When I faced a crossroads that shook my very foundation, it was a stern reminder of what happens when we stray from God's path. Join me, Susan Cadell, as I share the lessons learned from that life-altering moment and how it brought into focus the essence of loving God with every fiber of our being. In this intimate session, we'll uncover the profound impact our spiritual alignment—or lack thereof—has on our health and happiness. We're not just talking about avoiding sin; we're delving into the ways our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths intertwine with our daily choices, affecting our relationships and how these choices can either lead us toward or away from our divine purpose.
As a biblical Health Coach, I understand the critical role mental health plays in our spiritual growth. It's a journey that requires taking every thought captive and aligning it with God's truth. In this episode, I'll share practical strategies for nurturing a positive mindset and how our behaviors can honor God in all aspects of life. We'll also explore the protective nature of God's covenant, guiding us toward a life brimming with purpose, contentment, and well-being. Through personal anecdotes and reflections, I'll reveal how my own deviations from His plan affected not only my relationship with Him but my overall health. It's an episode for anyone who seeks to cultivate a life that's rooted in wisdom and steadfast on a righteous path.
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Want more of Wellness by Design? Subscribe to the YouTube channel.
When I faced a crossroads that shook my very foundation, it was a stern reminder of what happens when we stray from God's path. Join me, Susan Cadell, as I share the lessons learned from that life-altering moment and how it brought into focus the essence of loving God with every fiber of our being. In this intimate session, we'll uncover the profound impact our spiritual alignment—or lack thereof—has on our health and happiness. We're not just talking about avoiding sin; we're delving into the ways our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths intertwine with our daily choices, affecting our relationships and how these choices can either lead us toward or away from our divine purpose.
As a biblical Health Coach, I understand the critical role mental health plays in our spiritual growth. It's a journey that requires taking every thought captive and aligning it with God's truth. In this episode, I'll share practical strategies for nurturing a positive mindset and how our behaviors can honor God in all aspects of life. We'll also explore the protective nature of God's covenant, guiding us toward a life brimming with purpose, contentment, and well-being. Through personal anecdotes and reflections, I'll reveal how my own deviations from His plan affected not only my relationship with Him but my overall health. It's an episode for anyone who seeks to cultivate a life that's rooted in wisdom and steadfast on a righteous path.
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Want more of Wellness by Design? Subscribe to the YouTube channel.
I was stuck and had to make a decision to either marry James or leave him, and I was in a complete position of dependence on him and it scared me. But I was willing to face that because I loved God and I knew that if I didn't start walking in his will again, it could be disastrous. Welcome to Wellness by Design Podcast. I'm Susan Kiddell, biblical Health Coach, creator of Apricot Tree Wellness Nutrotherapies and Healing God's Way. Today I wanted to talk to you about the consequences of living outside of alignment of God's will. I had no idea that living outside of alignment of God's will would cause illness in my body. Not only that, but it also broke the flow of the Holy Spirit in my life, which was the source of my gift of helping others with the truth of healing. You see, I had been called by God to share his truth about healing, written in his word. But it didn't come from my own wisdom. It came from discernment of the spirit. Separating myself from him because of sin cut the flow of communication and my ability to hear him. Most people don't take into account how sin separates us from hearing the voice of god. What does alignment mean? Alignment is submission to God's will in caring for your body, the temple, your mind or mindset, submitting what you think, say and do and your spirit in prayer, the word and worship.
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Mark 12 30 says love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all of your strength. Let's take a quick look at these four things. Many Christians don't understand what this even means. They know the feeling but don't understand the meaning behind the words. Each one interacts with the other and is symbiotic. These not only refer to your relationship with God, but also your, your friendships, your close relationships, the choices you make and what influences you.
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In Hebrew, the word for heart is love. It means conscience, your center, your axis. The heart is where you make choices motivated by desires. Your decisions driven by your motivations and desires is a hard one for many to take and submit to God. What drives you? What are your innermost desires? What motivates you? Is it love? Is it compassion or empathy for others? Is it monetary things like money, or does the simple love for your father in heaven drive you? Does your heart break for what breaks his?
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This one was a challenge for me when I was dating my now husband. We dated for several years. Keeping things under submission physically was difficult. The chemistry was so strong. Yet we fought like badgers often and neither of us could say no to each other. When you want something and it's contrary to what the word of God says, you must either submit it to God, to his will, or cut it out of your life completely. This was something that weighed very heavy on me for the entire time we dated.
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It's vital if you're dating, to make sure the person you are dating has a heart after God's, so the struggle does not turn into sin. It will eventually tear you away at your relationship. It'll tear away at your relationship with God. Let's talk more about this in a few minutes.
