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Becky Plautz: Identity Rooted in Christ · Why I Believe

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome back to the Why I Believe podcast.
• 0:04
  I'm your host, Michelle VanRooten and today we have Becky Ploutz joining us.
• 0:09
  Becky, how are you doing today?
• 0:11
  Hi Michelle, I'm doing great, thanks for having me.
• 0:14
  Yeah, thanks for joining us.
• 0:15
  Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
• 0:18
  Yes, so I am Becky Ploutz.
• 0:20
  I am in central Wisconsin.
• 0:22
  I'm a wife, a mom, a faith-led leader, and um I have a couple of businesses as well, a community, and uh I am all things empowerment and confidence, and I'm happy to be here.
• 0:38
  Yeah, that's amazing.
• 0:39
  You know, one of the things that I love that you started off with, I'm a wife, I'm a mom, when I said, us about you, and you didn't immediately go into your job title.
• 0:47
  I think so often when we say, tell us about yourself, we start with our job title because we associate who we are with what we do.
• 0:54
  But you didn't do that.
• 0:56
  And there's a particular reason why when you talk about your identity and who you are, do you want to kind of dive into that a little bit for us?
• 1:03
  I think that was a great segue.
• 1:05
  Yeah, yeah, I love that you caught you catch that, know, and you're like, okay, tell us a little bit more about that because um
• 1:14
  I could talk about my businesses really easily.
• 1:17
  that's where I feel like naturally, not just myself, but I hear a lot of people, right?
• 1:22
  Like we want to look for how we are showing up in the world and like have some kind of proof that we are contributing in a really, know, quote unquote, meaningful way and all of
• 1:34
  that.
• 1:35
  And, uh that external validation about our titles that really comes with society.
• 1:42
  And I love
• 1:44
  talking about identity, I work with identity uh shifts and really helping women anchor in who they are from the inside out so that they can show up with that confidence and that
• 1:56
  knowing.
• 1:57
  uh so I naturally kind of make sure that I say those titles just so people know like my life is abundant.
• 2:06
  You know, I'm a mom and and I'm a business owner and those things like it just kind of gives a reference of how large like the capacity is.
• 2:14
  in my life or anyone else when they talk about it, but really it's an internal job of like who I am and how I lead my life and I just kind of like to start with that.
• 2:27
  Yeah, that's great.
• 2:28
  And I think so many people these days identify who they are with their business and it's more out of chasing the wrong validation, right?
• 2:39
  Yeah.
• 2:40
  Yeah, and I think a large part of that is how we perceive our life to be really shaped.
• 2:48
  And my life has been shaped by leadership, by motherhood, by entrepreneurship, and a desire to live aligned with God's purpose for me and not just about personal success.
• 3:02
  So it makes sense that we're talking about how we identify as a child of God, as a
• 3:10
  leader of our life and not only those personal accomplishments and success stories.
• 3:19
  Yeah, and I love how you talk about how you are now, but it wasn't always that way, correct?
• 3:23
  Wasn't there a time when you had the external validation and what does that look like and what was that transition?
• 3:29
  What did you go through to make that switch?
• 3:32
  Yeah, so my story, my background is that I was raised a Catholic, church every Sunday.
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  em
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  Catechism on Wednesdays all of that and like once I was confirmed and I'll you know move through all of that I fell away from that and Turned back to God actually very recently
• 3:55
  over the last couple years specifically.
• 3:57
  I I'm now reading the Bible in a year um And really when I started getting into personal development um Geez, it was probably about eight years ago at this point.
• 4:08
  I would say that I got
• 4:11
  really into the personal development, really started diving in, questioning things, looking at who I am, and really got back into hearing the Word of God through a Friday
• 4:25
  group that I found during 2020 that was meeting on Zoom.
• 4:31
  Little by little it started to chip away at just feeling like I wanted this closeness with scripture and now I'm reading the Bible in a year like day 8 188 right now on my app, but
• 4:46
  I also already read the Old Testament over the last summer.
