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Welcome to the divine worth podcast, where we are letting go of our self doubt anxiety, fear, and limiting beliefs so that we can step into the divine roles that God has for us. I am your host life coach, Karen Papin, and together we are embracing our divine worth.
We have a special guest today. Her name is Ashli Carnicelli, and she is an author, editor, and classically trained. Ashli’s heartfelt narrative invites readers to embark on a soul enriching experience through her works such as Cherish, the Joy of Our Mother in Heaven, and her monthly newsletter sharing her testimony of Christ the Pearls.
The second volume of Cherish, the Love of Our Mother in Heaven, was released this year on Amazon and Barnes Noble. And she was recently featured in LDS Living Magazine for her personal life experiences and [00:01:00] reflections on God’s love. Ashli holds her Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the Boston Conservatory.
And she and her husband, Tony, are the parents of four daughters. So Ashli, thank you so much for being on here. I’m really excited about this and excited about hearing your thoughts on Divine Worth.
Ashli Carnicelli: Thank you so much for having me. I’m so happy to be here.
Karen Papin: Well, to get started, one of the things that you mentioned in preparation for this podcast was that you are an adoptee and that has helped you in seeing the divine worth and potential and love that God has for everyone.
So I’d really love for you to be able to share more about that part of your journey and in coming to recognize that.
Ashli Carnicelli: So I, when I was almost one year old, my biological mother gave me up for adoption, and I was a ward of [00:02:00] the state of Massachusetts. my parents who adopted me took me in as their foster child first, and I lived with them for a year until the adoption was actually finalized.
So it was finalized when I turned, just before I turned two.
Years and years later, I mean, my parents raised me Catholic, but years and years later, when I was 35 and I joined the church, I got baptized and I learned the doctrine of eternal families and the plan of happiness and how families are so essential to that plan.. I’ve had some very tender moments in the temple that have really Helped to solidify not only my testimony of Jesus Christ and of the plan of happiness and of the centrality of the family unit and how and connecting us all together, you know, like, as, as, you know, now, like, [00:03:00] families come in different forms, blended families, widows, right?
Like, divorces, stepchildren, et cetera. But how we’re all part of God’s human family. And, when I was going through the temple, I, for my endowment, I asked the temple president, you know, I know I’m supposed to put my maiden name down, but I’m not sure what last name should I use because I’m adopted.
And so my parents , the, the family I was raised in, this is my maiden name, but like I had recently found my biological father and I was like, do I put his surname? And the temple president said , your parents who adopted you are your rightful parents. So someday when you are sealed to them, you will be sealed to your parents who adopted you.
And I felt this really strong witness that I was meant to be my parents daughter. And it’s not that there was any question of that, but that [00:04:00] journey of being adopted and finding your biological family is, has so complicated, it has so many layers to it. Like Your identity and nature versus nurture and, like finding out where you come from and why you have certain attributes and qualities.
Did I learn them? Are they just inherent in me? And then also kind of overlaying that in thinking about how we were created in the image of God. And so, okay, like how much of who I am. comes from God and is inherent and how much comes from the nurture of mortality, right? Like my experiences, where I was born, the time that I was born in, my nationalities, my health, my physicality, like, you know, all these things.
So anyway, it’s just been such an amazing lens with which to view the gospel, but also recognizing. And the other tender experiences I’ve had is since I have all these families. I have been [00:05:00] able to take all of these names to the temple. So my biological mom’s side and her biological dad’s side, and then my biological dad’s side and his whole side of the family and my husband’s family.
And now my adopt, you know, I call them my parents. They’re not like, I don’t say like my adoptive parents, they’re my parents, families, you know, and I had this really tender moment because my biological mom and My biological paternal biological grandma, they both were born very similarly to me, where they didn’t know their biological dads, they were born out of wedlock, and their biological dads didn’t know about them.
And my paternal grandma found her biological dad when she was the exact same age as me. So my biological dad’s mom found her dad when she was 35. It was so weird, like parallel lives, right? And, I had these really tender experiences because shortly after I found my biological dad, my [00:06:00] birth mom found all of her biological dad’s ancestry.
