?What if your mental health struggles, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion aren't just physical, but part of a deeper spiritual battle? What if the overwhelm you feel in Christian motherhood and biblical motherhood is rooted in spiritual warfare and living from self-reliance instead of the Holy Spirit? Today, we are uncovering the real reason you feel spiritually drained, and how Jesus Christ brings emotional healing, inner healing, and victory in Christ, or a renewed mind. Through scripture, Romans 12:2, healing scriptures, and the word of life, you'll discover how breaking chains, trusting in God, and embracing your identity in Christ leads to spiritual growth, freedom, and peace in your home. To help us today, ?we have Kathleen Johnson. She is known by many as The Scripture Girl. Also, Kathleen is an author, speaker, and Spirit-led teacher with a powerful testimony of divine healing and transformation. Through her books and teachings, Kathleen equips believers to renew their minds, walk in kingdom authority, and live the abundant life Jesus promised. Her passion is to help people move from living by the flesh to living by the Spirit, and she brings scripture, testimony, and practical wisdom to every conversation. Welcome, Kathleen, to the Faith Mom Mentor. Thank you so much. What a wonderful introduction. I'm so excited to be here. I can't wait to share with your listeners today. Yes, well, we are excited you are here to share with us. So let's get right into the conversation today. You talk a lot about life in the Spirit. What does that actually mean, and how can someone experience it in their daily life? ?Absolutely. Well, it's such an important question, and I think one of the best ways to start that conversation is to go with Jesus to the, John chapter four, where he's talking to the woman at the well, and he's telling her, you know, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." And later, he's talking about the Spirit, and he explains that this Spirit is the thing that, that he is talking about, the Holy Spirit given to us when we become believers. And because when we are in Christ, w- we are no longer the old person. We have a new recreated spirit that is created to be like God and to righteousness and holiness, and the point is for us to live from that spirit. The Apostle Paul again and again said we have to walk by the spirit, and this is such a huge thing, Ann, because when we do not do that, we're operating in the flesh, and that is where we have so much struggle. So walking by the spirit is doing what Jesus said and letting the Holy Spirit live through our spirit in a way that our life is like a spring of water welling up, welling up. ?Yes. That sounds like spirit reliance. So a lot of Christian moms feel exhausted, , maybe because they're trying to hold everything together from their own self. So what is the difference between self-reliance and spirit reliance? ?Well, I'd love to take just a minute on that, because I was struggling with this for so long when I was going through a really big struggle in my life. Had an unwanted divorce. I was living in this big house. I had my girls in different schools. I had a business to run. And when I thought about self-reliance, I was like, "Well, who else is gonna do all this stuff? Who's else is gonna handle this?" I just didn't understand it. A better way to understand the difference between self-reliance and God-reliance is you're either withering off the vine or you're abiding on the vine. So it's the difference between trying to have no power source and being on your own, you're stuck down here in the physical realm, or being attached and abiding and hidden in Christ where his power is now coming through. So it is a connection thing. It is a connection thing because now I'm connected with the source of all life. So knowing that when I'm burnt out, stressed out, worn out, all those things, I'm not on the vine. That's the thing to remember. ?So how do we practically move from striving, not being on the vine, to abiding in Christ, to being on the vine? How, do we make that transition? How do we make that move from striving to abiding? ?Well, there's a lot of ways to do it, but I, I would say the number one thing is to be aware first. Be aware. Mm-hmm. And for me, let, that's noticing that I'm frustrated, or noticing that I feel, uh, empty, or that I feel tired. Like, it's noticing. Those are symptoms of something. Mm-hmm. That's a symptom of the flesh, which has limited your body and your mind, which, hey, they're wonderful, but they were never meant to rule us. And that's what happened at the fall is that Adam and Eve became dependent on senses, on the natural mind. The natural mind is not where it's at. Revelation knowledge is where it's at. And so it's being aware first, being aware, and then realizing, oh, and then making an adjustment. You know, I've got an acronym that I use and it's, it's PRAY. It's pause, and it's