• 4:49
  So just totally started to transition into knowing the power of thinking about God's purpose for me and how I move in my life and
• 5:01
  And also, you know, being a mom and a leader of other people and example, you know, what what I believe is good to bring to the world.
• 5:13
  And I was not always that way.
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  I wasn't thinking such big ideas or understandings uh in my 20s, I'll say for sure.
• 5:24
  You know, it came back in my 30s.
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  It was like this chunk of a decade that was literally just uh and I don't even know.
• 5:31
  dark or anything like that, but it just wasn't guided.
• 5:35
  I was really just kind of doing my own thing for a decade and then it just kind of came back on line, we'll say.
• 5:42
  uh And I started really paying attention to the nudges and the draw to, uh you know, just really get back into the Word and start trusting, you know, that inkling more in making
• 5:56
  decisions for my life and knowing that they're founded on uh God's purpose for me.
• 6:01
  Thank
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  Yeah, I love that.
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  And I don't think you're alone.
• 6:05
  I think there's a lot of us who spend our 20s.
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  It doesn't matter how well we were raised in the church or not raised in the church.
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  think our 20s are like this period of self exploration for good or for bad.
• 6:18
  Right.
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  I think that's, I think that's what it is.
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  Cause so many people that I've talked to have that same sentiment.
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  And then they started a family and then they went back to their roots and their origin, right.
• 6:27
  As being a child of God and a disciple of Jesus.
• 6:30
  And then they start to find themselves ah again.
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  And it's really making that choice.
• 6:37
  Right.
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  Cause like you said, you grew up with the Catholic church and then you made the choice to come back.
• 6:43
  And I know you don't go to the Catholic Church anymore, but you go to a different church, but you still made the choice to come back to Jesus and to come back to God.
• 6:49
  Right.
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  And so I think that's really important to highlight that it's still our choice, right?
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  So we have free will and we can do what we want.
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  He's not going to stop us from making choices.
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  He's, but he's never leaving us either.
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  He's still there ready when we are.
• 7:07
  Yeah, and what I love about that too, Michelle, you point, know, reiterating that too is that the truth is, that my story is that I believe because I tried it and it worked for
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  me.
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  And it wasn't only then because my mom told me to, right?
• 7:26
  It wasn't because my family told me to because that's what I was raised, you know, understanding uh or being told to understand.
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  But then you're right.
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  It was the choice that uh when I decided to turn back that it was like, I tried it and it worked for me.
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  So that is why I believe it wasn't just what someone else told me.
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  Wasn't the external validation of someone telling me what I should believe.
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  should quote unquote believe, but that it was right my choice that uh I was finding more clarity and surrendering to these opportunities to just trust the process of what God has
• 8:06
  for me.
• 8:07
  Yeah, that's great.
• 8:09
  And one of the things I love about your story is there's not some big, traumatic, dramatic event that happened.
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  It's just more consistency.
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  So how do you utilize your relationship with God every day and what you do and being a mom, being a wife, being a business owner, how do you utilize that?
• 8:27
  And what does that look like for you?
• 8:31
  Yeah, that's an interesting question.
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  know, the way, so like I said, I'm using, um what is it called?
• 8:38
  The app is the Holy Bible app.
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  And I'm um utilizing that.
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  more privately.
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  Like my family, you know, hears me if I turn it on in the bathroom when I'm getting ready or you know those kinds of things and listening to it.
• 8:53
  They know that I'm going through it because I'll celebrate once in a while like my gosh I can't believe I'm 100 days in or whatever.
• 8:58
  um But really that journey has been my own and then really what I'm doing is just re-emphasizing to my children that they are a child of God.
• 9:07
  And instead of, you know, the approach more of like what I got was, you know, forcing these things to like be brought
• 9:15
  in.
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  uh I am working towards, you know, more things being a routine and consistency like you said.
• 9:22
  uh But really, I'm right now in the, okay, I have a 13 year old, just turned 13, 11 and 10 year old, just to give the listeners an understanding here.
• 9:35
  And I've been married for almost 13, 15 years also.