He had died, but she found, like, her whole family tree lit up. And so in taking these names, the temple, I and friends, not just myself, I’ve had friends do ordinances for these lines. We’ve had some really amazing experiences where. These family members from the other side of the veil have said, we are aware of you, Jesus Christ sent you here at this time in the world for a reason, for a purpose, because, I spent a lot of time wondering, was I like an accident, you know, like with my birth, just an accident, just random, or didn’t really have any meaning.
I mean, I knew my parents had been waiting for me. My parents had been trying to get pregnant and couldn’t and, so I knew they had been, prayerfully anticipating my arrival, but my birth mom , was very surprised by my coming into the world, you know, and then my [00:07:00] biological dad at 35 was like, Oh my gosh, like, it’s a girl.
Like, wow, it’s been 35 years. And thankfully he has, Just absolutely embrace me, and we are so close and we’re very similar. And it’s made me realize that though our birth may be a surprise to our earthly parents, it’s never a surprise to our heavenly parents. It’s never a surprise to the Savior.
Every single one of us Truly, is just like in the young women’s theme, love, loved daughter of heavenly parents or son of heavenly parents, with the divine nature and destiny, like, we have that divine dignity is encoded within who we are, it can never be touched, it can never be taken away, no matter how we’re treated, no matter where we land, no matter where we’re nurtured, and, It has just given me such a witness of that, and a very strong desire to not only have those eyes to see others at all times, but to then also now serve children who [00:08:00] might not have access to that love that I had.
I was so grateful. I got adopted by great parents, but not everyone does. And then where do you go from there? You know, knowing, okay, yes, I like my parents here are not here for me, or they can’t give me what I need, but I have heavenly parents who love me, right? I have a savior who loves me. and they always have their eyes on us.
And I just, I have such a witness of that.
Karen Papin: I love that. And there’s like so many lessons in there too. It’s beautiful. I love how your experience that you had opened you up to even more people who love you. And now you have like this broader circle. I don’t know. It’s not a circle, but just of love because of the unique experiences that you have.
Ashli Carnicelli: I’m so grateful for that. And also given it’s given me more people to love more people to [00:09:00] serve more people to bring them their ordinances like more family members that It’s like, it’s just, to me, it’s not an accident. my biological dad. found me like within a month of my baptism. I had just given a testimony.
I was pregnant with our third daughter. We have four and I was pregnant with our third daughter, Adeline, when I got baptized. And then I spoke in my first fast and testimony meeting. First one, I didn’t get up and speak. Cause I was like, what is this all about? You know, like nervous. And so then I was like, I don’t know what to say.
Like, I don’t know. And so then for the second one, I got up and I just said, I’m missing a whole part of my background of I don’t know who my biological dad is, but I know heavenly father is my father. I know he loves me and I’m grateful that I have that. And I’m grateful that I can raise my girls and, kind of give them the best of both worlds.
Like they have my DNA so they can be like, Oh, I have mom’s nose or what have you. And then also like, I [00:10:00] can raise them in the loving manner that my parents raised me in. And so I was just like, Oh, I’m so grateful. And then two days later. I got a message in my inbox on 23andme. com from my first cousin. So my biological dad’s niece.
And she’s like, my dad had, my dad has only one brother and I think he’s your father. And I was like, what? And so he had no idea. And so we did a paternity test and the rest is history. he had had several dreams that he had a daughter, but he just. Was like, I don’t know. I don’t know. Maybe she’s out there.
And he’s like, it was,
it’s so funny how the spirit can speak to each of
us, you know?
Karen Papin: Yeah, that’s true. And it shows even more. It’s like, no, this whole thing, it was not an accident. It was like, there was a plan this entire time.
Ashli Carnicelli: Exactly. And I, and it also gave me such a firm witness of temples and ordinances, because I know the Lord saw that was a void in my life.
Like it was, cause I was so curious, like I’m [00:11:00] a little bit like my birth mom, but I’m like a lot like my biological dad. And I knew that like a big chunk was missing about myself, right? and to tell my girls Oh, like this is because of this or whatever it is. And, I had that on my heart, but then I had accepted it.
I was like, you know, maybe there’s a reason why I don’t know. Maybe God doesn’t want me to know. Maybe I’m just not going to know until I get to the other side of the veil. And I just have to be at peace with that because I can’t control it. Right. I was so I’m just grateful to know. I have a great dad already.
