Ep 2.12 What We're Doing this Year + Why You CAN Change

Heading into 2022 we're going to be following a new format where each month we dive deep into declaring a truth that run contrary to what so many of us are conditioned to believe. This month we're introducing the new format and kicking things off with a New Year's bang: taking on the lie that we can not really change. 

Join with us this month in memorizing Romans 12:2 and conquering this lie in our lives as we move towards constant transformation through relationship with Jesus.

Grab your free resource packet to conquer the lie that you can't change right here.

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Why You CAN Change Episode Transcript:

Jill Simons

00:00:01

Hello, and welcome to the authentic uprising show. I'm your host, Jill Simons. I am so excited to grow in the radical art of standing in what God says about you with you today. This show is a place where we pour into our concept of who we are, how we've been created with intention by God and how we can live out of the freedom that he has for us every single day.

Jill Simons

00:00:42

Hello and welcome to today's episode of the authentic uprising podcast. I'm your host, Jill Simons, and I'm so happy to be coming to you for the very first time in 2022. It's so crazy that I think so many people judge time by 2020, because that was when so many crazy things happened. And it's so crazy to think about the fact that we were down two years away from 2020. And so I cannot wait to go into this new year with you doing a really, really awesome project together. So I have, I've mentioned this many times in the past, but people have the tendency to wildly overestimate what they can do in a short amount of time and wildly underestimate what they can do in a long time. So here we are at the beginning of a new year, and this is something that really comes up a lot.

Jill Simons

00:01:39

As people are trying to decide what is going to really differentiate 2022, when people are setting resolutions, when they're making goals, all of those things, that's really what you're trying to decide. What do I want to be different about this year than the years that have come before? What do I want to have made progress on when it comes to the end of the year? But here's the kicker? I think so often we're not okay with making progress in a year. We want to be at a place of feeling like we've completed something or we've reached a goal. We've checked something off where it's one and done within the course of a year. But even though a resolution is something that you set for a year, how many of us have a stumbling block sometime in January? And then we just let it go. We're just like, well, not meant to be now.

Jill Simons

00:02:32

If we persevered in that, it's very likely that we would make huge amounts of progress in a year. But like I said, we so often underestimate what we can do in a whole year. So starting this year with you, if you are lost in terms of what you want to do this year, you don't have resolutions. You don't have a goal. You don't have things kind of set heading into the year. Here we are on know the first week of the year. And you feel like you don't know what you're doing. So it's like, you've already missed the boat, right? This is kind of the lie that we tell ourselves about the new year is that it's this very short window of time that we have to make some kind of pledge. That's going to then change the course of the year. But once, once that window closes, it's like it's closed and over.

Jill Simons

00:03:21

And there's no more chance to go back and look at how do I want this year to be different. So here's what we're going to do this year together on this podcast and throughout all of our social media channels, if you follow pink, salt, right anywhere, this is what you can expect from us this year. And this is what is going to help you make that slow and steady growth this entire year. Whether you do your own exercise, whatever program or not just following along with this podcast and with our social media accounts, we're going to help you check something really awesome off your lists. This year, we are going to be getting together as a community here on the podcast, in our Facebook group, on our social profiles, Instagram, et cetera, we're going to be getting together every month and memorizing a Bible verse.

Jill Simons

00:04:19

It sounds really simple, right? You have 30 days memorize one verse and you might think, okay, cool. I guess, you know, memorize a verse in 30 days. And at the end of the year, you'll have 12 verses memorized. You might think, okay. Also cool. Not that big a deal. Doesn't feel like a very big accomplishment for an entire year, but here's how we're going to pick our verses. Each verse that we memorize is going to address a very specific lie that people frequently tell themselves. So for instance, this month in January, the lie that we're going to dismantle is the lie that you can't change. How many of us have told ourselves this lie now? And it doesn't have to be just in that way. You might not say it in so many words, but it might be something like, why do I always do this?

Jill Simons

00:05:21

Why can't I ever get my act together? Why should I even try at this? I fail every time I'm hopeless at fill in the blank. This is just how I am. This is how I'm wired. I have no choice in the matter. All of these things that we say are variations of the lie that we cannot change. And that lie is so harmful because when we tell it from our place in our sinful broken humanity, that filters into our spiritual life in such a way that we start to believe that we really cannot become more like Christ. We really cannot be transformed by his life and resurrection. We can't be transformed by his word. We can't be transformed by relationship with him. We believe we cannot change. And if that's the case, then what are we doing? We're just kind of wandering around. Hoping things are marginally better than they were before.

Jill Simons

00:06:33

And so even if you think, oh, I don't really struggle with that lie. I, I know I can change. I've transformed in different ways in my life. Fantastic. Good for you. I am very, very, very happy that you've had that experience, but I encourage you to really examine all across the parts of your life. I am willing to bet that there is some parts somewhere, whether it's a sin that you've always struggled with, whether it's a habit that you can't seem to change, whether it's a relationship with food or with exercise, that is just always a struggle for you. These are the little places that these lies take hold in our lives. And just like any parasite, a lie, you know, digs in sticks, where it's planted, and then it slowly inches out. It absorbs more and more and more. And so this is why we want to root these things out.

