Revelation Within On the Go!
Revelation Within equips people with life-giving, grace-infused mind renewal tools to deepen their intimacy with Jesus so that counterfeit comforts (like overeating) lose their allure, and the joy and hope of Jesus fills their lives, satisfying their souls.
In our podcast we talk about mind renewal, tips and tricks for getting and staying free from counterfeit comforts like overeating (over-scrolling, over-drinking, over-anythinging...)
We began as Thin Within in 1975, a pioneer in intuitive, mindful eating back when diets were in their hey day! Thin Within has taught people how to tune in to their body's natural signals of hunger and satisfaction, remaining present with their meals and delighting in tastes and textures--and the Lord!
In the 1980s, Thin Within became a Christian ministry, showing people that the emptiness that they have felt and often filled with food that their bodies don't require, was really placed in there to be filled full with God through Jesus. He wants to set us free from all strongholds!
We rebranded our ministry and our podcast in 2023 to Revelation Within.
Join us!
Visit us in our RevWithin.Team community as well! (https://revwithin.team)
Find our listing of classes at https://www.revelationwithin.org
Revelation Within On the Go!
Revisiting "Phases": Embracing Freedom in Discernment
Discover how to transform your relationship with food through grace, intuition, and spiritual surrender in this episode of Revelation Within On the Go. We delve into the history of the Thin Within curriculum, founded in 1975 by Judy Halliday, for people moving away from strict dieting rules to a grace-based, intuitive approach. The episode reflects on the shift from the original eight keys to conscious eating to the five intentions of spirit-led eating, that we now celebrate in Revelation Within, sharing both the joyous moments and initial hesitations encountered along the way.
Through heartfelt stories, we explore navigating health and dietary challenges using Revelation Within principles and revisit the idea of "phases" in our journey. The discussion highlights the necessity of balance, listening to our bodies, and understanding the impact of certain foods. We celebrate the concept that true freedom in our spiritual journey with food begins with a moment of surrender to God, underscoring the connection between discernment and freedom. This episode inspires us to embrace each step, learn from our experiences, and find peace and joy in inviting God into our daily decisions, including our food choices.
Learn more about our Revelation Within Community: https://www.revelationwithin.org
Hi and welcome to Revelation Within On the Go. I'm Heidi Bilesman-Epperson, one of your hosts and the owner and lead coach of the Revelation Within.
Speaker 2:Ministry, and I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a Revelation Within coach and Heidi's partner in all things Revelation Within. We are so happy to invite you to join us for this episode of revelation within all righty.
Speaker 1:So we thought, you know, one of the things that we did during the month of june 2024 was we did some weekly classes and two of those classes we have been going through we're still wrapping up but we've been going through a curriculum that we've used in the past. There's the within book that we've been going through and fresh when fresh desire is. So we've been going through those with these groups of ladies on talking about then now, how we are a little bit different than we were when those resources were last presented and even written, and what it was like then and what it is like now, and one of those things that we've stumbled upon we thought we would talk about in the podcast a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, I love that idea. So we were Thin Within for a long, long, long, long time. In case anybody doesn't know, thin Within was started by Judy Halliday in 1975, which, well, that was kind of a while ago, years ago now I mean how many Fifty?
Speaker 1:No, that's not possible. Yes, in 2025, we're going to have us a big shindig of some kind oh, we definitely should A big celebration.
Speaker 2:Yes, so 1975., and then, about 10 years after, judy started, then, within, she became a Christian and brought the Bible and God's truth into the whole thing, which changed the whole thing into something much deeper and much, much more beautiful and meaningful. Yes, and now we are revelation within and we continue to just get better and better and better.
