Ep 47 Divine Worth Podcast: God First Believed in Me

Karen Papin: [00:00:00]

Welcome to the Divine Worth Podcast, where we are letting go of our self-doubt, anxiety, fear, 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 and potential.

Welcome to the Divine Worth Podcast today. I wanna start by asking, have you ever felt like God is calling you to something that has meant for someone else or that someone more qualified, more confident, or just more everything, would be better suited for what you are being asked to do? I completely understand.

I have had quite a few moments where I felt completely unqualified or there was no way that this was meant for, something meant for me or overwhelmed by the enormity of the task before me. And yet [00:01:00] God believed in me and I learned how to put my faith and trust in him, and because of that. I was able to then take the steps forward that I needed to take. A clear example of this that I may have already shared on the podcast before is learning to speak. In this case to a group of people.

It was something that was extremely difficult for me. I remember times where I really struggled to be able to get any words out, but as I developed a relationship with my Heavenly Father and I came to learn and understand how he supports us. And how he can strengthen us and how he can help us to overcome our weaknesses.

As I came to better understand those things, [00:02:00] then when I did put my faith and trusted him, and I got up there to speak, say a little prayer, heavenly Father, please help me to be able to do this. And then I opened my mouth and I felt peace. I have seen that time and time again, and there are still times that I experience this fear or this doubt that I don’t think I’m the best person qualified for this or I am in over my head or I don’t know how to handle this problem.

There are still times that I feel that way, so I’m gonna walk you through some things that help me to be able to overcome those doubts and fears.

So [00:03:00] self-doubt is something that we all experience. Many of us have these thoughts in our minds that say, who am I to do this? Someone else could do it better. I am not enough. I don’t know what I’m doing. This is meant for others and not me. This can show up in lots of different ways. It can show up as a mom, like maybe you don’t feel like you know how to help your kids to, through the different challenges that they are facing. Maybe you are receiving a new calling that you feel like you just don’t have the skills or the time or the courage to be able to fulfill that calling. Or maybe you are asked [00:04:00] to share your testimony on social media and share about Christ there but are afraid of what your friends and family will think or maybe you struggle to know how to express yourself. Whatever it is that the Lord is calling you to or is asking you to do, you have the capacity. You have the capability to be able to do it. He believes in you.

I am where I am today because God first believed in me and I thought, if he sees this as something I can do, then I’m gonna trust in him and have faith in him and lean not onto my own understanding, and then I could take just the next right step. So these thoughts of who am [00:05:00] I to do this?

Someone else can do it better. I’m not enough. This is meant for others, not me. Those thoughts. Don’t just stay in your mind. They shape what happens next. Because if you see yourself as not being capable, then it brings in those thoughts, right? And what you say about yourself, whether you’re aware of it or it’s in your subconscious, it affects how you feel and how you feel then affects what you do.

And the more that you go through this process of see, say, feel, do, the more that you become. So it ultimately does affect who you end up becoming. So the hope here is that, and when I say hope, I don’t mean like, oh, I hope that’ll happen. Like with that sense of doubt, hope is a [00:06:00] belief that something good is gonna happen.

So in this case, the hope here is Asurity. It’s like we have this beautiful hope that we can turn things around, that we can overcome, and we have that because we have the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in our lives.

And so here’s the hope and the truth. If fear can shape your life. So can faith. We have been given not only the atonement, which helps us to be able to repent and to be able to change and grow and all these wonderful, amazing things, right? Not only have we been given that gift, but we’ve also been given the gift of agency, which helps us to be able to intentionally choose the path that we want to [00:07:00] take.

And so let’s go ahead and take that creation cycle and turn it around to be one of faith. So in this case, let’s trust in God’s vision of who we are. Let us embrace who God sees in us. Let us change the way that we see ourselves. And this isn’t about seeing the entire plan. Okay. Sometimes that can be a little overwhelming.

If Heavenly Father, like for me, if Heavenly Father asked me when I was a teenager or to do the put on the Divine Worth Summit, that, that would’ve been super overwhelming for me, right? It was a step-by-step process of helping me to be able to learn how to use my voice. Over a period of time and all I needed to know was just that next step, just the [00:08:00] next step of reading my scriptures and helping me to better understand how the Lord helps us, or the next step of just accepting the call to speak and then the next step of preparing my talk.

And then the next step of having my talk right there in front of me and saying that prayer, heavenly Father, I need th help. Help me to be able to open my mouth and speak. And then from there the next step of opening my mouth and speak. It was a step by step process. And so when I am talking about trusting in God’s vision of who you are, and it starts to feel overwhelming.

Because you either don’t see that in yourself yet, or because it just seems so farfetched, just focus on the next step and trust that [00:09:00] God can help you in just the next step. So here we are learning to trust in something that we cannot yet see.

