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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!
The Truth About Peaceful Eating: What No One Told Us-Part 2
Mind renewal isn't just a spiritual catchphrase—it's the transformative key to peaceful eating that's been missing from our conversations about food and body. In part two of our special series "The Truth About Peaceful Eating: What No One Told Us," we dive deep into how our thoughts shape our relationship with food more profoundly than any diet plan ever could.
For years, many of us have exhausted ourselves trying to change our behavior around food through increasingly complex rules and restrictions. We've blamed ourselves for lacking willpower when these approaches inevitably fail. But what if the problem was never our discipline or determination? What if we've been believing the wrong story all along?
Be sure to join us for this important conversation and discover why mind renewal might be the missing piece you've been searching for all along.
Learn more about our Revelation Within Community: https://www.revelationwithin.org
Hi and welcome to our podcast Revelation Within On the Go. I'm Heidi Wildsma-Efferson, 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, and we are so happy to invite you to join us for this episode of Revelation Within. Just so you know, we both had our arms up in the air for the end of that one, yay, well, welcome back.
Speaker 1:We're continuing our special three-part series called the Truth About Peaceful Eating what no One Told Us.
Speaker 2:What no One Told Us. Oh man, that's a good title, because it does feel like that. Like why didn't anybody tell me? I know right, yes, exactly. So last time we started with a pretty bold question what if the problem isn't food? So if you missed that episode, we want you to go back. If you would, we want to encourage you to go back and listen, Because today we're going to build on that conversation with something that has completely changed our lives, Heidi and I, and the lives of so many people in our community.
Speaker 1:Yes, and it has changed our name too. We went from Zen Within to Revelation Within, because the mind renewal piece was so important. People were having revelation and so yeah. Well, so today, what are we talking about? We're talking about mind renewal.
Speaker 2:Yes, we're talking about mind renewal.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm so excited I'm like we never get to talk about that. No, we never get to talk about it. I want to say right up front that this phrase mind renewal it isn't just a spiritual sounding phrase, it's really a real, a practical, powerful practice and it's really at the heart of peaceful, spirit-led living and peaceful spirit-led eating. If I can, be quite frank.
Speaker 2:It is Well and it comes right from the Word of God.
Speaker 1:It comes from Romans 12 too which says be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and we love that.
Speaker 2:We do, we do Okay. So here's the thing. Most of us have spent years, maybe decades, yes, myself included trying to change our behavior around food. Okay, I'm going to eat less. Okay, now I'm going to eat better and less. Maybe I'll just eat better but not less. Oh, maybe I'm not eating enough. Okay, how about don't eat at night, don't eat when stressed? Okay, how about only certain these hours of the day, but only this kind of food? Oh, my gosh, my head is exploding. Okay, how about only certain these hours of the day, but only this kind of food?
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, my head is exploding. Okay, you got to wipe off your screen. You're exploding.
Speaker 2:My head exploded. And isn't that? Isn't that so normal in our culture? Right now? It's everywhere. The thing is behavior follows belief.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's so interesting to me too. I think back on kind of the season that you're in right now, christina, back when my daughter was leaving the nest and she was going away to college and exposed to who knows what out there in the real world, so to speak, and she had questions for me because she'd been raised in a home that practiced kind of a peaceful, intuitive eating approach Wait until you're hungry, stop when you're no longer hungry and she was being exposed to all the food plans out there in the world. And she was being exposed to all the food plans out there in the world and she's like mom, they tell me that if I wait until I'm hungry, I'm just going to have problems with food and eating, that it's caused by waiting until I'm hungry when I eat. Oh, my goodness, there was a belief there that she ran headlong into that she wasn't expecting.
Speaker 1:And so what if what you believe deep down is something like this? I am totally out of control, I just can't be trusted around food Right, or nobody's going to love me if I don't look different. You know, no matter what you try, if those are the kinds of thoughts that you are having, those thoughts that establish beliefs that establish behavior, then no food plan is going to set you free. It's not. It's just going to be barking up the wrong tree. And that's why the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12 to do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, because the world has patterns it wants to shove us into and it's going to kind of run counter to what God says is true. The world says change your behavior and you'll do fine, you'll be okay. Jesus says let me change your mind your beliefs, let me transform you.