Speaker 1:So what we thought we would do today is talk about, like I mentioned, one of those components of what things were like then, before we were now, and how we think about it now. And that, specifically, is back in the day when Thin Within began and when the Thin Within book, the Christian version, was released in 2001,. There were three phases of Thin Within that were taught, and we taught about this in the Fresh Wind, fresh Desire workbook as well and in all our coaching groups, and that was written in like 2019. So we're kind of shifting a little bit, and so we wanted to talk about what the phases were and how we think of it now. Christina, how about if I give a little summary from my take on the phases and what they were, and then you can add your two cents in there, or 12 cents, or a dollar, even A dollar and then let's talk about all in one fell swoop, because a lot of things overlap. Yeah, definitely let's do.
Speaker 1:As you all probably know, if you've listened to our podcast for any length of time at all, one of the then and nows is, instead of the eight keys to conscious eating, we're looking at the five intentions of spirit led eating and you'll see how that comes into play as well. But the three phases of thin within start with when somebody first would come to thin within. Yeah, to experience Hopefully I'm not saying this very well yeah, okay, backing up, when people would first come to Thin Within, they were very excited about the idea that they could select whatever it is they wanted to eat and that they didn't have to worry about the idea that they could select whatever it is they wanted to eat and that they didn't have to worry about the good foods list and the bad foods list and could just eat between hunger and satisfaction. And that would be a way to experience freedom from extra weight that they might be wanting to lose, as well as to develop peace with food and eating in their bodies. And so that was like out of dieting they had no food of eating wasn't developed as a its own little discipline until much later than when Judy started in within in 1975. And so it wasn't as familiar to people.
Speaker 1:The whole intuitive eating thing was just not on most people's radar. A dieting was the only option. If you were happy with your body and you wanted to shape shift, dieting was the only way. In fact, a lot of people thought well, you can't possibly be healthy or a healthy size or lose weight if you eat whatever you want to, because foods have been vilified. Sugar certainly had been vilified, but not only that, all kinds of other things too, yes, yeah, and so let's talk for a minute about what the freedom phase was like in Thin Within and how it characterized a lot of our lives characterize a lot of our lives.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, you and I both experienced the freedom phase and kind of that joy, and also I think I was hesitant. I don't know, were you Heidi or did you just jump right in?
Speaker 1:I don't remember it was so long ago, I think. Yeah, because I had experienced it with a way down. I had experienced which does not pre-exist Thin Within. Thin Within brings us way down. Just to be clear, I had experienced freedom and shapeshifting in the way I wanted to through that program before the whole doctrinal thing began in 2000. And I shifted out of that into the Thin Within, the thin approach, which is, of course, completely grace based, um, anyway, and so I knew it would work.
Speaker 1:Yes, and and I know that at the time I first tried it first went to weigh down, I was my thinnest ever. It's like, why did you do that? Because I knew food and dieting and obsessive exercise was controlling me and so I wanted, I definitely wanted freedom and I knew there had to be freedom from the way that I was enslaved to if I wasn't overeating. I was controlling the food, the numbers. You know, that was my thing, numbers was my thing and I felt owned by it and I wanted freedom. So I was ready to dive in hook lion. I was like I never looked back. Really, I never looked back. Yes.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, for me. I mean, I did way down to at the time, but I had gained all that weight back, just like every other diet that I had ever been on, just like every other diet that I had ever been on. And so I think I was at a place where it's like, well, I don't know, I mean I was very desperate, there's no question, very hopeless. I had been on that kind of that pendulum swing where you're either like restricting, restricting, restricting or eating, eating, eating everything in sight. So I was like always in the extremes for a long, long time, for many, many years, and very miserable in that place, and also dealing with a lot of secret shame, dealing with a lot of awful, awful, self-condemning thoughts in my mind.
Speaker 2:So I was at a desperate place, which I think really did help me. But I was also kind of like, you know, this sounds really good, but can it possibly be? I mean, is there really a way to find peace with food and eating, peace with my body and what about this? Not having a bad foods list, not having a good foods list, and just being able to eat a variety of food in just right portions and release extra weight and also be at peace. I mean, I was kind of like this sounds too good to be true, but I'm going to go for it because you know I've tried everything else, nothing works Right and I thought there was just something very seriously wrong with me.