• 9:40
  And uh the thing that my husband and I are actively practicing is
• 9:45
  that when our kids are, uh you know, saying something rude or unkind to one another, like I'm finding these little reframes that I can say to anchor in that they are a child of God
• 10:00
  and that they can make a better choice about how they speak life to people instead of putting them down.
• 10:08
  So that is a huge one in my active everyday life right now is just helping people understand that we literally
• 10:15
  are speaking life.
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  So the way that we talk to, especially the people we love, you know, is important every day.
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  But to any human, any person, you know, like the power in our tongue.
• 10:29
  And so that's like the one that comes to mind right away of like right now, that's actively, you know, with any bickering or any choice words that might happen, I help
• 10:39
  reframe that and just remind them, you are a child of God and you can make a better choice.
• 10:43
  Let's try it again.
• 10:45
  Yeah.
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  And it also shows like we are imperfect and it's not like, hey, you you suck, you're terrible at that.
• 10:53
  It's very much, we're going to try it again.
• 10:57
  And how are they responding to that?
• 11:00
  You know, it's getting better and better.
• 11:03
  One, I have to still look up like what are the words I want to say as that's a fresh one.
• 11:09
  But in general.
• 11:11
  uh So we also say each one of our family members has a specific set of affirmations that they say every day to anchor in uh putting on a really good mindset, all of those things.
• 11:25
  But one of the things that we all started saying over the last year is that I started saying I'm a child of God and asking everyone to make sure that that's one of their
• 11:33
  affirmations.
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  And there was resistance to that when I first introduced that to the children.
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  my oldest in particular because she has lots of questions.
• 11:46
  She wants to challenge all of it, which I was the exact same way as a child that was a tween or a teenager.
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  I questioned everything at church and in class at church and I got a lot of shut down.
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  So I welcomed that.
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  But anyway, the point is that there was some pushback in the very beginning when I was asking her to state that she was a child of God and she does now.
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  You know, it just took her
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  asking questions and also exploring for herself, which I totally respect.
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  uh And now they say it without missing a beat.
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  They believe it, know it, m and it's affirmed.
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  That's great.
• 12:27
  And I actually like that they're asking questions and you know, interestingly enough, we were talking about this yesterday at church, I'm part of a group called Alpha or we're
• 12:36
  doing a program called Alpha at a church and it's to invite people in to ask those questions and to be in a safe space.
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  And what I really love about it is I think all of us who have a strong faith have asked those questions at some point and I...
• 12:52
  Honestly, I think that this is my opinion.
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  If you're not questioning some things, then you're walking blindly.
• 12:59
  And I don't think we're meant to walk blindly.
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  And I mean, if you've watched, if you've read anything or watched even The Chosen, like you'll see the disciples question Jesus because they don't understand because we're
• 13:08
  questioning to understand, not to be understood.
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  Right.
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  And I think that's a huge thing.
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  um The other thing I love about that is we're talking about
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  our God and that he's a loving God and really just fought like if we think about it, you know, we have 10 commandments that we're supposed to follow, but if you follow two of
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  them, you're going to be fine.
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  Right?
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  Love of God and love of neighbor.
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  You follow those two, the rest all fall into place.
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  They all line up to those top two.
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  And I think that's really important too.
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  And so when you're saying like, I'm a child of God, that means you're, you're defending your love for God and your love for other people.
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  down.
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  Right.
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  Yeah.
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  So that's cool.
• 14:09
  Yeah.
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  So what do you have?
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  Like, so you said you're reading the Bible in a year.
• 14:12
  I'm also doing that.
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  I'm doing it through the Hello app.
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  Um, so I love it.
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  We just got done with, um, numbers and jitter out of me, right?
• 14:20
  So I've early in the year, I started at beginning of this year.
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  So we're, I'm still, you know, the first quarter.
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  Um, but do you have a routine?
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  How do you,
• 14:29
  put into practice what you're saying and how, like not just with your kids, but are you, do you have a routine that you follow or how do you make sure you get in your daily
• 14:37
  practice?