Speaker 2:So so good. That goes so much deeper, doesn't it? Yeah, I love that. I love that. So I mean, I remember a time, actually many times, when I kept breaking my own quote unquote rules about food. I remember having actually writing down restrictions, things that I was going to do. This was my plan and then oftentimes it was the plan in the magazine or the plan at the diet center or the plan. I had a nutritionist for a while and we would take walks together and she would tell me her plan and I just remember feeling like I can't do this, I can't even do it. Well, I can't even do it, a little bit Like I just I could last two or three days and that was it. And there was something that came up in me that pushed back.
Speaker 2:Yes, I didn't want to be restricted. I didn't want to have rules pounding me on the head. I didn't want it and I didn't know where that was coming from. It was coming from inside. It was like I should want this, I should want to be restricted, because that's what everybody says is the only way to find relief, if I'm going to say, you know, relief. So I felt like a failure all the time. Heidi, you talk about being really good at dieting and I know some people like that, where they can really kind of hang in there with those restrictions, even months at a time, sometimes a year or two, but it always falls apart eventually.
Speaker 2:It always falls apart eventually. What I didn't realize then, when I had those stacks of rules that I was trying to follow, was that I wasn't failing at willpower. Wait a minute, really, what I mean? That's my okay. My brain just exploded again. I wasn't failing at willpower. There wasn't some some huge character flaw in me, Right right, that was causing me to fail. What was really happening? I was believing the wrong story.
Speaker 1:In 2 Corinthians 10, verse 5, paul says we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Yes, that is what God has to say about what we're thinking. We want to kind of filter through what we're allowing to, you know, bang around the inside of our heads, against the walls of our mind. It's not about positive thinking. You know, I am a fit thin person. I'm going to be amazing, right? No, that's not what we're talking about. No, it is about identifying the lies that we have lived under and replacing them with God's own truth.
Speaker 1:So, that's the key. We want to think God's thoughts about food. We want to think God's thoughts about the world's suggested ideas for how to solve food and eating problems. We want to think God's thoughts about the world's suggested ideas for how to solve food and eating problems. We want to think God's thoughts about our need for nourishment and about our emotions. You know God gave us food to enjoy. There's nothing sinful about enjoying food. We just want to ask him what are your thoughts about me enjoying food? What are your thoughts about the delight I have in food? And invite him to help us to change our thinking so our desires change and line up with his.
Speaker 2:Well, and I'm just going to throw this out there I have mentioned a couple of times that I've taken the little social media icons off of my phone. But the other day I had a little rendezvous with Instagram and I'm just going to be totally honest with you, like a lover or something, yes, okay, I'm just going to be honest. I had a little time to myself. I found myself on there because my daughter had posted something. At first it was all very legit, and then I started scrolling and at first it was you know this and that and oh, this is fun, and a wedding blooper here and a dog video here. And all of a sudden, instagram read me like a book and my pop tissues I am not kidding, it is so weird how this happens. My past issues I am not kidding, it is so weird how this happens.
Speaker 2:And I was faced with real after real about body image, weight loss, dieting, restrictions. I must've paused on something. And Instagram read me like a book and read my past history. And all of a sudden, I was faced with and I just it was more and more and more and more. And all of a sudden, I was faced with and I just, it was more and more and more and more and all of a sudden, the wedding bloopers disappeared, the baby videos disappeared and all the cute fun stuff. And I'm looking at all of this diet stuff and rules and restrictions and message me if you want to look like me and how old are you and what about this, and are you? Yes, and menopause and all the things, and I'm just like, wow, you know what? Social media is playing an enormous role right now in what's going in our minds?
Speaker 1:Yes, it is. Thank you for pointing that out our minds.
Speaker 2:Yes, it is. Thank you for pointing that out. It is so prevalent right now. I just got back from the doctor this morning. Every single person in that office was on their phone and most of them were scrolling. I mean, I took a little peek and I'm talking to myself, I'm not judging at all. We have to be so intentional to get our minds out of what the world is telling us, because we are being pounded with information at this point. What the world is feeding us is nourishing something inside of us.