Speaker 1:And of course it does work. It does work, to yes, in small portions or just right size portions, as we like to say. You can release weight if that's your focus. And we encourage people now to get your focus off of that, because it can actually derail your emotional, spiritual and physical health to be so fixated on weight, instead focusing on how can I get to know God more intimately, how can I renew my mind and change my thinking. So just to put that all in perspective, that all in perspective.
Speaker 1:But it is remarkable how it's not the food that is the problem, it's my heart, and how often I give into the cravings of my flesh, uh, really. And so we found that a lot of people were like us, very or like me at least very excited to throw all the diet rules aside. And with that I don't know, christina, it seems like many of us got stuck for years in the freedom phase. Yes, it's all supposed to be freedom. Yes, it's all wonderful and we don't have to count and weigh and measure and all of that stuff ever again. That's a lovely place to be. Yes, we find also happen for people.
Speaker 2:Well, for those of us who were younger, when we were in that place and maybe we, you know, we were eating all kinds of things that maybe we didn't have consequences with our body. And I mean, at least when I was that, when I started, I could kind of eat anything. But as I got older and as I got more into kind of honing in, what does this mean? I'm listening to my body. I realized, hmm, I'm really not eating in a way that is beneficial for my body, that's causing me to feel strong and energized. I'm really not. I'm kind of just letting my taste buds do all the voting. And we've talked about this before that lineup, the little voting booth, and all of our organs and body parts lined up and they're all wanting a vote and we're giving the whole vote to the taste buds.
Speaker 2:That's where I was for a very long time. I would wait for zero. Zero is physically hungry and I would wait and wait, and wait and wait. And the time it's like I was fixated. I was obsessed during that time. What am I going to have? I can have anything I want. What am I going to have? I mean, none of that is is healthy for me to be thinking about that so much? And then I often chose foods that my taste buds loved, but the rest of my body said hey, christina, how about a vote for your liver? How about a vote for your joints? How about a vote for your heart, your brain, all the other body parts? And so, yes, I think we got kind of stuck in a place of really immaturity, as we stayed in the freedom phase forever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I question, the way we thought of the freedom phase was that it's eating whatever I want, you know, as long as I'm hungry, and stopping and satisfied. That simply boiled down what the freedom phase was to me, anyway, and I began to when I felt so cruddy. Over time, as I was doing that way and began to get cruddier and cruddier, I realized, you know, wait a minute, god's view of freedom. What do you have to say about that, god? What is freedom to you and it was freedom is not having to eat those things that I have always had off limits, you know. Now it's like like, ooh, I'm going to have them all all the time whenever I'm hungry. Well, it's that freedom? I still remember the very first time that I realized crystal clear, realized that the way I felt was so connected to eating that way.
Speaker 1:And when I had to shift and it was Christmas time years ago, I don't even remember what year it was, but I had been a part of thin within for quite a while I had released any extra weight, I was healthy, I was, but I felt cruddy a lot, to be honest. But I was very active. We had horses and dogs and a lot of property and dah, dah, dah, dah, anyway. And my daughter, oh, it must've been after 2012 because she came home from college and she went away to college in 2012. So she came home from college for Christmas, uh, and she, she was going to make homemade cinnamon rolls, which sounded lovely and I'm free to eat that. Right, right, of course, yeah, freedom. And she made her awesome from scratch cinnamon rolls and I had a just right size portion.
Speaker 1:First thing in the morning. I felt cruddy. All day. I could not figure out another signal. All day. Something was so thrown off and I was like, oh, I wonder if this is what phase two is about, which was discernment and thin within. And I discerned. You know it takes a brilliant mind to discern. I was feeling cruddy after having heard lovely cinnamon. You know I was only about a half of it for breakfast. So how about you? When did you realize that maybe I'm stuck here and shouldn't be?
