Ep 31 Divine Worth Podcast: You are a divine child of God

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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.

Karen Papin:

Before we really get into this episode, I want to encourage you to grab a piece of paper and something to write with. If you are able to, we are going to really dive into today’s episode and we will be thinking about some things that would be great for journaling or at least for you to really ponder and think about some questions that I’ll be asking you during this podcast.

So, It can be a great way to be able to really think through what it is that is going on within you. So if you need to, push pause and grab a piece of paper. And

if you’re not in a position to be able to be still and write down your answers to some of [00:01:00] the things that we’ll be discussing today, that is totally okay too. I am someone who just loves to be able to listen to podcasts while I’m doing things around the house like dishes and laundry and things like that.

And so it’s totally okay. If you don’t take the time to do that, you can always come back and listen to it again later, or Just to use that, space that I’m giving you to be able to think and ponder on the things that I’m saying. So with that, let’s go ahead and dive into this conversation today.

I am so thankful for the ways that the Lord has led and guided me in my life.

As a child, I did not see. where I would be today. I was someone who really struggled to just be able to get words out in day to day conversation It has truly been a step by step process for me to be able to get to a point where I can get on [00:02:00] here and I can share my voice and create this podcast. I really did struggle to speak as a child. I remember in primary being asked to give a talk and I just could not get the words out. But I do remember that my cousin was there and she was able to help me by reading what I had prepared and as I grew I step by step, started coming more and more out of my comfort zone and began to really see just the joy that can happen as we take those steps forward.

I heard someone say recently that really we are not meant to be happy all the time.

And I’ve kind of been thinking a bit about that lately, because there is truth in that. Like, sometimes we need [00:03:00] to allow ourselves to feel grief. And also we can’t just always have things easy.

Because if we always had things easy, we would never grow.

And so I’m thankful for the experiences that I’ve had and the scriptures that I’ve read that have helped me to be able to see that God believes in me. Because as I began to recognize and understand that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and who believes in me, then I began to feel more comfortable stepping outside my comfort zone.

And then as I did that, that’s actually when joy came. Because I began to realize that I was more capable than I realized. When I was in Young Women’s, I remember reciting the Young Women’s theme. And back then it was, We are daughters of a Heavenly Father who loves us and we love Him. And I [00:04:00] remember just saying that and feeling the truth. of that statement. I am a daughter of a Heavenly Father who loves me. And

I think sometimes we, like, know that on an intellectual level, but we don’t actually always stop to consider what exactly does that mean to me? What does a child of God look like to me? So I want you to just take a moment to think on that phrase. I am a daughter of God.

I am a child of the Most High.

And just allow yourself to let that sink in and really feel the truth of that statement.

[00:05:00] Sometimes it’s easier for us to look at those that we love and to see their divine identity within them. For some reason, it can be harder for us to remember who we are. To really realize that that also applies to us.

Now, why is that so important for us to know? Why do we need to know that we are children of God?

Sister Michelle Craig’s October, 2020 conference talk called eyes to see, she says, well, the more you understand your true identity and purpose soul deep, the more it will influence everything in your life as a life coach. That is one thing that I’ve learned is just the power of.

Identity. When it comes [00:06:00] to change, the different levels of change that we can make in our lives, the most powerful level is that level of identity.

In my experiences with learning how to speak,

changing my view of who God saw in me and then starting to see that in myself as I put my faith interest in him, I began to change my identity or what I believed about myself, and so it began to shape my belief about who I am, Which in turn affects what I’m capable of.

And then that affects what I end up doing because when I believe I’m capable of doing it, then I’m going to go out and do it.

And the more that I go and I live and take those actions and live in that way, the more that I become that [00:07:00] person. And it kind of cycles back through

in that it creates that stronger identity.

So yes, I could change things in my environment can’t that can then affect like go the opposite direction and can affect my behaviors, which can then start to affect what I feel that I’m capable of. And ultimately, I start thinking, Oh, yes, I am this way. It can go back that way, too.

But the most lasting change happens when we change that level of identity, because we can go and we can change our environment to set us up for success, but it’s not until we reach that level of change on the identity level that we can put ourselves in different types of environments and still be that same person. A child, I [00:08:00] began to understand that the Lord believed in me and that he believed that I was capable, that I could speak, that I could have the words because the Lord was with me. And I began to really understand as a youth that I am his daughter. I am loved by him.

