Latest / She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ / There's Beauty In Your Brokenness With Cassandra Speer and Brittany Maher

Transcript

There's Beauty In Your Brokenness With Cassandra Speer and Brittany Maher · She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ

0:02
Hey, welcome back to She Speaks Live Today.
0:05
You are listening to the first episode of A Brand New Season.
0:10
I am so super excited about this one as I've got the most amazing
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guest lineup for you and if you watch this.
0:17
Podcast on YouTube or video Spotify.
0:20
You'll notice a little bit of a new background for your viewing
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pleasure and you'll start to see this background becoming more of
0:29
an aesthetic podcast studio that I'm super excited about.
0:34
And so if you have not subscribed to my YouTube
0:36
channel, there's a link below under the show notes that will
0:40
send you to Jamie Elizabeth. She speaks live.
0:43
You can hit that subscribe button and you'll be instantly
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notified with the new faith story that I post.
0:50
Okay a little news coming to you is that I am doing a two day
0:55
workshop on how to personalize scripture and Bible study.
0:59
You guys, this was a game changer for me when I found out
1:03
that I can put my name inside a scripture verse and it just
1:08
catapulted me into this deeper, more intimate encounter in my
1:12
quiet time with the Lord. And I would love for you to
1:15
experience that too. So if you are interested, use my
1:19
e-mail link in the show notes or follow me on Instagram.
1:22
Jamie Elizabeth, she speaks live.
1:24
And me. I'll send you a Zoom link.
1:26
I feel like Zoom is as close it's going to get to being in my
1:29
living room. It will be on September 26th and
1:32
27th at noon Central and I would love to meet you personally.
1:37
Say hello and hang out and walk through the word with you.
1:42
It's going to be so impactful and fun as I've got some
1:46
giveaways going on and this is just my ultimate favorite.
1:51
Wrapping arms around other women and having these God
1:54
conversations with them. OK, let me introduce to you who
1:59
I have to kick us off for this amazing season.
2:03
I have her true worth leaders, Brittany Mayer and Cassandra
2:07
Speer. They have a huge global online
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community that reminds women that their identity and
2:14
validation is in Christ alone. They are both bestseller authors
2:19
of Her Tree Worth and There's beauty in Your brokenness, which
2:23
is what we will be talking about today.
2:26
This hands down you guys was the best Conversation is for sure
2:31
one of my ultimate favorites, and I know you'll fall in love
2:35
with these girls. I'm sure as much as I did as we
2:39
chat about some of the most highly talked about topics that
2:43
us girls go through when it comes to self-image.
2:45
Not feeling good enough? Even some red flag warnings of
2:49
affirmation addiction? And how do you even break free
2:53
from affirmation culture that we see a lot today?
2:56
And we also chat about how God's love is with us and heals us
3:00
from past mistakes and pain and how we can trust in God's plan
3:05
even when it's difficult to understand you guys.
3:08
This faith story is so jam packed with these wisdom Nuggets
3:13
and the goodness and faithfulness of God that I just
3:16
can't wait any longer. So let's dive into this fabulous
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combo I have with Brittany and Cassandra.
3:23
Hello, Britt and Cass. Welcome to She Speaks Live.
3:28
Thank you for having us, Jamie. We're so excited to be here with
3:31
you today. Yes, Cass and Brit, I love your
3:37
community that you guys have started for you.
3:42
That's listening. If you don't know yet, they have
3:45
a community online called Her True Worth, and you guys reached
3:53
like over 5 million like followers.
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And I just love how you both are encouraging women to know their
4:01
true worth and that their righteousness is in Christ and
4:05
in Christ alone. And I love the impact that you
4:09
guys are making. And whenever I do go on there
4:14
and I'm scrolling through, it's like something I'm definitely
4:17
going through. And I know that's the Holy
4:19
Spirit, you know, like meeting each of us right where we're at.
4:23
But I'm going, Oh my gosh, it's like you guys know exactly what
4:28
maybe I'm going through that day and it just like transforms the
4:34
like, the lie into the truth. And you guys are always speaking
4:38
truth over the lie. And I think that's so important
4:43
and essential for us women to constantly be fed that.
4:47
And we get that through our word.
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But it's so awesome to see that through our Instagram feeds, our
4:55
social media outlets just to remind us that we are Christ's
5:02
daughter and that we stand in that victory.
5:06
So I would love for us, before we get into how you guys started
5:11
this community and about your guys new book and all that, I
5:15
love to kick us off with what is your favorite scripture verse
5:19
and why? Go ahead, Brett.
5:21
Yeah. So I would first of all, thank
5:23
you for everything that you just said.
5:25
It's so encouraging to hear kind of just the.
5:28
The other side of it, you know you show up and serve, but it's
5:31
amazing to be able to hear just the impact that it has.
5:33
So we appreciate what you just shared.
5:36
So my favorite scripture this is kind of my life 1st and there's
5:40
a lot of reasons why is Psalm 7326.
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My flesh in my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my
5:47
heart and my portion forever that scripture has shaped.