Speaker 2:Well, I was, yeah, I was stuck for a long time. You know, for most of my life I really haven't had a lot of health problems. They've kind of all hit in the last 10 years and so well, and specifically chronic Lyme disease, which I know I've mentioned. So really, that's when my eyes were beginning to be opened, like, and I remember saying to people when I was first diagnosed with chronic Lyme and I was so, so sick, people would say to me is it about the way you eat, christina? And I was like how could you say that? That was just like an awful thing, because food and eating is my big, big issue. It always has been.
Speaker 2:And for someone to connect that, and at first I was very, very resistant to the whole idea that somehow the way I was feeling had anything to do with how I eat. And and it's true that when you do research on Lyme disease, there really is not something that is known about that, about well, you should eat this and you shouldn't. It's just not really known yet at this point. But I wasn't listening to my body at all in terms of food and eating and I was hanging on to that freedom phase like death grip. We said the same thing. Yeah, I was. I mean, I've got my fists clenched. I was holding onto it Like don't you take this away from me.
Speaker 1:Don't you see how free I am? Give me that.
Speaker 2:I'm free. But actually, what you said, heidi, is so true. If I'm gripping that freedom, that's not freedom, it's not. There's no balance there, there's no peace there. I'm gripping those foods that I was always told not to eat, and it's like whoa. So, yeah, there, it was not a quick thing for me. There there was kind of a, there was a journey, a journey within my journey. I've had a lot of journeys within my journey, and that's one of them is, wow, you know, there really are foods that make me feel better.
Speaker 2:Now, maybe it doesn't have to do with the Lyme disease, maybe it does, but what is God calling me to? He's calling me to fuel my body. Well, and here's the thing my body is fighting three co-infections every single day of Lyme disease, and so if I'm not feeding it well, how well is it fighting? Yeah, you know, but these are not things that I wanted to even think about for a long, long time. I just thought, you know, give me, give me those foods that were always on my no, no list. Don't take that away from me. Over the last 10 years, I've had a lot of health challenges with Lyme disease, and, yeah, I mean absolutely. Of course, it's so true that what I eat makes a difference in the way that I feel.
Speaker 1:Definitely for me as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there have been seasons with the Lyme disease, where which I'm kind of in one right now, where my stomach is really affected, I think, by the medicines that I'm taking, and my list of foods that make me feel good has become smaller and I've had to really listen and really pray and ask God for direction. That's kind of where I'm at right now, too, because my stomach hurts and I'm having consequences from eating certain foods.
Speaker 1:Right? Well, in Thin Within, of course we had hopefully, we followed the freedom phase with the discernment phase, which was then supposedly followed by the mastery phase. Now, I will be honest with you, I never really quite understood what the mastery phase was supposed to look like, and I think that Judy Halliday, who was the founder of Thin Within, was quite concerned about that in me. That's okay, let's talk about the discernment phase for a minute. And this again speaks to before now, what you know. We're going to talk in a moment about what we teach now or what we practice now. Even it's kind of continuing to evolve. Um, as far as clarity goes, because it's like, oh well, I still subscribe to this, but I do it a little bit more loosely. And so, in Thin Within, how would you describe the discernment phase?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the discernment phase for Thin Within I mean, in a way it was absolutely fabulous. And you know, there's so much of it that we still use it's listening to your body and inviting God into what would be the best thing for me to eat right now. How do I feel my body? Well, what's beneficial, not just taste good, but what's actually beneficial for my body. And then what about the amount? Is it this amount or this amount? You know, is the issue with eating this food for me? Is it the amount? Maybe I'm just eating too much of it, or is it a food that my body really doesn't want right now? So much and just that discernment. To me it was like walking into a little bit of a more mature place in terms of the food and eating journey. Yes, all foods are permissible. Yes, I could choose, I have that freedom, but I know that I can be wise and I can be thoughtful and mindful of what I'm eating and when and how much.