Jill Simons

00:07:38

We want to root out the lie that we can't change. And we're going to do that with the most powerful weapon we have as Christians, which is the word of God. We're going to use the Bible. And that is what we're going to do every month of this year, we're going to take apart a lie. We're going to pick it to pieces so that it's not convincing anymore. We're going to close up the hole with our Bible verse that we're going to memorize. And we're going to commit together to not tell ourselves this lie anymore. And so framed that way. I want you to think about what would it be like at the end of 2022, if there are 12 lies, you never told yourself again, how would your life be different? Probably be pretty different. I have picked 12 lies for us to dismantle this year that I need to dismantle.

Jill Simons

00:08:44

I'm going to be doing all of this right alongside of you. I'm going to be memorizing the verse with you. I'm going to be picking apart. These lies with you. I've had beautiful mentors in my life that have spoken into these things that have given me really great formation on how this should work in terms of taking apart lies in our lives and replacing them with truth, but it's work that I need to do too. And so I am so excited to enter into this year of doing this work together because, and this is what I really came to realize at the end of 2021. I need to always keep my eyes on Christ, first of all, but keep my eyes on doing work. That forms me just as much as it forms you. I need to be looking for where I can grow by providing these things for you.

Jill Simons

00:09:40

Just as much as I'm thinking about how you can grow by partaking in these things with me. So I am very excited and I bet you're dying to hear what our verse is for January. And I think that I'm going to keep talking a little bit more before I tell you the verse, because I really want to frame this particular verse because when you first hear it, it might strike you as an odd one to address this lie of not being able to change. And I really want to dig into what happens when we tell ourselves this lie, that we can't change because so often it puts us into a place of kind of helplessness, but also a place of just kind of mental relaxation and mental comfort. To some extent, even if it's uncomfortable, that we feel like we can't change it also doesn't demand anything of us.

Jill Simons

01:10:36

If we don't have to change, you might dislike the thing that you're doing, the habit that you have, but it's easier to keep doing it then to do the hard work of changing it. And so what has to change before we can change the action or habit or whatever it is that we are doing that we want to change before we can change it in our lives, we have to change it in our minds. And this is 100% biblical. So that's why we're using Romans 12 two, which says don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what is good, well pleasing and the perfect will of God. So I want to take that in pieces and really dig into this. So don't be conformed to this world, right? This world is what is giving us this message that we are, who we are change is silly and feudal and people are going to be the way that they are regardless.

Jill Simons

01:11:46

There's not space in the narrative for grace. There's not space in the narrative for Christ. It's very fatalist. We don't have that viewpoint. As Christians Christ can change everything. He does change everything. And so that's part of why going to reiterate. It's so important that we root out this lie, right? Because we are in a way denying the fact that Christ can has the power that he has to change things. If we don't accept that we can change, because that means that Christ can not change us. So we don't want to be conformed to the world, the first part of the verse, right? But we want to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. So what does that mean? So being transformed obviously is to change. We want to be changed by how our mind is renewed. So what is renewal? Right? There's growth.

Jill Simons

01:12:48

There is new life. When you have renewal, there's the presence of Christ. So often we talk about revival and renewal in our churches when we have this new outpouring of the holy spirit and the presence of Christ. And so this renewal can also happen in our minds. And how does renewal happen best in our minds when we fill our minds with scripture? So this is also laying the foundation for what we're going to do together this whole year, because we're going to be partaking in the process of renewing our minds by regularly memorizing scripture. Right? So that is what allows us to renew our minds in a way that we can really move forward with different thoughts, where we can have better thoughts that aren't shaped off of our experience or the mistakes we've made in the past or how we always make the same mistake over and over.

Jill Simons

01:13:50

Our minds are being transformed by what Christ says, what God says in his word. And that is a much better source for me then my own thoughts, right? I hope it is. I hope you recognize that it is for you too, because my default organic, this is the rabbit hole I'm going to go down and kind of thoughts are not exactly the most positive, the most uplifting, the most Christ like most of the time. So we want to be transformed by our study of God's word. And obviously we're not going to limit that to our one verse a month. We're going to do private study, absolutely in God's word, spending that daily time with him. But this is a really, really powerful way to go deeper into specific topics, specific lies, specific verses to really let them, you know, soak into our bones, really allow us to marinate in them.

Jill Simons

01:14:47

So we're going to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. And then why, what is the last part of the verse say so that we may prove what is the good, well, pleasing and perfect will of God. So different translations have a different word there for prove I'm using the world English Bible, because it is a Bible that is in the public domain. So I'm able to share quotations from ant, with you freely across all our platforms and without needing to do additional citations and share all of our work with, you know, authoritative body that controls this translation. So I encourage you to look up these verses in your own preferred translation so that you can get the words that you will hear in church on a regular basis, and the words that are from your translation, but other translations say so that you may discern what is the good, well pleasing and perfect will of God, right?