And ’cause I met my birth mom when I was 18. I have a great mom. but I’m just gonna have to let lay that aside. It really, I mean, ugh, I could cry. It’s so tender. Like the Lord knew that I needed that. He knew that I needed, to know my biological dad and to know that side of the family and to get to know that part of my origins.
And it’s filled my heart with so much joy. And [00:12:00] also has enabled me to do ordinances and bring that whole part of my family. and I felt that, so it’s been like a double whammy, you know, like, yay, like yeah, God really is loving and he really does like, want us to do this work for our ancestors, .
Karen Papin: Yeah. That’s great.
It’s like, and that’s how so many blessings are. It’s like, it’s, it doesn’t just benefit us, it benefits everyone. Exactly. Yeah.
Ashli Carnicelli: Yeah, exactly.
Karen Papin: Well, thank you so much. is there anything else from your experiences with adoption that you would want to share on this podcast?
Ashli Carnicelli: Well, one thing is when I gave that testimony that first fast Sunday of being in the church, I shared I was Catholic before I converted from Catholicism and I shared about I had [00:13:00] been trying when I was 21.
I had been trying to find my biological father and I had hit so many dead ends and I went to the Catholic mass like that night. And I was really upset. Like, at the end of the day, like, it was a fruitless a day of fruitless searching. Right? And I was so disappointed and I took communion, like the sacrament and I knelt in the pew and I just started crying.
Like I was like, Oh, I’m so discouraged. Like I just want to know. And the Holy spirit was loud and clear. And he said, it doesn’t matter who made you Ashli, because I made you like, I’m your father. And so I have felt so much. love and closeness from heavenly father and from heavenly mother, which is like a whole other conversation we could have where the spirit is like, Oh, she oversaw your care from the first.
I mean, like my parents weren’t supposed to adopt a baby. Like I was a baby when they got me [00:14:00] and there were 300 couples in line because, when a foster child who’s healthy comes through, that’s not a common occurrence, at least at the time, for me in the eighties, There were lots of children who were coming from drug withdrawal or they had like They had other family fighting for custody.
So it was like very complicated. There was no like easy case like mine where it was like, Oh, the birth mom has just surrendered. All right. She’s now living with her social worker, right? Like this baby needs a home like immediately. And so my parents hadn’t even finished their paperwork. They hadn’t even finished their home study or their dossier in the social worker.
Pull them into her office. And she said, sometimes you need to throw away the paperwork and go with your gut. And this baby was meant for you. And so then like receiving that witness of no, that was heavenly mother like caring for you being your, and I believe, you know, I believe heavenly father and the savior too, of course, but like the spirit was very strong and clear about that was like, you know, she’s your mom and she [00:15:00] loves you and wants to make sure that you’re okay.
And I know that’s not always the case for every child. So then, for me, my answer to that is then I am going to go and do the work and make sure that my own children and other people’s children and the children that I care for, I’m going to school to become a NICU nurse, that the babies that I care for have that Sense of love and divine dignity of you are seen and known and you’re heard and you’re loved and you belong and you matter and you have a work to do here.
Karen Papin: It’s beautiful. Thank you. It’s beautiful. How much longer do you have?
Ashli Carnicelli: So, I finished my pre nursing certificate last August because I already have my bachelor’s in music and singing and then I start the program to complete the RN in August and it’ll take 18 months. Because you have to like wait a whole year to get a spot.
Like you like, do the certificate, if you get good grades, they give you a spot, and it takes a year to get the [00:16:00] spot. So I got the spot! So it’s gonna be like three years until I’m totally done, but I can’t wait. In the meantime, I volunteer in the NICU and I hold the babies. And I pray for them and I whisper love to them and just tell them how much they matter.
Because I don’t know. You never know if some of these babies will hear that in their lifetime and some of them might not.
Karen Papin: Yeah.
Ashli Carnicelli: Yeah.
Karen Papin: So beautiful. I love that you have that deep desire to do that and that you’re taking action on it and you’re using all these experiences that you’ve had to be able to benefit each little baby that you will come in contact with because of that.
Ashli Carnicelli: I am so grateful because I think sometimes, we live in mortality and we have experiences that can be painful. I mean, I will tell you, I, even though like, and it’s so hard, it’s such a, it’s holding two things at once being an adoptee, because especially if you have great parents who adopted you and loved [00:17:00] you, it’s not that their love for you or their parent parenting of you isn’t enough.
