Connecting Scripture & Self Development

In this episode, listen in on a conversation I had with my friend Whitney Vance on how deeply connected our faith journey can be to our self development work.  

Power thoughts from scripture can be in harmony with self help practices when we are aware and intentional.  

Links 

• Join Kelly's Group Coaching Program
• Connect with Whitney Vance
• Gabby Bernstein

Let's connect.

I am cheering for you!

Transcript

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Hey friends, for the next few days, I'm gonna be sharing some of the messages I once preached as a pastor and some thoughts I've had with my friend Whitney Vance, about the power of power thoughts, whether they come from scripture or from thought leaders like Gabby Bernstein. I hope you like this week of new content. Welcome to the Live A Vibrant Life podcast. Each week I'll be here to encourage and equip you with the tools you need to grow in self-awareness and invest your best energy in your dreams and your purpose. I believe self-awareness changes everything. Let's get started. I'm Whitney Vance and I am Kelly Tibbitts We have a heart for, people truly aligning with who they were meant to be, what their purpose is, dropping all the limiting beliefs in the baggage of society and what they tell us is normal. We Found a lot of overlap between manifesting and scripture. Having conversations about those things is what we hope we get to do every week. I am Kelly I live in New Hampshire. I'm a mom of three grown amazing women. Been married to my husband for 30 years, and I used to be a pastor. I'm Whitney and I live, in, Oklahoma. I am a mom of three kids. Two girls and one boy. I homeschool them. I have a degree in counseling. I have been running and owning and doing entrepreneurship and business for years now. We think that God through Christ and scripture still speaks to us today. We're learning in self-improvement and self-awareness, practices, and also meditative practices. I need to be clear on that because I was a pastor. I know there are people who are gonna assume that I'm coming from sort of this Christian national stance, which I wanna be really clear. I am not. I think there's a beautiful place that is in between the right and the left. Leaning left of the middle. Gabby Bernstein cards have been connecting with me and every single card I've pulled over the last week, also connected deeply with a scripture. One of the things I've been doing is after I find my Gabby card of the day, using my intuition to pick it, I find there's one word that rises to the top from that card. There's just been an amazing amount of overlap. Do you ever notice that in your own life where there's, you see something in one place and then it's kind of everywhere? Of course. Absolutely. I think that's how we get messages. I think that's how we like recenter ourselves. Anything come to mind when you think about that something new or just something from a while ago that kind of centered you and is a strength for you? I. I keep, getting the, message of, trust trusting him. Everything's gonna work out. He already has it planned. He's had everything planned from, day one of me being here and to just trust. That was one of my words. How convenient. When I act and live from a place of spiritual alignment, I can trust everything is working out for me, even if I don't know when or how it will happen. That's why we wanted to do a podcast because one, we were looking for this, someone who could take both sides of the scripture and this manifesting world of self-development that you and I are both really compelled to learn in and see the overlap. And we kept noticing that there was not two different things, but there was this connection. Yeah. You had some thoughts last week when we were talking about starting this. Manifesting and the Bible, what do you think about those two things? Are they different? Is there a way that they connect? I, I think that they connect. I think that, if you listen to the rhetoric of the, the far right or, you know, just all the way universe, you know, far out there left, I think that they make it sound like they don't connect. However, I think that they do connect. I think that he asked us to ask for what we want. And by him, do you mean Christ? Like, yes. Like he asks us to manifest, to call out to, to speak into what we want. And I think when we do that, we always are doing that from a place that starts from within our center and in our heart. for me, that's where he is. Like he is inside of me in my heart and in my spirit. So whenever I am having an idea or, or wanting to manifest this, whatever it is, I believe that it came from him first. Yes. That's what I would say too. I feel like God triune is spirit creator Christ. There's this, unity, triune connection. Yeah. Father, son spirit is how most people say it. I do think God is more than some kind of male entity. I think one thing that doesn't serve us to put God into a human form. I love Richard Rohr and he calls God universal Christ. For this week, I just got these cards from Gabby Bernstein. I went to see her live in Boston. Mm-hmm. And I've never been somebody who picks cards, but in January I did her virtual summit and looked forward every morning to, virtually picking a card. So I decided to buy the actual physical cards and instantly felt this deep connection and was excited to talk about them. The