Speaker 1:Is it nourishing a worldly perspective or is it nourishing a godly perspective? Well, I don't think we have to wonder.
Speaker 2:No, and it's intense and it's not just like a magazine article. We used to pick up a magazine and read one article about a diet or restrictions or what you should eat if you, you know, whatever. But now we have these scrolling, we've got reel after reel after reel and we get pounded with hundreds, you know, of reels in a half an hour and it's like we need to be thinking about that. We need to be looking at that, myself included. I'm right in there with you. Good point, okay. So here's something simple that you can try this week. We want to encourage you to try this.
Speaker 2:Start noticing the thoughts that are swirling around food and body. When you feel frustrated, ashamed or out of control, start thinking about what you're thinking about. You know, you might even want to jot it down. You might even want to stop for a minute and recognize, wow, I'm really thinking about this and this and this right now and it's not life-giving to me. And is it truth? It's not even truth. Then ask well, is this thought true? Is it kind? Does it line up with who God is? Does it line up with what God says about me? Does it line up with God's character? Write it down, get curious about it. Start thinking about what you're thinking about.
Speaker 1:I love that. That's a great idea. It's a really good idea. Yeah, and while you're at it, turn off the scrolling.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I already took the icons off my phone again. Yeah, I mean, it's like it's crazy that influence it's powerful.
Speaker 1:Well, another verse that I like to refer to is John 8, 32, where Jesus specifically said you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Speaker 1:Now just for clarity and because I want to be a good Bible study girl, I don't mean to imply that Jesus' words at the time were intended to mean anything about food and eating and body image and all of that, or whether you're on a diet or not. That's not at all what I'm trying to say here. But there is a principle that we can pull out from this that applies to our food, eating and body image journey that facing the truth directly is a way of experiencing freedom. Freedom doesn't start when the scale moves in a direction I want it to move. In fact, I don't use a scale, so I'm really glad freedom isn't dependent on that dependent on that.
Speaker 1:Freedom starts when we start to believe what God says is true about us, about who I am, about him and about food. Yes, did he really intend for food to torment me? Did he ever want, for one minute, food to be something I have so much anxiety over or use up so much bandwidth in my brain over? Probably not Freedom. It's really a good, good, good thing to ask God what does freedom look like for you, lord? What do you want it to be for me? What does he have to say about that?
Speaker 2:Yes, well, and really, the women who've walked this journey with us. I mean, we've seen this and heard this again and again and again. They say this is the piece mind renewal, this is the key that has been missing all along, because, really, when you start thinking differently, everything changes. Your relationship with food completely shifts, your relationship with your body softens, your relationship with God deepens, you're filling your mind with what is true and life-giving and good and noble and praiseworthy and excellent.
Speaker 2:And what verse does that come from? Philippians 4.8. Yes, god tells us exactly it's not like a big secret what we should be thinking about. You know, god tells us in his word think on these things. And actually I just preempted that's okay, that's okay.
Speaker 1:It is a favorite verse of ours and that's why we refer to it so often Philippians 4, 8. It says specifically whatever is true, whatever's noble, whatever's right, whatever is pure, whatever is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Yeah, and imagine if those were the things that filled your mind or my mind not how I ate earlier, my regrets about last month and the doctor visit or whatever.
Speaker 1:not food rules, not shame spirals the truth of who God says you are, the truth of who God says I am and the truth of what he says he is to us in the struggle to experience peaceful eating, a peaceful relationship with our bodies, reconciled with our bodies.
Speaker 2:Oh, that sounds good, heidi. That sounds really, really good In my mind. I'm going back to the playground when my kids were little. I'm back at the playground in my mind and the kids are playing and they're having the best time and they're laughing and I'm pushing them on the no-transcript. What if my mind was renewed in that moment? What if I could go back? Yeah, what if I could say all right, I'm going to go to the park today with a mind that's renewed. I'm going to be thinking God's thoughts after him at the park. What would my thoughts be about the other women, the other moms and dads at the park? What would my thoughts be about myself, about being there, about my experience, about my sense of worth, all of that? Just imagine. You can put any scenario there. It doesn't have to be a park visit. You could put anything there. What? Let's dream a little bit.
