The Reconnect with Carmen LaBerge - Teens using chat bots for emotional support – Adam Holz | Inviting God to be Lord over our health and fitness journey – Kim Dolan Leto

0:00In epic four-part audio podcast series, the Christ, Father, forgive them. It's the greatest story ever told. He is the light, the true light. Here in an all-new way. The tomb is empty. The Christ, wherever you listen to podcasts. Welcome to The Reconnect with Carmen LeBurg. We are applying the mind of Christ to the matters of the day so that you can connect the eternal with the everyday and get ready to head out into the world that God so loves in ways that honor Jesus. So let's get started. This is The Reconnect. Encouraging you to live as an ambassador of God's Kingdom in the world. This is The Reconnect with Carmen LeBurg on Faith Radio. If we're gonna fly, we fly like Kigos on a spell by. If we're gonna fear we fear no evil, we will rise.

1:00Firepower, we will go, by a spirit we are born. If we're gonna stop, we stand as shines. If we're gonna walk, we walk as light. We are really fun first hour of The Reconnect today. And if you missed it, it's one you're gonna want to listen to. We just had a conversation with a young Christian, well, a young guy who is a Christian, his name is Brandon. And let me just tell you that it encourages my heart, right? We all know that the Christian faith is always, always one generation away, right? Like extinction. Like if we do not transmit the gospel generation to generation, if the emerging generation or the now generation doesn't embrace the faith and carry it forward with a redemptive worldview, that is how this faith is shared.

2:02And so I was so encouraged and I hope you were encouraged as well. And so if you missed that, you could grab the podcast, wherever you get your podcast, you should be subscribed to The Reconnect with Carmen LeBurg. Or you could go over to YouTube and you could subscribe there. So there is an at The Reconnect with Carmen LeBurg YouTube channel. And that, I think, is the easiest way to share the podcast with other people because then it doesn't matter what platform they're on. Anyway, now I want to talk about loud kids. Do you have a loud kid? Do you know a family who has a loud kid? Your church may not have a formal loud kid policy, but you need one. You need one because the default response to loud kids and to families with loud kids really does need to change. So we say, like right, you say this, I know you do, because we all say it. We say we want more families in the church.

3:06We want unchurched families in the church. But guess what? Unchurched families who come to church have loud kids. Families that aren't in church aren't in church in some part because they have loud kids. And so you have to ask yourself, do we want their loud kids? Well, one church recently distributed a formal, I think tongue in cheek, but a formal, quote, loud kid policy. And it's got a lot of people talking, and so I just thought we would talk a little bit about it today. It's the Mount Washington Church, and here is their official release, the notification of a policy change effective immediately. At Mount Washington Church, we are committed to transparency and accountability in all matters of church life. The following document outlines our comprehensive procedures regarding loud children in worship. Please consider this your official notice of policy clarification. Effective immediately, if a family is considering visiting Mount Washington Church and they have a loud kid, the following options are available.

4:12Option one, the family should bring the kid. Option two, the family should make sure they bring the kid. Option three, the family is to see that the child is brought to church. Option four, the kid is absolutely welcome and expected in our church. We believe the sound of children in worship is not a distraction, it's evidence of life, growth, and the future of the church. If your child makes noise, you're not bothering us, you're blessing us. This policy is hereby enacted with no exceptions. Now, this loud kid policy has been amplified in articles in the New York Times. Tim Carney, who is a suburban dad of six, just outside of Washington DC, he's a columnist at the Washington Examiner and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He's also a brother in Christ. This made me recall his book from a couple of years ago called Family Unfriendly. How our culture made raising kids much harder than it needs to be.

5:12And in there, he does talk a little bit about the church. He says the quiet parts out loud. And he celebrates in his own local congregation what he describes as a family-friendly subculture. There's lots of places in the culture where families, particularly large families like his, did I mention he's the dad of six, aren't really welcome. People look sideways at them. But in the church, his six kids are celebrated, his family of eight is celebrated. Are we celebrating families? Do we have a family-friendly subculture in our church? Instead of complaining that on Sunday morning, you can't hear your kid reading something from the front because the baby behind you is babbling and cuing, do you celebrate? Do you choose to smile and receive the blessing that God has sent? Children are a blessing from the Lord. Do you believe that? It says it in the Bible. Even the loud ones. So I just want to suggest today that having visible, audible children in worship is a good thing.

