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In this episode of Fierce Calling, your host Doris Swift welcomes friend Alicia Michelle, a mindset coach and author of the new release Emotional Confidence: 3 Simple Steps to Manage Emotions with Science and Scripture. Join us as Doris and Alicia delve into the profound transformation that’s possible through understanding and managing our emotions, using both science and scripture.
Alicia shares her remarkable personal journey, detailing how a major medical crisis led her to rethink emotional management and the importance of addressing subconscious thought patterns. Alicia shares about the concept of changing mental “soundtracks” to align with positive, biblical truths, and the innovative process of “brain priming” to rewire thoughts and foster mental renewal. With practical insights drawn from neuroscience, Alicia explains how her Christian mindset makeover course empowers women to overcome negative narratives, leading to newfound confidence and freedom.
Uncover the power of surrendering life’s challenges to God and the joy that arises from embracing transformation. Discover how you can actively manage your mindset and deepen your spiritual growth journey. What Alicia shares will encourage, inspire, and challenge you, so listen in!
Key Topics and Takeaways …
1. What is joy and how do we find it in the hard seasons?
2. The Importance of Joy and Positive Mindsets
3. Changing Negative “Soundtracks”
4. Alicia Michelle’s Approach to Emotional Management
5. Techniques and Tools for Emotional and Mindset Transformation
6. Integrating Neuroscience and Faith
7. The Practical Application and Resources
8. Conclusion and Encouragement for Listeners
Connect with Alicia!
Alicia Michelle, ACC, CPLC is an ICF-certified Christian life coach and NeuroCoach, traditionally-published author of Emotional Confidence: 3 Simple Steps to Manage Emotions with Science and Scripture, popular conference speaker, and multi-award-winning podcast host of the top-ranked podcast The Christian Mindset Coach with Alicia Michelle.
Through her coaching and courses Alicia has equipped thousands of women with practical brain-and-biblically-based tools to better manage emotions and to break free from perfectionism and people-pleasing in order to cultivate Christ-centered confidence.
She is passionate about using brain science + the Bible together to help women release fear + build confidence as they boldly follow God’s plan for their lives.
You can connect with Alicia and find her podcast The Christian Mindset Coach, her new book, her Christian Mindset Makeover course, and more at aliciamichelle.com
Connect with Doris!
Connect with Doris at https://dorisswift.com/ For speaking engagements, visit her booking page at womenspeakers.com
Join us for this heartening episode of Fierce Calling and be inspired to deepen your biblical study and walk with God.
What Threatens to Steal Your Joy?
Check out Surrender the Joy Stealers: Rediscover the Jesus Joy in You 6-week Bible study rooted in John 15. You can find more info at https://dorisswift.com/book/
Let’s Stay Connected!
Find my free resources including Fear Fighting Bible Verses, Simple Tips for Sharing Your Faith, Surrender the Joy Stealers, Step Out of Your Doubt and Into Your Calling ebook, and more on my dorisswift.com homepage!
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Thanks for Listening!
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With love and joy,
Doris
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Transcript
Surrender the Joy Stealers Bible Study …
Doris
What is threatening to steal your joy? What is it that feels so heavy right now that you could barely stand? God has a plan, and his plan is to surrender it. Surrender it to him. It might be a prodigal. It might be a relationship, a marriage, something with your job. So many things. We have so many amazing blessings, but there are so many things in our life that threaten to steal our joy. I’m Doris Swift, author of the award-winning 6-week Bible study, Surrender the Joy Stealers, Rediscover the Jesus Joy in You. And it helps women rediscover the overflowing, ever-present Jesus joy within that fills, empowers, and ripens the fruit that God produces in our lives.
Using personal and biblical stories, I share how you can identify your joy stealers, surrender them to God, reawaken the joy within, and share the joy with others. You can do it on your own or with a group. Check it out, friends. Surrender the joy stealers. Rediscover the Jesus joy in you. It’s available on all the online retailers. It’s time to take your joy back.
