The Soul Needs More - Stop Living in Captivity and Walk in Freedom!

---

August 10, 2021 - Episode #73 - The Soul Needs More - Stop Living in Captivity and Walk in Freedom!

You feel it.  The stress, overwhelm, anxiety. Your soul is burdened.  It needs more. But we live in a world gone mad.  How do you maintain your sanity and have an impact in the middle of the mess?  Today I want to prepare you for battle.  To expose you to areas of captivity so you don’t become a prisoner.  I want to give you the keys to nourish your soul and live in freedom.  

I have something different for you today on the Healthy Harmony podcast.  I was asked to do a closing keynote address for the Early Childhood Christian Network.  The room was filled with over 500 preschool teachers and directors.  Many of them told me through their tears that this talk resonated with them.  So, I've repurposed it here for you.  My prayer is that it encourages you just like it encouraged them last week.
 
Here's the reality...you can do all the right things.  Prepare clean, organic, healthy meals that are Pinterest and Insta worthy, have a solid workout routine, drink your water, read motivational books….but if you soul is not nourished you will never be fulfilled.  You will never be truly healthy and live in freedom. Ever.

So, what is holding you back?  Have you considered what might be keeping you captive?
 In this talk, I outline the 4 areas of captivity.  These areas of captivity are demonstrated with baggage, headphones, ball and chain and a mask. These areas include your past mistakes, guilt, shame, physical health, mental/emotional health, spiritual health, toxic thoughts, lies from the enemy and how we hide all of our struggles.  And then I outline the 5 "R" action plan to walk in freedom.  Be empowered as you learn about the vital importance of Reflect, Reject, Rally, Realign and Restore.  It's time to look at what is most important in self-care and that is soul-care my friend!

Several links I want to make sure you have........
     Need to chat?  Book a 15-minute call here:
     https://calendly.com/coachjennpickett/15min_discovery_call
 
    Ready to book a virtual, one-hour coaching session?  Click here 
    https://healthyharmony.thrivecart.com/wellness-warrior-power-hour/
 
    Click here for the song, Place of Freedom that I played at the end of this keynote. 
    I love this song!! https://youtu.be/oFntDlAyOG8

    I referenced this book in my talk.  I highly recommend! Get your Life Back : Everyday Practices
    for a World Gone Mad by John Eldredge https://www.amazon.com/Get-Your-Life-Back-Practices/dp/1400208661/ref=asc_df_1400208661/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=509362509069&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7508762763445360164&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9026996&hvtargid=pla-876168142201&psc=1
​
Read Full Transcript below
​​

​Where else to listen:  (note: Google is only available on android devices)

FULL TRANSCRIPT

August 10, 2021 - Episode #73 - The Soul Needs More - Stop Living in Captivity and Walk in Freedom! 

You feel it, the stress overwhelm anxiety, your soul is burdened. It needs more. I'm going to tell you, you can do all the right things. Eat the clean organic, healthy meals that are Pinterest and Instagram worthy. Have a solid workout routine, drink your water, say the positive affirmations. Read the motivational books but if your soul is not nourished, you will never ever be fulfilled. You'll never be truly healthy and live in freedom ever today. I have something a little bit different for you. I think you'll enjoy this.  I was asked to do a presentation at the early childhood Christian network and I delivered a keynote address and the room was full of about 500 preschool teachers and directors. This was such an honor for me to do this, and I felt so very grateful. So I'm, re-purposing that audio, uh, and using it for today's at podcasts.
 
So if the audio sounds a little bit different that's because this was recorded live and I'm wearing a microphone and I also had props. So if you're a visualization per person, you will notice when I'm talking about baggage. I just want you to picture in your mind. I had a big, huge backpack that was stuffed full, like a camper's backpack, the hiker's backpack. And I had a big, huge duffel bag that was stuffed full for a ball and chain. I had a ball and chain, uh, from, uh, like Hollywood, uh, excuse me, like a Halloween store. And then, uh, for headphones, I had headphones, my daughter's headphones to be exact. And uh, finally for a mask, I had like a Mardi Gras mask. So if you're a visual person, those are the props I had. So I want you to see those props as you're listening to this podcast and a hope that this nourishes your soul today, it's time for us to stop living in captivity and walk in freedom.
 