6:19Fostering a family-friendly subculture in your local church? It's not just good for the church, it's good for the family, it's good for the kids, it's good for us. Jesus isn't just interested in the quiet kids. He doesn't want just the kids who, you know, quote, know how to behave themselves. Jesus wants the mischievous, loud, rambunctious, strong, willed, neurodivergent kids. And he wants them in worship. Does your church need an official, loud kid policy? Because trust me, you have one that's functioning. Written down or not. And maybe it's time to reconsider. Who's really welcome? Who's really wanted? Who's really accommodated in our local churches?

7:22Our friend Adam Holtz from Focus on the Family's Plugged in is going to join us next. I don't know if he has loud kids. I don't know if he was a loud kid. But yeah, we'll start there. You're listening to The Reconnect. Easter is coming and things are hopping. We're going to talk about Pixar's hoppers with our friend Adam Holtz, who's joining us from Focus on the Family's Plugged in. Hey Adam. Hey Carmen. Were you, were you a loud kid? Or did you have a kid who was a loud kid? Yes, yes, all of the above. And it's further complicated that, you know, by the fact that we're a pastor's family. So there are extra... It was going to... They're extra special... It's the pastor's kid that's being loud. So, literally, I could talk about this with you the entire segment. But our two girls especially love to do essentially gymnastics. You know, cartwheels and tumbling in the big area outside our fellowship hall.

8:28And we had an older, relatively wealthy congregation. And more than once, we were criticized for not having our kids under control. Which is sort of a parallel thing with the loud conversation. And I think there's a tension between being respectful of other people and letting your kids be who they are. And so I think we always tried to watch out for, okay, we don't want our kids running into people. We don't want our kids being obnoxious, right? But if 90% of the people have left already and a few people are trickling out, and our girls are doing cartwheels in a space that's, you know, 100 by 100 feet, they're not hurting anybody. And so we let them. And there were people who are critical of us for that. And so the other thing I would say is, and I say this sort of tongue and cheek, but sort of not,

9:28in the same way that this, you know, this thing you talked about did, what about loud adults? Because there are a lot of people who are loud for different reasons. Maybe they're loud personalities, they're talkative, they interrupt, maybe they're neurodivergent, maybe they have never been in church, and they don't know what the rules are. So I think the conversation extends beyond children to people who don't fit our typical church culture for whatever reason. And I think it's easy to sort of internalize the norms of how we think people should behave in church, but there are a whole bunch of people who maybe have never stepped foot in a church in their life. They don't know what those rules are. And so we need to extend grace and love to them as well. Yeah, and maybe they heard we're supposed to make a joyful noise to the Lord. Right. I mean, maybe they heard that David was dancing in praise of the Lord.

10:28Like they heard those things. Those things came from the Bible, and they're like, huh? This is not like that. They heard Jesus like rode through the scene on a donkey. Like they're like, huh, I wonder what church is going to be like. Yeah. Yeah, you know, we had a guy at a church that I went to once who he would dance wildly during worship. And again, it's, you know, it's the orderly worship thing at the point of which you're becoming a real distraction to somebody that, but that's a subjective thing, right? And our pastor was very gracious. You know, he really just kind of let this guy do this. And it was always sort of fun to watch people try to figure out how to respond to his effervescence. And yeah, I mean, there's so many, like I said, we could talk about this the whole time, but I'll leave it there. Yeah. Let's do Pixar's hoppers.