Timestamps …
00:00 Mindset coach helps women manage emotions, faith.
05:50 Overwhelmed, life paused, found clarity through coaching.
08:41 Three-step method for emotional confidence developed.
12:07 Balancing joy and authentic emotions is essential.
15:40 Childhood experiences affect trust, identity, and healing.
21:43 Deep understanding enables transformative personal growth.
23:32 God aids mind renewal through neurogenesis process.
27:47 Be intentional about thoughts; set boundaries.
29:05 Bring troubles to Lord; focus on virtues.
32:39 Discover resources and more at aliciamichelle.com.
Now On with the Show …
You can do it on your own or with a group. Check it out, friends. Surrender the joy stealers. Rediscover the Jesus joy in you. It’s available on all the online retailers. It’s time to take your joy back to the show. Today, I am excited to introduce to you my friend, Alicia Michelle. She is a podcaster, a mindset coach, and the author of Emotional Confidence, 3 Simple Steps to Manage Emotions with Science and Scripture.
That is fascinating. Her goal is to equip Christian women with bible and brain science based mindset tools to reclaim their freedom, peace, and joy in God, and we all need to hear about that. So welcome to the show. It’s so great to have you, Alicia.
Alicia Michelle00:03:40 – 00:03:42
Yay. Thank you so much, Doris. I appreciate it.
Yeah. This is really exciting. I love that you’re a mindset coach and that you talk a lot about science and scripture. We have a church class that a gentleman in our church does every so often. It’s called science and scripture, there is no conflict. And it’s, you know, really powerful. So I love the fact that science does actually back up whatever God has told us about, you know, in his word. And so I would love to hear more about that.
So if you could tell us a little bit about your story, because I know you have some things in your story that kind of segue you into this calling that God has given you. And so and share where you are taking action, where your passion, compassion, and conviction intersect.
Alicia Michelle00:04:28 – 00:05:29
Okay. Well, yes, as you shared, I am a mindset coach, and I’m passionate about helping women really know how to work through the feelings that they have and to do so by understanding not just how their body works and how their mind works, but how they can partner with God to do that. And a big reason why I’m passionate about that is because I saw the effects firsthand of what it’s like to not do that. I think, I spent most of my life running from my feelings, from my emotions. And in 2017, I had a major medical crisis that happened to me unexpectedly where I had 2 vertebral artery dissections. So, that that what that means is just the the arteries in the back of your neck, mine collapsed inward. And instead of going outward like an aneurysm, they were collapsing inward and causing out of nowhere just these horrible headaches. And I did end up having several little strokes, mini strokes as a result of it.
Alicia Michelle00:05:29 – 00:05:50
And as a result of all of that that happened, I was in the hospital, all these all these really crazy things. There was no cause for it. Nobody could tell me what it was about, except that, wow. You haven’t been sleeping very much. You sleep only 4 hours a night. You’ve been doing that for, like, 15 years. Like, that’s probably not good. And, oh, you your husband just lost his job, and he’s been out of work for 18 months.
Alicia Michelle00:05:50 – 00:06:54
And, oh, you have a child with special needs and, you know, you might be moving out of state for this a job that you you may be getting. Like, all of these things were happening and had been compounding, and I had not dealt with them. And so when I was on my back for 9 months, I had to lay in bed, you know, have all these blood thinner injections done. Everything was stripped away from me in my life, homeschooling, being a mom, taking care of my family, everything. And God really spoke to me and just was like, so, how do we get here? You know? And because my initial response was, oh, I can just hack my way out of this. I can sleep more. I can do all the things. And it was like, what is causing you to stay in this place where you feel so driven to only allow yourself to have 4 hours of sleep, to feel like you have to work so hard to prove yourself, to be perfect even though you know what God says about you? Like, why is there that discrepancy? And so as I began working through all of that, and at the time I was getting certified as a coach, I also began adding in training around neuro coaching.