5:52
Not only me, my walk with God, but it's actually a Bible verse
5:56
that kind of brought my husband and I together, which is a story
6:00
and of itself coming out of the beauty industry and fitness
6:05
world. I was kind of confronted by the
6:09
fact that I was choosing comfort and value in my flesh and
6:14
realized my deep need and longing for Jesus and to know my
6:18
worth in Him and so. When I think of you, know the
6:22
fact that my flesh in my heart may fail.
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It will fail. I I am human, and He is God.
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I am not Jesus. And it positions me to be able
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to rely on him and be able to almost, you know, boast in my
6:39
weakness, knowing that his strength is made complete in me,
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that he is my portion and he is enough.
6:46
That's beautiful. Yeah.
6:47
I read a portion of your personal story on how you're
6:53
getting your value and work through what you looked like
6:56
being a fitness instructor. And you thought, well, I'm
6:59
already into fitness, might as well be an instructor.
7:03
But then it was just became this obsession and and I totally get
7:08
that. I was like, Oh my gosh, that's
7:10
me. I was you know, determine
7:14
determining the number on the scale was what I was gonna feel
7:19
that day. And that's just totally wrong.
7:22
And I finally recovered from that by just writing down who I
7:27
am in Christ on my scale because it was a glass scale.
7:32
Yeah, Cassie can relate. And I just wrote down who I was
7:38
in Christ, you are beautiful. You your love, you belong, You
7:44
know you're God's masterpiece. And constantly looking at that
7:48
instead of the number really helped me.
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And in Full disclosure, like I am wearing mismatched shorts
7:56
because I cannot fit into my jeans shorts.
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This summer. That's OK.
8:02
I love the vulnerability and honesty.
8:04
Yeah, here we are. I'm like.
8:06
I could tell my story on that totally not matching right now
8:11
because I need to go to drawstring instead of, so it's.
8:18
It's OK. God loves me unconditional.
8:21
It's an act of compassion. On your.
8:24
Body is get the right size, man. It is such an act of compassion
8:30
and like resilient confidence in Christ.
8:33
Yeah, you know, where are the mixed batch pants?
8:36
It's all, yeah. Where are the yoga pants?
8:38
Yeah. Where are the stretchy?
8:41
We are wherever the home is, where the elastic pants are.
8:45
Yeah, so I'm currently rocking that and it's all OK.
8:50
So Cassie, what is your favorite scripture verse and why?
8:55
So the scripture that I have come to ever since I came to
8:59
know Christ is Psalm 68 six, which is that God places the
9:05
solitary into families. So it's a very brief scripture,
9:09
but it's very powerful for me. I grew up in a very abusive and
9:17
traumatic background. I was in a non Christian
9:21
household and there was a lot of the abandonment, addiction, all
9:27
of those really rough things and I've come now.
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I'm really proud to say that I've come to see my family of
9:36
origin. Come to the lifesaving knowledge
9:39
of Christ and recovery and healing and it's beautiful, but
9:45
that. Scripture continues to anchor me
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all of my days because God has done exactly that.
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He's been faithful to place me into families that were not
9:55
blood but by choice, and I'm very grateful for that.
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Whether it's spiritual or proximity wise, having a
10:03
community of believers that you can call family, it's it's just.
10:08
The best. Yeah, it's beautiful.
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And I know I was reading a little bit of your storing your
10:14
background and how you went back to that hometown and you started
10:18
getting the flood of feelings back.
10:20
And I love at the end of the chapter how you said God will
10:25
heal sometimes, one wound at a time.
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And I think that's so important to remember that we may not
10:33
fully, you know, overnight have that healing, but it's more of a
10:37
gradual because he knows he's gentle.
10:40
He knows how much we can handle and his healing.
10:46
He wants us completely healed in that area probably before we
10:49
jump to the next one and and so not to overwhelm our finite
10:55
minds, but to just gradually heal us over time.
10:58
So I love how you said that he heals 1 wound at a time
11:04
sometimes. So that was so good for sure.
11:08
OK, now I want to know how you guys started this incredible
11:14
online community called Her True Worth.
11:19
Is there a little back story you guys can share here?
11:22
Yeah. So I as I was explaining
11:25
earlier, I come from the beauty and fitness industry that was
11:30
about 10 years back that I worked in both.
11:34
I had actually met my husband when I was 21 and then we got
11:39
married when I was 23 and I was born and raised in Michigan.
11:43
So when we met him and I actually met on Instagram and
11:48
which is so ironic because that's where we do our work.
11:52
Not ironic, right? It's God.
11:54
But so yeah, so we met on Instagram and actually the Bible
11:59
verse, so. I'm going to try to keep this as
12:02
brief as I can because there's so much to unpack here, but so
12:05
that scripture. My husband is the he created the
12:09
Bible Lock Screens app and back when Instagram kind of first
12:13
came around, he was one of the OG Christian pages on there.
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And this is before I had actually met him.