So please welcome my friend, Jennifer Pickett, my goodness. What a welcome can you guys hear me? I am. When I say I'm beyond grateful to be here, I am beyond grateful to be here with you today. I feel like God has given us a specific word and I'm just excited to get to be the one to deliver it to you. And my prayer is that I would get out of the way so that his voice can be heard. So I'm sure right now you're thinking, oh my goodness, like you've had a full day. You've been in sessions all day. You've been with your friends. You've been with your coworkers. You've heard all these great ideas. So I would imagine right now your head is swirling. Like you've got all these ideas and you're thinking, okay, how am I going to get all this done? And you might even be tempted to like, make some notes real quick.
 
So you don't forget something. And then your mind goes to home because after this you're going home and there's a mess waiting on you at home. There's something going on, right? There's people who are waiting for you to feed them because they forgot how to feed themselves somehow. So you might just have a tendency to just kind of check out, but I'm going to ask us all to do something. Can we just pause? Can we pause for this next short time together and just listen to what God has for us? So often we are so busy going and doing, and God had something for us and we're just not willing to listen. And I know I have made that mistake way too many times. You feel it don't you, you feel it stress the overwhelm, the anxiety, your soul is burdened. It needs more, but we live in a world, gone mad. You maintain your sanity and have an impact in the middle of this craziness. So today I want to prepare you for battle. I want to equip you. I want to expose the areas of captivity, and I want to empower you with the keys to soul nourishment.
 
So in today's session, we're going to cover the reality of captivity. We're going to go over freedom, which is what God's design is for us. We're going to cover the areas of captivity. Talk about the five, our action plan. So we can walk in freedom. Now, just a little bit of housekeeping before I get started, because we're going to end with just a special song. So just a little bit of housekeeping. Um, if you do not have a chance to make it to the nourish, to flourish, wellness, empowerment for the weary teacher breakout session, I wanted to make the slides available to everybody. Okay? So I'll cover a lot in that session. So, um, if you want those slides just access that QR code, you've been doing it all day, access to QR code, and you will have, you'll provide your email and then you will have access to those slides.
 
So like down the road, when you're like, oh, what did Jennifer say about stress management? She gave a great tip and I can't remember. You can access those slides. If you don't want to use the QR code. There's a Bitly link. It's ECC N 2021. And if you're ever looking for me after these sessions, after today and tomorrow, you can always find [email protected] and at inspire healthy harmony on social. So who am I? She did a great introduction. Thank you so much. That means a lot. My name is Jennifer Pickett. I'm a dietitian by profession. I have a master's degree in human nutrition and I'm a functional medicine certified health coach. I've spent my life's work 24 years now in healthcare and health and wellness. Uh, several years ago, I founded Healthy Harmony. When I saw a very distinct need for women to transform their health body, mind, and soul, especially from a Christian perspective, it just seemed that everywhere I looked, everything was so disjointed.
 
God makes everything to work together in 2020, I was so excited to start a podcast. Um, and so that is what I do professionally. Doesn't that sound good? Come on, give me some credit. Doesn't that sound good? Okay. Let's get real. Y'all it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean a thing. I'm a great example of knowing better, but not doing better. There's a big difference in knowing and doing right in the pursuit of health and happiness and the day-to-day craziness and trying to survive in the search for fulfillment. We miss what matters the most and that's the nourishment of your soul. So if anybody knows better, I mean, it should be me, right? I mean, I've got the experience and the training and the education. So I've missed some things. So I'm taking off the mask today. I'm just going to get real and open and honest and vulnerable with you.
 
So if you're struggling, I want you to know. I see you. And I understand, I know what it feels like to go through grief. I lost my mom eight years ago and to go through periods of depression and be consumed with fear and worry and anxiety. I know what it looks like to have poor stress management and a lack of self care, emotional health issues, negative self-talk feeling unworthy, just feeling like a phony. And I certainly know what it feels like to just have inadequate soul nourishment to not really pay attention to what means the most. And honestly, with all of those things, that's probably why I had some physical health issues like that. Roy insufficiency in poor gut health and inflammation and blood sugar issues because it all goes together.
 
