Uncovering the Real You, Getting Rid of What Doesn't Belong

A bold, faith-filled wake-up call to stop carrying weight — emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual — that God never asked you to hold. In this powerful December kickoff episode, Shanna helps you identify the habits, patterns, beliefs, and sin that add “marble” to your life, and shows you how to chisel away what doesn’t belong so you can walk into 2026 lighter, freer, and rooted in who God says you are.

Watch Here:

• Read Full Transcript

  Episode 42 Transcript

  “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block. Before I start my work, it's already there. I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”
  Michelangelo.

  Hello, and welcome to the Christian Life Coach Podcast. I am Shanna, your Christian life coach. And today, we are starting December with one of the most incredible metaphors that I have come across. I think about it often.

  And if you're watching this on video, at the very beginning, I had a picture on the screen of a woman who is chiseling away the outer layers of herself. And often, when I would imagine, when people see this picture, and I definitely used this picture in my own weight loss journey, you really focus on, oh, it's a… it's a bigger woman, and she's chiseling away the extra weight that is on her body. And you can absolutely relate to that, and it's so much more. So, if you want, if you're not watching the video version of the podcast on Spotify or on YouTube, you can click in the show notes to get the podcast resources, and there's lots of stuff in there from previous episodes, and I will include this picture in the podcast resources as well, so you can see what I'm talking about.

  And again, like I said, it's so much more than just physical weight that can be chiseled away.

  A couple of episodes ago, I talked about reflecting on 2025 and deciding what you want to take with you into 2026, what you want to let go of and leave behind, and this episode is going to be a little bit more specific and goes a little bit deeper. Because as the new year approaches, this is our chance to look at life, to talk to God and decide what really doesn't belong with me anymore. What isn't really a part of me anymore? And what really didn't ever belong?

  And so I just want to ask, what if 2026 is the year that you finally believe you are who God says you are. And that you can actually walk and operate in a way that reflects that. That you are truly, truly and fully known, and truly and fully loved by God, right where you're at, just as you are. And you can walk from 2026 into the rest of your future without the extra mental, emotional, and physical weight that you've been carrying. Because we haven't fully believed that we are who God says we are.

  And just thinking about that, I, like, my body… I don't know if you saw it or not, or heard it, but my body, like, takes a deep inhale, and then an exhale, because you can feel the impact of it. You can almost feel the lightness, the ease, the freedom, the spaciousness that comes with believing you are who God says you are. Releasing all of the extra mental, emotional, and physical weight you've been carrying. And walking in that way.

  So, let's go. Let's stop living under that weight. Mental, emotional, physical, that has been suffocating us. And at one time, in some way, it was for protection. But what if we don't need that protection anymore?

  So, the picture of the woman who is standing, her lower half is rather large, her top half is fit and thin, and she has a chisel. And she's chiseling what doesn't belong anymore. She's removing all of the parts that aren't really her. It's powerful. It's uncomfortable. And it's exactly what transformation feels like.

  The sculpture is already complete within the marble. I just removed the superfluous material, Michelangelo. He just removes what doesn't belong. And he's talking about the statue of David. So he sees David in the marble. It's a block of marble. And he can see David inside that block of marble, and he's just removing what isn't David.

  Who God made you to be is already inside of you. It's not about becoming somebody different. It's about uncovering who you are, removing the excess, removing the self-protection, removing the layers that other people have put on you, that the world have put on you. And if we're going to reveal who you really are, who I really am, we have to talk about what keeps piling on. What keeps adding on those extra layers?

  And we have the choice to remove those layers. One chisel chip at a time. So let's do that. And this is where it gets real, like, this is real, okay? This isn't fluff. So, buckle up.

  Some of the marble that is encasing you, that extra excess, is guilt and shame from your past. Decisions that you made, things that you did, and also things that happened to you that you had no control over. Some of the layers are fear of the unknown. Some of it's people pleasing, doing whatever it takes to keep the peace, or to keep people liking you. Some of it is doubt, insecurity, belief that you are unloved or unlovable. And it's emotional armor that you built when life felt unsafe.

  What is it for you? What's keeping the real you from being seen? What's keeping you from being the woman that God designed you to be. Releasing her. Release her into the wild.