I am loved by him no matter if I fail or not. He still loves me and having that identity helps me to believe

in myself. And then I realized, Oh, I can take steps outside my comfort zone. I can put myself out there. I can take those chances because I’m still going to be loved. I can overcome all things because I have the Lord by my side, so I can open my mouth to speak. And even if I make a mistake, which God [00:09:00] knows I will make mistakes.

That’s why we have this beautiful plan that He has created, and it’s okay that we’ve made mistakes. God still loves us and so I’m going to go out there and I’m going to take action because that means that I am trying and I’m going to feel his love and overcome all those obstacles and overcome them

because I know

he is with me and he will still love me and he trusts me to learn from my mistakes.

And I’m able to do that because I know that I am a daughter of God and the scriptures teach us this in Romans 8, 16, it says the spirit itself, bear witness with our spirit, that we are children of God.

In Deuteronomy Chapter [00:10:00] 14 verse 1, it says, We are children of the Lord your God. In Psalm 82. 6, it says, All of you are children of the Most High. And really, there are quite a few more scriptures that share with us this divine identity that we have. And what I love about that is really, when we take the time, when we take the time to actually stop and consider, wow, I am a child of God, we can feel the Spirit testifying to us.

That it is true.

And as I said before, sometimes it’s not as easy for us to be applying it to ourselves because we struggle to be able to see that divine within us, but it is there. [00:11:00] And Satan can be really good at sowing seeds of self doubt within us. Like, he’s pretty masterful at it, right?

And he does this because if he can keep us from seeing who we truly are as children of God, then he keeps us from letting our light shine. He keeps us from stepping outside our comfort zone and finding the joy that comes from overcoming hard things.

He can keep us from taking those steps of faith

that our Heavenly Father sees us capable of taking. Satan doesn’t want us to think, oh, I can do this, I can overcome this. He wants us to think, I can’t do this, I’m not capable, I am not strong enough, I am [00:12:00] a failure. I keep making mistakes. He wants us to get discouraged and to stop seeing and to not be able to see that, Oh, I can do this.

I am capable. The Lord is on my side and maybe I don’t believe it yet that I can do it yet myself. I am going to put my faith and trust in the Lord because he will provide a way. I love 1st Nephi chapter 3 verse 7, where Nephi says, I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that he will provide a way for me to accomplish them.

And that was a little paraphrase, but that is what Nephi says in the scripture, I know that the Lord will provide a way for me. So I’m going to go and I’m going to do it. And Satan doesn’t want us to realize that we are capable of doing. the things that the Lord asks. He wants us to not do those things, right?

And so he’s going to [00:13:00] do what he can to sow the seeds of self doubt within us and to distract us from who we truly are as children of God.

And so I’m going to share with you two stories that actually happened fairly recently where Satan got Into my head and they’re both different ways, but I think that many of us kind of struggle with these kinds of things. And so lately I’ve been in a go, go, go, go, go, and do, do, do, do, do kind of mode.

And

I was in the process of putting my little three year old to sleep and just cuddling with him. And I caught my mind just like racing. I was focusing on All of the things that I needed to do on my never ending to do list and kind of thinking, okay, what are the things that I can work on tomorrow?

What can I even do after I get the kids to bed and kind of just [00:14:00] planning out how my next hour or. Day would go and I realized in that moment that this constant lack that I had been feeling lately Was because I was not allowing myself to just pause and be still and be present with those I love or with what I was doing in that moment.

And so I took some slow Deep breaths. And I visualize just letting those thoughts come to me and then flow out of me and reminded myself that I was already doing exactly what I was meant to do.

I was exactly where I was meant to be.

And I allowed myself to just hyper focus in on the present moment, allowing myself to focus in on my little boy, and I could smell the smell [00:15:00] of his shampoo and focused in on how comforting it felt to just have him in my arms and how he was just having a hard time staying still while he was cuddled up against me, even though he was content to be there with me.

He was just having a hard time staying still. He loves to move. And we began talking. And I listened to him talk about how daddy and sisters were being too loud in the living room playing Minecraft. And he also talked about how he doesn’t like loud noises. And I validated how he felt. And then I told him that I loved him and we started having this great little discussion about all the people that love him and how mommy and daddy love him and his sisters love him and nana and papa and grandma and grandpa all of these people who love him and [00:16:00] with each person that we mentioned he would go yeah and It was just so adorable.

And so I am so thankful that in that moment, I recognized what was going on. And I took time to be really clear on who I wanted to be in that moment.

On how I wanted to respond in that moment and to not be so focused on all these other things that I could have been doing or that I had on my to do list or that I had going on, but to just really focus in on what really mattered most at that time. And in that moment, my love for this little boy increased and my gratitude and love for the Lord increased.