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To love God with your soul means to give him the best of who you are. The Hebrew word for soul is nefesh and it literally means breath. It means lifeblood, your people, your core, the depth of who you are. It refers to emotions, what you crave, your passions, the longing inside of you when you say soulmate or I love you into my dying breath. It refers also to things you connect with from your innermost being, and when you connect yourself with people who don't align with your moral center, you can compromise your walk, your calling with God, and find yourself lost in a desert, uncertain, off track and often going the wrong direction. Proverbs 13, 20 to 21 says keep company with the wise and you will become wise. If you make friends with stupid people this is literally in the Bible you will become ruined. Trouble follows sinners everywhere, but righteous people will be rewarded with good things. This is literally the law of attraction put into practice in the Bible.
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Loving the Lord with all of your mind is an easy one to understand. The Hebrew word for mind is labab. It translates into opinion, view, knowledge, wisdom, your insight. It isn't just what you think about, but also your mindset. This includes positive or negative thoughts. If you're an overthinker like me, it refers to giving that fear that hides at the core of your spaghetti or racing mind to God. Choose to trust him. In 2 Corinthians 10, 5, paul says we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Here are six ways to take your thoughts captive.
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Number one accept responsibility for your thoughts. You have the ability to exercise control over your thoughts. You can redirect your negative or judgmental thoughts to positive ones, thoughts to positive ones. Gratitude journaling is one of those ways that I change my thoughts. Challenge your belief systems, challenge what you think about yourself and the world around you. Consider those negative beliefs might just be wrong. Number two you must change your behaviors. Change can take place with God's help. Ask yourself does my behavior honor God? What kind of example am I giving right now? If Jesus was sitting in the seat in your car next to you in traffic, would you be yelling at the guy in front of you? Well, I have some bad news, because he is and he does, and he's always in that car with you.
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Number three think through your problems rather than just reacting to them. Always pause before you react. Reflect on how you feel, evaluate the situation, ask questions to understand the situation fully and focus on what outcome you want. If you say I can do this, your mind is listening. It becomes a belief system and you will find that you can or can't. But if you have an I can attitude and start narrating to your mind instead of listening to your thoughts, you will find yourself unstoppable.
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Number four take your disabling thoughts and turn them on their head by acknowledging that you feel like you can't do something Now feel is the key word and that it won't happen and then repeat the opposite. With God's strength, I can do this. With God's strength. Philippians 4.13 says I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Number five choose to focus on your thoughts, on thoughts of the right things. One of the easiest ways to take your thoughts captive is to fill your mind with the things of God. Instead of looking at social media reels that instill fear, doubt and negative emotions, you can stay focused on positive podcasts, reading a personal development book. Instead of watching that newscast while you work from home, you can play your pastor's message from church that week.
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Number six believe it's possible to take your thoughts captive. Believing is half the battle. Every time Jesus healed someone, he would say your faith has healed you. In a world of disbelief, where you don't know what is truth, there is only one truth that remains, and it's timeless and never changes, and it's the same yesterday, today and forever Believing is seeing. Not seeing is believing. Don't try to prove it to everybody, they don't matter. Believe in yourself. That's the key. Bust that narrative and envision in your mind who you want to be every single day.
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What would a man or woman of God say? Do think, believe and then love the Lord with all your strength. It means holding nothing back and when it comes to your energy and enthusiasm in showing our love for God and others. Whatever you do, whatever your task may be, put in your very best effort as something done for the Lord and not for the approval of men, we're doing it to please God. Your identity is not in others, but in Him. Anyway, you are already approved. He is already proud of you. Do it with vigor, in confidence.
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What is god's covenant? We hear that word a lot and some people think of moses holding two stones with writing on them, on a mountain with lightning and a burning bush. And that was the Ten Commandments. But God's covenant is rules and guidelines. He's set to protect and guard us from harmful decisions and influences. It's not just ten rules of do and don't. It's the basis for productivity. It's the basis for being happy and healthy in life. It's an insurance policy to keep us alive well in our mind, body and spirit. It's the key to God's plan, to helping us find his purpose for our lives, which is the meaning of life for us as individuals. We often forget why we're on this earth. When God gave the law of Moses to his people. It protected them from disease and plagues and death that plagued the other nations because of their food and lifestyle choices.
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When James and I met, I knew I loved him. It was a strong, god-given compassion and empathy, and God gave me the ability to see through his walls. I knew that I had overwhelming love and acceptance for this guy who had been through so much that God gave those things to me for him. But I allowed my flesh to cloud my judgment in many things I did and it slowly tore away at my relationship with God After a while. It caused me to lose my ability to hear God's voice. I lost my focus on what God had told me to do. How did it block my ability to hear God's voice?
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Living outside of God's plan blocked my ability to not only hear him but also find clarity for his purpose, for my life. I lost clarity for my calling. I made poor choices that affected my health and my family. I grew numb. I lost empathy. I lost my desire to go to church, read his word, worship and became boring. I became better focused on the negative, looking around me, not trusting God, and it grieved my spirit and it grieved the Holy Spirit and I missed that communion with God, I became depressed and I lost my joy. This in turn created a stressful situation on my body, my mind and my heart and it impacted my health and my spirituality. And it affected me spiritually. I became a target for the enemy because I wasn't under God's covering.