They say that 75% of women experience moderate to severe stress, moderate to severe stress. Now I'm going to confess to you. I was Googling startling statistics, startling statistics for women. And it dawned on me. I was like, Jennifer, you don't need to say somebody else's statistics. I don't need to read some scientific reports to know that women are overwhelmed. I talk to women all day every day and I'll tell you what I hear. I hear struggle. And I hear overwhelm and I hear stress. So here's my statistic. 100% of women feel overwhelmed. All of us do do y'all agree with that. Is there anybody in here? That's you're like, no, I'm good. You're hunky Dory. If anybody here saying zip, they do Don. We all struggle. We all struggle. So how are you feeling right now? Do you feel weary? Do you feel burdened? Do you feel overwhelmed? You know, I've made the joke before. Um, I, I feel like I'm juggling a bunch of balls and I'm trying to juggle a bunch of balls and I'm like, don't bump into me cause I'm going to drop some balls. Do you feel like that you're juggling a lot and in the middle of juggling, all of that, I want you to sit here today and understand how does my soul feel right now? What's my soul condition. Have I had any soul care?
 
The question is, what are we missing? I know I've asked myself this question. What am I missing? I feel like I'm doing everything right. What am I missing for me to be truly healthy for me to be truly fulfilled for me to have a life of harmony? What am I missing? And I hear this same struggle from my clients. What am I missing? And I'm going to tell you from a health standpoint, you can have it all together. You can have the most gorgeous, clean, organic, healthy meals that are totally Pinterest and Instagram worthy. You can have a killer workout routine and be the woman that runs marathons. You can say the positive affirmations read the motivational books. But if your soul is not nourished, you will always fall short. You will never ever be fulfilled.
 
My role here today is to equip you for battle. This is a spiritual battle. This is a battle for your soul and you are under attack. How do I know you're under attack? Because I know what you do for a living. I know the impact that you're having. You're changing the world around you one life at a time. Of course, you're under attack. Of course, Satan wants to stop you, but you've got to get that battle mentality and understand that it is a battle. You've got a bullseye on your back. So I want you to walk out of here, empowered and ready to walk in freedom. And y'all, there's some stuff holding us back. We are being held captive. We are slaves, and we don't even realize it. The most powerful form of captivity is when you don't even realize you're being held captive. When the captor has you so deceived, you're like, it is what it is. Nothing better exist yet deep in your soul. You know, you long for more, your spirit, your soul longs for more you long to be set free from that constant hamster wheel running over and over and over and never getting anywhere.
 
We're going to go over some areas of captivity. But before I do, can I just say something real quick, captivity, enslavement, that's not God's design for us. That's not supposed to happen. What does he do? Say Matthew 1128. Come to me all who are weary and burdened. And I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I'm gentle and humble in heart. And you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy. And my burden is light. I think it was Eugene Patterson that summed up those iconic words of Jesus and said, live freely and lightly. Doesn't that sound better live freely and lightly. That is what he has for us, but there's some things getting in the way. So that's what we're going to go over. The first thing is baggage. We have been going through life and we have got heavy bags, stuffed full bags, full of past mistakes, past failures, present concerns.
 
Future worries, all those mistakes from your past. You're just carrying them around. We've messed up. We've all messed up. We can't hit rewind. We can't go back to last week last month, last year. So we just keep carrying this stuff around in big, heavy bags. The bags are even heavier about all the guilt and the shame we feel because we messed up. So we just feel like we're supposed to carry these around. It's not supposed to be this way. Dr. Tony Evans says, God looks at your future. While the enemy tries to keep you in your past, God will never define you by your past issues. But Satan will try to confine you by them. We feel like this is my burden, my fault. I'm just supposed to carry these around. This is a form of captivity and it's not the only one. There's some other areas of captivity.
 
Every day, I talked to women about health, about physical health, mental and emotional health, and spiritual health. So often we don't look at how all of those work together and from a physical health perspective. Y'all I think what I love about studying the human body is that it is so amazing. It's got this beautiful, intricate design. It is designed by God himself. And he put these in place. By the way, it all works together. No matter what traditional healthcare tells you. And you go to all these different people for different body parts, it all works together. Okay? But it, that body requires care. Now, unfortunately, I'm going to sit down to do this. So I don't talk like stumble over in front of you guys. Um, unfortunately we are so busy taking care of everyone else that there's very little self-care for us.
 