  And then there's the marble that we keep adding to through our choices, the practices and habits that we have today. Choices that do not reflect the woman inside the marble. And I'm talking to myself here. I am not saying this to judge you, I am not saying this to judge myself. I am speaking to you, and I'm speaking to me, so just know that. I am in this with you. I am saying this because we, you and I, were made for so much more than feeling stuck. Than numbing out, than being distracted and walking out of alignment with who God says we are.

  So, let's dive in to the choices that we are making that are adding excess marble, excess layers, rather than removing them.

  Overindulging. This can be anything. Anything that you're overing, and I'm gonna point out some specific things that are pretty common. Overindulging food, alcohol. Anything that leads you to ask the age-old question, why can't I just do what I say I was going to do? I said I wasn't gonna overeat today, I wasn't gonna eat the cake, I wasn't gonna drink today. Any of those things.

  Overindulging is a choice that we make, and really, this is one of the choices that we make that adds on excess physical weight. Drinking more alcohol, eating more food than we need. Eating food that doesn't nourish and energize our bodies. And it's not about willpower. It's about emotions. We overeat because we're avoiding feeling emotions. And the food or the alcohol becomes a shield. But every time we give in and overindulge, we add another layer of stone around our body and our soul. And again, I say that with all the love, and I say that speaking to myself.

  Another thing that we do is overshop. There's nothing wrong with enjoying beautiful things, nice things, buying things. The problem is when shopping is used as a relief. It creates clutter, guilt, shame, financial stress. It's a quick dopamine hit. But then the marble gets added, and creates excess stuff, excess shame, guilt, all the feelings.

  Another thing is over scrolling. Scrolling through social media. You think that you're unwinding. But at best, you're numbing out. You are avoiding feeling whatever it is that is coming up for you. You just scroll to numb. You're filling space, maybe, where God wants to speak into you. And that's at best. The numbing is at best. At worst, you're comparing yourself. You are comparing yourself against other people who you think have it better than you. You're making assumptions about other people's lives based on what they're posting on social media. And you're judging yourself, you're judging them. And again, is that who you want to be? And the scrolling minutes turn into hours, and we keep adding on layers.

  Another thing is spending time with people who are not aligned with who you want to be. Now, that being said, it's not that we only want to be around people that are the ultimate reflection of who we want to be. There are people in our lives that we want to have a relationship with, but we just know who our core people are. We love people deeply, but not everybody has full access to me. Some conversations you notice pull you into a place that you don't want to be. Some relationships feed old patterns, the old way that you did things. And every time you are spending time misaligned, it adds more marble around your heart, around your spirit, it gets heavier.

  So, who can you spend more time with that helps you to shed some of that?

  Okay, here's a big one. Are you ready? And again, I'm talking to myself, too. I'm not just talking to you, I promise. Here is a big thing that adds onto these layers of marble. Sin that you're tolerating, that we are tolerating, instead of confessing and releasing.

  Sin is not a shame sentence. Sin is a separation created between us and God. It clouds our vision, it weighs us down. The more we participate in it, the easier it is to participate in it. We don't hear from God as clearly. When we cling to what God is inviting us to let go of, we reinforce the heaviness that we already feel.

  Now, none of these behaviors define us. They're just layers. And layers can be removed.

  And I want to be clear, because we get tangled up in this. Conviction is the Holy Spirit inviting you into freedom. Condemnation is the enemy trying to shove you into hiding. Keep you hiding. Keep you isolated. Keep you covering up.

  The conviction of the Holy Spirit is inviting you to remove the marble. Condemnation adds to it. If you feel a gentle nudge or a pull towards something better, a desire for wholeness, that is conviction. It's a gift. If you feel shame, heaviness, self hatred, that is condemnation. And it does not belong to you. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We can be forgiven and repent like that. And repent is you're going one way, and you change your mind, and you turn around, and you go back the opposite way. So there is always the opportunity to repent and turn around.

  So, I'm declaring December the month of uncovering. We're not trying to become someone else. We're uncovering who God already made us to be. And the real you, the real me, is strong. She lives from a place of being fully known and fully loved, just as she is. The real me, the real you, is disciplined. She walks with God, and she knows his voice. She makes choices aligned with her purpose, not her patterns.