Alicia Michelle00:06:54 – 00:07:59
So learning about how our mind works, how the brain is put together. And I learned that we can have these subconscious soundtracks in our head that are different from what the truth is that we know logically. So I had all kinds of things in my subconscious mind that were telling me, in order to be good enough, I have to do this. In order to feel enough, I have to do that. And those were things that had been implanted in my head from the time when I was a young girl. In fact, most of those soundtracks happen between the ages of, like, 12 to 13 when we’re figuring out questions about identity, and we’re not even maybe logically putting those in there. It’s just what has the stimulus around us told us what we need to do to feel loved, worthy, and enough. And so, anyway, as I began going through that, I began realizing there are things we can do in brain science to change those soundtracks so that we can really believe with our full mind who God says we are and live from that because that subconscious mind is gonna overrule the logical mind every time, especially during times of emotion.
Alicia Michelle00:07:59 – 00:08:40
So I began helping women in coaching and really helping them figure out what caused that. How could we use we use a tool called brain priming to change those soundtracks and, you know, really give them a different response. So that was kind of how it all started for me, and it’s still something that I do in coaching with women and and the Christian mindset makeover. But I began realizing that that is important work, but there’s also this everyday stuff that we need to figure out with our emotions. How do we just deal with all of the craziness that happens? You and I were just talking about this a second ago before we got on the air about how there is gonna be hard stuff that’s gonna happen.
Mhmm.
Alicia Michelle00:08:41 – 00:09:36
And so how do we weather the ups and down emotions, and how do we work with our body and with God to do that? And I think a lot of that is that we need to work through that kind of stuff even before we get to the subconscious part stuff. So I began working through that and seeing that we we could create a simple path for us to do that. So that’s where this three step method came from that I talk about in the book. And it eventually again, as like, we’ve I’ve been teaching it to tens of thousands of people, and now it is in this brand new book that I’m releasing called Emotional Confidence. So that is kind of how it started. It started from my own experience of not dealing with my emotions to now seeing other women and and helping them and wanting to give them freedom in this area too, more than just, well, just release it. Well, just think differently. What does that look like to think differently practically speaking? So I love equipping women with those kind of tools to help them do that work.
Yeah. Wow. That is fascinating too. How the mind work, you know, and then you got into neuroscience of it all. So it’s kind of like a twofold thing, but also while you’re partnering with God, and that it came from your own experience. So you are a proven like, that is the proven track record that this actually is effective and biblical, and god actually you know, how sometimes there’s, I don’t know, like, huge machinery that have these emergency shutoffs and or sometimes even when you’re using a shredder, you know, it’ll get too overheated and it just stops. So Yeah. It, like, that that kinda, like, happened when you were running, running, running.
And, of course, like you were saying, we need to sleep because so many healing, mending, repairing, restoring things happen during that time of sleep that we really need the full however many hours of sleep, and you weren’t getting that. But it just like your life came to full stop, and you didn’t have
Alicia Michelle00:10:39 – 00:10:40
a choice.
And people would look at it and say, wow. That how could god let that happen? But now I see the fruit that’s coming out of it. And now it’s not happening to all these other tens of thousands of other women, and I’m sure men too that are going through this. So, wow, that is really powerful. I love that. And and how you also love to focus on joy. So tell us more about how that really hits your heart and how you wanna just allow women to experience that in their lives.
Alicia Michelle00:11:16 – 00:12:06
Yeah. Joy is a fruit of what God is going to do in us through his spirit, and it’s a place we just shared about this too together. It it is a place for us to to rest in. It’s not something we have to manufacture and build. And I think in terms of emotions, it is something that we can hold with the difficult parts, and it’s also something that it comes from learning to acknowledge what we’re experiencing. It’s not just we’re forcing ourselves into it, making ourselves eat the the, you know, whatever vegetable we don’t wanna eat. Well, I’m just gonna make myself joyful, you know, and just get through this gut through it. It’s it it comes with acknowledging the difficulty first, and that’s a big part of the transformation, I believe, towards joy.