11:30Yes. Pixar's hoppers. So Pixar is back. And you might think with a title like Hoppers that this is an Easter movie about rabbits. You might. Unfortunately, you would be wrong. Or maybe not. Unfortunately, you would just be wrong. So Hoppers is about a young girl. She is about 19. And she is kind of environmentally minded. Her name is Mabel. And Mabel and her grandmother have enjoyed hanging out at a park. But now, wouldn't you know it? The mayor of their little town, Beaverton, wants to build an expressway through her favorite park. And Mabel is not having it. And so she begins a resistance movement to try to get the proposed road derailed if I can put it that way.

12:30And one of her arguments is what about the animals? And the mayor says there aren't any animals. It's a non-issue. And so because this is a Pixar movie, Mabel finds a group of scientists who have been working with robotic animals that they sort of project their consciousness into. And the movie doesn't spend a lot of time really exploring that. So that they can observe other animals. What better way to learn about animals than pretending to be one? Well, Mabel's like, yeah, I can use that. And so she projects herself into a beaver and basically organizes an animal strike against the humans now. Where things go awry is that Mabel simply wants to stop this road from being built. But the animals are like, yeah, the humans are jerks, the humans are selfish. Let's go get them. And it sort of becomes this interspecies war. This movie is an odd kettle of fish, honestly.

13:33As Pixar movies go, it's mid-tier. I don't think it's going to be a top remembered offering. It's not going to dethrone any of your favorite Pixar movies from Toy Story to Wally to, you know, you just go down the list from there finding Nemo, the Incredibles. This is not that movie. I also think that we, well, I'll speak for myself. I'm not crazy about just heavy-handed messages about anything. And the heavy-handed anti-human environmental message here is pretty hard to miss. So I don't know. It feels like it just feels like a miss to me. And I think if you don't like being preached at, probably this movie might be one that you say, maybe not. Yeah. So let's do, let's open up the on the radar. So if you're listening right now and you're like, what is on the radar?

14:36Well, it is a, it's weekly, is it not? It is. It's a weekly newsletter. Yeah. And let me just tell you, it gives us like the greatest insights into what's happening in the culture that are way outside of what most of us are paying attention to. So pick any subject matter on the radar this week and tell us about it. Yeah. And each week we have three stories and we know people's time is compressed. So the stories are short. It'll take you about 15 seconds to read each one of these three stories. But I think the one I want to focus on is teens using AI chatbots for emotional support. And there's a new study out by Pew Research Center that shows that 16% of teens today use artificial intelligence chatbots for casual conversation in 12% say they are getting emotional support or advice. And there are probably a broad spectrum of people out there listening.

15:36And my guess is you have a lot of people who have never even thought about engaging a chatbot like somebody you have a relationship with, right? And this is going to sound like science fiction. There are others who are technology adopters, you know, who have been on board since the beginning. And you have conversations of sort with your chatbot of choice all the time. And so what we're talking about here is adolescents who are using these sorts of things as a friend, as a counselor, as a confidant, and really developing an emotional relationship with something that ultimately is not real, even though it will communicate as if it is. And that's an emerging issue in our culture. And I think, man, this is where we're at and being aware that kids are relating that way. I think is the first step for us as parents, especially if we're not using the technology that way. Yeah, that's really good.

16:37A lot of great stuff this week on the radar, Instagram, parental notification, information in there as well. So check that out. We're happy to send you the link on the text line, 877-9332-484. Or you can find everything we're talking about at pluggedin.com. When we come back, Adam is going to tell us what are vertical dramas. I mean, you know, there's a lot of drama out there. What's a vertical drama? That's up next here on the ReConnect. When was the last time someone asked you to pray for them? When's the last time you asked someone to pray for you here at Faith Radio? We pray with and for you about the concerns in your life, and we share with you the concerns of others. We are a praying people. So we want to invite you to share your prayer request with us. Our team prays continually and intentionally once a week for the request that we receive.

17:38And so share your prayer request with Faith Radio by texting or calling 877-933-2484. You can share your prayer request with us, and you can be confident that we are praying for you. Alright, Adam Holtz is here from Focus on the Family's Plugged In, and we're going to talk about vertical dramas. But Adam, I wanted to read you in on something that came in on the check sign because I thought this was really insightful. And this is the idea that we've been sort of primed or prepared through the entertainment industry to engage AI chatbots for emotional support. This listener says, all the way back to lost in space, there was Robbie, the robot. And then more recently, in the Marvel Universe, you've got Jarvis.

