Ep 5 Divine Worth Podcast: Step by Step: Building Belief and Reaching Your Potential

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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.

Recently, I had a pretty amazing opportunity to be able to run my first Half marathon about four years ago, I had started running and if you had told me that then that I would be running at 13.

1 miles, I would have struggled to believe it running even one minute was something I didn’t really do. And I would lose my breath really quickly. So I started small in my running goals to be able to become a consistent runner. It was something that I wanted to do. For health reasons, and I also like the idea of five case and supporting different causes within doing those five case.[00:01:00]

So I had a small writing goal of just. Running one lap around my backyard to be able to build that consistency. It was something that just took me a minute, but it got me out there and it got me moving. And my big goal at the time was to be able to get to a place where running a mile wasn’t such a struggle.

And little by little, as I built that consistency, I began to also build endurance and it was a step by step process. I remember looking back about a year ago and just being amazed because I was running two miles almost every single day. When I got used to that two miles, I started running three miles.

With each mile, I began to believe in myself more and more. Running a 5k started to become easier and easier. I began to believe that I could [00:02:00] run a 10k. Then when I did that a few times, I began to believe that maybe, just maybe I could do a half marathon. And so on my 40th birthday, I ran my first half marathon in the city I was born.

Pretty cool. Like that, that just astounds me that I was able to do that. And it was challenging, yes, but it was also absolutely amazing. It’s also amazing just how much I have grown. Because it happened step by step. It was a process for me to be able to build that belief within myself. God teaches us line upon line.

In my conversation with Aaron Rapalado in episode 2 of the podcast, I gained an insight as we discussed Elder Dusko’s talk on pillars and race. And the insight was that maybe we actually need [00:03:00] those rays versus the big pillars because those rays allow us to build the faith step by step, line upon line.

They help us to learn to believe and to have faith. I believe that one reason God teaches us line upon line is because this actually gives us time to choose to nurture that belief within ourselves. to allow the roots to grow deep and strong so that the seed of faith can flourish. My belief in my ability to run 13 miles came because I allowed that belief to grow within me step by step, line upon line.

I didn’t go out there believing I would run a half marathon and definitely not a full marathon, which I’m only now allowing myself to believe I am capable of. In fact, in the beginning stages of my running journey, I never thought I would be able to get to that point. I didn’t really want to do [00:04:00] it and I didn’t really have a desire to do it.

I just wanted to run a mile or. As I continued a 5k, but allowing myself to believe that I was capable of that first step helped me to then take action and then to believe in the next step. The same is true for your belief in yourself. What is it that you are desiring? What do you wish you could do that seems so far outside what you are capable of?

Or what do you wish that you could do that is just One step away, allow that desire to do it, to grow within you, make the decision to believe in yourself. As children of God, we inherently have the divine gift of being a creator. Central to that is the gift of agency. Because of this amazing and beautiful gift of agency, we can choose how we want to respond to life, [00:05:00] how to move forward with intention, step by step, creating a life that we love.

We can use our agency to allow that desire to believe in our divine worth and divine potential to grow within us. We aren’t, as 2 says, agents to be acted upon. We are agents unto ourselves, capable of choosing our next steps and being intentional with our lives. Is it always easy to intentionally use our agency?

No, it takes work. It takes effort. It can be hard to do, as it says in Mosiah 430, to watch our thoughts and our words and our deeds. One thing that we say a lot in my family is, yes, it will be hard, but we can do hard things. Resilience, whether [00:06:00] emotional, physical, or spiritual, is built from doing hard things.

And the more that we overcome, the more we experience joy. Because we prove to ourselves that we can, and that we are capable. So how do we use our agency to believe in our worth? First, make the decision, decide to believe in your divine worth and to believe that you are capable. Make that decision once and for all to believe in yourself, then allow that desire to grow within you.

That desire to believe in yourself, that desire to believe that you are of worth, that desire to overcome, that desire to prove that you can overcome, allow it to grow within you. In Alma, chapter 32, verse 27, Alma says, But behold, if we, if you will [00:07:00] awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.

In this scripture, Alma is teaching us that even if we have just a particle of faith, a particle, think about how small that is. If we have even just a particle of faith, we can choose to let that desire grow. We can nurture that desire to believe, to grow within us. This relates to believing in our divine worth as well.

If we have even just a particle of faith in what God sees in us and with his guidance, we nurture that desire within us to believe in ourselves and in our worth, it will grow within us. Here’s another scriptural example of [00:08:00] faith and how it’s compared to a seed. In Mark chapter 4, Christ gives the parable of the sower.

Let’s go ahead and just dive right into this and look at how it relates to our belief in seeing what God sees within us. In verse 3, Christ says, There went out a sower to sow. He begins with the Lord, going out to share what he wants us to know with us. In verse 4, And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.

This soil, the wayside, are those things that we don’t even give a thought to. Those things that we reject outright because they seem so far outside of our grasp. For me, in my running journey, it was the idea of running a marathon. At the beginning, there was no way I thought I could do that. I really had no [00:09:00] desire to do it at that point either.