But it’s like this. Deep desire to know, like, where do I come from? And who were these people who gave me life? Right. And so, and then facing those feelings of like, well, was I rejected? Like, did my birth mom just not want me? Did she just not try hard enough? Did she give up? Or was it that she cared that much, but it’s still a loss, right?
Like it’s still a grief in your heart. that’s the first thing. person you know in your life is your mother, right? It’s like your very first person that you encounter is your mother. And I have faced that, those feelings, and I know that the Savior takes all that and uses it for our good and uses it to benefit other people.
So, I could see that need, I can see that in children, if they are not getting enough love at home or they don’t [00:18:00] feel. accepted or they don’t or maybe their parents, in the case of the NICU, their parents live four hours away and their moms can’t be there. So for two hours I can hold them and just be there, it’s just, it’s, it’s amazing how we can take some of those things, that we, Try to run away from or we try to heal so quickly because we’re such a fast paced world like, Oh, no, I just want the quick, just fix it and feel better about it and get over it.
And sometimes you have to sit with those feelings and say, well, those feelings are going to give me so much more empathy for the next person that I meet that might be facing that same feeling.
Karen Papin: I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and I remember learning about just how important having those connections as a baby are.
So, like, you just going in and holding a child can greatly benefit them.
Ashli Carnicelli: Yeah, and their sense of attachment, their sense of, their sense of self. Because, you know, when we’re that young, [00:19:00] we think, oh, well, if our attachment isn’t secure, then there must be something wrong with me. Yeah. That my attachment isn’t secure.
It’s just a natural process that happens in a baby’s brain or in a young child’s brain. And so I’m so grateful that there can be healing found in so many different ways. So
Karen Papin: one of the things, that I want to talk a little bit more about we’re kind of shifting a little bit here, but, you are someone who has been classically trained in music. And so you’ve had that experience within the music field. And I’m curious how did you stay true to yourself in the midst of the pressure that That being in the music industry can,
Ashli Carnicelli: Oh, you know, to be totally honest with you.
It was part of the reason why I left. And I have to say this with caution because everyone’s experience is different. There are so many successful [00:20:00] Latter day Saint musicians out there. I felt, and this was like, obviously I was in music before I was a member of the church, but I worried a lot that my career, the nature of my career, I worried about the instability of it from a family standpoint, from a marriage standpoint, right?
But I also remember Praying about it and wondering and thinking if my whole life is structured around me, like I’m the product, I’m the package, I’m the brand, I’m worried that’s going to have like a cankering effect on my soul. On my spirit, because I don’t think we’re meant to live our lives centered around ourselves.
I really don’t like, and I know that’s such a blanket statement, but , for me, I was like, I really feel like if my whole life revolves around me and, everybody look at me and how talented I am and you know, how many tickets can I [00:21:00] sell? And, and the rejection or the exception, the, the being accepted, right?
the rejection or the approval. Is going to like, either make or break me and I don’t think that’s good for my soul at all. Like, I just don’t think I think that my life I’d be better suited at the, if I looked, I kind of like reverse engineered my life. And I said, okay, if I live to be 100, I’m looking back on my life.
What’s going to matter the most to me when everything is gone, right? Like, when I can’t sing anymore, when I Maybe can’t like remember words to us, to music anymore, remember notes or, you know, whatever it is, what’s going to matter to be the most when I look back at my life and I, for me, it was family, like having posterity, having children.
having a great marriage, and then living a life of service to humanity. And this was before I joined the church. So now I would say fourth is like living a consecrated life. Like my life is consecrated to Christ and serving him and building the kingdom. But [00:22:00] yeah, I just, I thought I’m really concerned and I was concerned about having to make compromises that I was not willing to make, like morally and ethically and also just The sheer competitive nature of it.
I mean, it’s so hard and it can be so easy to either puff ourselves up with pride and be like, Oh, I’m the most amazing person in the room. Everyone else stinks. Like, they’re going to pick me, you know, like for the audition or whatever. And that’s like a terrible way to look at other people and like kind of dehumanize them.
Right. Or the opposite of you walk in and you’re like, I’m nothing like I’m not qualified. I’m a total fraud. They’re going to hate me. Like we’re not supposed to be in either of those extremes. And so I, I really did struggle. And so for me, when I was a student, I really just focused on. the music. I focused on just the sheer joy of the fact that God created human beings.