Because he helped me to realize that I was just reacting to everything pretty much [00:17:00] throughout that day. Because I was not really taking that time to process my emotions.

And I was not taking that time to be still in order to gain that clarity and in order to be able to move forward with intention. Essence, I was not actually using my agency, I was just reacting to life. And it really did stem from not tuning in to who I divinely was.

Because I felt like I had to do more, I felt like I had to be more

when I am already this divine being.

So because of pretty much being forced to slow down and be still as I was cuddling and putting my little boy to [00:18:00] bed,, I was able to use this beautiful gift of agency. 

Intentionally take action on who I wanted to be and to truly experience life.

And in this tender moment with my son, I was able to recognize my true divine self and also his true divine self.

You too have been given this beautiful gift of agency. And because of that, you can choose right here, right now to embrace

who you divinely are. You are a child of the Most High. You are a beloved child of heavenly parents. And as it says in, like, the newer Young Women’s Theme, you are a beloved Daughter of heavenly parents with a divine nature and eternal destiny. Now just take a moment [00:19:00] to let that sink in.

You are a beloved daughter of heavenly parents with a divine nature and eternal destiny.

 Last night I was just listening to a book by Dr. Barbara Morgan Gardner. And in it, she talks about how we have these heavenly parents. We have a heavenly father and we have a heavenly mother. And as she was talking about heavenly mother, I had this beautiful experience where I could envision coming home to my Heavenly Mother and just the joy that she will have in us returning.

You are a beloved daughter of Heavenly Parents with a divine nature and eternal destiny.

I encourage you to even say that out [00:20:00] loud right here, right now. I am a beloved daughter. of Heavenly Parents with a Divine Nature and Eternal Destiny.

And so we’re going to take a moment and just do a little visualization to better understand what this identity of being a child of God looks like to you.

So if you’re able to do so, go ahead and get a comfortable position. And if you need to pause so that you can get ready to do this, that’s fine. If you’re not able to

Even take that time to do that right now. That’s also fine. You can always come back and listen to it later when you have the opportunity to do it. If you’re able to go ahead and get a comfortable position and if it is safe to do so gently close your eyes, [00:21:00] take a deep breath in

and slowly release.

Breathe in deeply

and release.

Breathe in light and love 

And release any tension, stress,

And as you continue to breathe in and out, take a moment to picture yourself as you are now.

And imagine a gentle breeze gently blowing away any labels or [00:22:00] judgments that you may have put upon yourself or that others may have put upon you.

Gently allow the breeze to blow those labels and judgments away.

If any of them get stuck, just say a little prayer. And my father helped me to be able to release this label at this time

and allow yourself

line upon line and step by step to let go of those preconceived notions

and to uncover your true divine self,

imagining [00:23:00] that beloved daughter of heavenly parents. With that divine nature and eternal destiny.

What are some things that as a divine child of God you are going about doing?

How do you view others?

What are some of the traits or divine attributes that you see within you?

What are some thoughts? Come to your mind,

how might you view others

how does this divine person who you are [00:24:00] respond to the different circumstances of your life?

As you truly embrace this idea that you are a child of God wholeheartedly, what are some of the things that are changing in your thoughts and your feelings and your behaviors?

How are you acting with those who are at school, at work? In your family or out in the world,

when you go to a store, how are you interacting with others?

Or what about while driving around?

How are you acting as you embrace this divine [00:25:00] identity that you have?

And how do you feel about yourself? How do you speak to yourself? Knowing you are a divine and beloved daughter of God. Take another deep breath in

and out.

Holding on to this image of who you divinely are as a daughter of God.

And when you’re ready, open your eyes. Pause this recording and write down the thoughts you had, the feelings you felt, and the things that you saw.

And then when you’re done writing that all out, [00:26:00] go ahead and push play again. And if you don’t feel, and if you don’t have time to write it, that’s fine. As I said, you can come back to it later. But just take a moment to feel the truth of who you are.

Do you feel the Spirit within you testifying to you that you are a child of God,

and if you’re struggling to accept it? Then let’s go a little more into how we can start to believe it. 

One of the reasons why we struggle to believe is because Satan really is good at sowing those seeds of doubt within us. And [00:27:00] for some reason or another, we believe him. And so one of the first things to do is to nurture the seed of belief in who you truly are as a child of God, nurture that seed within yourself.

And one of the things that in that visualization that I did want to make sure to do was the process of removing those labels and those judgments. Because sometimes it is really hard for us to be able to see who we truly are because we have These preconceived notions that we are someone who we actually are not.