realign, then ask of God, and then yield. I mean, we, we gotta realize, I'm on the wrong, I'm on the wrong side of this thing. Yes. I'm aware, and now I've gotta just relax into trusting God. And moment by moment. ?Yeah. I love that. Moment by moment we are kept in His love. Moment by moment, life from above, and that's what you're talking about. You're talking about a renewed mind. You, you say that a renewing mind changes everything. What does biblical mind renewal actually look like in real life? ?Well, it looks like going from being severely limited and severely, you know, constricted, and thinking that I have to compete, and I have to justify, and I have to prove myself to you, and make you understand, to realizing that when my mind, my natural mind, is reprogrammed with the word of God- Yeah I now agree o- on all the things that God has said about me. Yeah. That I'm more than a conqueror. That, you know, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So you've got to reprogram that thing. And so in a real-life situation, what that means is if a bill comes that you weren't expecting, it's not panic, stress, any of those things. It is, my God will supply all my needs according to His riches and glory. And I know that's true, and it doesn't matter what I see out there, I'm gonna align with that. I'm gonna go with that. Whatever it is that comes at you, you have got the word of truth to be strong. And so you don't have to look at life the same way. It's an absolute change. It's a complete and total transformation on purpose. Because walking by the Spirit is, you know, is a different way. But when your mind gets in line with your new spirit, it's mountain moving time. ?So unhealthy patterns are replaced by- spiritually and emotional health. So what are some unhealthy patterns that maybe, or strongholds that we, that keep us stuck spiritually and emotionally? ?Well, honestly, that's such a bigger conversation. But it's anything that does not align with the truth of God. It's any place where you get stuck based on something that you've experienced. You think, "This always happens to me," or, "This is true." Whatever doesn't align with the word of God is a thing that has become a stronghold. It's become where we have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and the way that our minds are designed, that becomes a groove. It becomes a habit. You know, I know for one, for me, used to be I used to react easily. You know, if you said something to me, I might react easily. It's something that becomes ingrained, and that's okay because it happens to all of us. But it's realizing you don't have to stay there. That doesn't have to be the way that you treat that situation. God can renew your mind so powerfully that the things that used to hold you back, they don't even occur to you anymore. That's how big the transformation can be. ?So you're lovingly called the Scripture Girl. So has, how does scripture help expose these lies and bring freedom, bring this renewal to your mind? ?Yeah. Well, it's a wonderful question, and it's important to remember that the word of God is living and active. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. It is a spiritual weapon. You know, Jesus said, "Words are spirit and they are life." Yeah. The word of God is so much higher than just, you know, words of wisdom from the world, and there's an aspects of those things that are, that are good and that we can take. But the word of God is different, and you can't separate God from His word. So when I expose myself to His truth, it's like faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of God. That truth is going to confront lies and, and strongholds, and sometimes there'll be something that just hits you and you just realize it's the Holy Spirit trying to help us align with His truth and trying to set us free so that we can live a life abundant and free. ?And would you agree that the entry into this life and into this transformation is the gospel, that it's the fact that Jesus came because we were lost, and He died and rose again from the dead so , that we would never have to experience death. Yeah. That we could live both now and forevermore. ?Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's the first thing, though, but a lot of times we get stuck in that first thing. The first thing's so important. He came to reconnect us to God. Sin caused us to be separate from God. Yeah. So when we accept Jesus, we are given forgiveness that allows us to be reunited, and we have the potential there. All that potential is there to live by the Spirit, to have the same communion- Yeah ... like Adam and Eve did in, in the Garden where they knew who they were, they knew whose they were. They had deep, intimate relationship. But that acceptance of the Spirit is the first thing. Yeah. The other things have to happen too so that the Spirit can lead. Because when that happens, we are changed into His likeness- Yeah ... with