realized I didn't have time to deal with it, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what? You just reminded me. I completely forgot about that.
Speaker 1:
That was what two years ago, three years ago, I'd be fascinating to get those appraised and see what they say.
Speaker 2:
Well, and that's just it.
Speaker 1:
No matter where these treasures are, no matter how they're treated, no matter what really they're created and crafted. In my case, the story that I was sharing by the master Van Gogh and of course mine is a fictitious story. No matter if it's covered or forgotten, or tossed aside for the trash, or appraised at Crocker Art Museum and even restored and placed on a museum wall, it was and always and forever will be a Van Gogh, A pressure, pressure, a masterpiece. Because why? Just one thing? Just one thing only.
Speaker 2:
What's that? The master made it. Yes, the master made it was the master.
Speaker 1:
Yes.
Speaker 2:
Oh, it reminds me. There's one more story I can throw in. Have you ever seen the movie Mouse Hunt? It is one of my favorite old movies and it's silly and slapstick. But in that movie one of the main characters inherits well, and his brother inherits this giant, old, dilapidated house. It is falling apart, it is broken down. You know, it is just a complete wreck, this huge, two-story old, old house. Somebody comes along and takes a look and says, oh, this is the missing LaRue. And all of a sudden there's, like you know, 10, 15 specialists of old architecture and homes and everything, and they're there just oohing and awing about this horrible-looking, completely messed up house. And it turns out that it's worth millions and millions and millions of dollars. And there's this old story and it's such a fun movie. But it's the same kind of thing. The house looked like it was wrecked, like no one had cared for it.
Speaker 1:
Right.
Speaker 2:
You know, there were big holes in the roof. It was just a complete mess, but still it was a masterpiece because of the master.
Speaker 1:
Exactly. You know, with this fictitious story that I created, my grandpa's garage was real and there were treasures in it, that's for sure. But the van Gogh found there in my story isn't real. But I went online and typed in things like forgotten van Gogh or lost van Gogh, or recovered van Gogh and ugly van Gogh. I did that one too. And did you know that van Gogh referred to one of his paintings called the Night Cafe as one of the ugliest paintings I've ever done?
Speaker 2:
Oh my gosh, that's so crazy.
Speaker 1:
I mean, can you believe this? It's said now to be worth $200 million. The way it looks isn't the point. There's another one too. Why don't you tell us about it?
Speaker 2:
OK, so another one of van Gogh's paintings sunset at Mont-Major was lost and hidden away for more than 85 years. So back in 2013, it was found it had been banished to a Norwegian attic for more than 100 years because its owner thought it was a fake. It was estimated to be worth $200 million $50 million.
Speaker 1:
And here's another one that just fascinated me. And see all of these things, we're all over the internet at the time that they surface. Another one of Van Gogh's paintings was stolen from a museum, someone mysteriously in an IKEA bag and even while off the museum wall and in an IKEA bag and in Someone's truck or trunk. It was a masterpiece valued between 3.2 and 6.4 Million gosh, that's amazing, and I read other ones, like ones in the fire, that were barely, I mean it, just.
Speaker 1:
It goes on and on and they all, no matter what their condition, remained considered a masterpiece.
Speaker 2:
Well, and you think about, you know, going to a museum, looking at old sculptures, looking, I mean, half of those sculptures in museums don't even have heads, they don't have arms, they don't have feet, they don't you know, half their face is gone. But it doesn't take the value away. The value again. We're bringing this point home, the value and worth this because of the master who created it.
Speaker 1:
Amen. And I just don't think we can drive this point home far enough, we can't bring it into our hearts far enough. And feces 210 tells us we are his workmanship. It doesn't say you were or you could be, if you just get your act together. You act together for Pete's sake. Yeah, it's not something that we can mess up, because being called or declared or proclaimed God's masterpiece wasn't because of anything we did in the first place.
Speaker 2:
Well, and I know so many of us and, heidi, you know people that come to us and you and I both, we have struggled with physical issues with our bodies and some of those things. They just Happened out of the blue, it just came upon us.
Speaker 2:
Maybe it was an injury or an illness or something that happened, and then some of those things happened because of choices We've made in our lives. I know that's true for me. What does it feel like for you then to know that, no matter what has happened in our lives, so matter what we have done or not done, we are God's workmanship or his beautiful, amazing masterpieces?
Speaker 1:
Well, I know, for me, the unexpected in 2014 was a medical crisis which has put me on antibiotics ever since, and my body has not cooperated with Anything. I haven't been perfect, I will admit that, but zero to five eating, you know, eating between the parameters of hunger and satisfaction, yeah, no it. My body has steadily. It thought it was starving, I'm sure it did, and since then, with the gut biome, all a mess and Anyway, whatever, what God is doing is he's using this truth to give me peace With this truth that I am a masterpiece.