Heavenly Father will give you glimpses of who you are becoming, and it’s not even of who you are becoming. It’s actually something that is already within you that you just need to grow and develop. Because we do have those God-given traits within us. We have. His spiritual DNA. And so if there’s something that we wanna grow and we want to develop as we do so with the Lord, he can help us to nurture that and help it to grow.

And so the first step is really starting to put your faith and your [00:10:00] trust in that vision of who God sees in you. And there’s so many people in the scriptures who did just this. And sometimes we look at those examples of those people, and we just see the amazing things that they did.

And kind of gloss over the fact that they actually did struggle. There was some doubt there, and yet they turned things around and decided, intentionally chose, they intentionally used their agency and chose to trust in God’s view of who they could be. So I wanna share with you a few of those examples.

The first one is Moses in Exodus chapter four,

here the Lord is calling Moses to be the prophet, and Moses is having a hard time accepting [00:11:00] it and the Lord. Knows Moses, like he understands that Moses is gonna have this hard time accepting it. And so he is actually giving Moses these signs and like casting a rod on the ground and it becoming a serpent, right?

And so the Lord’s like telling him, look at the power that we have available to. Us here. Look at the power that you have available to you as you put your faith and trust in me. And and there’s like this russell that goes on within Moses and he says in verse 10 I am not eloquent. Neither hereto, heretofore, nor since now has spoken unru thy servant.

But I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue. It’s like here, the Lord saying, oh, look at these great things that we can do, [00:12:00] these great things that you can do if you put your faith and trust in me. And Moses is just focused in on his inadequacies and his weaknesses, and the Lord says, un unto him who had made man’s mouth or who maketh the dumb or death or the seeing or the blind have not I the Lord now therefore go and I will be thy mouth and teach the what thou shal say and still. Okay. And so the Lord saying, look, I can help you with this. I can help you with this and still Moses is struggling with it. It’s not easy to accept something so big.

Right. And so there is like the step-by-step process that mo that the Lord’s kind of taken him through. And it actually says, and so they kind of go back and forth for a little bit and they come up with this plan for Moses to feel more comfortable [00:13:00] taking on this calling. And so there is the struggle here.

And then we know that Moses goes on and he does some pretty difficult, courageous things and continually going to Pharaoh and asking to let his people go and then bringing in those consequences. And then we know later on that he goes and he parts the Red Sea, which seems so absolutely miraculous to us.

Right? So there’s all these things that Moses ends up doing because he accepts the Lord’s vision of who he can’t become. But he did struggle with it a lot in the beginning.

And so we are not alone in our struggles. That does not mean and what I love about Moses’s story is that the Lord did not give up on him. We know from Elder Kieran’s talk a [00:14:00] few conferences ago that God is in relentless pursuit of us, so he keeps trying. He keeps trying to help us even when we struggle , to be able to see what we are capable of.

Keep working on it though. Keep working on overcoming that self-doubt and that fear and keep refocusing on the Lord. Another example of this struggle in accepting. God’s vision and the Lord really being able to help turn those weaknesses into strengths is in either chapter 12, and I love reading Moroni’s words and how real and applicable they are. US. It says in either chapter 12 verse 24, and thou has made us that we could write, but [00:15:00] little because of the awkwardness of our hands, behold thou has not made us mighty.

And writing like unto the brother Jared, for thou made us him that the things which he wrote were mighty, even as thou are unto the overpowering of man to read them. Thou ha. Verse 25. Thou has also made our words powerful and great, even though we cannot write them. Wherefore when we write, we behold our weakness and stumble because of the placing of our words.

And I fear less. A gentes shown mock at our words,

and the Lord says unto Morani. Fools mock, but they shall Lauren And my grace is sufficient for the meek that they shall take no advantage of your weakness. And if men and come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble. And my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me.

For if they humble [00:16:00] themselves before me and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become stronger to.

And then in verse 29 it says, and I Moroni, having heard these words, was comforted and said, oh Lord, thy righteous will be done. Moroni is struggling with writing and with me, I to write down the words that he is called to write about.

And he is open and honest with the Lord about this. And the Lord gives him strength and he actually tells him that yeah, if we come unto him, we are going to see our weaknesses and those are gonna help us to turn to him, to, it helps us to be humble. And when [00:17:00] we are humble, we are connecting. Desiring and seeking that connection with our Heavenly Father.

And as we do that, he does make our weaknesses become strong. And so I love Mor i’s story because once again is an example of someone who struggled, who had that self-doubt. And yet he once again, and yet he intentionally chose to put his faith and trust in the Lord

 and his writings are powerful.