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I got an iPhone and I was looking up just different, you
12:22
know, applications on the App Store for.
12:26
You know, Christian Bible verses stuff.
12:27
This is back before you could edit your own images or create
12:30
your own stuff. There were that weren't those
12:32
apps that existed really at that point.
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So I found his app and I just loved it.
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So then I found myself on Instagram one day trying to
12:41
figure out how in the world to use a hashtag, which was kind of
12:44
funny. Like, I didn't really know what
12:46
it was, so I was just doing like the number sign and then like
12:49
random words like Bible Christ and just seeing, you know, what
12:53
pops up, what people are sharing.
12:56
And I came across the app that I had downloaded.
12:59
It's like, oh wow, this is so cool.
13:00
This is the app that I just downloaded.
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And so I followed the account and, you know, left a positive
13:06
review. Again, I didn't know who was
13:08
behind it. And then?
13:10
Couple days later I get a follow from my husband and he this is
13:16
back before you don't really approve follows from random
13:19
strangers back in that day. Like it's a little weird to get
13:23
this request to follow me. I'm like who is this guy.
13:27
And then I connected the dots that he was the the person
13:31
behind Bible lock screens. And so, you know, we were
13:33
commenting back and forth because Dms were also not around
13:37
at this time and so. Dms are direct messages, by the
13:41
way. So that was not around at the
13:44
time. And so him and I kind of just
13:46
were commenting back and forth. I was just saying how much I
13:48
loved his app. And he said, well, let me send
13:51
me an E send me your e-mail. I'm going to go ahead and make
13:54
you a customized lock screen. And he sends me a lock screen
13:57
with that Bible verse, which was one of the first Scriptures in
14:01
my walk with the Lord at 19 years old.
14:04
When I gave my life to Christ, I was like one of the first psalms
14:07
that just really stood out to me and and stopped me where I was
14:10
at because I was in this place where I was living in the world
14:14
and I was very, very worldly in a really toxic relationship.
14:17
So that was a really cool little God wink.
14:20
And then so I'm sorry, Fast forward, we get married.
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I moved to Indiana and I have no family, no friends, and I kind
14:28
of felt, well, depressed because I didn't have a community there
14:32
and. Again, I was in the beauty and
14:35
fitness industry and I just kind of found myself even more than
14:39
ever, like grasping for my own worth and being entangled in the
14:45
shallow messages of you know, if your makeup is beautiful or your
14:49
face is perfect or your body is perfect, then only you are
14:53
worthy. And I believed that lie.
14:55
For many years I struggled with eating disorders.
14:59
I. Really related to what you said,
15:02
Jamie, that just like seeing a number on the scale literally
15:05
would dictate my day whether or not I would go and do something.
15:09
And through that just painful journey is where I kind of had
15:16
to come to the end of myself and really search in in under search
15:22
to understand what my true worth was in Christ through Scripture
15:27
and. Out of that is where I had the
15:30
idea to start an Instagram page, because my husband was already
15:33
doing that in that space and evangelizing on social media.
15:38
And I just felt like it was now my mission to help minister to
15:42
women in the same issues that I just became entangled in and
15:48
I've always felt called to women's ministry and so.
15:51
That's kind of where Hurts. You Worth started and then you
15:55
know, I just was posting like bite sized devotionals and
15:59
different Instagram pictures and you know, showing up and loving
16:03
people on that space and it kind of kept growing.
16:06
And then in 2018 I just, I was praying and asking God, you
16:11
know, I I felt like Hurts you Worth needed to be something
16:14
that had like a team behind it. I really felt in my heart.
16:18
I wanted multiple writers. I wanted just so many different
16:21
voices to be able to speak to just so many different issues.
16:24
And that is actually where I met Cass on Instagram again.
16:30
And so yeah, Cass and I met Cass.
16:33
I'll let you kind of wrap up the end of the story.
16:35
But I found Cass on the Explorer feed.
16:38
It's just randomly. I didn't didn't know her.
16:41
I had never seen any of her stuff and she had a post that
16:45
just. Stop me in my tracks and pierced
16:47
my heart like you were saying, Jamie, where you just felt like
16:50
that's what you needed to hear in that moment.
16:52
And I just felt drawn to her. And so through conversation, you
16:57
know, she came on to write for her true worth.
16:59
And then I just kind of felt this like kinship with her and
17:04
just this strong sisterly bond. And I posed the question and
17:09
asked her, would you want to leave this with me?
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And then? I can kind of let her explain,
17:14
just from her perspective, what that was like.
17:16
But yeah, yeah. Now, looking back, it was wild
17:20
how much it foreshadowed so much about the trajectory of where
17:24
things would end up. I was in Waco, TX, which for
17:29
context, I live in Oklahoma City, and I was at a writers
17:34
conference learning how to write a.
17:35
Book proposal and I had only been writing publicly for about
17:39
a year and Britt reached out and asked me if I would be
17:43
interested in writing with her. And it was an easy, easy yes.