They’re just labels and judgments that we put on ourselves. And so if we can let go of those thoughts and those judgments and those labels, then we can start to plant within us [00:28:00] the thoughts and labels that we decide we want to have in our lives. We can decide. I am going to embrace this divine identity.

Elder Christophe G. Girard Carrier, I probably did not say that correctly because it is French and I don’t speak French, so, in his, in the October 23 general conference, in his talk, We Are His Children, He actually quotes President Russell M. Nelson, who taught, quote, The adversary rejoices in labels because they divide us and restrict the way we think about ourselves and each other.

How sad it is when we honor labels more than we honor each other. End quote. And I thought that was a great quote because as I was saying, those labels and judgments are actually ways that Satan is keeping us from being able to recognize [00:29:00] our divine worth and potential and that divine identity that we have.

Because he knows that if he can stop us from seeing who we truly are, he is going to stop us from being able to Be a light unto this world and be those chosen vessels that Amber Dawn Pierce talked about in a few episodes ago. 

And so let go of those labels and then nurture the seed of I am a beloved daughter of heavenly parents with a divine nature and eternal destiny. Nurture that within you. Allow yourself to pause and repeat that over and over again, praying and asking Heavenly Father to help you feel the truth of it.

That is one way you can nurture it. Have this vision that you created in that little exercise we did [00:30:00] earlier. Write it out. Get clear on what exactly being a daughter of God means to you. There’s this concept called the future self, and it’s really a great idea because it’s the idea that if we can envision who our future self is, and what our future self does, then we can start to implement those things in our lives right now.

And we can become our future selves now. And this same concept applies to what I’m saying here, when we get clear on what being a child of God looks like to us, then we can start to implement the habits and the thought patterns that a child of God has. Right now, right here, in this moment, and you can embrace that [00:31:00] divine identity that is within you.

And if you struggle to think, oh, I just can never be that patient, or I’m just too afraid. I can’t do what Heavenly Father asks of me. I, I look at all the ways that I’ve failed in the past. How can I take another step forward? If you are someone who is stuck in that self doubt,

remove the labels of the past.

And remember that you are a child of God. You have Heavenly Father’s DNA within you. In my Creation Coach training, one of the things that we talked about was the analogy of an oak tree where there’s the seed of an oak tree and it is something small. It is not this great big oak tree yet, but it has the [00:32:00] DNA of that oak tree within it.

And so it has that potential to become that oak tree and it takes time and it takes work and it takes nourishment. But as we nourish and strengthen that belief, that identity within ourselves. It is going to grow and become this mighty oak tree. So the same is true with us. We have Heavenly Father’s spiritual DNA within us, and as we allow that DNA, that seed within us to grow and we intentionally take actions.

To be able to nurture and allow that seed within us to grow. It is going to grow and we are going to develop those traits that we are seeking and yes it does take time [00:33:00] and we may look Wow, I am so not an oak tree yet. Like I’m just the small little sapling.

 Sometimes we may say that, but then it’s like, wait, stop. You’re comparing yourself to where you are going. Look how far you’ve come and celebrate each step and each little bit of growth that you go through.

Because you are growing into that tree 

with God, nothing is impossible. And because of that, as we turn to him and we nourish that seed within us, we can overcome and we can do far more miraculous things as we put our faith and trust in the Lord, meaning not leaning into our own understanding, but continually putting our trust in him and actually focusing in on.

Okay, Heavenly Father, what is the next step [00:34:00] that you want me to take? What is it that you see in me, and how can I serve you and your children? And then you just take that next step. If as a child, you told me that I’d be doing a weekly podcast when I’m getting out there and I’m talking to others and I’m sharing my testimony with others and using my voice, I probably would not have believed it.

And I might’ve been frozen in fear. However, as I’ve taken just that next step, it’s like, okay, maybe I can’t do that yet, but I can go and I can smile at someone. I can make eye contact with someone. I can put my faith and trust that the Lord will give me the words if I open my mouth. And so I’m just going to say one thing, and I’m going to open my mouth and the words came

step by step, line [00:35:00] upon line, we become so much more capable than we realize. Let us nurture within us. This divine identity that, wow, I am a child of God.

So hold on to that vision of who you are,

saying to yourself, I am a child of God. I am that person, committing to being that person, because that’s what an affirmation is. It’s actually, it’s, it’s not lying to yourself. It is committing, becoming, and being that person. So say to yourself, I am a child of God, speaking kindly to yourself and reminding yourself of your own divine worth and potential, trusting in the Lord to guide you as you let go of your own [00:36:00] understanding and put your faith and trust in him and allow yourself to feel the truth that you are a divine daughter of heavenly parents.

with a divine nature and eternal destiny, that you have that identity within you. And as you feel that, you will then begin to take those actions and to start to live as that divine self.