ever-increasing glory. So it's remembering that Jesus came to set us free, but not just a little bit. He came to set us free, free so that our freedom would then touch the people around us, so that we become carriers of His light and His goodness and His truth, and we are absolutely impacting the world everywhere we go. ?That is so powerful. And , a lot of times, , I like to think about the word grace as a connection. It's God connecting to man. For the grace of God, , came unto us. And so for the mom listening who feels, , emotionally overwhelmed, anxious, spiritually dry, and seems to have lost her bearings, where should she begin? ?I would say right now, right here. This is the great news. All that is, that's your flesh ruling. That's the wrong mind, your natural mind trying to lead, and that mind is not flooded with light and revelation knowledge and, and power and strength. That mind trying to lead is like trying to get your light to work without plugging it in. I mean- Yeah. So you realize that, and then you start to say, "Whoops, I'm in the wrong place." And it is turning back and connecting to God and the Spirit, and now the power can flow. So awareness first, and then being willing to switch. You're going from the mind of the flesh to the mind of the spirit. ?And how about the mom who says, " i'm trying, and . just got so much going on." What encouragement would you give someone who feels like maybe God is silent or distant, even though she feels like she's trying? What encouragement would you give that mom? ?I would say take that idea of trying. I'm trying, I'm trying. And just open up your hands and say, "I'm not gonna try harder. I'm gonna try softer." In other words, I'm gonna get that part of me out of the way, and I'm gonna let the Spirit. So we often think we gotta go get this, we gotta go get that. It's not. It's we gotta let. It's let the peace of Christ rule. It's let the same mind be in you that it was in Christ Jesus. It is let your conversation be full of grace and, and full of salt. We have... We let. We let the Spirit. Yeah. Yeah. So when I'm doing this, and I'm trying, whoops. No, it's not that there's not work for me to do. That's not that there's not things that I need to, tasks that I need to do, but I can do it from a different place. I can do it from a place of rest where his power, his peace, his provision, his wonderful glory, and light, and truth can do the work. For it is, it is God who works in us to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. We just gotta get out of the way. We gotta get that part of us out of the way. ? You are so right. The scripture is a lot of times referred to as a sword, as a cutting. Why is memorizing and declaring God's word so powerful in, for example, the spiritual battle this mom is in against the war of the flesh and the spirit? Why is the memorizing and declaring God's word so powerful in that battle? ?It's powerful for a lot of reasons, so many reasons. One is that you are reminding the spiritual world that you know that the word of God stands eternal in the heavens, that heaven and Earth may pass away, but my word will not pass away. There is a spiritual strength to the word of God, and as you start to know that, you start to wield that sword of the spirit with power. You start to look at a situation and say, "No, you do just what Jesus did," which is what? He said, "It is written." You hear that accusation coming at you for something that you did wrong, and you come back and say, "Wrong. It is written, 'There is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ.'" And when somebody comes to you with this or somebody comes to you with that, you say, "Wrong. It is written." And that truth goes from mental, like I kinda know it, I agree with it. The more that you meditate on it, the more that you memorize it, the more that it sinks down deep and it becomes part of you, and you don't have to think about it anymore. You can start by, you know, you have to do some work there, but then it becomes natural. It's just who you are. ?Yeah. It's the changing of your nature, which is exactly what salvation is. It changes your nature from the nature of man to the nature of God likeness through Christ Jesus. And that letting, I love how you said that let. What you're encouraging women is to get into the word, what practical ways can busy moms build that scripture time ?well, a couple things just super quick, and one of them is don't be overwhelmed by that idea. Scripture memory for me started with a couple minutes a day, sit- standing in the grocery line. You know, it st- it started with just a couple minutes. And see, we don't realize how much our focus is tied to our freedom. So focus, focus, focus. Where am I placing my focus? We're told, "Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things." And we don't realize, we, we give 23.756 hours to the world, and when we give this tiny little bit to God, and then we're like, "Wow, I just don't feel like God's changing me." Hello, you've got to give more. You know, I call it spiritual fe- focus and spiritual feeding. Why? 