17:47
And I had been serving and writing for several different
17:52
ministries on a volunteer basis. And Britney's right, like we
17:56
just had an like, instant kindred spirit.
18:01
We understood the we understood the assignment.
18:04
You know, like we didn't have to explain to each other.
18:07
She didn't have to tell me. Like it was just understood from
18:11
the Giko, which was just such a God thing because I had no idea
18:15
what I was doing. And it was just really cool
18:18
thing and when Britt asked me a few months later if I'd be
18:22
interested in Co leading with her and and you know leading the
18:27
charge for the ministry and amplifying the voices of the
18:30
women that write for us and I. Was very hesitant because I felt
18:34
so much genuine and sincere like reference for what I.
18:40
Knew was what was going to be. Even though I had, neither of us
18:45
really understood completely. We didn't know that the Ministry
18:50
was going. To grow so.
18:54
Rapidly. Rapidly.
18:57
But to that point, like it had already grown over like 150,000
19:02
by that point, just from starting writing with her.
19:05
So we knew something was happening and it was just crazy.
19:08
And I remember later on talking about writing books because
19:14
Instagram is very limited, you know.
19:16
And as much as we love being able to share bite sized
19:20
devotionals, we also realized that the issue of worth and
19:24
identity and surrendering, striving and living unburdened
19:28
has so much more than just the 2000 characters that were
19:31
allowed to write an Instagram caption.
19:33
And so it's been just such a privilege and and a God dream to
19:37
be able to work alongside and learn from Britney.
19:42
Yeah, I love it. I mean like I said before, you
19:45
guys reached right where women are, right where girls are and
19:49
where their struggles are and you turn that lie into the truth
19:55
and what God says in his word about that struggle that we go
20:00
through. And I think it just it it grew
20:04
because it's so relatable but that it had the anointing on it
20:08
and and got we all know that God's the one that grows things
20:12
and so. It's super successful and you
20:18
have you both have two books out her tree Worth and there's
20:24
Beauty and Your Brokenness which is a 90 day devotional about
20:28
surrendering your your striving live.
20:31
How to live, unburden, and find your worth in Christ.
20:35
And I love your mission on how you're pointing women to what
20:43
Christ says about our worth and helping us women dilute and just
20:52
silence the lies that the world will say where we can get our
20:57
worth and value. And I love that so much about
21:00
you both and your mission on that.
21:04
And one of your titles in your book was Living from Worth, not
21:09
for it. Which boom right there.
21:11
Drop the mic. Love it.
21:13
So can you share with us the importance of knowing and
21:17
understanding that our worth comes from Christ?
21:21
Because I know some of us just struggle with that, like why are
21:27
we worthy in Christ? When we understand and.
21:31
Internalize what Jesus did for us.
21:35
We can then come to realize that we don't have to strive to earn
21:39
our value and our worth to him because it's intrinsically tied
21:43
to our identity in him and Cass. And I always say, and I know
21:47
it's in our book, the ultimate measuring stick of your worth to
21:52
God and his love for you is Jesus on the Cross.
21:57
And and we do have several ways in the book that we can that we
22:01
explain to our readers how to live from our worth and not for
22:05
it. And one of them being is that we
22:07
need to acknowledge our true source of our worth.
22:11
We need to understand that our worth isn't based on our
22:15
accomplishments, our looks. And I'm saying that to myself or
22:19
even popularity on social media or at school or at college.
22:23
Or any otherworldly standards that we can become entrapped in
22:28
because it's tangible, it's in front of us.
22:30
So it's very easy to grab a hold of those things to satisfy our
22:36
worth. But we know that those things
22:39
change, they waver. But God is unwavering, and our
22:43
worth comes from Him. And He created us in His image
22:46
and loves us unconditionally and He.
22:49
Is unchanging and unwavering, so we can anchor our worth and
22:53
value and in him because it doesn't change when it's in him.
22:57
Another thing is that we can shift from focusing on not
23:03
doing, not striving to earn and cast.
23:07
I love her teaching on this. She's actually the one that
23:11
wrote this phrase living from our worth and not for it.
23:15
Has. I'd love for you to kind of
23:17
share on that because this, this is a great teaching that she
23:20
shares. Yeah.
23:21
I think that actually for us women of all, all ages and
23:26
stages of life, that we, whether it's directly or indirectly, we
23:31
pick up this message that our worth needs to be earned and
23:37
that it can be. Revoked and and I love that
23:40
Brittany says that it's not up for grabs.
23:44
And it's so true because we, in so many ways we learn that who
23:52
we are is like Brit says, doing. But truly who we are is done.
24:01
It's the completed work on the cross and and and that is that
24:05
is the most pivotal shifting point for us, is that if we can
24:12
live our lives from a moment to moment, breath by breath,
24:17
acknowledgement that it's the pressure is off that we do not
24:22
have to work to obtain our worth, but rather that we
24:26
receive it by grace, through faith that no man or woman
24:31
should boast. When we live securely in that
24:34
truth, then we're able to live from that worth instead of for
24:38
it. And we no longer have to earn
24:40
it. We're able to live knowing that
24:44
it's not earned. And and that's good news.