Alicia Michelle00:12:07 – 00:12:59
I was one who tried to force myself into joy a lot. And just recognizing that some of the feelings that I was having or might still have are plausible, but that joy is that landing place I can still go to in the midst of it is is important. I think it’s it doesn’t make us feel like we have to stuff our feelings in light of joy. And I think, honestly, in the church, we’ve put such a focus on joy that, you know, some may, something, disagree or fight back with me on this, but I feel like we put such a focus on joy that there’s this pressure to always be joyful, always be happy. And we know happiness is different from joy. Mhmm. But without if we do that again without recognizing why it’s also challenging in a certain situation, I think we cut ourselves off from what really we could experience in joy of the Lord.
Yeah. Yeah. I agree with that so much. And just, always feeling like you have to maybe put on airs or you have to appear as if everything’s okay because you feel like you don’t want to have any kind of judgment that people aren’t gonna know the real me. People are gonna know I’m struggling. People are gonna think I don’t pray enough or I don’t have enough faith or, you know, and those lies that we continue to tell ourselves. And I love how you call it soundtracks because everybody knows what that is. Like, you know, in counseling, when we would say, you know, the the tapes, we would call it the tapes, you know, in our and and, like, people of these generations, they don’t know what that means.
It’s like, you know, rewinding the tapes. Like, what is what is what is she talking about? So but the soundtrack is so true, and it it just plays over and over and over. And so I love how you can help women to change their soundtracks to something biblical and positive in their life and how that works and have that freedom to say, you know, I’m not okay, and I need some help. So how how do you, like, coach people through those kind of mindset shifts as we would say?
Alicia Michelle00:14:17 – 00:14:20
You’re talking about changing the soundtrack inside?
Yeah. Like, you know, and if someone like you were explaining earlier that there was a lot going on in your life Yeah. When you had this, what, you know, blunt kind of, like, stop in your life that you couldn’t go on you couldn’t keep doing what you were doing. You just it was, like, not within your control any longer. And so, there might be someone listening right now who has a lot of things happening, and they’re just trying to spin all the plates because they feel like if one drops, that’s the end of me. So how would you help someone to change their mindset in that kind of thinking if they actually need help? You know, they need help in that.
Alicia Michelle00:15:06 – 00:15:40
Yeah. I mean, I I hesitate in giving a, like, a 2 second answer to this because this is the entire course that I’ve put together. It’s called the Christian mindset make it’s, 9 modules or, you know, 1 on 1 coaching I’ve done. But it’s the the the overall process and what we need to do is to identify what are the the soundtracks that are there. Mhmm. We need to see we need to see them and understand why they’re there and and understand why they’re there and not instantly think, but god doesn’t want me to believe that or whatever. Just see what’s there. Why does it make sense that it’s there? See how it may have formed.
Alicia Michelle00:15:40 – 00:16:54
Usually, like I said, they’re formed in childhood and why it makes sense that they’re there. And then we also do a lot of work around understanding how we are connecting to God and if there is any trust issues with the Lord. Because a lot of times when we when it comes to identity and we’re saying, I am enough or I am worthy. If there is a discrepancy between believing it in our head or our heart that sometimes people use that phrase, there is sometimes and I’ve I usually find that there is some sort of trust issue that’s been had with the Lord where they’ve had a disappointment or something didn’t work out the way they thought. Maybe they had a a really unexpected loss. Something horrible happened, and those things happen. And if we don’t process them, it’s like we’re we we don’t have realizing it, but we’re holding back and not able to really connect with the Lord in that way. And so one of the first things we do is just to say, has there been something like that that’s happened, and how can we heal that? And we just start kinda peeling back the layers to see what’s there to what what the statement is that’s there and what needs to be put in its place to in instead.