18:38Jarvis, yes. With Iron Man, and Jarvis is an AI created by Tony Stark. So I just think that's interesting. Like we see characters engaging with AI for emotional support, and maybe that prepares us to do the same. I think that's an interesting observation. It's a great observation. Totally agree with that. Alright, vertical dramas. What is a vertical drama? Yes. So they're called vertical dramas because you watch them on your phone. And these are 90-minute-ish, basically mini soap operas that are divided up into one to three-minute episodes. So this is basically, we've taken TV in movies, and we have compressed the episodic nature of, I guess, TV more than movies, into, you know, 60 to 90 seconds. And you're telling a story with cliffhangers and characters very, very, very, very quickly.

19:41And this is increasingly popular enough that SAG after the Hollywood union that helps the, you know, people who are involved with the movies, they're beginning to regulate participation in this, which is sort of your indicator that this is a real thing. And I think it speaks to our completely obliterated attention spans that we now have, you know, a show with an episode that lasts 60 to 90 seconds. And I think it really is illustrative of an entire generation now that is coming of age, watching 10-second, you know, TikTok videos. We want the payoff, we want it immediately, and we do not have time to wait for slow, languid hour-long character development, none of that.

20:45If you're wondering right now, what kinds of titles might these vertical dramas have? Here's two, found a homeless billionaire husband for Christmas, and no escape from the Mafia Kings embrace. Yes, so, you know, there is some cheesy drama mixed in, and some of this stuff is self-aware, right? It understands what it is. So there is a meta degree of winking at us, at, you know, in the audience. But, but again, I think that there is so much competition for our attention. And the amount of content being produced is staggering, and yet much of that content in terms of its form is getting shorter and shorter and shorter, which I think reinforces the whole cycle of, I need more, but I'm not going to watch more than a couple minutes at a time.

21:47All right, interesting. All right, we have a range of things that we could turn our attention to right now, and so I want to do one bit of nice news. Could we do? Leonardo DiCaprio is quietly funding a branch of the LA Public Library. I found this curious and kind of fun. Yeah, he is financing the LA Public Library's Los Feliz Branch, and it is a facility located on the site of the actor's childhood home, and there are, you know, tributes to him in the Leonardo DiCaprio Computer Center. So there you go. If you think about your childhood home and where you grew up, and if one day that piece of land was like acquired by the county or whatever, and they decided to use it for a public library, kind of cool, if you're in a position to do so, to then be like, OK, I could fund that.

22:53Yeah, I think the things that people are quietly funding, I just think that's cool. And so I think anytime there's an opportunity to sort of give a hat tip to somebody who's sort of out there in the public eye, and we get a little glimpse or a little peek into just the good, whatever good thing it is that they're doing, I just want to sort of fan fan the flame of that. Yeah, I love that. Iranian diaspora filmmakers have been weighing in on the death of the Ayatollah. Yeah, you know, I feel like there's a lot to unpack here too, but that headline pretty much captures it. There are filmmakers who live in all sorts of places around the world, some in the United States, some in Europe, who are weighing in on the fact that the Ayatollah Kameini has been killed in the war that's happening right now. He's been in power since 1989.

23:54And confusingly, you know, his predecessor was also the Ayatollah Kameini. It was spelled a little bit differently. But for some of us, those are the only rulers that we have ever been aware of in Iran. And if you were somebody seeking artistic freedom to talk about your people and to tell your culture stories, you were not someone who that person was particularly interested in having the freedom to do that. So you had to flee the country. So there's a fairly remarkable and I would say widespread celebration of Ayatollah Kameini's death that maybe this can be a real tipping point for Iranian culture and those who have been filmmakers and storytellers who have felt, you know, that they had to leave. Maybe this is a new day for their culture and maybe even their ability to return to to their homeland.