24:49
It's good news for. All of us, because we have been
24:52
told the direct opposite. Like you said, Jamie, it's that
24:55
pain point, It's that lie. And we're turning it on its head
24:59
and we're saying no, here's the promise, here's the truth.
25:02
Right here is that God is. With you and for you that your
25:06
worth. Is secure in him that your
25:08
identity is in him and that when everything changes, all of these
25:13
things that we've already alluded to, whether it's our
25:16
mistakes, our relationships, our roles, responsibilities, our
25:20
jobs, all of these things that we equate value with that
25:26
measure, worth none of those things.
25:30
Will stay the same, but God alone does.
25:33
And so why not agree with the one who will never change his
25:36
mind about us? Yeah.
25:39
And it's so freeing when we, like, get that and grasp that
25:43
and live that out. Sometimes we can struggle with,
25:47
I think, accepting that unconditional love of Christ.
25:51
So let's touch a little bit on that, because I think most of us
25:57
can look back at maybe past mistakes we dwell on that.
26:03
We dwell on negative thoughts. We dwell on our physical
26:07
appearance. You know, just the negative
26:10
narrative that maybe we just go on the spin cycle with.
26:15
How can we really know the value?
26:20
How can we know God's unconditional love for us?
26:24
What could you encourage us with?
26:27
And this is that's a good question.
26:29
And it's a real struggle to be able to accept unconditional
26:34
love, and it's one that I still often struggle with in my own
26:38
walk, is how essential it is to remember that God's love isn't.
26:43
Dependent on anything that we do or don't do, and it never will
26:47
be. Like Has said, he will never
26:49
look at our past mistakes and flinch at the idea of being able
26:55
to use us for the future for His purposes and His glory.
26:58
In fact, Scripture says that he has a plan to prosper us, a plan
27:02
for our future and. He doesn't look at our inward
27:07
thoughts and think that we're trash because of the way that
27:10
our minds might get swept up in negativity.
27:13
That's why we're told in scripture to take our thoughts
27:16
captive and make them obedient to Christ, which is a direct
27:20
invitation from the Lord to partner with Him and every
27:23
aspect of our being, because He is the vine, and apart from Him
27:26
we can do nothing. I'm a list gal and I love bullet
27:31
points. So if you're listening and
27:32
you're a journaller or a note taker, I want to give you a few
27:35
tips for accepting God's unconditional love into your
27:39
heart, even if you feel unworthy of it.
27:42
And the first one would be understanding grace.
27:45
The beauty of the gospel is the concept of grace, the unmerited,
27:50
undeserved, and unearned favor of God.
27:54
It's not about what we've done again, but what Christ has done
27:58
for us. So I encourage you to meditate
28:00
on Ephesians 2828 through nine. Another thing would be to
28:06
through the power of the Holy Spirit and through intimate time
28:10
with God, surrender your past to Him.
28:13
Let go of those mistakes. It's crucial to understanding
28:19
your worth. In in your in your worth, to him
28:21
that doesn't waver. You might not always feel like
28:25
you're worthy of God's love, but Scripture tells us to walk by
28:29
faith, not not by sight, which could also be our emotions, and
28:34
to remember the promise that we have in 2nd Corinthians 517,
28:37
that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person,
28:41
and that he doesn't hold your past against you, and neither
28:44
should we. And the last thing I would say
28:47
which is one that I. Have to do every single day is
28:51
changing your inner self talk. We have to pay attention to the
28:55
way that we're speaking to ourselves.
28:57
If we're always putting ourselves down and comparing
29:00
ourselves, I'm sorry comparing ourselves to others, we will
29:04
struggle to feel worthy. So try to replace that negative
29:07
self talk with affirmations of God's love for you through
29:11
scripture. And I love Jamie, the example
29:15
that you gave. On your scale and like if you
29:19
have to do that to put the word of God into a situation where
29:24
you're very tempted to believe a lie, then do that.
29:28
It really does make such a big difference, Yeah.
29:32
And remembering God's forgiveness, Jesus forgives and
29:37
it's tossed from the east to the West and forgets it.
29:41
Like he does not remember it. He forgives and he doesn't
29:45
remember it. And just reminding ourselves
29:48
that too, like just helps us with knowing how much he really
29:53
loves us and how it's beyond our understanding too.
29:58
You know, it's like, you know, deeper than the sea has love for
30:02
us. And so just trying to wrap our
30:05
minds around that is incredible in itself.
30:09
And he created us in his image, and when he did for us on the
30:13
cry on the cross, that is his love for us is so deep and so.
30:20
I want to touch on what you guys said about embracing your
30:26
brokenness because I think this is just something that people
30:32
can struggle with. But I think for most of us, we
30:36
want to hide and run in our brokenness, right, And not
30:41
embrace it. So when you when you both were
30:45
talking about embracing your brokenness, what does that mean?
30:49
Because you tie it into the fullness of Christ and the
30:53
purpose in our lives. So.