That [00:23:00] can create the most amazing sounds we’ve ever heard, and the most beautiful poetry because one of my favorite things was singing like French art song, which is set to poems like French poems by different, French poets, and just getting lost in the beauty of that. So that’s really what helped me for sure.
And then I was Catholic then. So I went to church every Sunday night. They had a youth mass that the local, all of us music students were in charge of the music for. And, so it was very uplifting, but yeah, it can be so brutal.
Karen Papin: I think there’s a great analogy. In that though, was it’s like you can focus on comparing yourself to others, or you can focus on what’s really important.
And that’s what kept you centered was you focused on the music and you focused on Christ. And it sounds like that really helped you to be able to. Stay true to yourself.
Ashli Carnicelli: It did. And my [00:24:00] favorite thing. And the reason I ended up finding the career that I found, which is what helped put my husband through medical school.
So I ended up going to school and becoming a licensed massage therapist, a licensed aesthetician. And then now , nurse, I wanted to be a nurse back then, but student loans and all the things. So now it’s like my turn. But I really. remembered thinking, you know, what, what do I love about singing aside from just the sheer experience of the music and singing and performance.
For me, it was my, favorite times. It was not the applause. It was not the critical reviews in the newspaper or whatever. It was when someone would come up to me after a performance and say like, I had the worst week ever. Or I just got diagnosed with an illness or like, Something really bad’s been going on in my life, and I watched you, and I was transported for that hour, I forgot about my [00:25:00] problems, I forgot about my sorrows, and I just focused on the beauty of the music, and that, I was like, okay, if I can recreate that in different ways, and I know, I still could, I could still do it, and I, and now, like, I serve in, in the church, I’m the music director in my ward, and, you know, Acquire a director so like I can, I could still do that.
But for a living, I was like, I want a more direct way to relieve suffering, you know, like a very , direct way. And so that’s how I found massage therapy because I was like, well, I can, you know, help alleviate people’s pain, emotional pain too, because like that’s, you know, most of it is like, people are just going through really hard things and they just need to relax and escape.
Karen Papin: I want to kind of touch on something else that you said., And it’s the whole idea of focusing too much on ourselves. How do you think we can kind of, because [00:26:00] sometimes we’re like, okay, I’m a life coach. So, I know the importance of self care. And sometimes I feel like we do take it to an extreme the other way too, where it’s like, no, we still need other people. And I’m also an introvert. And so it’s like I, how many years was it?
Like 12 years ago, I wrote a blog post on how the most important things in my life as an introvert are actually my relationships with other people. And so I guess my question for you is why, why do you feel that having this interconnectedness with other people is so important?
Ashli Carnicelli: Oh my gosh. Well, I think we’re wired for it.
I think we were created to be in community. I think that’s why the fruits of the spirit and spiritual gifts are [00:27:00] so varied. Because if one person has every single spiritual gift and is equipped with that, then we don’t need to rely on each other. You know, like one person can hear the spirit so clearly and has that gift of discernment.
And another person has an immense capacity for charity. And when we’re being stubborn and unforgiving, they can be like, Hey, but did you ever think about it this way? And you’re like, wait, you’re right. And it makes us better. I really believe we. We are wired to be attached and connected with one another deeply, deeply, deeply, which is why the pattern I see in the temple and the sealing ordinance, we are meant to be like almost like a piece of lace, like we are just woven together.
We are melded together and it helps us to progress. It helps us to feel comforted. And [00:28:00] oftentimes. I believe we can be the Savior’s eyes and ears and hands and then sometimes I think we are suckering the savior. Like when he was in Gethsemane, feeling all of our pain, when you look into someone’s eyes and you’re comforting them, you’re really comforting the savior, you know?
So it all comes back to, we’re all connected to him and we’re connected to each other and we don’t get there. We don’t get back to heaven. We don’t get back to their presence without each other. It’s a, what I think President Nelson said, Salvation is a personal matter, but exaltation is a family matter, right?
That progression. Yeah.
Karen Papin: And I love that. I like the idea or the visual , of the lace and how we’re all interconnected and every strand is important. Take away even one of those [00:29:00] strands, it begins to unravel. So it’s such a beautiful analogy because we really do, we need each other. And we can always learn from each other and we strengthen and support each other.