24:58So article in the Hollywood Reporter unpacking that I thought I thought was fascinating just to hear that perspective on what's going on over there. Of all the things you might be celebrating today, Adam. Here are some today is today is world prayer day. Today is national employee appreciation day. It's the day of the dude. It's not every day of the day of the dude. That's what I was thinking. National spray tanning day. Dress in blue day, national Oreo cookie day, national speech and debate education day, and read across America day. So if you were going to participate in a read across America event and your assignment was from the Bible, what portion of the Bible would you be reading to us today in read across America? You know, at different times in my life, I have taken the day of the month.

26:04And if you start with the Psalm, so today is the six, so it would be Psalm six. And then you add 30 to that four times. So 36, 96, 126. I'm running out of math here. I think I missed one. 66. So you can read five Psalms a month and you get through all 150 chapters of Psalms every month. So I would start with Psalm six and then maybe move on to 36 and 66 and 96 and 126 and see what God had to say to you. I love that. All right, we're going to read Psalm six in read across a celebration, read across America day. Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint. Heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord? How long? Turn, Lord, and deliver me. Save me because of your unfailing love.

27:05Among the dead, no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave? I'm worn out from my groaning. All night long, I flood my bed with tears and drench my couch with weeping. My eyes grow weak with sorrow. They fail because of all my foes. Away from me, all you who do evil for the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish. They will turn back and suddenly be put to shame. The word of the Lord. Amen. Sometimes, Adam, I just feel like we we got to get into the word with each other. We got to make excuses to be reading the Bible even in public. And so I thought, well, today's read across America day. Let me find out what Adam would be reading. So I appreciate that. Hey, as always, brother, thank you so much. We love talking with you. You bet. Thank you. And I look forward to talking with you next week.

28:05Absolutely. Yeah, here's to all the loud kids. Right. And loud adults. We know who we are. And a lot of loud adults. All right. That's Adam Holtz from Focus on the Family's Plugged In. You can find a lot of what we talked about today at PluggedIn.com. Our friend Kim Dolan Leto joins us next from Fit God's Way. We're going to talk about why the enemy attacks Christian women through their body. Like there is a spiritual attack going on. That's up next here on the Reconnect. All right, friends, how does the enemy attack you? We know the enemy is always prowling around looking for a way in. What is the point of attack that the enemy would use for you? And if you're a woman, are there times and ways in which the enemy has attacked you through your body?

29:05Our friend Kim Dolan Leto is here with us from Fit God's Way. Kim, welcome back to the Reconnect. Thank you, Carmen. Good morning. I'm so happy to be here. Yeah. This is a reality for so many women. And so maybe talk about the inspiration or the concern you have or maybe the personal experience you have behind this particular struggle. Well, gosh, I feel like this is something that I deal with. And the word of God is the only thing that's been able to protect my heart and mind because I think we grow up with maybe group and diet culture like I did. I grew up in the 80s where everything was about basically starving yourself skinny. And I feel like that created this soundtrack in my mind that I wasn't enough. And the enemy just prays on this. And I think we need to understand as Christian women that this battle that we're facing, it's not even about what we eat and what we look like. It's not random.

30:07It's about the enemy trying to distract you from your calling because if he can make us think about what we look like all the time, he can derail us from the plans that God has for us. And our struggle isn't random. It's it's think about how we obsess about what we eat. We compare. We feel this pressure. We feel this guilt. And that feeling where your confidence rises and falls on what you look like. But we need to see really clearly. And I pray that this helps someone today get free that this battle is not physical. It's spiritual. And like you were saying about first Peter 5, 8, the enemy thrives in extremes. Like Carmen, think about diet culture is all extreme, right? Absolutely. Yes. Measure everything, control everything, perfect everything, your weight, your foods, your work out your appearance. So what does that do? It causes us to think our worth is tied to what we look like or how well we manage all of that. But this relationship is never the one God wanted us to have with our bodies. It's extreme.