'Cause God wants to do the work, but we gotta turn a- and, and receive that. If I'm busy doing this other thing, if I've got this other thing in my hand and I'm focused on that, how's he gonna do anything in my mind? So when I'm focusing on those things, I'm opening myself to the work of the Spirit. He's gonna come in and do all that work. I just gotta give him, I've just gotta give him my access to me, to my focus. ?Yeah. I love that. So what spiritual disciplines have most transformed you? What kind of access do you give God to your life that has transformed you? Well, in, in these times it is a very, very, a dedicated meditation practice every morning. I used to hate meditation. I didn't understand it. I didn't know what it was doing for me. I wouldn't get through a day without it now. And of course, you c- you end up carrying that thing through your day. But as you give God that first access to you, where you're setting your mind on him, you start to realize there's just tremendous communion, and, and in the presence of God there is the fullness of joy. That's not poetic. That's truth. Yeah. That is an absolute thing, is you'll start to feel the strength of the presence of God growing as you give him more and more access to your mind. It sort of just gives you strength and power. So that is one. And the other thing is just start any s- any spiritual discipline. It's doing what? It's making your spirit more powerful. So when your spirit's more powerful, it's easier to overcome the flesh. You know, the reason we're told to crucify the flesh is it's, 'cause it's in charge. It doesn't wanna give up. It doesn't wanna give up control. And so when I feed the spirit through meditation, through scripture memory, through silence and solitude, any of those things, they're, it's gonna make it a little bit easier next time. ?You are absolutely on point here. So you said, two minutes earlier, , women can start with two minutes. - Using that two-minute philosophy, and maybe other philosophies that you would have, how can listeners build simple, sustainable rhythms that help them connect with God instead of constantly running on empty? ?Well, one thing that I feel like is very practical when you're first trying to change, you- you're trying to make a more deliberate change from the flesh to the spirit, is reminding yourself. You know, we've all got phones. You can do a reminder on your phone. Where's my focus? Where's my focus? It could be once every hour. It could be once every two, two hours. And you can literally take that, take a 60-second break, and just stop and say, "Father, I know you're with me. Thank you, Father. You're, you're leading me, you're guiding me, you're with me." That one little thing, it doesn't seem like much. Oh, yes, it is. Because every single time, your brain is changed. Every single time. That neuroplasticity never stops. You're either conforming to one thing or being transformed. , That's always happening. So even if you start today for one minute, it's gonna change you. It's gonna help you get closer to that place where you have the living water flowing out. ?Yes. It's an awareness. I think what you're prompting us there with is just make time for an awareness of God- Yeah ... in your everyday life. You seem like you're very free. You've got lots of movement going on. You've got lots of expression. And anxiety tends to, bind us up. Yeah. So what does freedom in Christ feel like in everyday living? ?It feels like waking up with a psalm in your heart. Mm-hmm. And you waken, waking up and saying that you know that He is with you, that He, that He is breaking down gates of bronze, that He is cutting through bars of iron, you know. I trust in the Lord because He's keeping me safe. It's, it's, it's waking up, when you give focus to the word. Have you ever th- like, wa- been to, binge-watched a, a movie or, or, like, a series, and then you go to bed at night and you might have a dream of that? We have to realize everything that we focus, it is impacting us. You start making your focus God's word and prayer and, and just time with Him, that's what's gonna start influencing you. Yeah. Because I used to have really strongholds about, like, rehearsing troubles, you know, having an argument with somebody in my head, you know. All that stuff, that's all from the flesh. Yeah. And we don't have to live that way. So yeah, it does feel ... It's a, it's a life of flow, and it doesn't mean that I'm always there. A lot of times I do. I, I slip up. I, I realize, "Oh, I'm in the flesh. I'm doing that thing." It's making the switch ag- again and again until the spirit life becomes so powerful It's the strongest thing, and it's the thing that's kicking the other bullies off the street. ?Yeah. That is so good. And spirits influence us. We talk about social media spirits,, the world