We're natural. Born caregivers is how God made us. We're good at taking care of others. But when it comes to ourself, we just don't have time. In fact, when I say the word self-care, most people say it's kind of selfish. I'm going to sacrifice myself care so I can take care of others. We gotta have a little bit when we don't care for the body, things start going wrong. I've certainly seen that in my own life, losing my health in the process of trying to grow a health and wellness business. Isn't that ironic way to go, Jennifer. But it's the reality as women, we just get so busy and wrapped up and then we start to allow some of these physical elements, these symptoms to define us. And it's such a clever tool from Satan. I know that when I've not been taking good care of myself, when I don't prioritize self-care, I have no patience. How about you?
My kids would be more than happy to tell you about this. So please don't ask them. They would tell you in great detail when mom was not taking care of herself, things don't go real good at home, but it's, it's just that I have nothing left. I'm not as loving. I'm not as grace filled, I'm not as generous. What about mental and emotional health? Are we all struggling? You better believe it. We were struggling before 2020. Now it's 10 times worse. 100 times worse. 1000 times worse. You know, we typically don't address mental and emotional health. I know I don't my tendency. I'm a, I'm what you call a shover down or anybody else like the difficult stuff. The difficulty emotions don't really have time for it. I'm going to shove that down and act like it doesn't exist. Let me tell you the body keeps score.
 
And after a, while it bubbles up and it causes some problems. We allow ourselves to be defined by our struggle. I hear my clients say, use the, I am statements. I am anxious. I am depressed. And that is defining them. We cannot allow our mental and emotional health status to define us. We can only be defined by who we are in Christ. Jesus. What about spiritual health? I will confess to you. I am a wonderful checklist, Christian. I'm great at it. I was, I was saved at a very young age. I've been in church my whole life. I know exactly what to do and what to say. So when I say checklist, Christian, this is what that means. Go to church. Check, wear a cute outfit to church, check, check, drag. My family, fight with my family on the way to church, come to church and smile. Check.
 
Do a quick devotional in the morning, to be quickly followed by spending more time on social media check checklist, Christian, we look the part. We act the part, but there's no meaning. There's no fulfillment. We're just going through the motions. Day after day, the things that look good, nothing is nourishing our soul. Hebrews 12 one says, let us run with endurance. The race that God has set before us. How can we run with endurance like this? When there's stuff dragging us down and holding us back? The answer is we can't okay. Let's move on to the next form of captivity are, y'all proud of me for balancing like that. Somebody plays notice that. Thank you.
 
You know, as we're struggling and as we're trying to cope, we turned to things to cope, to numb the pain. And it's what we do to cope that keeps us in captivity. Numbing, the pain can look like browsing, social media, bingeing on Netflix, emotional eating, drinking, spending what we do to cope because we're not nourished. We're not fulfilled is what's keeping us in captivity, headphones, loud, blaring headphones that are full they're spouting negative. Self-talk toxic thoughts, fears, lads from the enemy. It's constant dialogue running through your mind. These thoughts, these lies. In fact, they're so familiar. You accept them as truth.
 
You're so used to hearing them. You're not enough. You'll never be enough. I hope no one finds out who you truly are. You're a fake, you're a phony. She has a great life. I'll always struggle like this. It will never get better. God doesn't care. It's lies. It's all lies. And the lies are so loud that it's drowning. Everything else out. We can't hear anything else. Lysa TerKeurst says the more I entertain the lies, the heavier, my heart becomes last. Tap into deep wounds in the heart. And the deeper insecurities we have as wives and mothers lies affect the perceptions that we form. Those perceptions become the beliefs we carry. Our faith gets fractured by the lies we flit inform our beliefs.
 
God knew we struggled with this. That's why he says be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12, to all these struggles, all these struggles and what do we do? We dress it up. We put a smile on our face, and we put that mask in place. We can't let anybody know we're struggling. It's fine. I'm fine. Everything is fine. How are you? I'm fine. It makes me think about years ago. Um, my mother had been in the hospital for almost a month, and I was with her and I'd stepped out in the hall and um, uh, just needed a breather. And this gentleman walked by and he said, how are you and automatic with my mask in place? I'm fine. How are you? Fine. I wasn't fine. My mother was dying and nobody knew why. The last thing I was was fine, but that was my first response.
 