Alicia Michelle00:16:54 – 00:17:04
But it’s more than just like, here’s what the truth is, and I’m just gonna replace it. I walk I help them discover what are some things that you need to own about that.
Yeah.
Alicia Michelle00:17:05 – 00:18:01
And what are some things that you need to surrender that have nothing to do with you that you need to let go of? And so there is this healing process where it’s not just like, okay. I know God says I’m enough because of this, you know. And and we get to this part where we are creating this brain priming statement. And what brain priming does is it is proven it’s 63 to 67 days of hearing a certain statement, and it can be anything. We use it for God’s glory and changing towards that soundtrack. But it’s it’s it’s hearing that statement twice a day. And in the morning and in the evening is when the subconscious mind is the most open. But what it’s doing is because the subconscious mind is like a supercomputer, it’s absorbing whatever it’s hearing and it’s creating these patterns and repetitions versus, like, the logical mind is analyzing and thinking about it.
Mhmm.
Alicia Michelle00:18:01 – 00:18:30
But it’s it’s creating these patterns. So when we have these patterns that are there, we wanna create a new pattern. Yeah. And this the brain priming is creating a new pattern. So it’s it’s literally saying when this trigger happens, when I start to think this thought, instead of going down this path, I’m gonna go down this path instead. We’re giving it a new bridge, a new path. And, there’s all kinds of stuff that happens to, you know, remove the old neural network and bring into the new one, over that time. But that’s in a sense what’s happening.
Alicia Michelle00:18:30 – 00:19:17
And once that happens, it’s like there’s this incredibly huge shift that you as women go through it, and then at the end of it, you see they’re not fighting in their head anymore about what is, you know, that well, am I enough? I think so. But I don’t know about this. And, like, all the insecurity that’s there, it’s just like they start making these decisions or saying things that are truly like, no. I’m fine with that. I’m okay setting that boundary. I don’t have to, you know, worry about that anymore because there have been this this soundtrack change inside on this deep level. And I love helping women find that sort of freedom. So we create the statement that is unique to each person, and it’s based on what they need to hear to have that healing, and it’s transformative to be able to do that.
Alicia Michelle00:19:17 – 00:19:34
So I I love doing that. That’s called brain priming, and that’s a huge again, that’s kind of a long answer to that question, but it’s it’s not something that you can just solve in, like, you know, one day. Yeah. But it’s it’s getting you through that and working through it and finding the healing on the other side. Yeah.
Yeah. Wow. I love how you explained that too because it isn’t just a prescription that you can write for every person. It’s not the same for every person, and every person is different. And we’re fearfully and wonderfully made and unique. So everyone is different and have different needs. And it just reminds me of this process being spiritual growth. You know, it’s like we we become more mature in our walk with Christ, you know, in knowing God and trusting him.
Because I love that you brought out that point about the trust thing. And then there could be women out there who don’t trust a father because of their own earthly father, and there’s things deep seated there. Right? So you probably help them work through all of those things. So that that is fascinating. So that is the mindset makeover. Is that what you call it?
Alicia Michelle00:20:33 – 00:20:34
Yeah. The Christian mindset makeover.
The Christian mindset makeover. And who doesn’t love a makeover? I think we love it a makeover. That is fantastic. Yes. So
Alicia Michelle00:20:43 – 00:20:44
Make me over.
That is that is really fantastic. And I, yeah, I think that it’s good to hear those things because it’s not like the world would say, oh, that would be like brainwashing. No. We are washing our minds with the word of God and God’s truth. And then how much other stuff do we take in every day? Like, watching the news, like, all the political stuff going on. You know, those things are feeding in and we don’t realize. So what what would you say is the effect of continually listening to all of those things that come at us every day.
Alicia Michelle00:21:25 – 00:21:43
No. Well, in doing the the deeper work with brain priming, it’s it’s it is getting at the root of the weed and removing it. It’s not just cutting off the leaves on the top. It’s not just kind of blithely telling ourselves, but God loves me. I can do this. You know? It’s it’s it’s understanding. Like you said, it’s very custom.