• 16:11
  Mm-hmm.
• 16:24
  Yeah and I am like you I like to do mine in the morning so ah not only am I doing the Bible in a year I'm doing the Surrender Novena and it's Lent so there's a whole Pray 40
• 16:36
  that I'm doing so I have about three things that I do every morning before I even fire up my laptop.
• 16:41
  ah
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  And there's some days I miss and I'm doing it in the car, but I have found for me that it's a lot easier for me to focus and really dial in if I'm sitting at my desk with my
• 16:52
  Bible open and just doing it.
• 16:53
  But yeah, I've been there, put it in my car and I'm like, you know what?
• 16:56
  I'm behind, so we're gonna just hit play and you guys are gonna listen.
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  And if not, that's, mean, you know, it's mom's car.
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  uh
• 19:07
  Yeah.
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  Yeah, it's great to have that kind of a community too because life does happen.
• 19:35
  think sometimes people have that expectation that if you really dive into your faith that everything's gonna be all roses and perfect.
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  And I'm here to tell you it's not.
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  We still have challenges, right, Becky?
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  um
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  but we're not alone, right?
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  So we've developed those communities of people.
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  We also have Jesus walking beside us.
• 19:59
  So we aren't alone in that sense, but we still have the same struggles that everybody else has.
• 20:06
  We just get to handle them a little differently.
• 20:08
  Yeah.
• 20:09
  Well, that's just it, right?
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  We are still human.
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  So, but we get to handle them differently, right?
• 20:13
  And so that's the nice part.
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  That's the part that I think brings out peace in people.
• 20:21
  Yeah.
• 20:22
  So tell me, so we kind of talked about a little God wing, but I'm sure everyone's got a God wing story.
• 20:27
  Do you have a God wing story?
• 21:03
  Right.
• 21:32
  Hahaha
• 22:56
  Yeah.
• 23:04
  I love that.
• 23:04
  Yeah.
• 23:12
  Yeah, and I, and you know, when you start looking for the right, for the good things, you're going to see more good things, right?
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  It's the Raz effect.
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  And so when you start, you just kind of can't stop.
• 23:24
  And I remember even just, you know, there was something that happened the other day and I was at a conference, I think it was when I was in New Orleans.
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  And something happened and I missed something or another, but I was like, oh, and then something great happened after that.
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  And I don't remember the whole story, but I remember walking back to my hotel room and I'm like, thank you, God.
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  Like, thank you for putting that stop in my path so this happens.
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  But I think, and now that I'm thinking about it more and more, I think what it was is I actually got to meet one of my mentors, Rory Vaden.
• 23:57
  And I think that was right after I met him and had a nice like five, 10 minute conversation with him.
• 24:01
  And then was heading back to my room because he was one of the keynotes at the event I was at.
• 24:05
  um So yeah, but you don't always see the blessings as they're happening.
• 24:12
  You don't always see them in the moment.
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  So I think it's super great that you go back and you reflect.
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  And I think that's something that we should all do in life in general, even if we're not talking in faith, right?
• 24:22
  Like in life in general, like reflect on what's going on in your life.
• 24:26
  And if it's going in the way you want it to, because we have the power to change it.
• 24:32
  Cause I can't control what you do, Becky.
• 24:34
  And Becky, you can't control what I do, but we can control what we do ourselves.
• 24:38
  And so if we don't reflect, we don't know where we want to be.
• 25:14
  Yeah, and I tell my kids, you always have a choice and there's consequences to every choice.
• 25:19
  And consequences has a negative connotation, but there's positive consequences, right?
• 25:24
  So you make the choice, you get to live with that choice.
• 25:28
  So perfect.
• 25:30
  Well, Becky, I've really enjoyed having you here today.
• 25:32
  I always ask my guests before we sign off, what is your favorite Bible verse or what are you living right now?
• 26:30
  Yeah.
• 27:24
  I that.
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  Well, I think that's a great note to end on.
• 27:28
  So thank you so much for being here today.
• 27:29
  I truly appreciate you having you here.