30:55
So how can we turn that into something sweet?
31:01
So I think it's important for us to acknowledge in Isaiah 64 six
31:05
where it says that even our best attempts at righteousness is but
31:12
filthy rags to comparison to God's glory.
31:17
And I think that that sounds like a downer, but it's truly so
31:23
much freedom. It's the best.
31:25
News. Because it should be a huge
31:27
relief, because that means that even in our best attempts, it's
31:33
not enough. Which means it was never up to
31:36
us. It was never God.
31:38
God's yoke is easy and his burden is light.
31:41
He would never place anything ill fitting or heavy upon us.
31:44
And that's in Matthew and and and I think that that's Matthew
31:49
1128 through 29. And I think it's really
31:52
important for us to acknowledge that our brokenness, our need
31:57
for a Savior is actually a beautiful, redemptive thing.
32:02
Because that means we're not responsible for saving ourselves
32:06
because we've already established we are incapable of
32:10
doing so. And if we can't save ourselves,
32:13
we're also not responsible for saving others.
32:17
We are able to live our lives freely, embracing our
32:21
brokenness. It's so important for us to
32:23
acknowledge our limitations are not liabilities.
32:27
The fact that we have human valuable limitations means that
32:32
we have a strong, sustaining and sovereign savior.
32:38
We are able to rely upon him, and in our weakness he is made
32:43
strong. If we avoid our brokenness, if
32:46
we avoid those weaknesses, those limitations, those pain points
32:51
in our lives, then we are denying ourselves.
32:55
The wonderful freedom of finding wholeness in Christ.
32:59
We cannot find wholeness if we are avoiding our brokenness, and
33:05
it's such a beautiful thing. Because we then who are
33:09
redeemed, we who are healed, we who find our wholeness in Christ
33:14
are then able to show others. That way we're able to show
33:20
freedom. It's contagious and it looks
33:23
good on everyone. Freedom begots freedom.
33:27
So when we live free. When we live.
33:29
Whole then we're able to invite other people to do so.
33:33
That's the power of the testimony by the blood of the
33:35
lamb, right? Is this is where I was and this
33:39
is where I am. And he alone brought me there.
33:43
Yeah, love it. OK, let's jump to what you guys
33:47
wrote in chapter 23 about the addiction of self affirmation.
33:51
I think this is just a must that we should talk about.
33:55
And how can we break free from this cultural culture of
33:59
affirmation to find the true affirmation in our relationship
34:04
with Jesus? Because let's just face it like
34:08
every day, you know, it's in our nature to maybe grasp on things
34:13
that are outside of Christ in this world, to affirm that, you
34:19
know, oh, I'm getting, you know, my confidence in that or you
34:24
know, my my value in this. And so how can we break free
34:29
from that idol a self affirmation from what the
34:33
culture is constantly feeding us so that we can just stand
34:39
steadfast in the true affirmation that we find in
34:43
Jesus? Yeah, I think we can know when
34:47
it's you centered when we are relying on like having that
34:52
excessive reliance on that external validation which we've
34:57
come to define as being affirmation addiction and we
35:01
talked about that in our book that.
35:03
When we are excessively relying on those around us to affirm us,
35:08
we have a very like affirming culture.
35:11
And these messages of yourself worth being, you know, based on
35:16
the likes and the follows and the possessions and your
35:19
achievements. It's important to know that that
35:24
excessive reliance is drawing us away from the power of Scripture
35:29
and what God is saying of us. In Scripture.
35:32
And when we understand that our source of worth, again, like
35:37
we've talked about throughout this whole episode, it doesn't
35:40
come from external validation. It doesn't come from being
35:45
accepted by the people around us or their opinions.
35:48
It comes from God who created us and loves us deeply.
35:51
And that is right, in essence, the foundation of our of our
35:55
identity and our affirmation. Yeah, that's so good.
35:59
And that reminds me of Glaciian's 110.
36:02
Are am I now trying? To win the approval of human
36:04
beings or of God? Or am I trying to please people
36:09
because affirmation addiction is rooted in people pleasing which
36:14
Britney and I are both recovering people pleasers.
36:17
And it I love how Galatians 110 reminds us like if we were still
36:22
trying to please people we would not be service to Christ right?
36:27
And and so something to remember too about healthy affirmation
36:31
and how to live affirmed instead of seeking affirmation So
36:37
seeking approval is 4 things one like Britney just brilliantly
36:42
said healthy affirmation begins and ends with God.
36:47
Bottom line. Secondly is healthy.
36:49
Affirmation is not deterred by rejection.
36:52
Now rejection does sting, and we are actually guaranteed that we
36:56
will be more likely to be rejected than accepted on this
36:59
side of heaven. Rejection is the opposite of
37:03
affirmation. So in order for us to live
37:06
affirmed in Christ, we need to remember that we will be
37:08
rejected on this side of heaven, and we need to be OK.
37:12
We need to know that their acceptance is not the final say.