Sometimes we have a different view of what God has of ourselves, and we don’t really understand everything that we are going through and why we’re going through it or why we’re struggling with it or even know what is going to happen next. Right? So we don’t have that clear picture that our Heavenly Father does, and it [00:37:00] really is a process of becoming.

 One opportunity that I had within the church was to serve as a facilitator in the church’s emotional resilience class. And in that curriculum, there’s this cute little video about how God is building a palace. It has this cute little house and it’s kind of broken down and it starts to get fixed up and it’s like, okay, yes, there’s going to be hammering going on. I’m expecting, you know, to get fixed up.

Right. And the shutters are getting replaced and new roof and all these things. But then something else happens and new

walls start to be put into place. House begins to grow. Bigger and taller and with fortifications and all these things and it takes effort and it takes work and it’s not always [00:38:00] comfortable and we don’t always understand what’s going on, but within that video, it says you thought , that the Lord was building you into the small cottage, but in actuality,

he was building you into a palace. And sometimes we do feel that way. Sometimes we really do have this perspective that we are just ordinary little cottages, right? But in actuality,

we are children. of God. We are children of the Most High. We have so much potential and we have so much capability within us. And just imagine what can happen as we truly embrace who we are. Allowing

the Lord’s love and light to not just fill us, but to go through us in order to benefit those within the world. [00:39:00] Allowing ourselves to be lights unto the world because we are allowing His light. To shine through us. We’re not hiding under bushels, but allowing the Lord to lead us so that we can be that light on a hill.

In the October 24 General Conference, Elder Brad R. Wilcox gave a beautiful talk called O Youth of the Noble Birthright. And yes, while he is speaking to youth, this is something we can all learn from. There’s so many good things in this talk, but one of the things that he says, quote, Because of your choice to make and keep covenants, he offers you his trust. He trusts you to be different, peculiar, and set apart because of the important work he trusts you to do. End quote.

And then later on in his talk, he also says this, quote, think of that.

God trusts you [00:40:00] of all the people on the earth, the children of the covenant, to help with his work of bringing all his children safely home to him.

What I love about this is that it is a reminder that as we embrace this true identity, Yes, there’s going to be difficulties that we come across. There’s going to be work and effort that it involves. Yes. It’s not always going to be easy and that fear and self doubt are going to be a part of that.

However, as we embrace this divine identity, we are embracing the Lord being on our side, and then we are capable of overcoming and being a light unto others, helping them to be able to see their own divine potential and helping them to feel God’s love for them.

You know that sometimes that self doubt Can weigh you [00:41:00] down. Just recently, I was feeling the weight of self doubt and all my weaknesses and mistakes just like weighing me down. And I went into my room, and I knelt down next to my bed, and I just prayed, asking the Lord to be with me. And then I just felt all those emotions.

I asked for the Lord to be with me so that I could feel his love, even in the midst of feeling any guilt, any shame, any fear, and all of that self doubt. I asked for the Lord to help me to feel his love. And as I allowed that part of myself to be seen and to be heard. that part of myself that questions, how can I do this?

I felt the [00:42:00] Lord’s love overcome me,

and he helped me to be able to process those emotions and release them.

We are not alone in our efforts to be a light.

The Lord is there with us and he will help us in those moments when we are weighed down with that self doubt, we’re frozen with fear

and he will help us if we allow him to, to feel his love

to let go of those emotions. and hand them over to Him, and He does make our burdens lighter.

 So allow Him to be there with you, and imagine what can happen as you truly embrace your divine identity, allowing yourself to trust in the Lord with all your heart, leaning not unto your own understanding. [00:43:00] Having him direct your paths, allowing his light to not only shine in you, but through.

Imagine how we can come together as children of God and children of the covenant. Having the light and hope and strength that we can bring to this world. We are not alone. God is with us. He sees the divine within us. He believes in us. And we can believe and embrace that too. Together we can light the world.

So here is one small and simple action that you can do today. Write down three reasons why being a child of God is important to you. Hold on to those reasons as you go out and take action. You are of worth. [00:44:00] You have a purpose. The Lord loves you, and I will see you next time as we talk more about divine worth and potential.

To learn more about your divine worth and potential, you can download some free scripture cards focused on your 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.