31:16And if it's okay, I'd love to share first Peter 5, 8 from the amplify version. Please do. Okay. It says be sober, well balanced and self-disciplined, be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, fiercely hungry, seeking someone to devour. Notice the first instruction, be well balanced. The enemy thrives when we're not and he doesn't just need to destroy, he doesn't want to destroy our faith. I don't think he cares about that as much as just keeping us distracted and consumed with things so that we never fulfill the plan God has for us. So something we could easily do today is choose balance over extremes. This is godly living, this is doing it God's way. So today, friend, maybe before making any decision about food, exercise or your body, pause and ask, God is this balanced and let that scripture remind you that being well balanced is spiritual protection.

32:18Will you read it again because there's also language toward the end of that about the enemy being fiercely hungry and that's different than the way I've heard it before as well, like that stuck out. Yeah, the amplified version really hits me because I feel like diet culture and all of this perfection pressure and all of that is so extreme. So it says be sober, well balanced and self-disciplined, be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours the devil prowls around like a roaring lion fiercely hungry seeking someone to devour. I think it's ironic that there's that hunger, that seeking, that devour all mixed in there because I do believe that a lot of women really struggle with, they think they struggle with food but what we're really struggling with is we've been sold a lie that we can somehow starve ourselves into finding confidence, but this is where the devil rolls and rains and he uses women to do it. He doesn't want us to feel good enough to, he attacks our worth here so that we never pursue our collings because God never asked us to think about what we look like.

33:36He asks us to walk daily with him in obedience and that well balanced makes me think about how Jesus wants to come alongside us and walk with us daily. He's not asking us to try to be some weight or size or perfect version of ourselves. Kim, this is so good and is absolutely hitting the mark. Folks are listening right now and resonating with what we're saying. Here's a friend who says while the enemy is attacking women based on their body, making you feel like less of a person, not pretty or not attractive. He's also controlling the minds of others that are then led to want those things in women, like to want those extremes. And so the diet culture on the one side in terms of women and how we are sucked into all of that, but there's another sort of visually taunting culture out there as well that makes men think that's the kind of women they want.

34:50It's a big thing. It really is and I think it's interesting that you bring that up because the enemy strategy has never changed. If we go back to even the garden, the enemy didn't force her, he deceived her, he made her question. He made her believe something outside of God was necessary and that's how he still works. He whispers, you need to look different. You need to fix yourself. You're not enough. You need to earn confidence. You need to control everything. Then you'll finally feel good enough because if he can keep us focused on ourself, he can stop us from walking fully with God. And John 10, 10 reminds us so clearly that the thief comes only to still kill and destroy. But Jesus says in the scripture, I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly. He clearly tries to steal our peace, but God restores our life. And I think when you were talking about what you were talking about, the men and women and all of that, we can choose to walk faithfully with our God and be a part of the solution and not the problem.

36:00He really do believe that the enemy uses women's bodies. He uses our bodies against us to make us feel like nothing. And he uses our bodies to accomplish what he wants, to seduce men or to be. I don't like how fitness is so oversexualized. And that's why I do what I do because I don't want to be a part of the problem. I want to be a part of the solution. And that is teaching women that their value does not come from what they look like. It comes from becoming who they are supposed to be in Christ. And I feel like this is a very unpopular message, but it's so needed. Don't you think? Absolutely. I actually think this is a message that is resonant with all of us if we'll take the time to just really sit down and consider it. So if you've ever felt consumed, fixated on your body, if you've ever felt like trying to control your food actually then becomes like the controlling influence in your life, if you're measuring your worth by what you see in the mirror, that's the enemy.