The man walked off. I stood there and he came back and he put something in my hand, he put this cross in my hand. He said, I thought you might need it. This guy, God, in his infinite mercy and loving kindness allowed that man to see beyond my mask. And God knew I needed something that day. I needed something that day. I will never forget that man in his obedience. I wish I knew who that was. Cause I will. That has always stayed with me. But y'all how often are we in that pattern? We wear that mask. We're struggling. We're hurting. We're I mean, we're on the edge of desperation, but yet we're wearing a mask. Like everything is fun. It is exhausting wearing a mask. None of us have it all together. We're all a mess by the way. Okay. We're all a mess. My pastor says train wreck. We're all train wrecks. Nobody has it all together. We've got to let go with a mask so that we can help each other and encourage each other and empower each other.
 
I love these scriptures, Galatians 15, three, you, my brothers and sisters were called to be free. Second Corinthians three 17. Now the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is. There is freedom. Now we're talking. That sounds refreshing to me. That sounds so much better than captivity. So how do you break out of captivity? I've got a five, our action plan for you that I'm going to go through. Number one, we're going to talk about reflect, reject, rally, realign, and restore. So you can walk in harmony and live in freedom. Reflect. First of all, practice mindfulness. Where am I at right now? What's the condition of my soul? You know, mindfulness is just simply self-awareness, that's it. Ask God to reveal what's going on.
 
Do you need to let go of some baggage? Let go of some guilt and shame for your pat from your past. You need to forgive yourself, show yourself some grace so you can move forward. You know, at the end of 2018, I had launched my business healthy harmony. I really felt like God wanted me to start this business. And when I tell you nothing was happening, I may, nothing was happening, not a nothing business launch and crickets. And so at the end of 2018, I'm doing my quiet time. I'm praying to guide, okay, what's going to be my strategy for 2019. I need a word for the year. Now I've always done a word for the year. And typically, it's something very motivating and empowering. It might be like determined and powered focus, like empowering words. So as I'm praying, um, for my word of the year for 2019, I felt God whisper to my heart reveal and I'll fight reveal. I need something I can inscribe on a bracelet, Lord. You know, I love those rustic hut bracelets. I need to, I need, I need a word that I can inscribe on a bracelet reveal and God whispered to my heart. If you're going to help people walk in freedom, you've got to stop living in captivity. And there's some things that I need to reveal to you.
 
When we ask God to reveal those areas, he will reveal those areas and y'all, there is so much freedom in that reject. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. It never works. So we have got to reject the lies, reject the constant busy-ness.  Reject the distraction - we are wanting to distract ourselves and reject the tendency to numb the pain with everything else that never truly satisfies. We got to reject the busy-ness.  Look at the number 2,617. That is how much, how many times the average person touches her phone during the day.
 
Is anybody else guilty? I cannot be the only one in here. Y'all that is shocking. I hate it. When those reports pop up at the end of the week and I'm like, Ooh. And I'm really like, like looking over my shoulder, like, please don't let anybody else see this. I mean, my goodness. But think about it. We're being bombarded with constant information. We have access to all information. My new client Christie said just yesterday. She said, God did not name for us to know what is going on in the world. Every heartache, every tragedy at all times. I don't think he meant for us to know all of that. But yet we do and people have access to you 24 7. There is no turning it off. Right? You're available nonstop. It's it's hurting us. John Eldredge. I highly recommend this book. It's um, it's get your life back by John Eldredge. Sorry. I don't have the cover on it. Um, so, so good. John Eldredge, as he's talking about the phone, he says it confuses the soul into artificial, meaning and purpose all the while, preventing genuine soul care and life with God who has time to read a book, plan a garden. What has become the normal daily consumption of input is numbing the soul with artificial meaning and purpose. While in fact the soul grows thinner and thinner through neglect, harmed about the very madness that progresses, that passes for a progressive life.
 