Speaker 1:And that all sounds really good. I know some people at when we pulled out the teaching on discernment, after they've just be, you know, been in thin within for a short while, they're like oh so this is where the good food, bad food list and we actually taught what Judy taught from the beginning, which was you can have your own lists of pleasers, teasers, whole body pleasers and total rejects and you listen to your body. I have found that for me, the list has to be more fluid than writing it down because of the different seasons of life. Again, maybe that's because of age or health stuff that's come up or whatever. But yeah, for me, once I dialed into the discernment phase, it was interesting because it actually caused me to look back at one of my favorite diets. I ever went on a diet diet and it was a favorite because I felt so good while I was on it and it was basically what is called keto today, or was called Atkins in the 80s, or what was called the zone in the 90s. Anyway, it comes out in different forms, but it was protein. You know, I feel best when I have protein at every eating occasion. There is not I mean, there's no such thing as a snack for me that doesn't include protein, if I want to keep feeling my best, I just there, just isn't.
Speaker 1:And I found that I reinforced that during the discernment phase. But I kept living in freedom and I began to get that you know what. I am free to eat what I choose, but I'm also free not to, because Christ sent me free. It is for freedom that Christ has sent me free. I don't have to be owned by pizza five nights out of seven each week. Um, I can say no and choose something else. The teaching that there were these kind of phases, that you go from one into the next it wasn't really working. For a lot of people it wasn't no, and then mastery again, I just have to put my hands and say I'm not really sure what that was supposed to look like, except ta-da, I'm perfect, and you know what we think about perfection.
Speaker 2:I remember every time we got to that place where it was time to say this is what the mastery phase is, I always felt uncomfortable because nobody ever gets there.
Speaker 1:No, I remember what I would do when we were teaching on it. I would pull out one of Judy's books on it and read from the book, you know, because she had some beautiful descriptions. Yeah, I got hung up a little bit on the perfectionism thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and can we be perfect? No, this side of heaven, we can't. We just can't. And if this is an issue that we've had our whole lives and there's lots of reasons for that maybe in past and you know a lot of things that have happened, that is, have caused us to become disordered eaters in some way Is it just going to go poof and be gone forever? Well, it might, but you know what Heidi and I have worked with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of women, and that is not the experience. And that is not the experience Now. Have we walked along people who have experienced freedom, yes, and peace, yes, and joy, yes, and have become peaceful eaters yes, all of those things? Have we ever walked alongside a person who became somehow perfect with this issue?
Speaker 2:No no, and so for me it's actually a relief to kind of throw that out. I mean, I, I love Judy, I love where she was going with this, but it's almost like it encourages people to get into a place of self-condemnation because they're like when will I get there? Will it be next month? What about next year? Oh, I've been doing this for two years and I'm not there.
Speaker 1:And then they want to quit. It's kind of like shooting for being a lifetime member of a certain weight loss program and you'd never get there, and so you quit going to the meetings. I want to be a lifetime member of a certain weight loss program and you never get there, and so you quit going to the meetings. I want to be a lifetime member, and no, we're not. Yeah, we're not encouraging perfection, because only when we see Jesus face to face will we be in that state and he will complete the work he's begun in us.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that's kind of a very long summary of what's been within taught and what we taught up until not that long ago. But now and I love this I asked Christina yesterday for one of our classes to share what she feels about the phases now, and I'm asking her to do that. We're going to kind of have a dialogue about it. Let's talk about this freedom phase and what is it now? What do we teach instead now, or what do you feel is best? Best characterizes the way we can think of our food, our eating and the way we go about this.
Speaker 2:Well, when you asked me this question, heidi, and I just thought, oh yeah, you know I'm going to have an answer for this and I thought, wait a minute, what is my answer for this? You know what is my experience, what is your experience, and what is the experience with all these people that we love so dearly, that we have walked very closely with some for years, some for months Like what's the reality of this? Are there phases that we go from number one to number two to number three? No, that's the reality. It's not. It's really not.
Speaker 2:So what I've realized, you know as, of course, we've talked a lot about how our journey, with Revelation Within it, overflows and splashes into every area of our lives, which I love. You know what we talk about the mind renewal and leaning into the Lord, inviting him in. That's happening, you know, for both of us, in our marriages. It's happening in our relationships. What I've seen to be true in my journey with food and eating is also true in all the other areas where I'm on these. I'm on these walks with the Lord and he's teaching me and helping me and loving me and, no, I never get to a place of perfection.