And anyways, it is awesome. Thank you. Thank you for sharing.
So why do you feel that recognizing that you are a part of that, that you are of worth, why do you feel that that’s important?
Ashli Carnicelli: I think that if we are not operating from. that place of our divine worth, then number one, it’s going to be really hard for us to see others in that way, because we’ll either like those extremes, we’ll either put that person on a pedestal and make them, so above reproach, right.
Which like we’re all human, [00:30:00] or we think people are below us. So like that pride can come in. I mean, both are pride for sure. But I also think It’s really important because if we know who we are and whose we are, it changes everything. It changes our behavior. It changes how we care for ourselves.
It changes how we conduct ourselves. It changes what we will and will not allow in our lives. It changes how we love. It changes how we give grace to others for being so terribly human like ourselves, right? Because we know each of us is a beloved son or daughter of Heavenly Parent. So I think without that knowledge, then we end up looking for love in all the wrong places.
Right? [00:31:00] Like we look for it in insecure attachments, in fleeting, vain, foolish things that only give us temporary happiness and don’t last and sometimes are more destructive and sometimes cause more unhappiness than happiness. And I’m not necessarily speaking about like the actual disease of addiction because, turns out my biological grandpa is actually an addiction therapist.
And it’s not always a choice in that matter, but I mean, really, oftentimes we will come from this place of like, just trying to fill a void because we haven’t recognized, we haven’t seen who we really are and who is, we really are.
Karen Papin: My mom’s a marriage and family therapist and I. Was at the time she was developing a program for food addiction.
And at the time. I was an office assistant in her practice, but I remember 1 of the [00:32:00] lessons was if you’re. Going and you’re reaching for food. If you’re trying to feel that void, right. Like stop and say, okay, where am I feeling this? Am I feeling it in my heart or am I feeling it in my stomach? But that hunger and it’s amazing how many times it’s actually right here in the heart.
And it’s because yeah, it’s trying to fill that void.
Yeah.
So being able to just focus on who’s we are, as you were saying, helps us feel to feel that love. And when we feel his love, it fills, fills that void.
Ashli Carnicelli: I think we’re designed to experience and to feel that love. And it’s why we feel so awful when we don’t.
It’s why we get these incorrect ideas about ourselves. I’m not worthy. I’m not lovable. I’m not important. I’m, I don’t matter , like I’m just a nobody or I’m just an [00:33:00] accident or , like I’m here for a random reason at a random time in the world. And there’s no meaning. I mean, oh, to, to hear people say that it just, it hurts my heart, you know, because nothing could be further from the truth.
Each life has meaning and purpose and worth. Just, you know, infinite, infinite worth. We are so precious. Our heavenly parents want us to come back home in the worst way, like they want us back with them. The savior wants us back with him. So yeah, I just think it’s so central. And also too, what does it, what would it say about God if we didn’t have this divine worth, right?
Like, what would it say about the savior If he died for us and all we are is nothing but dust, random, worthless, like [00:34:00] just a little, I think, what did the scripture say? Moses, he said, like, just like a puff of air, like our life is just nothing but like a puff of air, you know? Um, what would that say about Christ?
Because he died for us and he wouldn’t do that for anyone who wasn’t worth it. He So he literally said, every single one of us is worth it. Our heavenly parents wouldn’t have sent their only begotten son, their precious, perfect spotless lamb down to earth to do this for us. If we weren’t worth it, it would just say, well, God is arbitrary or God is capricious, you know, or God, God wastes, you know, like their perfect son.
And that, that just, that doesn’t make any sense at all.
Karen Papin: Love that. Just the atonement itself. is proof of our faith.
Ashli Carnicelli: Exactly. Exactly.
Karen Papin: So, so kind of talking about that now, what are your favorite [00:35:00] scriptures on divine worth?
Ashli Carnicelli: Oh my gosh, favorite scriptures on divine worth, probably Isaiah 49, that cross references verse Nephi 21, you know, can a mother forget her sucking child? Nay. She may forget thee, but I will not forget thee.