37:04That is the enemy attacking you. And so we're talking with Kim Dolan Leto. The ministry is is fit God's way. You can find her at Kim Dolan Leto.com. This is actually a subject of a recent podcast why the enemy attacks Christian women through their body. We'd love to send you the direct link on the text line 877-9332-484 when we come back. Kim is going to continue unpacking some of the scriptures that are referenced in this episode. She's already talked about first Peter 5.8. She's touched on John 10.10. But there are others seeking first the kingdom of God in Matthew 6.33. And then putting on the full armor of God in Ephesians 6. So we'll touch on some of those things next. You're listening to the reconnect. All right, so you've got a pack of cards. You've heard of a pack of wolves. Maybe you have a backpack. You got a lot of packs in your life. But have you ever gotten a faith radio welcome pack? I mean, you might be brand new to faith radio or you might just be new-ish. But either way, if you've never gotten a welcome pack, we'd like to welcome you.

38:09So text the word welcome to 877-933-2484 or visit myfaithradio.com and request your very own welcome pack today. How does the enemy attack you? What is one of the ways that the enemy finds his way into your heart and your mind and your life? The enemy often attacks women through their body. And so Kim Dolanleto is here with us not only exposing that particular tactic and scheme of the enemy, but equipping us with the scriptures that we need not only to guard ourselves against that, but then to battle the reality of it. So Kim, you want to continue unpacking some of the scriptures in this episode? Yes, absolutely. So I think the first part is to recognize that this is a battle. This is not random, but we're not powerless. And Ephesians 612 tells us that it's so clear when I read this scripture, think about your body image struggles, think about this struggle in your life as I read this scripture.

39:20For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world. So your body is not your enemy, your mind is the battlefield. And here's something important for us to understand that research, this, this is really a sad statistic, but I have to share it. Research consistently shows that Christians struggle with health at similar or sometimes worse rates than the general population in areas of obesity, emotional eating and inactivity. And it's not because we lack faith, but because we say yes to everything, right? I know a woman just said, oh my gosh, she knows me because we do everything. We're like, oh yeah, I'll bring that. I'll pick up this. I'll help that person. And because of distress and the caregiving demands and being so involved in everything, we don't put ourselves, we don't put our health on our to-do lists. And we need to start to shift that from being a worldly venture to stewardship, because the enemy doesn't need Christian and women to abandon God, he just needs them distracted, exhausted, endouting themselves, because distracted women don't walk boldly in their calling, but aware women do.

40:32So I think what we can start to do every morning is have a daily moment of surrender. God, I seek you first, like you mentioned, Matthew 633, that we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all things are added. We don't seek the world's approval, we don't seek the diet plan first, we don't seek the weight loss injection, we don't seek the perfect workout plan. No, we start every day with God and we surrender it to him, and that's how we avoid the, I'll just start over every Monday trap, right? So I think that's how we fight this battle, we put on the armor of God, we seek him first, and we practice stewardship, not worship. I think it's important to realize that so often the scale becomes an idol, trying to fit into a size becomes an idol, thinking about what we look like or what other people think about what we look like can become an idol. But Exodus 23, 20 verse 3 clearly says, you should have no gods other than me before me.

41:34So I know our body can, it seems very deep, but isn't it true, Carmen, that we can let the scale become an idol, that we can let these numbers become an idol? But God never meant for our bodies to become our God, they were gift from God, and they are a temple of the Holy Spirit to steward, to care for, to move, to nourish. But not to idolize or worship or beat up, because our words doesn't come from what it looks like it comes from the cross. You're so right, I was recently with a relatively small group of women and one of the activities was like fill out this list of things, and then we're going to sort of use it as a way to get to know each other. And one of the things was, what's the first thing that you do every morning? And for most people, it was brush their teeth. I mean, it was hit the snooze button, brush my teeth, but one woman's answer was step on the scale. And I immediately thought of you, and I thought I wish I could connect her with Kim, because if that's the first thing you do every morning, that says a lot about how much you're prioritizing that number.