Speaker 2:What does that freedom look like?
Speaker 1:If.
Speaker 2:I were thinking thoughts that were noble and good and right and life-giving in that moment, about the others around me and about myself.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Wow. Another way is, if I have an emotion rising up in me, I can bring that to God right away. A lot of my emotions are going to drive me to food if I don't deal with them a different way, and so asking God to show me what is true about this emotion. I'm feeling about this circumstance that triggered this emotion. I'm feeling what is true about what you have to say about all of that, and when I do that, it changes all of that inside of me, which changes what I'm believing, which changes how I act.
Speaker 2:Just a couple months ago we had a podcast where I shared about a doctor's appointment that was a nightmare appointment. If you haven't heard that one. It was the one where I sat in a chair and got weighed and I didn't know I was getting weighed and it was just all these weird things. It was just an awful visit from beginning to end. So I had another opportunity this morning to have a doctor's visit and kind of a do-over.
Speaker 2:Now this is different health insurance, different building, different doctor. I had to start all kind of over because of my husband's job changing, and so for this appointment, I had an opportunity to basically have a redo and to be prepared for the appointment. This is a new doctor. I didn't know her. So, heidi, you and I actually talked and processed through some of what the doctor might ask, some of what might be uncomfortable, some of what might feel like. You know what I want to be ready.
Speaker 2:And then I also took it to the Lord, of course, and he and I came up with all kinds of truths about me, about my body, about some of the issues that I deal with physically, all those things. And so when I walked into that office today, I felt ready. So, switch the park scenario to the doctor's office. Okay, there's people all sitting in the waiting room, you have some people behind the counter, you have the assistant that comes in and takes your blood pressure, and then you have the actual doctor. So I probably interacted, you know just with a lot of people really. So I walked in with a sense of this is what is true, this is what is good, what is right, god and I worked on it. I worked on it with Heidi, who is my best friend and forever coach, and I was ready and I felt peace walking in and I had answers ready for questions that might be asked, and that was amazing. It changed my entire experience.
Speaker 2:When I walked in, my mind was renewed and even the way that I looked at others was from God's point of view Looking around the room, you know the room where everybody was on their phones, looking around that room and thinking that person was made in God's image. That person is radiant and redeemed.
Speaker 2:That person is loved by God, that person you know, not even knowing the people, but just knowing, rather than playing that horrible comparison game. And then being ready to talk with the doctor. And she did ask me about food and eating and I was able to talk to her in an open way. We didn't talk long, it was a quick appointment, but it was good. It was good and it was good because my mind was not full of thoughts of shame, my mind was not full of self-condemnation, my mind was not full of insecure thoughts. Yay, it changed the entire experience. To walk in with a renewed mind.
Speaker 1:I can only imagine you know I have had doctor's appointments over the years that have been memorable. I don't mean it in a good way. So, yeah, renewing your mind about that is so. I mean. Really one of the things that you have done too, christina, is remind us that again and again you can, when you see your reflection or whatever it might be a reflection in a mirror, in a window, as you're browsing or whatever past a window, you can say those kinds of things about yourself as well, and I tell you what it's so much more. It's life giving to think of yourself the way God thinks of you. It is, it feels so good and it combats a lot of the things that cause us to turn to food, this negative spiral thing that we go into. We just you know the shame. It combats that too. So I'm glad you brought that up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I'm glad that that worked out that way, and here we are making the podcast, so it worked out, since my appointment was this morning. Okay, so in our next episode, the final part of this series we're going to talk about what it actually looks like to make peace with food and your body. What, wow, that's a tall order, but we're going to do it. We are going to do it. It's not about perfection. It's about presence, process and grace.
Speaker 1:We hope you'll join us, of course. Yes, this journey it's not about getting it right. No, sometimes it's about failing. Well, but seriously, it's about getting and living free living free and living in grace.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's so good. Join us for our next episode of Revelation Within.
Speaker 1:On the go and, yes, our arms were up again when we did that one today, we're just especially excited. We'll see you next time. Bye for now, bye-bye.