Behold, ye are engraven upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before me. You know, like, listen, I have your name written on the palms of my hands. That’s how much I love you. That’s how much you’re worth to me. So, yeah, that, those are, those two are my absolute, absolute favorite. And then, of course, in Second Mosiah, King Benjamin’s speech, when he says Behold, when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, you really are in the service of your God.
Because if we’re created in God’s image, then we are of that infinite worth, because God is also of infinite worth. And so, [00:36:00] yeah, I would say those three are my absolute hands down favorites.
Karen Papin: Great. It’s one small and simple action that those listening can take to embrace their divine worth and potential.
Ashli Carnicelli: I would say, ponder on the savior when he was on the cross. Oh, now I’m going to cry. He could have called it off. He could have called it off at any moment in time. He could have said the word and angels would have come and rescued him off the cross. And it would have been over, but he pushed through, suffered through, saw it to completion, said it is finished.
And when you ponder on that and you say, he did that for me, how much must I be worth to him when [00:37:00] he gave his precious blood as ransom for me? And just ponder on that. Just think about the fact that he could have changed his mind at any time and yet he didn’t.
Karen Papin: That reminds me of an experience that I had.
I served a mission on Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah, and I remember someone coming up to me and they’re like, here’s my cousin, convince him to go on a mission, kind of a thing, and I’m like, just talking to this young man and I was like, I’m not going to tell him to just go on a mission.
Yes, you should serve a mission, and so I, I remember just talking to him about focusing on his relationship with Christ and I gave him homework. I think I wrote down Alma chapter 36, where it’s Alma the younger is talking to, I think it’s Heleman and it’s his conversion story and he talks about just the pains that he [00:38:00] had experienced, how excruciating the pain was of all his sins.
And then the great joy that comes as he recognized that everything that Christ did for him. And so I gave him homework and I don’t know what happened after that, because that’s just how that mission is. But, but it was a teaching experience for me because it’s when we. are questioning our worth when we are, wondering, can I do what the Lord’s asking of me when we’re not even sure that we want to do whatever it is.
We can get to know the Savior more and his love refines us and it inspires within us the desire to be able to reach out to others and help them to be able to feel that love as well.
Ashli Carnicelli: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Karen Papin: [00:39:00] Well, Ashli, thank you so much. This has been such a fun conversation. I love, I love talking with you about this.
I am wondering, is there anything else that you would like to share about divine worth and potential?
Ashli Carnicelli: So I would say, remember who you are. Remember whose you are and remember that you are inherently good. That, on at the end of each day, when God created the earth, he said, it is good. That’s what he said about us.
It is good. So he is good and she is good. You are good. I am good inherently. And we are worth and our goodness is not defined by the mistakes that we’ve made. It’s not defined by our errors, our sins, our failings, our weaknesses, our flaws in the [00:40:00] natural man. It’s just not. And so if we can. Hold to that vision and while still, recognizing the need for repentance, recognizing the need for doing better.
But not feeling that sense of shame and just knowing I am good. I am worth it. I am worthy because the savior says so wraps
Karen Papin: everything up. So
Thank you. How can those listening connect with you?
Ashli Carnicelli: So I am on Instagram. It’s my first and last name, Ashli Carnicelli. I have the little blue check mark. My DMs are always open. And then my newsletter, The Pearls, is on Substat. It’s under, I think it’s, I think the actual URL address is pearls of light, because there was already a sub stack that was the pearls dot sub stack or whatever.
But that’s where you’ll find me and I can’t wait to connect [00:41:00] with you.
Karen Papin: Great. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Ashli Carnicelli: Thank you so much, Karen. I’m so happy. I got to talk with you.
Karen: If you have found this podcast to be a light, please share it with others and leave a review, which helps others to be able to find the podcast as well. To learn more about your divine worth and potential, you can check out my divine worth scripture study journal with over 52 scriptures relating to your divine worth and potential.
You can find that on Amazon by searching divine worth journal by Karen Papin. Or through the link here: Amazon
You are of worth. You have a purpose. The Lord loves you and he believes in you and only you can make the impact on this world that you are meant to make. Join me next time as we talk more about divine worth and potential.
Does what God is prompting you to do feel daunting? With your own personalized fear to faith meditation you can create new thought patterns to move you from fear to faith in God’s plan for you.
Learn more about what God sees in you with these scriptures that show you your divine worth and potential.
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Quotes from this episode