42:44And so you have helped me to rethink things and see things that, you know, I hadn't been seeing in terms of some of those clues and relationship to, you know, to friends and women that I walk with in faith. And so I wanted to thank you for that. But then I also want to give you the opportunity just to invite people, invite people to put Jesus at the center of their health journey. Absolutely. First I want to say, for a lot of people, they can jump on the scale first thing in the morning, and it doesn't bother them at all. For some, it dictates their worth and mood for the entire day. Okay, that would be, maybe that's me reflecting on that and be like, that would be torment. I would, but maybe for her, it's not. Yeah, I weigh myself. Yeah, I don't just weigh myself. I have a bio and pedant scale, so it tells me the whole how much muscle, how much fat, how much water, how much bone mass. I don't look at weight. Weight is not my end all be all. I look at everything as a health evaluation.

43:50I look at, I just want to, I want to age well. I'm 57. I want to age well. I want to be healthy. And the whole thing that started my fitness journey was all of the generational illnesses in my family, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, all of those things. So to answer your question, I would just ask the sweet, beautiful, sister in Christ who's listening, have you ever invited God to be the Lord of your fitness? I know you invited him to be the Lord of your life, but have you made him the Lord of your eating? Do you pause and pray before you eat? Do you ask the Holy Spirit to help you walk in self-control and peace over your food choices? Do you thank him for your body or do you just criticize it? Do you move your body and exercise it to bring him glory so that you can steward your time and your calling and your gifts well so that you have the mental acuity and the energy to shine for him? This is not about what you look like. This is about the enemy trying to re-destroy what God has planned for you.

44:56I remind you like Ephesians 2.10 says that you were his masterpiece created in Christ Jesus to do the things that he planned for you long ago. That means you are a piece of the master and God doesn't make mistakes. I love Isaiah. I have to say 64.8 that says that he's the potter and you are the clay. We are the clay and we are the work of his hands. So although you may want to change things about yourself, God designed you uniquely and without mistake. So the sooner we embrace that and recognize the lives of the enemy, whatever they are, your two, this, you're not enough of that, this is too big, this is too small, whatever it is. I just ask you to surrender that to the Lord today and invite him into your fitness and watch how he changes everything. Just love and adore you. Thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you for your encouragement. Thank you for walking with us in our fitness journey. And I hope we are an encouragement to you just in everything in life. So thanks for being with us, Kim.

45:57Thank you so much, Carmen. Absolutely. That's Kim Dolan Leto. We would love to connect you directly with, we'd love to connect you directly with her on the text line. 877-933-2484. You can go directly to her website, Kim Dolanleto.com. We've been talking about a recent episode of her podcast and this episode is entitled Why the Enemy Attacks Christian Women Through Their Body. I just encourage you to check that out and to let that encourage you, renew your mind, strengthen your faith and help you steward your health in alignment with God. Alright friends, we are about out of time here today on The Reconnect. It's always a joy to be with you. Thank you so much for spending some of your time with me. I know it's precious. I know you only get to spend it once. I hope you feel like today's time together was well spent. I just recognize there's a lot going on in the world. There's a lot going on in our individual lives. There's a lot going on with our parents and our kids.

47:05We're pulled in a lot of different directions. And so I just want to just really appreciate that God wants to spend some time with you today. And so maybe it's only going to be a minute. But I want you to hear God ask you, can you give me a minute? Could you just give God a minute today? You might be amazed at what God can do with a minute. How much God can tend to your fears, your anxiety, your exhaustion? God can do a lot in a minute. And so I want you to think about literally like get out an egg timer or put a timer on your clock or a timer on your phone and give God a minute. Just try that as an exercise today. And then back to where we started the conversation at the beginning of the show today, the first hour, I really do want you to consider asking somebody, how do you see it?

48:19And then I'm hoping you're seeing things through the lens through which God is viewing things because God's looking at what's going on in the heart. All right, prepare to receive the blessing. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. Have a great weekend and God bless. Thanks for listening to The Reconnect with Carmen LeBurg. Let us know how we can help you more fully reconnect the eternal with the everyday. We want to walk with you throughout your journey of discipleship. So let's connect. You can text us at 877-933-2484 or connect with us online at myfaithradio.com and on all our social media. I look forward to connecting with you as we each seek to reconnect the eternal with the everyday. In celebration of Easter, an epic four-part audio podcast series, The Christ.

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