Yeah.
Alicia Michelle00:21:43 – 00:22:27
It’s understanding why you got to where you’re at and helping your brain acknowledge it again and saying, this is what I need to know to get the healing Mhmm. And to let it go. And this is the new thing that I’m putting in there. So, again, it’s it’s so custom. It’s so powerful, but we get as as far back as we can and as deep as we can with that because it’s like if you have a whole planter with the weeds, if you’re able to clear out as much as you can and by going deep versus just, again, clipping off the tops Mhmm. You’re gonna have much more effective change. So it it’s amazing how when you have that change, it affects so many other things, relationships. It affects how you show up at your job, how you view yourself before the Lord.
Alicia Michelle00:22:27 – 00:22:46
It just things become a lot easier. There’s so much more confidence that comes when you can get that reconciled. You’re not you’re not as insecure about yourself or dealing with so much anxiety, all these things because you’re aligned. Your brain is fully aligned with what God has for you and his truth, and it’s it’s beautiful.
Yeah. Wow. That just sounds so refreshing. You know? Like, it’s just, like, so peaceful and refreshing to be able to look at things from a different and a a new and a fresh perspective, which isn’t really a new perspective. I mean, we are new creations, you know, and we are followers of Jesus, and we accept Christ, and we you know, he is our lord and our savior, and then we become a new creation. But sometimes we wanna still walk in the old stuff.
Alicia Michelle00:23:15 – 00:23:15
Sure.
And we’re not, you know, walking in our true identity. Like, you were talking earlier about identity, and I think that’s really important too. So do you find that a lot of it is kind of a identity crisis as we might say?
Alicia Michelle00:23:32 – 00:24:19
It is. It can be. I think just to kinda add on to what you said that before we answer that, I think it’s really amazing how God works with us in changing ourselves because we have this process called neurogenesis where our neurons in our brain and other parts of our body are being continually refreshed. We have something like 1500 new neurons every day that we’re given. And so I think of that and I think this is a God who wants us to renew our minds. He wants us to have new thoughts. Our brains 6 months ago are completely different than what they are today because of the thoughts that we’ve had, the things that we’ve put in there, what we’ve allowed to impact us. So we have to be stewards of taking care of that mess.
Alicia Michelle00:24:19 – 00:24:56
Maybe that might be there as doctor Caroline Leaf says cleaning up the mental mess. Yes. We’re in charge of that, but we’re also in charge of what you were sharing about earlier. Like, what are we letting in to our everyday life and and and what are the little seeds that are dropping in that garden that are maybe growing other issues that we need to get rid of? Things we’re seeing on the news, how are we filtering, conversations we’re having with friends, how we approach situations that we’re facing in our life. All of it all of it relates and we’re we’re responsible for taking charge of that. And that’s what’s awesome is that as humans, God has given us not just a brain, but a mind.
Yeah.
Alicia Michelle00:24:57 – 00:25:30
So we have the ability to take control of what we think about. We don’t just have to, like, let ourselves be, you know, whatever comes in my mind. That’s what I’m gonna think. And I think once when we share that with women and it empowers them, like, you have to believe everything you think, and you can change what comes in your mind to choose it to line up with something different. Like, it we we we need to retake back that power sometimes. Yeah. I think God wants us to, like, remember. Just because you’re feeling it or you’re thinking it doesn’t mean it is true, and you have to follow it.
Alicia Michelle00:25:30 – 00:25:38
Mhmm. You have the power as and the authority by the Holy Spirit to get rid of anything that doesn’t line up with his his way of thinking. Yeah. So it’s important to take that control.
Yes. Amen. And, yeah, that that’s really important to remember. And, you know, how the word says we’re transformed by the renewing of our mind.
Alicia Michelle00:25:47 – 00:25:47
Yeah.