37:18
3 is healthy affirmation practices relational equity so
37:21
important for us to understand that we cannot allow people who
37:26
do not know us know our hearts and do life with us to speak
37:31
into our lives. Not only is it unwise, but it is
37:34
dangerous. And so if we wouldn't allow
37:37
someone that we don't know on the Internet, for example, to
37:42
speak into our lives, then why do we care so deeply to be
37:47
affirmed by them? It's almost a gut check, right?
37:50
Because we need to be mindful of who we're allowing to speak into
37:54
our lives. Because if our of our value and
37:57
our worth rises and falls upon these strangers opinions, that's
38:03
a dangerous ground. And also it's exhausting.
38:07
That's an exhausting. Way to live and 4th one is
38:10
healthy. Affirmation is willing to be
38:12
misunderstood. There are going to be people who
38:15
do not understand you. That's okay.
38:19
You have permission to be misunderstood because God knows
38:22
you. He knows your heart.
38:24
And if you live your life constantly explaining yourself
38:27
to people who are committed to not understanding you, you are
38:31
wasting your energy and you are allowing your heart to be torn
38:34
down by those who will not care for it.
38:38
I love that. All four points, so good,
38:40
Cassie. So let's jump in.
38:43
This last question that I had for you guys.
38:46
I'm just going to tie it into two questions into one.
38:51
And you know, sometimes I think it's very challenging for us to
38:57
trust God's plan, especially when something unfolds a
39:02
different way than we thought it would go.
39:06
This happens time and time with me.
39:08
And then you kind of get a set back, like, whoa, Lord, I
39:13
thought it was going to go this way.
39:15
I thought this was your plan going this way.
39:18
And then it goes a completely different direction.
39:22
So how can we find peace and trust in God's plan when it's
39:28
difficult to understand where he's taking you from, where you
39:34
thought you were going? And then also bring bring some
39:39
encouragement to us with how to reach, get God's comfort and
39:43
solace through just those difficult seasons.
39:47
And I think we can go through those difficult hard days and
39:50
seasons and tie them into OK, trusting God's plan.
39:53
So I kind of wrapped couple questions into one.
39:57
I can go ahead and answer the first part of this.
39:59
So trusting in God's plan can really be a challenging thing.
40:06
And. Mainly because we don't always
40:09
know what the outcome is going to be, especially when we're in
40:11
the middle of difficult circumstances or when things
40:15
don't go as we had hoped, right? We always know that when we
40:18
don't go as they as we hope, he has something greater, He always
40:22
does so we can find peace. And trusting that his plan is
40:26
achievable. I always like to use the parade
40:29
analogy, which I I got from this book.
40:33
I'll have to send it to you, Jamie, if you wanted to link it
40:37
somehow. But it's talks about how God's
40:41
timing is not linear like we see it.
40:44
So we live in the in the present, we remember the past
40:47
and we think of the future, right?
40:49
But God's God's timing, he doesn't see time and events as
40:54
they come like we do. He sees the whole parade.
40:58
So it's like when you're in the middle of a parade, you see the
41:00
things pass by, like the different floats and the events
41:03
that are in the parade. But God, He sees the beginning,
41:07
the middle, and the end simultaneously.
41:10
And I always try to remember that when I am in the midst of
41:14
rough circumstances, that man, I don't know what the future holds
41:18
here. I don't know what the outcome
41:20
necessarily is, but I serve a God who does, and I serve a God
41:25
who is sovereign, and he can see all of it.
41:28
And So what helps me is understanding that about him and
41:33
knowing his character, right. The Bible consistently reveals
41:37
to us that God is loving and He's good, and He is faithful to
41:41
his people. He's faithful to the nation of
41:44
Israel. Remembering who God is can help
41:47
us to trust his plan every time we don't understand it or it's
41:52
difficult to know. And it again, it invites us to
41:57
remember his faithfulness, to kind of look back and ask
42:01
yourself look at to to ask God to show you times in your life
42:05
where He has been faithful. I I can't look at any point in
42:10
my life and say to myself, God was not faithful there.
42:13
He has been faithful through and through from the start of my
42:17
life to this moment. And he will continue to be
42:20
faithful. And so you know, dial back time
42:24
and ask yourself like, what are those moments that I need to
42:26
remember and recall his faithfulness and remember how
42:31
he's guided you through previous trials, right.
42:35
And has brought about breakthrough when you've prayed
42:39
for it. I remember all sorts of stuff
42:41
that I just pleaded with God on my knees and asked for
42:44
breakthrough in, and it didn't come necessarily right away, but
42:48
like Cass says, one wound at a time get God healing, one wound
42:52
at a time is still healing, and bringing you through one trial
42:57
at a time still reveals his faithfulness.
43:01
Something that I love that Brittany alluded to is Romans
43:05
828, and it's the concept that. Side does indeed work all things
43:11
according to the. Good of those.
43:13
Who love him are called according to his purpose.
43:15
And I think that as believers we can misunderstand or
43:21
misinterpret that scripture to mean for us, which I get it,
43:26
because saying sees that. God.