Speaker 2:To me, it's a relief to let go of that. So letting go of this. Okay, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to have first phase and then am I in, am I in the second stage? Like, well, I thought I was for a month and now I'm not. And you know what about that third phase? Well, I think I had five minutes of it and you're just kind of going along and it's it's not. It's not life-giving to even look at things that way.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I always struggled with this and I love Judy desperately. You know how important she has been in my life, yes, but for me, anytime you have you know levels of something or phases of something or whatever, it kind of rubs me wrong because it somehow says, oh, that person's gotten farther along than I have. Will I ever be that far along? Yeah. And so what do we do now? I want to get good stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. It's really really, really good and I feel like you know, at some point we should write about this or something. Yes, we should or have a podcast.
Speaker 2:This is kind of a new conversation for us and I actually love it. So the freedom phase is not a phase. As soon as you put your pinky toe into, as soon as you have even one moment of surrender, as soon as you just have a Godward thought, there you are, you're in freedom, you are doing it, you're living it, you're there. Even if it's just for five minutes, it counts, it's freedom. And so, yeah, I was, you know, talking to someone the other day who said, oh, I'm having wonderful mornings, but then the rest of my day, and it's like, what about the wonderful mornings? Let's focus on that for a minute. You're having freedom all morning long, and that's incredible. That's it. That's freedom. Freedom does not mean that you're somehow going to do this perfectly, and it doesn't mean that you're not going to struggle. It doesn't. We are going to struggle. We're human. We stumble, we trip, we mess up, we fall, we get up, we keep going, and that is freedom. That is freedom.
Speaker 2:You know it's all freedom.
Speaker 1:We don't move from one to the next to the next. It's no, like you said, once you have just one moment of surrender, you're in, you're in, you're swimming in it all. And and yeah, yeah, and I do love the truth God has he set us free and it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. That's Galatians 5.1. And that's a beautiful truth that we've been set free and so we are free to choose our foods any way we want to. And if we want to invite God into that process, so much the better. I know that, as I have done that over the years, when I invite God into helping me select foods that will work best for my body and my mind and my spirit very different than when I don't invite him in. And there are seasons when I am consistently inviting him in and there are seasons when not so much.
Speaker 1:And I don't want to disqualify myself based on flowing in and out, just being who I am with the Lord. He loves me that way. But what is so awesome is discernment is also it's almost like an overlay rather than phase. It's like freedom saturates us. It is who we are as we enjoy eating with the Lord, inviting him in, renewing our minds, being open to what he has for us and then overlaying that. I mean picture, like an overhead transparency, where you have the initial picture and now you're going to overlay it with I don't know a beautiful color that you love. And it is the discernment that also brings into, from day one. Your freedom and discernment are both. They're interwoven, they are not. You can't distinguish one from the other because you're free to discern and you're able to discern and not go towards foods or drinks that have enslaved you before. I mean that's, that's freedom.
Speaker 2:That's freedom, don't you think? Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely, it's all of it from, like you said, from day one. And so you know we'll have people say, well, I mean, am I ever going to get this? So that phrase, get that out of your mind, throw that out. There is not going to be a moment where you quote unquote get this, you're going to some days, you're going to put two feet in some days, or some hours, even you're just going to put a couple of toes in in the water.
Speaker 2:Nothing that we go through is wasted, nothing. And so when you think back to the times when you have been learning and you've been you know God has been showing you something new. Those times are important and valuable. You know God has been showing you something new. Those times are important and valuable. They're not wasted time.