Speaker 1:
He knew that that would all happen, that 2014 would come and go and I'd be a vastly different person in a vastly different health condition, and that I would need antibiotics the rest of my life so that the problem wouldn't return and that it would affect the way my body processes food. And it's not an excuse, it's truth. And what he has done is show me that it's okay, I'm still his masterpiece and what is so cool and I'm getting ahead of us. But the rest of the verses were created in Christ Jesus, for good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. It's like a call. It's like a call in my spirit to be prepared to go, to be prepared to do Whatever he calls me to do. And so, no matter if I have antibiotics and my gut biome is a mess and I'm chubby or what I want to do the best I can not to look a certain way, not to Be thin, but to be ready to be ready.
Speaker 2:
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 1:
Oh, it is so amazing, such a huge paradigm shift to know that God is master, that he has painstakingly Created me as his masterpiece. I'm not ruined, even by the antibiotics. My body is not ruined. I am still a masterpiece, and that causes my heart to well up with love for him, and then I want to be ready for whatever he calls me to do. So this is huge. It's a huge paradigm shift for me.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, oh my gosh, I love that. You just shared that, heidi. I love what you said about Not trying to look a certain way or be thin, but to be ready.
Speaker 1:
I love that.
Speaker 2:
I love that. I'm gonna renew my mind about that.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, no matter where we are in our journey with our body and food and eating and all of that, we can't have that be our focus.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
God knows if you're suffering with a condition that makes it impossible for you to go certain places or do certain things. But we want to be ready for what he does call us to. And if we disqualify ourselves by saying I've ruined it all, I can't ever do that, there we go again. We're gonna feel sorry for ourselves and possibly Comfort ourselves with food. That's not what God's called us to. He wants us to be ready for whatever Ever he invites us to step into. Oh, it's just so. I love it.
Speaker 2:
Well, in the very same year Heidi you mentioned 2014 and we were prayer partners at the time. Thankfully, in the very same year, I got really, really sick too later in the year and it ended up to be Lyme disease and it ended up to be chronic. And it's nine years later and I'm still struggling with it. I used to put all kinds of value and worth on myself, my identity, according to what I could do and According to the career that I had and my abilities to do this or do that, and all in one day.
Speaker 2:
It was like a big deal to me. It was really something I had to grapple with. This. What's my value now?
Speaker 1:
I'm laying on the couch.
Speaker 2:
You're a masterpiece. Yeah, it's like wait a minute, what? How can I be a masterpiece If I can't do this anymore or do that, or do all these things or do what's been? You know, somebody asked me and I have to say no, I mean, who am I now? Well, no matter what it is that's going on with you, whether you're not able to walk, or whether you're struggling with something emotionally that's debilitating, whatever it is, the master is the same.
Speaker 2:
Your worth and value does not change According to your life circumstances, your choices. Any of that and wow, that is so freeing. That is so freeing. I love it.
Speaker 1:
And it's so contrary to our society and what they are speaking into, our lives, the culture. It speaks so loudly about self-improvement that we've got to fix this and fix that. And this is the standard. And it's impossible, it's elusive. We can't reach that standard, even if we have all things healthy and ready to go. We tend to think our bodies were once upon a time perfect gifts from God, but believe we've since ruined them, and then we grapple with feelings of self-doubt. So the really good news is that's not the case.
Speaker 2:
Yes, that's so true. And the self-doubt and the insecurity and all those lies that go around and around in our minds, those paralyze us. You know we're not able to move, we're not able to listen, hear God, much less step out in what he's called us to, and it may be something totally different than we ever ever imagined that we would be called to.
Speaker 1:
Right. You know God's message to us isn't conditional. He doesn't measure our value based on our physical appearance or our physical condition. I know I've said that already, but it bears sounding the horn again and again about we are. You are his masterpiece, Not because of how you look or feel or what you can do or anything else, except because of who made you. The master made you. You are a precious treasure and he is making you. I believe a lot of masters continue to work on their masterpiece, adding a different color here and there. You are a precious treasure, a masterpiece, simply because you were created by the master, God himself.
Speaker 2:
Yes. So, despite what society may say about self-improvement or bodily perfection, you are a work of divine artistry. Wow, divine artistry. Regardless of how you may view your physical form or the marks life has left upon you, no matter what, no matter if you feel your health or beauty has been compromised by your own choices, even your worth is immeasurable.
Speaker 1:
Amen, you are a masterpiece because of the master who made you.
Speaker 2:
Yes, just as you are, I love it, I love it.
Speaker 1:
Take that with you today.
Speaker 2:
Take that with you into your day. And I don't know, I'm just thinking to myself. You know, I wish someone had told this to me when I was young, when I was an adolescent or a teenager in my 20s. Go tell someone this truth, that's young yeah.
Speaker 2:
And then share it with somebody of any age, because it's different for all of us to hear this truth. We need to. Yes, thanks for joining us today. Yes, we're so glad you were here and we hope that you will join us next time. On Revelation Within oh no Go.