Let’s look at some examples of women within the scriptures who offer also. Did not see God’s vision of who they were, and yet they, oh, they put their trust in him.[00:18:00]

Our first one that I’ll share is in Esther chapter four, and we know the story of Esther. She became queen. Well, she went through some pretty hard experiences first. Being an orphan and then being taken into the king’s palace and becoming Queen and hear her people.

Were essentially going to be exterminated.

And so this man that raised her sends a message to her and is telling her, you need to do something. Our people are gonna be destroyed if you do not do something. And Esther sends a message

back to him. It says, all the king servants and the people of the king’s provinces do know that whosoever whether man or woman shall come unto the [00:19:00] king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter that he may live.

But I have not been called to come in unto the king these 30 days. So here Mordecai is telling us, sir, hey, you need to do something. and yet Esther she’s seeing the things that make it seemingly impossible for her to be able to do this divine calling that she has been given.

And so Mordecai answers back to Esther

Who knoweth whether thou come to the kingdom for such a time as this. And then Esther says, okay, go ahead and fast for me and have everyone fast for [00:20:00] me, and give me three days to prepare, and I will go in to the king, and if I perish, I perish.

Esther made that decision to put her faith and trust in the Lord and in his vision of who she could become regardless of the consequences.

 All right. And then the last example that I’ll share at least today about people who

struggled to be able to see the Lord’s vision of who they could be is in Luke chapter one, and it’s Mary. The mother of the Savior, and these words that the angel says to her is beautiful. He says, behold thou that are highly favored. The Lord is with the [00:21:00] blessed art thou among women, and here is her response.

And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

Okay. She was confused. It’s like, why are you telling me this? Right? And then the angel said unto her, fear not Mary. For thou has found favor with God and behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest.

And then there’s a little more back and forth with Mary and the angel to where the angel tells her for with God nothing is impossible And then Mary accepts.

Chooses to believe and [00:22:00] says, behold the handmade of the Lord. Be it unto me, according to thy word,

how thankful I am that Mary accepted her call

Did she before that experience know what was gonna be asked for? No, she didn’t. And she probably did not fully comprehend everything that raising a child, especially the savior of the world, would entail. But she put her faith and trust in all Lord. She a high glimpse of who she could be as the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So ask yourself, what might God already see in me that I don’t see in myself?[00:23:00]

And then intentionally choose to put your faith and trust in that vision. Of who God has for you

and focus just on that next right step to take

and one of the beautiful things about this is it’s not just about us. He like, yes, we learn and we grow in the process, but this is about serving God’s children.

And so if you are struggling to see the amazing capabilities that you have, and if you are struggling to be able to accept those promptings from the Lord. Whether it be in your family or in the church or in the community,

the more that you follow and give heed to those promptings, the more you can bless the lives of others, the more that others [00:24:00] will be able to receive strength and light. And so if you’re struggling to do it for yourself. Do it for them and focus on why it’s important for you to follow in the Lord’s vision of who you can be.

 So what we’re doing here is getting a glimpse of who you can be. Is changing the way that you see about yourself. And as Alma says, we are nurturing that seed. Now how do we go from just planting that de seed that seed and just having that small little particle of faith in it? Then we need to nurture it.

We need to focus on what, what we are telling ourselves. And so the next thing to do is to take a new thought pattern

and so [00:25:00] when you start to have those feelings of doubt or fear and those thoughts of who am I to do this? Or I am just in over my head here, or maybe someone else would be better qualified for this, or I. Do not have the knowledge or skills that I need. When these start, thoughts start to come in, or you start to have those feelings, then pay attention to what thoughts are coming in, and then intentionally choose to think differently, to reframe those thoughts, to choose to believe a different thought.

’cause thoughts. It’s just a thought, like we do not have to listen to the thoughts in our head. We can actually intentionally choose, you know what? I’d rather believe this. And so the more often you go through this process of recognizing, oh, I’m having [00:26:00] this thought of who am I to do this? I’m not enough.

Then you can replace that thought and say, actually. The Lord believes in me and because he believes in me and I know that through him, nothing is impossible. I am gonna trust in Him

 for know that he will prepare a way from me to accomplish the things that he has asked of me. Just like Nephi in Nephi 1 3 7,

 the Lord prepares a way.

So when those thoughts come. Ask yourself, what would I rather think? And reframe the thought into one that helps you to believe in what God is asking you to do.

There are times that I struggle with knowing how to help my kids in the different trials that they have. And when those thoughts of doubt or [00:27:00] wondering, okay, maybe if I were like more like so and so I’d be able to help them out more.

When those thoughts of self-doubt start to come in my mind, reframing those thoughts helps me. And so if I stop and I allow myself to get curious in that moment and think, okay, so I’m feeling this discontent here. I’m feeling like I’m feeling inadequate. Why is that? What are the thoughts I’m having?

And then from there I can say, you know what?