first one that I picked said, I'm kind and loving towards others when creating clear boundaries that protect my good. Feelings, my emotions. Mm-hmm. When my kids were little, we had a family verse, and it was from the book of Ephesians said, be kind and loving to one another, forgiving one another as Christ forgave you. When I opened my cards and saw the first four words where I am kind and loving, it felt so true and real. I'm feeling that same feeling right now. The second part of this said, while creating clear boundaries. I discovered Dr. Henry Cloud and Boundaries back in around 2003. My life was transformed. I was such a people pleaser. That meant I constantly lied to myself so that other people would be happy. Yeah. Discovering boundaries has transformed me. So to see all those words in one card felt so much alignment. Yeah. Any thoughts about being kind and loving towards others while creating boundaries? I'll tell you, there's somebody who thinks this is very ungodly to have boundaries. So I don't know what you think about the idea of having boundaries and being kind and loving. I too have been a known people pleaser in my past. I have put everybody in front of me, before myself. I don't think that's what we're asked to do. We are supposed to honor ourselves. If we don't have boundaries, if we're putting everybody else first, we're not using the vessel that he gave us to, you know, use. We're not living the purpose that he sent us here to live. I think that boundaries are imperative. If he wanted us to just give and be in, everybody else's business and be, their helper or their savior or or whatever why did he need to send us here? Right? He needs us here for a reason and a purpose for us to do what it is that he is calling us to do. So I think that boundaries are key. And then of course, kindness. Kindness, like to others and yourself. I think that is probably one of the. Biggest, key factors in making sure that you're owning and staying in alignment with yourself and your mission, your purpose. You can't not be kind to yourself and you can't not be kind to others and be living a fruitful life. Right. No, I think, but unfortunately, I think it's really possible to grow up in the church. Yes. And be told over and over again, it's Jesus first and yourself last, and others in between. And not having, you know, any clarity, especially as a female, that it is important. It's imperative, as you said, to start with yourself. Are you being kind and loving? When Jesus was here, he said, here are the two big commandments. There's so many important things, but here's the priority. Love God with your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strengths. You can't be mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, exhausted, and be able to love God. You can't, and then love your neighbor as yourself. So if you take that sentence apart, it starts with you. Yes. Are you loving yourself? Are you kind and loving to yourself? And do you even know what it feels like to have those kind of feelings that energize you? And so we met in the program of a coach we both enjoyed and having a group of people together and the music would come on and you'd dance and you'd sing, and then we'd have some meditation time and it felt good. My body. It felt good in my mind, it felt good in my spirit. And I think that's what Christ meant when he said, Jesus said, I came here, that you would have a life and it'd be more abundant. So that starts with boundaries. Yes. I can't do everything. Jesus didn't do everything. Jesus disappointed people. They wanted him to do A and he did B'cause he was doing the father's world. So that was my first one and it made me smile and I thought, yes, this is something I wanna have a conversation on. I wanted to end with a little bit of scripture. I'm gonna just read a little bit of Psalm 119 as a blessing Psalm 119 is very long, so I'm not gonna read nearly anything. I'm just gonna read a couple of verses it says, blessed are those whose ways are blameless and who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. That's what I think you and I are trying to do. We're looking to scripture. We're saying, Hey, what is it that Christ said would serve us as people made in the image of God? And when we do that, there's blessings. Mm-hmm. So that's how I wanted to end today. If you don't currently have a way to look at scripture easily, I really love the Bible app. I think it's great. You can look at it on your phone. You can, and then different languages. Yeah, and you can go through all the different versions really easily. And I also really love the Book of Common Prayer app. What that does is it takes the day and sets it into four different parts, morning, afternoon, evening, and bedtime. You can just scroll through. I wouldn't say you have to go through every single word, but it has prayers already written out. Mm-hmm. It has, bits of scripture for you to study. Those are two ways that I feel like if you're looking to align and connect those are two resources that I offer you. I hope our time together encourage you and will equip you with the tools you need to move into the vibrant life you desire. I'm here to help you live a brave, creative, purpose-filled life. And if you'd like to learn more. You can follow me on Instagram or Facebook, Kelly Tibbitts, Life coach, or visit my website kellytibbits.com and look forward to connecting again soon.