Another example is in episode one when I spoke about how as a child I struggled to speak. I never even had the thought that I would speak to a group of people, much less give twerves of Temple Square as a young adult missionary. They seemed so far outside of my reach that as a child, I don’t even think such a thing.

Came into my mind. I Was something that was rejected outright. I was not yet prepared to receive such things the beautiful thing about this though is The reminder that we learn line upon line the Lord repairs us Step by step with the running I grew line upon line My belief that I might possibly run a full marathon is only now something that I am allowing to be planted within myself.

I’m only now starting to believe that maybe it is possible. With each step, the [00:10:00] Lord prepared me for something more. And the same thing was true with my speaking journey. It was a step by step process of the Lord preparing me. If you aren’t ready to accept the big things that the Lord might have in store for you, that is okay.

The Lord loves you, and He is patient, and He is there to support you in your struggles, and He will reveal things to you as you are ready for them. He believes in you. So for now, focus on just the next step that is right for you. Returning back to the parable of the sower, in verses five through six. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth.

And immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, it was scorched. And because it had no root, it withered away. This is when we [00:11:00] think, Oh, yeah, that sounds like fun. I want to do that. And yet, when we face the first bit of opposition, we back off and say, Uh, maybe that’s not for me.

That opposition may be someone criticizing the goal, or maybe they’re critical of your ability to accomplish it. When I was training for my half marathon. There were a few people who were a little surprised because of the particular course that I was training for. There was surprise and maybe even a little skepticism toward my ability to achieve it.

Because I did not choose an easy half marathon. I was running up a mountain. I could have taken their surprise, skepticism, and thought, Oh, maybe I can’t do this. Thankfully, that’s not the way I took it. I instead did all that I could to be able to prepare myself for the Elevation Game. When our seeds of belief fall on stony ground, we allow others opinions to derail us.

We allow [00:12:00] others opinions to decide what we can and cannot do. In Helaman, chapter 5, verse 12, Helaman gives this great remedy to this. He says, And now, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation. That when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hell and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless woe, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build, they cannot fall.

When we focus on the Savior. He helps us to build such a foundation that when others opinions come against us in what we believe, those mighty winds of the devil, [00:13:00] we will not fall. Look up. Not side to side. Also, in relation to that stony ground, the opposition that we receive may be a setback. Were things not turning out the way we had hoped?

I remember one time in my running journey being so sore and in pain that I’m like, I don’t know if I can keep doing this. And instead of giving up, I instead reached out to friends who were further along on that journey of running, and they gave me some great advice about Stretching and making sure I’m getting adequate water and taking rest days and, and things like that, that really helped me to be able to get past that point that I was at.

And I stopped being in pain and I figured things out and I was able to continue on in my journey. In these moments that we are experiencing these setbacks and things not turning out the way that we hoped, [00:14:00] once again, we can focus on Christ. And we frame our thoughts to things such as, What can I learn from this?

How can I use this to make me stronger? Or even, what’s awesome about this? Those struggles we face are hard and difficult, but they are learning opportunities that, as Joseph Smith learned in Liberty Jail, will be for our good. In President Dallin H. Oaks talk from April 2015 called The Parable of the Sower, he shares this about keeping ourselves out of the stony ground.

Spiritual food is necessary for spiritual survival, especially in a world that is moving away from belief in God and the absolutes of right and wrong. We must increase our exposure to spiritual truth in order to strengthen our faith and stay rooted in the gospel. This is some similar to the scripture that I shared earlier from Alma 32, and that [00:15:00] experiment of faith.

Allow that seed of faith in what God sees in you to grow. Nurture it, and surround yourself with spiritual truth, so that you can allow the roots to grow strong and firm. In verse 7 of the parable of the sower, And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. The thorns are the distractions.

Maybe we do believe in God and in our ability to do what he asks of us. Maybe we do understand that as children of God, we are capable of accomplishing anything. However, other things get in the way, keeping us from reaching our potential because they distract us. From the things that really matter most, many of us are in the stage.

We know what we need to do. We know that we can do all things through Christ. And yet we allow ourselves to become distracted by the multitude of responsibilities or by our fears and by our [00:16:00] anxiety and. Pride and anger. If you find yourself in the stage, the thorny stage, one thing that helps tremendously is to be still.

When the disciples were tossed to and fro on the waves of the sea in Mark chapter four verses 37 through 40, they became afraid and woke up the savior and he rose up and said to the sea, peace, be still. At times, the chaos of life feels like we are being tossed to and fro from one activity or task to the next.

In those times, we can follow Christ’s words, Peace, be still. That stillness allows us to pause, reflect, and focus on what really matters in that moment. That stillness allows us to re center on who we truly are as children of God. In verse 8 of the parable [00:17:00] of the sower, An other fell on good ground, And did yield fruit that sprang up, and increased, And brought forth some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.