  Now, every time you choose differently, even once, you lift the chisel. And you chip away something that didn't belong in the first place.

  So how do we actually start this chiseling process?

  Release the lies. Get into God's Word so that you know what is true, so that you know the truth. Episode 14 of the podcast talks about, is it true and is it helpful? And if it's not, it goes.

  Number two, stop resisting the hard things. It's hard to say no to the food. It's hard to walk away from a conversation. And hard is not bad. You do hard things every single day. Episode 15 of the podcast talks about do it anyway.

  Creating habits that fuel your true self and release the false self is so important. Boring habits that you practice day after day, taking care of who you truly are, taking care of the woman that God created you to be, and a great way to do this is my book. Self Care Stewardship, a 31 day devotional, helps you get started in nourishing that true self version of you that God created. Stewarding the resources, the body, the energy, the relationships that God gave you. There's a link to that in the show notes.

  Letting go of shame. When you notice that you're shaming yourself, when you're feeling shame and embarrassment about the past. Notice that. Think on what is true, pure, lovely, noble, praiseworthy. Recognize when you're shaming yourself and let it go. Look back with compassion, not condemnation.

  And then, celebrate. Celebrate every chip, every piece of that marble that you chip away. Celebrate the progress that you're making along the way. Episode 22 of the podcast talks about how to name the benefits so that you reinforce the habits. So the celebration keeps you going, it keeps you moving in the direction that you want to go.

  And you want your identity in Christ to be your anchor. That is your foundation. You're not chiseling so that God will love you. You're chiseling because He already does. You're not working to earn worthiness, to prove your worth. You already are in Christ. You're removing what has been hiding your worthiness. You are already chosen, loved, seen, redeemed, and made new. The chiseling is not about striving. It's about visibility. You're uncovering what God has already placed inside of you.

  So, before you go to bed tonight, I want you to name one behavior that adds marble to your life. And make one chisel move. Just one. Pour out the leftover wine, delete the app, put the credit card away. Journal instead of snacking. Go on a walk. Put your phone in another room. One chisel today. That's how you begin. One chisel at a time.

  I'm going to put some journal prompts in the show notes as well, and I'll read them out for you.

  What choices have been adding marble to my life?
  What is God asking me to release this month?
  What am I numbing with food, scrolling, shopping, or relationships?
  What does the real me, the woman inside the marble, value?
  What is one small daily chisel I can commit to this December?

  And remember, you're not sculpting yourself into someone new, you're uncovering who God created you to be. One chip at a time. One chisel at a time.

  Now, two ways that I offer to help you in this work. Like I said before, my Self Care Stewardship book is fantastic if you're like, yes, I need this, what are the practical things that I can do? This is a fantastic resource to help you walk through 31 days of making these choices, to chisel away those protective layers, and to nourish and energize the woman you were meant to be.

  And then I work with women one on one, and sometimes in groups. So, if what I've been talking about in this episode is hitting home, if you're tired of carrying around the layers that don't belong, you feel the weight of the overeating, the over scrolling, overspending. If sin is tripping you up over and over and over again, you do not have to chip away at the marble alone.

  Having somebody walk alongside of you can make all the difference. When I'm coaching with women, I help them to let go of the shame. I help them to see how they're allowing the past to infect the present and impact the future. So I can help you to find your own strength, your clarity. I can be your accountability partner, and someone who refuses to let you settle for a lesser version of you.

  If you want support, if you want to reveal the woman that God has already placed inside of you, and you're ready to stop numbing and start chiseling, I want to invite you to schedule a Right Fit call with me. We get on a Zoom call, and we talk about where you're at, where you want to be, and what's getting in the way. And then we talk about what coaching looks like, how it can help you to do the work that you want to do to reveal the woman that God created you to be.

  There's no pressure. I'm definitely offering you something to invest in, but I'm not gonna be salesy, I'm not gonna be pushy, I'm just gonna tell you, this is how I can help. And then we can decide if we are a right fit.

  So, go ahead and click the link in the show notes if that's something that you are interested in looking into, and I would love to meet with you and talk about how coaching is life changing, one renewed thought at a time.

  Thank you so much for being here. Don't forget to check out the show notes.