The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation

THIS IS ME! | Introduction | Truths About My Identity from Psalm 139

• Tosha Williams for FDM

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Start here if you want a clear, practical way to ground your kids’ identity in something stronger than trends and peer pressure. We’re kicking off this series in Psalm 139 with a simple poem your family can memorize and a Scriptural prayer that helps kids name their anxious thoughts and invite God to lead them. Along the way, we talk about why identity language matters, how to make Scripture portable in everyday life, and what it looks like to stand on truth in a hard social moment.

Four lines frame this journey: 

I am completely known / I am never alone 
I am wonderfully designed / I am on God’s mind

This simple poem maps to the big themes of Psalm 139. As hosts Wendy Hickox and Tosha Williams share, you’ll hear how carpool and bedtime became discipleship touch points in their families. You'll also be encouraged to turn Psalm 139:23–24 into a prayer: search me, know me, test me, see me, lead me. You can give YOUR kids what they most need: steady words from Scripture and a pathway to bring their real worries to God.

Whether you’re parenting little ones, texting a college student, or mentoring kids at church, this conversation and the ensuing collection of conversations offers language, stories, and steps you can use today. If we don’t disciple our children, the world will—and its version of “truth” won’t match God’s. Let’s make this week intentional: speak identity, pray boldly, and keep the door open for ongoing faith conversations.

The devotion-driven discipleship guide that goes along with this conversation can be found in the Family Disciple Me app. Spend some time in that guide, as encouragement in your journey to Seek Him Speak Him.

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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.

Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Family Disciple Me Podcast. Hi, my name is Tasha Williams, and I'm here in the podcast studio with my friend Wendy Hickox. Hi there! Wendy, I'm so glad that you're here with me today as we kick off an incredible journey through one of my favorite chapters in Scripture. That is Psalm 139. We're going to be going through a collection of conversations that we're calling This Is Me. And this series is all about discovering who we are in Christ and helping our kids, the next generation, understand their identity in Him as well. Tasha, I can't tell you how excited I am about these next conversations that we're going to be having here in the studio because the truth is, as parents, we live in a world where kids, well, they're constantly bombarded with messages about who they are, whether it's through social media, friends, culture, or even you and I both know, self-doubt. It's shaping their identity. But here's the truth: we have the opportunity to teach them that God is the one who defines their identity. That's why over the next four episodes following this one, we're going to unpack four powerful truths from Psalm 139 that we can speak into the lives of the next generation. And well, these truths come in a poetic form. I'm so excited to lean into this poem. Yes, indeed. I was so happy when I saw this rhythm and rhyme come from the truths found in Psalm 139. Listen to this, Wendy. Here's the poem. I am completely known. I am never alone. I am wonderfully designed. I am on God's mind. Tasha, when I was in college, I actually memorized scripture through songs. So I would put on, and our audience may know this, may not know this, CDs that had scripture to rhythm, to song. So I'm excited that we're gonna dive into this and that I can share this with my own children. So I think that if we can memorize this little poem with them, but also then even if we spend time memorizing the entire chapter with them, well, that is so important to embed these truths into their hearts and honestly into our hearts as well. But before we dive into these truths, let's start where the psalmist finishes with a prayer of surrender. Psalm 139, verses 23 and 24 say this: Search me, God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts, see if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. This is such a powerful prayer. Right here at the end of Psalm 139, we see the writer inviting God to do something deep in their life, to search them, know them, test them, see into them, and lead them. And as parents, this is the kind of prayer we can encourage our kids to pray too. For sure. Because, well, Wendy, let's be honest, our kids deal with so many anxious thoughts. They wrestle with identity and self-worth and feelings seeing. Instead of letting the world shape their beliefs, we have the opportunity and really Tasha the responsibility to guide them to invite God into their hearts and thoughts. You know, Wendy, as we talk about this prayer found at the end of Psalm 139, I think about all the times that I did carpool with my kids over the years. And in every carpool on the way to school, we did the same thing that I'm sure you did in carpool every time along the way. Yes. We prayed. Yes. We asked God's blessing over our day. We asked God's blessing over the tests that were being taken, or the interactions with friends. I know you did the same thing in your car. Yeah, and it wasn't just with my own children, it was with whoever was in the car at that time. That's right. Carpool friends were all a part of this as well. Well, today, as we think about all the prayers that we've prayed with our kids over the years, all the prayers that we have yet to pray with them. And also as our listeners are thinking about the prayers that you're praying with your children right now or your grandchildren, whomever it is that God has in your life, whether those are carpool prayers or bedtime prayers or around the dinner table prayer. I think that this prayer from Psalm 139, verses 23 and 24 is so especially important of a prayer. Yes, I actually really believe it is. This is a prayer about giving God permission to work in our lives. In this psalm, this prayer is asking God for five things: to search me, to know me, to test me, to see what's inside of me, and to lead me. These are not little prayers. These are actually really big prayers that we are reading. And they aren't just for us, but they're also for our kids too. Pause for a moment and imagine if our kids knew that they could invite God into their hearts like this. Imagine, close your eyes and think about what if they felt comfortable telling God their anxious thoughts instead of feeling like they had to hide them. Oh, Wendy, all of my kids are grown up now, just like your kids are. But I think back over so many scenarios in my family in all of those years, for me with five kids, for you with three kids, all the scenarios where my kids struggled with different things, where they had anxiety about school, about friendships, about their self-image, all these different things. And I don't know that I had all the perfect words to completely articulate everything that I that I see and that I understand now. But one thing that I know I did right with my kids is that I taught them scripture. And we talked about this scripture, Wendy. We talked about what it meant for our lives and how powerful to share the scripture with your children. I mean, I'm like you, Tasha. There are times I just felt inadequate. I didn't have the right words. But what I realize now with my children being older is that I did stop and pause and share the words I knew. And they were enough at the time. And every time we point our children to God's word, we're giving them rock solid truth that doesn't change. And in situations like fears and anxieties and anxious thoughts and worries and all of those things, instead of us feeling like we as parents have to fix everything, because let's face it, isn't that what we want to do? When we point them to the truth of Scripture, they have something that they can hold on to. And I think this prayer of Psalm 139, verses 23 and 24 is such a powerful statement of trust in God to search their heart and to lead them through these hard situations. Tasha, I think it's a powerful time to just pause and think about. We are in a space where anxiety, depression, thoughts of who am I? What is my identity? It is through the entire culture. Our children are being bombarded again with these thoughts. So, how do we present the word in a way that they will hold on to? I love that we can pray this prayer with them. We can help them memorize this prayer. Wendy, you and I well know that there are things bombarding our kids that we see, but there's things bombarding them that we don't get to see. That it is something that they are dealing with along the way on their own. And if we can hide God's word in their heart, even as a prayer, then that can become their guttural reaction. And I want our audience to really pick this up and feel empowered to share God's word because it is worth it. That's right. As parents, as grandparents, as teachers like you, as leaders within the church like me, we don't have all the answers, but we know the one who does. And we can teach the next generation to go to him. When I look at this Psalm 139, it reminds us that God is sovereign. He sees our kids, he knows them completely, and he cares about every detail of their lives. But here's the thing: God doesn't force himself on anyone. He doesn't. He doesn't force himself on us, and he doesn't force himself on our kids. Just like God waits for us to invite him into our hearts, he also waits for our kids to welcome him into their lives, saying, God, show me who I am, work in my life, help me deal with these things in my life, lead me where I need to go. And really, that's something that we all need. I need that as a grown-up. And I definitely know that my kids, whatever their age, they need that as well. I remember a time when one of my children was just being really questioned by his friends about a social issue that's happening right now in society. And I was sitting from afar. He was actually at a table with all of his friends, and I was watching him, and I could actually hear the conversation, even though he may not have known I heard the conversation, I could hear the conversation. And as they were questioning him and what he believes, I sat there in anticipation. What is he gonna say? And lo and behold, out of his mouth, as a 14-year-old young man, he stood up for what he believed when all of his 14 and 15-year-old friends were standing around talking to him. He stood up for God and his true beliefs. And I sat there as a proud mama in that one moment thinking, wow, it could have gone one of two ways. He could have fallen to the pressure of what his friends were saying at that moment, or he could have stood on what God's word and truth says about who he is in Christ, and he did. I remember you telling me about that years ago, Wendy, and I still think about that in reference to your son to this day, because that truth that he was expressing about his identity in Christ has only continued to grow over the years. As a matter of fact, we talk a lot about how are you different than all those around you. I mean, now he's grown up and off to college, but I can still have these conversations and ask him, you stood up at 14. What does it look like now as a college student? And as we have those conversations, you know, our kids are grown now and we reflect back on those teenage years, but all these truths and all of these prayers are things that we talk about and we pray over our kids from the time that they are so little. We want to speak these truths and pray these prayers into them and over them from the time they're tiny little people. Absolutely. The power of God's word, do not limit it. Do not think you are not worthy to bring those words to all those entrusted to you. Absolutely. What a privilege. And so we can speak these truths over our kids of all ages. We can help them pray this prayer. We can pray this prayer over them, making it such a habit. I'm so reminded as we're spending time in this collection of conversations that this is a specific prayer that I can pray over my kids in my own personal devotions, even as we go through this series. But it's not just about keeping it to ourselves and the Lord. Who in my family needs to hear these truths? Wendy, who in your family needs to hear these truths? As parents, we're the primary disciplers of our kids. Let's be real, Tasha. If we're not discipling our children, the world will be discipling our children. That's right. If we don't tell them the truth from God's word, well, the world will tell them its own truth. And in my experience, that's way different than the truth from God's word. So let's take this week to intentionally pray and speak identity over our children. Maybe, well, maybe it's at bedtime or in the car or during a meal this week. Or maybe for those of us who have grown-up kids, maybe it's a text or a phone call or a coffee date where we get to remind them about what God says about them. That's great. I feel so encouraged as a mother of adult children that I do want to send them a text and pray over them and make sure that I touch base with them about this prayer. And also speaking this and praying this over all the other kids that God sends our way. You know, I want to close by actually praying this prayer over all of us. So, Lord, search us, know our hearts, God, test us and know our anxious thoughts. See if there's any offensive way in us, and God, lead us in the way everlasting. In the name of your son Jesus, we are so grateful for the truths that you're about to show all of us in this collection of conversations. So guide us, lead us in the way everlasting, as well as into meaningful discipleship conversations. In your name, Jesus. Amen. Amen. Friend, be encouraged, be inspired. Until next time, go with God.