And Yes. You know, how you’re talking about all the things that change. That that really gives like, right now, that is giving someone hope because we don’t have to stay the same. We don’t have to settle. Sometimes we just settle for, like, this is it. This is my life. Or sometimes we get stuck or caught up in family cycles that continue on. You know, family dysfunction and brokenness.
And we, you know, hear it time and again that people might feel like, well, this is this is my life. This is where I’m from. And it could be sometimes it can be an excuse, but sometimes it could be just a lie that someone might believe about themselves. But this is hope that things can change and how things just become new. So thank you for sharing that. That’s really fascinating, and I love that that we can’t even fathom what our mind is capable of. We have no idea. Right?
Alicia Michelle00:26:45 – 00:27:27
Yes. I was gonna add what you just said. It’s so true. I think that we, as part of that process, we do have to release some things that aren’t in our control, but we also do need to to pick up those things that are our responsibility. And some of us do need that tough love of saying, you know, I need to stop letting just whatever everyone else says about me be true in my life, or I need to stop letting that person speak into me or that that whatever. We need to take that control back and and and take responsibility. Like, lord, I might be here partially because I’ve allowed this to manifest in my head. I’ve allowed this to multiply and confess that to him.
Alicia Michelle00:27:27 – 00:27:47
And, of course, the good news is that when we do that, he is so quick to forgive and to allow us to start over. So it is a lot of coming to terms with what we take on and and what others have put on us. And, but yeah. There is there is freedom. We don’t have to stay stuck where we’re at. We can God is always healing us.
That is a beautiful thing. And when you were you were talking about earlier that we don’t wanna we wanna be intentional about what we allow, what we take in, and what we think about. And, you know, as in Philippians when it tells us what to think on, you know, think on the good things, things that are noble, and things that are true and lovely, and, you know, all of that. And so if we are not intentional about what we’re thinking about, it really can open the door for the enemy to just go in there and just, you know I mean, he can’t read our minds, but, I mean, we can we can believe the lies of the enemy that he wants to, you know, make us believe. And it and, also, like you said, other people. You know, there’s there’s toxic relationships sometimes that it’s okay to set boundaries. Right?
Alicia Michelle00:28:41 – 00:28:45
Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. I mean Yeah. We don’t have to live like that.
Okay. So it’s good to set boundaries, healthy boundaries to continue our walk with Christ. So what would you say right now to a listener to encourage them if they might be struggling or or anything that God has laid on your heart that you feel like you might wanna share to someone that’s listening right now that would encourage them?
Alicia Michelle00:29:05 – 00:30:07
Well, you were talking about Philippians 4, one of the greatest chapters in the New Testament, of course, about fixing our thoughts on what’s true and lovely and pure and admirable. I think it’s important to look at the verses above it too that talk about bringing our troubles to the Lord, sharing them with him, releasing them to him, and then picking up those things of what we need to focus on. So I would encourage a Christian who hears a verse like that, picture thoughts on this, that it’s not it’s not another condemnation of thing they have to do. You don’t have to just fix your thoughts. Like, that’s not the thing. Start first by coming to the Lord with what’s on your heart and sharing it and releasing it and talking to him about it and and confessing it and and thanking him for the for the good that is there. And then that part of putting in the thoughts, it happens after we’ve already expelled the bad parts, if that makes sense.
Yes. Yes.
Alicia Michelle00:30:08 – 00:30:39
And letting him help us with that. And and and fixing our thoughts on those things doesn’t mean that the reality of the other things aren’t present. Mhmm. It just means where I call it emotionally dwelling. Where are we going to emotionally dwell? Where that is that part in the verse. You’re gonna fix your thoughts on what’s true, what’s right, what’s lovely, what’s pure. When my husband was out of work for 18 months, something that the Lord challenged me on was in that verse, and I had a list of things by each of those categories. Here is what I’m focusing on today that is lovely.