Speaker 2:And so so much of what we teach is about look and learn. Yes, you know, and that when, when we stumble and trip and fall, that's actually a valuable part of the journey. It's not something we're trying to run away from or pretend that it's not part of the journey or pretend that it will never happen again Absolutely not. Instead, just embrace it and know you're going to mess up. That was a huge milestone for me in my journey was when I said wow, I'm going to mess up and I'm going to be ready for it and I'm going to learn something from it. I'm not afraid to ready for it and I'm going to learn something from it. I'm not afraid to fall anymore, to fail. We've talked so much about failing forward and failing. Well, there's a purpose in that and walking closely with God, looking and learning, looking and learning. There's no condemnation in Christ. How many times have we read that and we don't apply it to this at all. I don't get it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and to be honest with you now, rather than seeing freedom as a phase to move through into discernment, to move through into, into mastery, to move into and stay there, I see it as mastery is being okay with what you just shared and living that way. It's living in freedom, living with discernment, it's all overlapping, it's all connected, knowing I'm not going to be perfect, going to God, inviting him in, learning from him, looking and learning with him, not letting perfectionism mess with my head, which it does and it has all my life with diets. It did and it does in our society in other ways too, because that's kind of the way we're, we're focused in our culture is performance-based. But with this approach that we're talking about this then and now, okay, then it was one distinct phase to the next, to the next. Now we're saying let's embrace it all. Let's embrace the freedom, freedom to eat, freedom from having to eat. Let's embrace discernment, all at the same time.
Speaker 1:Getting to know my body. What does my body like? What do my joints like? What do they not like? What do my taste buds love? What do they not like? What do my taste buds love, what do they not love, what textures do they love, et cetera, and then being okay with the mess up. That is where, really, when people have asked us, you know I want to get this right, when will I get it right? Well, getting it right just means that you're okay when you mess up, because you learn from it and you keep going. You don't let it derail you or define you, and so, to me, that's the beauty of the now. We talk about thin within, then, and what revelation within now teaches about phases or discernment and all of that. Really, it's a big difference, don't you think?
Speaker 2:It is. It's a huge difference. It definitely is, and I love that we're talking about this. So one of the things that we have noticed when people come to us, you know they might come and say, well, how long did it take you? Or you know, how long do you think this will take me? Do you think it'll be three months? Do you think it'll be? And then I'll say, oh well, you know, we've we've had people working on this for years and they're like what?
Speaker 2:But honestly, once you, once you get into the rhythm of the look and learn and this journey of being really drawn into intimacy with the Lord, we need him all the time. We're renewing our minds with his thoughts, with praise, with worship and gratitude all the time. Once you really begin living that way, you won't want the journey to end anymore, you will want to keep going and you will let go of that end date that doesn't exist. And then one other thing that's so important to mention, because for me, this was so huge. I basically had an entire lifetime of dealing with emotions in a very unhealthy way. I did not know what to do with my emotions if I didn't have food in my hands, and so for me. That was a huge part of my, is a huge part of my journey all the time, every day, and for some of us that's a really big thing. For some of us it's not as big and there's other issues that come up that are bigger, but those are important. I don't want to somehow miss out on that. God has a lot to teach me about dealing with my emotions and relationships and the things that I believe about work and all kinds of things Identity there's so many. I could come up with a whole list of things that he's working with me on right now and things that we've worked on in the past, things that are coming back up from the past. That's okay, I'm not worried about that anymore.
Speaker 2:The end date is heaven. For me, that's the end date. So if you're thinking in fact, maybe I'll say this the next time somebody asks me how long did it take you or how long will it take me, and I'm like my end date is heaven, what's yours? Because when we get to heaven, everything will be perfect. We'll have new bodies, we will be full of praise and worship, there will be no sorrow, no dealing with past events that you know, any, all of that trauma. I mean it'll be done, We'll be at perfect peace all the time.
Speaker 1:Yay, oh my gosh, this is a great topic. I'm so glad we focused this podcast on it. Thank you so much, christina, for kind of initiating it. When you gave your response in our class yesterday, that was yeah, really encouraged me a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a great challenging question and now I'm thinking about it a lot, so I'm grateful. Yeah, anyway, we hope that you have enjoyed being with us today. We've enjoyed being with you and we would love for you to join us for our next episode of Revelation Within on the show. We'll see you next time. Bye for now.