Jill Simons

01:15:51

When we have our minds renewed by truth, we are able to see things the way that God sees them. We're able to see his will in the situations, not because we have kind of supernatural access to his mind. It's because we have been shaped to think the way that he thinks by making his word, his thoughts into our thoughts. Do you see how that works? So you may have experienced this in your own life. If you have a sibling or a really good friend or your spouse, that is, you can tell exactly how they're going to react in a given situation. So often I know exactly what's about to come out of my husband's mouth before he says it. And it's because of the amount of time that I've spent with him, where I have been formed now for better or worse by the thing, the way that his mind works, by the way that he responds to things.

Jill Simons

01:16:50

And it's the same. When we marinate in the word of God, we come to see how God would respond to things. And that is what allows us to change, to be more in line with what God desires for us. So it's one verse, but obviously there's a lot going on there and there's plenty for us to chew on all month. So what we're going to do moving forward, I'm going to have on all our social media accounts, I encourage you to follow us on Facebook or Instagram. If you don't yet, our handle is at pink, salt riot. And in our stories every single day, we're going to have, whether it's me saying it or a pretty picture or something, a version of the verse every single day. So if you don't commit to anything else to help you memorize the verse, commit to watching our stories every day and reading through the verse or listening to me, share the verse or listening to another member of our staff, share the verse so that you can memorize it over the course of the 30 days without disrupting your life.

Jill Simons

01:18:03

You can just make that a daily habit. We'll also post it at least once a week on our social media platforms, but our stories are going to be the place that it is regularly every day. I also encourage you to check out our free package of goodies about this lie and this verse, you can grab it in the description below this video. We have the link to where you can head and putting your email address so that you can get that package. It is only going to be available for the month of January. Once January is over, we're going to be on to our next diverse, and you won't be able to get this package for January again. So if you're listening to this in the future, I apologize. I encourage you to check out our highlight reels on Instagram. And we do have our, we will have our verse lock screens available on a consistent basis.

Jill Simons

01:19:01

So you'll be able to get this January lock screen in the future, in our highlight on Instagram. But that's the only thing you'll be able to get free access to. We will have a way that you can still access all of it, but you will have to pay for it. It will only be free for this month. So I encourage you to check that out. As soon as you can, by clicking the link in the description below, and you can download our memory verse cards. We have like wallet cards that you can put in your wallet so that you can take that with you. We have a few different lock screens that you can choose from. So you can set your phone to have this verse as the lock screen. So every time you pick up your phone, you'll have an opportunity to remember the verse that you are memorizing.

Jill Simons

01:19:46

We also have some journaling sheets there for you to really work through where you're at with this lie. Is this something that is showing up in your life? How is it showing up? How big of a problem is it for you? And it'll, we will also have some supplemental verses. So obviously this is not the only verse in the Bible that is powerful around this topic. So we have listed other verses that you can memorize at the same time, if you want, or at least keep available to you so that you have more than one source to go to, to really combat this lie as it comes up in your life, moving forward. So all of those goodies available at the link in the description, you can click put in your email address. It's totally free. If you are listening in January of 2022, if not check out our website, we are going to have things coming in the future where you'll be able to get the back issues essentially of this newsletter, really with all information about the lies and the verses.

Jill Simons

02:20:50

And we will be making that available to people in the future. Somehow on our website, we're still working out the details of all of that, but there will be a way that you can have access to it whenever you're listening to this podcast. So I encourage you to keep tuning into the podcast all month. Next week, we'll have a interview with an incredible guest. Who's going to talk about how this lie showed up in her life and how she has used scripture to combat it. And then the following week, I will be back with you praying through this verse and the surrounding versus using a really, really beautiful method that I know you're going to love. It's a very cool way to pray with scripture in a contemplative way, and really listen for Jesus to speak to you in that. So that'll be in two weeks. And then the last week, the month, we're going to be back with a special guest, talking even more about how this lie shows up in our lives and how we can move through it, using the truth of God's word God's word. So we have an exciting month planned and I cannot wait to spend it with you. I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day, and I'll talk to you soon.

02:22:02

Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of the authentic uprising podcast. If you're watching on YouTube or listening on a podcast app, make sure that you hit subscribe so that you can get all of our updates automatically in your app on YouTube. And we also ask that you leave us a review or comment. If you're in a podcast app, leave us a review that helps us get seen by more people and on YouTube, leave us a comment, let us know what you loved from the episode and send it on to a friend. I am sure that you know, someone who really needs the message in this podcast from today. I also encourage you to check out pink salt riots. It is my company that sponsors this podcast. We have an incredible online shop full of all kinds of beautiful and unique Christian lifestyle goods. You can shop our whole line at pink, salt, riot.com. I'll see you next week.