I may not have all the answers, but I can learn and I can study and I can turn to the Lord. And there is such power in turning to the Lord there. One thing that I’ve learned from from one of my coaches is just the power of being still and listening in prayer and [00:28:00] just at praying for with one question on your mind.

And so what he would do is he would have me talk to me about what was going on and then have me come up with a very specific question that I wanted answered, and then he would give me that space to pray right there in the coaching session. He would give me that space to just pray and I would pray. And I would ask my question, and then the thoughts would come, and then the answers would come, and I would just start writing down whatever came to my mind, and I felt the Lord there with me help me to receive the answers, the revelation that I needed during that time and sometimes.

Things do take a little bit longer in receiving answers. You know more than you think,[00:29:00]

and you can put in the effort to try this out or try that out. And the more that we are acting in faith, taking those small and simple steps for it, even if it’s just the next right step. The Lord will guide us.

So after you have come up with a new thought that you want to embrace,

in my case,

the Lord is asking this of me the Lord believes in me and with him, nothing is impossible. Then allow yourself to feel the truth of those thoughts.

It’s not just a matter of, okay, I have my thought. Let’s move on. It is a matter of actually [00:30:00] taking the time to really allow yourself to feel, oh, this is true.

 So just pause for a moment. Close your eyes and imagine the savior there and he’s looking at you not with disappointment, but with delight and with hope, and with belief and with love. Feel what he feels about you.

Confidence and love and trust. Allow yourself to receive it

 and ask yourself, what if I actually let myself feel worthy of God’s trust?

 How would I show up differently if I truly embrace this love and this trust and what [00:31:00] my heavenly father feels about me? And then from there, from feeling that love and that trust. Then you take an action, and it may be a small action, it may be a bigger action, but whether it is small or big or somewhere in between, celebrate it.

 Maybe it is send a quick message to a friend that you’ve been thinking about. Maybe it is. Maybe it is just reading the scriptures, reading Mary’s story so that you can believe more in this process of trusting in the Lord and then seeing how he helped her. Nephi is another great example. He continually put his trust and [00:32:00] faith in the Lord and went and did, and the Lord provided for him, and it wasn’t an easy process either.

He had to try a few different things in order to succeed. That Heavenly Father had for him, but it was a learning process for him and his faith grew because he did not give up. And likewise, your faith can grow as you do not give up, as you continually put your faith and trust in the Lord and in his vision of who you can become.

And the more that you focus on seeing that vision and saying to yourself the new thoughts that you are committing to and taking that time. To feel the truth of them. And the more that you take those small and simple steps of faith, the more great things [00:33:00] can happen and you will become who God sees in you.

This whole process is not about doing everything exactly right. It is about aligning yourself with that vision of who God sees in you. It’s not about being perfect. It is about the process of learning how to train your mind to see who God sees, and then taking action on that vision.

 Doesn’t matter where you are on your journey, the Lord sees you as someone capable, as someone who can get through this as someone who can come through on the other side, and so intentionally choose to [00:34:00] see what God sees in you. Intentionally choose to choose faith over fear and self doubt because you are more capable than you realize, and you have My father believes in you and I believe in you, and it’s time for you to believe in yourself. If this episode stirs something within you and you are tired of letting self-doubt really keep you from stepping into those divine roles that God has for you, then I wanna invite you to my fear to faith program that is focused on really embracing your divine confidence in what God sees in you. And, you can check that out at karenpapin.com/coaching and through that program you can identify some of those fears and self-doubt and those thoughts that are keeping you from really stepping into those roles that God [00:35:00] has for you. Learning how to reframe them and, process that is focused on your divine identity and spiritual truths and scriptures

you do not need to wait. Until you feel more ready. God is ready now and you can intentionally choose now to be able to start living as the person that God already sees within you. You are seen, you are called, and even when you don’t believe in yourself, God does. Let his belief in you be the beginning of your belief in yourself.

Thanks for being here on the Divine Worth Podcast. You are not alone in this journey of going from fear and self-doubt [00:36:00] to faith and confidence, and so let’s keep walking this journey together as we continually embrace our divine worth and potential.

Okay. Really quick, before getting off this podcast, I do wanna let you know about something that’s not actually happening until October, and that is the Divine Worth Summit and it is all about. What we’ve been talking about today, it is about seeing what God sees in you. So if this is something that you are interested in , you can get on the waiting list now at karen papin.com/summit.

And Karen Papin is K-A-R-E-N-P-A-P-I n.com/summit. And you can go ahead and learn more about it there and then sign up for the waiting list. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast today, and I hope you know that the Lord [00:37:00] loves you. I see you next time on the Divine Worth Podcast.

Karen Papin:

If you have found this podcast to be a light, please share it with others and leave a [00:25:00] 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 the Divine Worth Journal by Karen Papin, or through the link in the show notes 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.