When those seeds of belief or promptings of the Lord fall upon the good ground within us, we are allowing ourselves to believe in them. We are focused on what’s important. We are nurturing those seeds of belief and allowing them to grow. And it’s amazing what happens. The seed grows and then it flourishes and we begin to believe in ourselves.

We begin to overcome whatever challenges come our way. We begin to become more resilient. We begin to become stronger. We begin to accomplish those goals. We begin to be a greater light to others. How do we allow that seed of faith to grow within us? As [00:18:00] I said before, first, you need to make that decision.

That really is the first step. Make the decision to do it and then allow that desire to grow within you through becoming clear on what it is that you are hoping to achieve. What does believing in your worth look like to you? What does being a child of God look like to you? What goals and dreams do you have?

Having more clarity on these things gives us what we need to be able to move forward. So the first step really is deciding on the direction that you want to go and then getting clear on what that looks like for you. Here are a few examples. For me, my first goal was just to create a habit of running because I knew it was one way that I could become healthier.

I started with just running that first lap around my backyard, something that took only a minute to do, but it was enough to get me started and to build that [00:19:00] consistency. When I was a child learning to speak, my goal was to connect with others. I wanted friends, so little by little I began to share who I was with others.

Maybe Your goal might be to eat healthier. Eat an apple or a handful of carrots with your lunch each day. Maybe it’s to become more consistent with family scripture study and that might look like deciding on what time would work best and start with just one verse as a family. Maybe you are wanting to spend less time on your phone and be more present with your kids.

Have a phone drawer in your kitchen and put your phone in there in order to be more present. Maybe you want to be less judgmental towards others. Choose one person each day that you can give a compliment to. Maybe you want to attend the temple more often. That might look like putting a [00:20:00] reminder in your phone that goes off every month, reminding you to set up an appointment and get a babysitter.

Or maybe you are wanting to be a better ministering sister. Set a reminder to text, call, visit, or a reminder to pray for your sisters each night. Whatever your goal is, take some time to be still and get clear on what it looks like for you. The next thing that you do is work on what you say, both out loud and within your own mind.

I mentioned earlier, Mosiah 430, where we are counseled to watch our thoughts and our words and our deeds. Doing so supports what we see. So, what are some thoughts that you can fill your mind with to strengthen what you want to see about yourself? What are some thoughts that will help you to overcome the obstacles and that will nurture your desire to believe in your worth and [00:21:00] potential?

Tell yourself often what your goal is. Speak kindly to yourself, encouragingly telling yourself that you can and that you are capable and that the Lord is on your side. Then, as you have that clarity and are often reminding yourself of your ability to go and do, the more you will take action. You will begin to feel that seed of belief within you.

You will begin to believe in yourself and allow yourself to feel that belief. In moments of discouragement, motivation wanes. Remembering why you are doing what you are doing can be a key to be able to get you motivated again. So what is your why? That is something that is important because it sparks within us the desire to keep going and it reminds us that we are capable and that we can overcome any of the challenges that come our [00:22:00] way.

When you struggle to believe in yourself, remember why it’s important for you to believe that you are of a divine worth and to believe that you have a divine potential. Here are a few reasons why I believe it’s important to believe my worth and potential. The more that I believe in myself, the more steps that I can take to accomplish my goals.

The more that I believe in myself, the more I can overcome my fears and limiting beliefs that keep me from connecting with others, guiding me and being in greater light with this world. The more that I believe in myself, the more that I listen to the spirit, the more that I believe in myself, the more that I’m showing up confidently as a mom and as a wife, more capable of supporting my family and the things that they are going through.

The more that I believe in myself, the closer I become to the Lord as I take steps to bring myself closer to him and those he loves. [00:23:00] The more that I believe in myself, the more I give myself permission to grow, learn and improve without judgment and guilt. The more that I believe in myself, the more I inspire those around me to see their own worth and potential.

The more that I believe in myself, the more I trust God’s timing and his plan for me. Some of these may be your whys as well, and you also may have whys that are different from mine. So here’s one small and simple action that you can do today. Ponder why it is important for you to know your divine worth and potential.

Write it out if you can. Because when we allow ourselves time to write everything out without stopping to see if it makes sense or is grammatically correct, but just pre write, this can really guide us in understanding the way that we think. [00:24:00] So I invite you to free ride, write down everything that comes to mind, even if it’s, I can’t really think about what to say about why believing in my worth is important, but here are some reasons why.

And then just keep going and see what comes out. Allow your mind to flow. Allow yourself to believe. Let that desire to believe in your worth, your potential to grow within you. I promise you that as you allow that desire to grow. You will find the greater sense of joy, peace, and love in your life.

Remember only you are meant to make the impact on this world. If you have found this podcast to be a light, please share it with others at our labor review, which helps others find the podcast as well. To learn more about your divine worth and potential, you can download some free scripture cards focused on your divine worth at https://karenpapin.com/scripturecards. 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.