Alicia Michelle00:30:39 – 00:31:21
Here’s what I’m focusing on that’s pure about my family, my situation, the world, you know, my life, anything. And even though it was still excruciating to walk through that season, I worked with the Lord and shared those things with him, but at the end of it, I could still say I’m resting here. This is where I’m resting. And that’s that’s man, we see that in the Psalms all over the place. David would come and share all his thoughts. And then at the end, it’s like, but I still trust you, but you’re still my God, but you’ve been faithful. So he goes back to reflecting and and resting in those things. So I guess I’m just saying that to say that if you’re hearing these words and you’re like, yes, I know I have to just change my thoughts.
Alicia Michelle00:31:21 – 00:31:35
You’d yes. God eventually wants us to get there, but but start with being vulnerable and honest with him first, letting him work with you through it. And then that part is a lot easier to get to. And that’s what the that’s what the Bible says in that section
Yeah.
Alicia Michelle00:31:36 – 00:31:37
Of scripture.
Nice. So good. So good that you brought that out. It kind of reminds me of the fact being that you wouldn’t bring new furniture into a dirty house. Like, you would wanna True. Clean the house first and then bring the new furniture in. Not not that we can’t come to God as we are because that’s not what I mean. You know, sometimes people might have this mindset where they feel like they need to clean up their act before, I’ll accept Jesus.
You know, I’ll I’ll go with it as soon as I quit doing this or quit doing that. And it’s like, no. Come to him now, and then he’ll help you with those things. But, but Yeah. Well, how you were explaining that we need to first seek him and surrender because we want it to be authentic. We don’t want it to be forced. It needs to be true. And that’s Yeah.
What helps us with our firm foundation. So so good. Thank you Yeah. For bringing that out. And if you could share with the listener, how can they connect with you and find your courses and all the other things that will be a benefit to them?
Alicia Michelle00:32:39 – 00:33:31
Oh, thank you. Yeah. You can find out everything about the work that I do at aliciamichelle.com. So it’s aliciaandthenmichael dotcom. You can learn about the podcast, which is the Christian mindset coach, Christian mindset makeover, which was that course we were talking about that deals with the subconscious thoughts, and my new book that’s coming out, which is emotional confidence. Of course, you can find out about that on the site or anywhere books are sold, but I would love to give you any there’s always a free resource or 2, some free trainings, other downloads and stuff that we have on the site. So would love to talk to you over there, invite you to a free training, and just help you begin this process of maybe if it’s something like you you’ve thought about. I know I’m supposed to work on this area in my life, and I know this would really help me, but I don’t know where to start.
Alicia Michelle00:33:31 – 00:33:41
I would love to help you figure out where we could start and and help you make some progress in that area. So, yeah, just aliciamichelle.com is a good place to learn more about me and the work that I’m doing. Great.
Well, that’s so great. And I’ll have those links in the show notes so the listener can find you and connect with you. And, yeah, sometimes we just need someone else in the body of Christ to help us because we’ve all been given different gifts, and we are all the the body, but we’re not all the same. You know? So we have different gifts and talents and ways that we can help each other and lift each other up. So I think that’s fantastic, and I hope that if you’re listening, that you will check it out. And, of course, listen to the podcast because you listen to podcast. So check that out, and you’ll find all that on, Alicia’s site. So thank you so much for being on.
I would love to have you back on sometime.
Alicia Michelle00:34:23 – 00:34:30
Oh, thank you. That would be awesome. I appreciate it. Thanks so much for having this conversation today. It’s an important one, so I appreciate that.
Exclude
Yeah. I I really enjoyed it, and it I just I it’s so fascinating. So, anyway, very good. Well, god bless you and your ministry and what you are doing to help others to walk with God and partner with him in kingdom work and whatever they’re being called to do and to be able to have that reset mindset makeover Thank you. Yes. According to his words. So thank you so much, and we will talk soon.
Alicia Michelle00:34:56 – 00:34:57
Sounds good. Thanks.
02:51 – 36:53
Thank you for listening to this episode that is part of Spark Media Network that can now be heard on the Edify app.
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