spirits, the flesh spirits. , We as people are influenced. And so what you're suggesting is for us to get in more of an influence of God, a stronger influence from God, than we do other influences. ?Yeah. You know, I think there's that old adage about the two wolves, you know, the, the, the mean wolf and the nice wolf. There's a lot of truth to that. Which one is gonna be stronger in your life, the spirit or the flesh? It's which one do you feed? And if you start feeding regularly, committedly, every single day, be intentional about feeding the spirit, the spirit in you, your new spirit, and the Holy Spirit through you, will grow stronger and stronger and stronger. And you can emphasize that by b- saying that. I'm strong in the Lord, in the power of His might. You know, His divine power has given me everything I need for life and Godliness. Yeah. I have every spiritual blessing in Christ. Start to speak those things over you. Your spirit hears that, and it, and it strengthens you. ?And you're not trying to do it from your own sheer willpower or your own self-motivation. It's you've got another motivation that is deeper and bigger and more powerful than you. If you could leave a Christian mom with one final truth about abundant life in Christ, what would it be? ?Be the branch. Be the branch. Put that on your refrigerator, put it on your mirror, put it in your car. You're not separate from God. You're a branch on the vine. God is living in me and through me. I'm not separate from Him. His power will give me everything I need to, s- so that I can have life abundant and free, and He will do far more abundantly than all that I can ask or even imagine. Remind yourself of that day after day after day, and you'll start to think of yourself that way. Yeah. Christ in me, hope of glory. ? The power that is in you is greater than the power of anything in this world or that we face. Yes. That is so good. Where can our Faith Mom community connect with you? ? I have, several different websites, but the one that's sort of a HubSpot is called kathleenjohnsonministries.com, and that can take you to the books and the podcast and Scripture Girl and those other things. We will definitely link all that, in the description, you have given us just a- plethora of encouragement today. I am just encouraged to spend more and more time in the word of God. And I can too attest to what you are saying, that the more time you enable your mind to think about the Lord and the things of the Lord, the stronger you are and the easier it is to defeat the world, the flesh, and the devil through the power of the abundant life of God in Christ Jesus. So thank you. Before we close, Kathleen, would you like to say anything for our Faith Mom community? I, ?I would like to say one more thing, and it's something I've really been focused on a lot with all the teachings that I'm doing. Whenever you are under attack or wh- when things aren't going right, make a decision about it. Make a decision. I will live by the Spirit. You make a decision first, even when you don't feel like it's, it's happening yet, because that decision will, will signal your reticular activating system. It is telling the enemy, it's telling the world, it's telling God, this is what I'm going with. I'm going with God. Do that one thing, and then watch to see how He'll work through that to bring that reality into life. ?I love that. Decision is a cut. What you're saying there is make a cut. Make a- separation. Make a dividing line. Like Joshua said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." That was his dividing line. And so what you're encouraging moms to do is make a decision. Make a dividing line. James talks about not wavering between two opinions. Yeah. Make up your mind. Yeah. And that's all God asks us to do. He, He is asking us to make up our mind. And let me just say a, a word of encouragement that God is ready for you to make up your mind. Noah made up his mind. The eight people on the ark made up their mind. Everybody else did not make up their mind, and they were lost. But God did not want any to perish, but all to come to a changed mind, a made-up mind- thank you. Thank you so much. And That just makes me think of a scripture I love. The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. When we are single-minded like that, we have tremendous connection and communion with God, and it brings spiritual power. Yes. Yes, you're so, so right. ?Friend, if you've realized today why you've been feeling spiritually drained, don't ignore it. You were never meant to carry anxiety, motherhood, pressure, and spiritual warfare in your own strength. The exhaustion lifts when striving and stressing stops and abiding begins. Through scripture, worship, and renewing your mind with the word of God, Jesus Christ breaks chains, strongholds lose their grip, and peace returns. God's grace is greater than what's been weighing you down. You are not stuck. In Christ, you can break free.