43:28
Works everything according to my good and that it's going to be
43:32
good right here, right now. And and and the truth is that
43:37
it's for the good, the collective good.
43:39
And we may not always understand the hard and the heavy on this
43:42
side of heaven. We're not promised understanding
43:45
and and our understanding is not.
43:47
A. Prerequisite for His goodness.
43:51
Our circumstances can be hard and heavy.
43:54
They can be confusing. We can be promised trouble on
43:57
this side of heaven, but fear not, because He is overcome.
44:02
The world we are pressed, but we're not crushed.
44:05
We're. Perplexed, but we can trust in
44:08
him even through the hard and the heavy, and things, quite
44:12
honestly, don't always turn out the way that we hoped for.
44:16
But our hope is secure because it's immovable, because it's in
44:20
him always through the good and the bad.
44:24
He is so good, yeah. Yes, thanks, Cass.
44:28
Yes, anchored in him. I love it.
44:31
OKI love to finish off our time together with a take away.
44:37
So do each of you want to share something that our friend here
44:41
that's listening can ponder on or take action in?
44:45
If you don't mind, Jamie, I was wondering if I could, at the end
44:49
of this, just invite anybody who's listening that isn't sure
44:54
if they've given their heart to the Lord to be sure, If you
44:58
don't mind. OK, so if you're listening to
45:02
this and you are in a state of brokenness yourself, you're in a
45:07
state of constantly looking for external sources to reveal your
45:13
worth and your value. And you're you might even be
45:16
unsure that you've given your heart to the Lord and you feel
45:20
that tug on your heart. I want to help you get sure.
45:23
The Bible says in Romans 10/9 that if you confess with your
45:27
mouth and believe that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart
45:30
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
45:34
And so, if this is you, I want to invite you to pray this
45:38
prayer with me and repeat after me.
45:40
Heavenly Father, I come to you broken.
45:44
I admit to you, God, that I need saving and I cannot save myself.
45:49
I need your son Jesus. I need the free gift of
45:54
salvation that He's given me. Lord, right now I declare and
45:59
accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
46:02
And I believe, Lord, that you God, that you raised him from
46:06
the dead. I thank you that it's not by
46:09
what I do or what I've done or where I've been, but what Jesus
46:12
did for me on the cross. And so, Lord, I just give my
46:17
life to you, Lord Jesus and I and I ask that you come into my
46:20
heart and into my life and make me new, heal my brokenness, heal
46:25
my wounds in Jesus name. And if you had prayed that
46:30
prayer for the first time, I have it on my heart to send you
46:34
a Bible. So if you have prayed that for
46:37
the first time. Just e-mail me.
46:39
I'm in the show notes. You can find my e-mail on my
46:42
website so I will personally send you a Bible.
46:47
So, Britt and Cass, where can people find you and connect with
46:52
you and get your amazing book, The Devotional and Your?
46:58
Book Book called her Tree Worth. I need to make sure I say this
47:02
short link correctly because every time I say it out loud I
47:05
feel like I'm telling someone the wrong thing and it's just
47:08
terrifying. I'm so sorry.
47:11
I just want to make sure I get it right, OK?
47:15
So you can. Find Britt and I at her true
47:18
worth on all social media. You can also find Britt over at
47:23
Britt Mayer and Cass over at Cassandra L Spear.
47:28
And you can find our book Beauty.
47:30
There's beauty in your brokenness at her
47:32
trueworth.com/beauty, and it is also available wherever books
47:37
are sold. And if you're interested in our
47:39
first book for True Worth, you can find that anywhere.
47:42
Books are sold as well. Barnes and Noble, Amazon.
47:45
I'm an Amazon gal. I mainly order my stuff on
47:48
Amazon, so exactly. It comes pretty quick too.
47:52
So. Yeah.
47:54
And here it is for you guys on YouTube and Spotify, where it's
47:57
video, it's so pretty. And then there's the devotional
48:01
right there. Yeah.
48:02
Yeah. Jonah Oh, so.
48:05
Cool God is. Good.
48:07
Yes, he is so good and so faithful.
48:10
Thank you so much. You too for coming on here and
48:15
sharing truth with She speaks. Life, friends and community and
48:21
love everything you're doing and know that God is going to share
48:26
this message. Far and wide.
48:29
So thanks, Britain Cast, for coming on here.
48:32
Absolutely. Thanks for having us.
48:33
It was an honor. Thank you so much for listening
48:38
today, and I trust that God has encouraged you through this
48:41
story. Did you know this podcast is on
48:44
YouTube? Hop on there and subscribe and
48:47
you can see a live recording of each episode.
48:51
And For more information on this ministry and to access free
48:55
downloads, please visit my website at jamieelizabeth.com.
48:59
That's JAYME elizabeth.com. And let's connect beyond this
49:05
podcast by going to my Instagram handle, Jamie Elizabeth, She
49:09
Speaks Life or Facebook. Until next time, my friend.
49:12
I hope God reveals himself through your own life story.