It's not worth it is it. It's a weapon. Rallying. I hope in this discussion today that your eyes have been opened, that you're seeing the weapons. You're seeing the captivity because I need you to get mad. I need you to realize your enemy, John 10, 10, that faith only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full it's time for you to get angry. And it's time for you to get determined. And it's time for you to fight back. How are you going to do that? Women? You're the heartbeat of your home? You're the heartbeat of your neighborhood, of your church, of your community? Yes. I know men are the head. I'm not denying that women are the heartbeat. We set the tone. So when we live in captivity, our kids are going to live in captivity and it's time for us to break, but we gotta get determined.
 
We might need to let go of some things in the past. We might need to get some help. I've got a new counselor. I'm so excited about. I've been to counseling before I'm going back. Cause I think it's that beneficial impact earlier this year. Uh, speaking of getting some help, I went and met with my pastor. I am not one to ask for help. Remember, I'm the one that likes to wear a mask and act like everything is just fine. I don't like to ask for help. I'd rather figure it out on my own. I would rather you think I have it altogether and that's wrong. So I went to my pastor and I said, I'm just proud of myself for being here, but I'm struggling. I was in a downward spiral. Y'all that was, that conversation was so beneficial from so many aspects. He prayed for me.
 
He offered practical, godly wisdom. And I was so glad I asked for help. So what kind of help do you need today? Do you need a coach? Do you need a pastor? Do you need a counselor? Who do you need to get help from? Because you cannot do this on your own. It's too much the burden. It's too heavy danger community. We have five clubs at church. These are small groups. Now we don't fight each other. Don't worry. We fight for each other on our knees. And it's a very small group where we can take off the mask, be open, be real. We pray for each other. We encourage each other. We point each other to resources. It has been so very helpful. Find your community, find your fight club. We're in this together. And if you don't have somebody y'all pray about it. I've done that too. God, I need somebody, and he will send that person to you re align one of the most important steps right here, realign, you know, I talked about reflection and being mindful. The beauty about being mindful is that you start to become more intentional. Mindfulness says, you know what? Muscle was not nourished. I've been Jennifer's band. I've been a checklist, Christian, and I'm not getting any fulfillment out of that. Maybe I need to make quiet time a priority.
 
That's okay.  I'm going to make pro quiet time, a priority y'all that has to come first. First I have to abide in him. And that is what soul nourishment that is what soul care looks like. I love this scripture. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me, bears that much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. John 15 five abide in me the question, am I a body? Or am I doing a drive-by? I think most of the time I'm doing a drive-by and the Lord's like, there she goes again. Is that working for you, Jennifer? Nope, but here I go again. We've got to abide. This is where we get our nutrients. This is where we get our very life.
 
Now I'm fortunate enough to go to city church, Melissa, right up the road. And y'all, we've been meeting. We planted this church. We've been meeting in a middle school, a stinky middle school, um, for what? Five, six years. Like it's been a long time. Well, God opened up some amazing doors. We bought a vineyard that has amazing facilities on it. A vineyard. Now I know the question going through your mind. You're like, what do y'all do for a communion up there at city charged Melissa, it's still grape juice. But the beauty of this campus, every time I pull on that campus and I get to pass all of those bonds, I'm just reminded about in him because you see, when I try to do my own thing, it never works. And I've spent a lifetime trying to do my own thing and then I'll try to come back and then I mess up again. We have to abide in him to restore. We can restore our soul no matter how bird, how burdened, how weary, how overwhelmed your soul is, you can restore your soul by connecting with your creator and connecting with his creation. Psalm 46 10 says be still. And know how often are we still, you know, when you're in your classroom, when you're like be still, okay, we gotta be still. They're not still, but how often are we still?
 
We're too busy. We got stuff to do. God, I don't have time for this. I got to go be still in. No, that was my mom's favorite verse about it hanging in one of my areas where I do my quiet time. Just as a reminder, because we're so used to the busy-ness we're so distracted connect with his creation. What is his creation nature? His people, I think animals are included in his creation. What can you do to nourish your soul, your soul? What restores your soul being in nature? We just got back from the beach a couple of weeks ago. Yo, it's real easy for me to feel that soul restoration when I'm sitting there, I'm standing on the, on the, on the beach and I feel the water rushing over my feet and I'm looking at the horizon and it's early in the morning and there's nobody out. Like I feel my soul is restored, but the reality is I don't live at the beach. I live here.
 