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My car was attempted, stolen twice, broken into four times. I started having heart problems, panic attacks while I was driving. I was a target for harassment. It was something out of a bad dream. Isaiah 59.2 says your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. Does that mean he left me? Romans 8.38 and 39. Does that mean he left me Romans 8, 38 and 39.? No-transcript stuck and had to make a decision to either marry James or leave him, and I was in a complete position of dependence on him. And it scared me. But I was willing to face that because I loved God and I knew that if I didn't start walking in his will again, it could be disastrous. I began to fast and I prayed for several days for clarity. I saw God's will in our relationship and my heart was all in, but I needed to confront James about removing some things in our relationship and reserve it for marriage.
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Then we got a call from his sister. Now James had just reunited with his sister and his mother after 20 long years. The stress from that caused a spiral of major health issues for him. James had just proposed to me and our relationship was doing really well, honestly, but his health was beginning to escalate and I mean downwards. It was spiraling. When we got the call that his mother was dying and to come now, we threw my poor cat, all his belongings, my plants and the food we couldn't take with us in the car and took it to my kid's house. And then we shoved everything else we could think of for an undetermined amount of time and drove to Chicago. While we were there, a day before his mom died, he ended up in the hospital and that stress of not knowing if I would be stranded and alone in Chicago caused my own health spiral. James could not say goodbye to his mom and I was faced with possibly losing him. During that time, my business suffered, I lost clients, my health plummeted and our relationship was severely taxed.
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Now James is a liver transplant recipient. He came from a toxic, traumatic childhood of mold, abuse and constant negativity. He had relationships that were also toxic as an adult and, as a result, the emotions he had buried destroyed his liver. Reuniting with his family reignited those unburied emotions, as they hadn't been dealt with. The result was reoccurring liver issues. Knowing that the treatment of destroying his T-cells essentially was chemotherapy treatment and massive antibiotics could possibly take him from me, I also knew the long-term consequences of those treatments.
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Just before we came home and James was undergoing that treatment, he was under so much of the drugs and he seemed numb and often emotionally lost. His personality disappeared. He was inattentive to just about anything. It was like he was under a spell. He was spending money that he normally would not spend. He couldn't focus and he couldn't remember anything I had said the day before and it scared me. I had to let go and trust God. It was one of the hardest things I had faced. He said God said I'm not done with him yet. Let go and watch what I do next. I chose to trust him.
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I knew I had to overcome the mental block that I put in place in Chicago. You see, I had promised to those doctors of his to never practice holistic medicine again. I had to break that curse. I put that mindset block in my own head and I had to break that to fulfill my purpose or it quite literally would kill me. I had to tap into the voice of the Holy Spirit. I emotionally and spiritually began to separate myself from James. I spent every morning on my face before God and began to redevelop my deep relationship with God. When he came home from the hospital, James and I began to redevelop my deep relationship with God. When he came home from the hospital, james and I began to fight again. Every time we did, I got very ill with major intestinal pain. It was like stress made my gut stop working, which it literally did. I finally went to see a functional doctor and was diagnosed with diverticulitis. I did some labs and the crazy thing was my blood work was almost normal. I started to do some counseling to overcome that mental block I talked about I had put in my head. I also joined a community of high performance coaches, surrounded myself with people for encouragement and to break mindsets that needed to change. As I began to do the hard work, emotionally and spiritually, james and I agreed to go to couples counseling and we moved underneath the covenant of God and to live separately.
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What came next totally blindsided me. The floodgates of God's presence in my life threw me headlong into healing emotionally, spiritually and physically. And I began to hear God's voice again. But better than that my emotions began to level out. But better than that, my emotions began to level out. My depression disappeared and my drive for purpose came back. In submitting to God my sin and disobedience, god's silence was broken. His presence was so sweet, so healing. My health began to improve, my nervous system began to to regulate and my flare-ups began to subside. And every time I began to fear resent. James had unforgiveness or allowed anger to creep in, I would see another flare-up and then it hit me. Just like negative emotions can create ill health, positive ones could heal. So James and I decided it was time to get married. I realized that our union had the tremendous power to heal us both, bring us both under the covenant and into alignment.
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1 Corinthians 6, 19-20 says 1 Corinthians 6, 19-20 says he dwells in you and is the key to your transformation. It's that key that is to be more like Christ when we are living inside of God's plan. It brings us into alignment. It opens up our body's ability to self-regulate and heal itself. It aligns our body, our mind and our spirit, and without it we can't find our purpose and hear God's voice. It's essential for finding your purpose. It's essential for healing. Listen. Thanks so much for listening today to this podcast at Wellness by Design Podcast. Next week, we will talk more in depth on how your mindset can change your body's ability to heal itself. If you know someone who might benefit from listening to this episode, make sure to share it with them. And do me a quick favor like and subscribe, and don't forget to turn on the notifications so you don't miss anything. That's it for today. Be blessed and I will see you next time on the other side of the sunshine. Bye.