I want a beach house by the way. I want a mountain home too. So I can do wellness retreats, but that's beside the point.
 
What can I, what can I do? What can you do to restore our soul on a daily basis? Can we walk outside and look at his creation and take a deep breath? Sure. Can we listen to some music? So, we connect with music, petting the dogs, even beneficial. That's his creation. My dogs appreciate that. By the way, they wanted me to include that in this talk. And connecting with his people. Do you have that friend where you spend time with her and you walk away and you're like, oh, this is good for my soul. Now I'm not talking about the negative Nelly. Hopefully no one's named Nelly, right? I'm not talking about the negative Nelly. I'm talking about that person. And you're just like, man, I needed that. Y'all that's God's design. All of those things restore our soul. Proverbs three eight says this will be health to your body and nourishment to your bones. So what happens, what happens if we leave here today and we don't do anything, we just keep on that hamster wheel, running and running and not going anywhere. We keep acting like a checklist. Christian.
 
We just keep on keeping them. We keep on in survival mode. I'm tired of being in survival mode. What do we have to lose? We've got the mask firmly in place. What do we have to lose everything? How do you move forward? Like this? How do you move forward? Like this you're way down. You can't barely move. You feel like these bags are your cross to bear. You're not going to let those down. And you're so tired. You're so weary and all of this, you can't let anybody see. So you just keep that mask firmly in place, smiling through all the pain. This is not freedom. This is not freedom. There is nothing good about this. That this is how we're we've been living.
 
So you got to remove the mask. John 1633. I have told you these things so that in me, you may have peace in this heart. You will have trouble, but take heart. I've overcome. The world. Eat is for that. Christ has set us free stand firm then, and do not let yourself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Leave your burdens at the cross. These bags, they're not your security. He died for your sins. He's forgiven you. You got to forgive yourself. Colossians one, 13 and 14 for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son. He loves in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins, silence, the laws that they only come to steal, kill, and destroy I've come so they can have a life and have it to the full, those lads that have been going over and over and over again. The mind of the sinful man is death, but the mind control by the spirit is life and peace. Look at that contrast, death, life and peace. I know what I want – to break out of those chains.
 
Out of my distress, I called on the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me free. But you notice the beginning of that out of my distress, I called upon the Lord. I will walk about in freedom for, I have sought out your precepts. So if the son sets you free, you will be free. Indeed. This is freedom. This is God's designed. This is what he needs for us. This is what he wants for us. He desires for us to walk in freedom. Do you know why? Because you have a job to, do you have a purpose? I have a job. I have a purpose. We have to make an impact. We can't make an impact when we're living in captivity. How can we help our kids walk in freedom when we're not walking in freedom? Imagine the impact that you can have when you walk in freedom.
 
Thank you so much for listening to that. If you have questions, if you need to connect with me, if that resonated with you, I can honestly say that I have never, ever been quite so vulnerable and so open. Um, when I was giving a talk, that is truly a first for me to be that vulnerable and just to kind of spell everything out that I've struggled with. So that was a first for me. That was, uh, that was big, but apparently it resonated with a lot of women just looking at the feedback that I've gotten, the emails, the messages, and the women that came up to me afterwards and found me the next day with tears in their eyes. And they said, I relate to everything you said. So that's another reason that I wanted you to be able to have access to this. So, um, I will have the video up on the website shortly, if you would rather watch a video, but also if you need to connect with me, let me give you just a little break from Mander.
 
And when I coach it is body, mind and soul coaching and it is from a Christian perspective. So if you're looking for some refreshment for a strategy, if you're looking for someone to listen, I've got you. Okay. So two options. I want you to know about, if you just need to schedule a 15-minute phone call with me, you need to connect. You need to ask me some questions, please book a 15-minute phone call. I will put the link right here in the show notes. And also I do have one hour virtual sessions available. So you might be interested in that. So I will put that link here as well. So just know that I'm here for you. We are all struggling and we're in this together. So as see you, my friend and I can't wait to connect with you. Talk to you, same, have a healthy and happy day. Bye y'all!