Leanne is back to continue exploring this complex topic of worthiness, diving into the paradox of feeling worthy when you DON'T feel worthy. Once again Leanne talks about the 5 Blocks to God’s love, originally introduced as a 'Self-Imaging' formula, and how these blocks, if not addressed, can hinder your experience of love and worthiness.

This time however, the spotlight turns to the third ingredient and God Block: Self-Worth, as Leanne emphasizes the importance of understanding what you're "weighing and measuring" to define your own worth. She shares personal experiences of tying self-worth SOLELY to external factors like appearance, relationships, and achievement, and how goal-setting can be great, but if that's the ONLY place you are finding your worth, that's where the trouble lies.

Leanne encourages and invites you to create a new definition of self-worth, only this time around taking a "spiritual currency" into account and seeking God's perspective on your divine worth, teaching you how to embrace the concept of taking radical ownership of your own Self-Image... while inviting God into the process as your co-pilot and divine partner.

HOST: Leanne Ellington // @leanneellington // StresslessEating.com

To learn more about Leanne, head over to www.LeanneEllington.com, and to share your thoughts, questions, feedback, or guest suggestions instantly, head on over to www.WhatsGodGotToDoWithIt.com.

Follow Leanne on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leanneellington/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this powerful conversation, Angie Smith gets honest about the pressure so many of us feel to perform, prove, perfect, and become whoever we think the room needs us to be. And often, the identities we wear so confidently—“the achiever,” “the responsible one,” “the perfectionist,” “the strong one”—may have less to do with who we truly are and more to do with how we learned to feel safe, accepted, and enough.

As a bestselling author, Bible teacher, speaker, and developmental psychologist, Angie brings a unique perspective to the intersection of psychology, identity, and faith. In her new book, Into the Deep: Finding Relief from Pressure, Exhaustion, and the Need to Perform in a Shallow World, she invites us to move beyond surface-level survival and discover what happens when we stop trying to earn an identity that God says was never ours to earn in the first place.

In this episode, we explore the intersection of neuroscience and faith, why affirmations like “I am enough” don't always change what we believe deep down, and how perfectionism, people-pleasing, comparison, impostor syndrome, and control can become strategies for protecting ourselves from rejection or shame. We also talk about what happens when our theology says we're loved, chosen, and worthy, but our self-image tells a completely different story.

We bring the conversation into food and body, the exhausting belief that changing something externally will finally make us feel different internally, and what it looks like to stop using our bodies, achievements, relationships, or productivity as evidence of our worth. Angie also shares what it means to trust God when trusting Him doesn't guarantee the outcome we want—and how to recognize when we've turned even our relationship with God into another place to perform.

This isn't about becoming a shinier, better, more impressive version of yourself. It's about questioning the patterns and identities you've built around performance, approval, and control—and discovering who you already are when you stop trying to become whoever the room needs you to be.

GUEST: @angiesmith19
Angie's Website: AngieSmithMinistries.com
Get the Book: Into the Deep: Finding Relief from Pressure, Exhaustion, and the Need to Perform in a Shallow World — available wherever books are sold (releases October 6, 2026)

HOST: Leanne Ellington // StresslessEating.com // @leanneellington // @theteenagerbrain

To learn more about Leanne, head over to www.LeanneEllington.com, and to share your thoughts, questions, feedback, or guest suggestions instantly, head on over to www.WhatsGodGotToDoWithIt.com.

Follow Leanne on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leanneellington/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this powerful conversation, Dr. Alison Cook gets honest about something many of us don't realize: we can know all the right things about God, healing, and ourselves—and still have parts of us that don't feel safe, connected, or secure.

As a psychologist of religion, licensed therapist, and bestselling author, Alison has spent decades exploring the intersection of psychology, faith, and spiritual formation. But in her new book, The Secure Soul: Finding Inner Strength and Connection When Trust Doesn't Come Easy, she takes us beyond simply understanding our patterns and into the deeper work of tending to the parts of ourselves that learned to protect, perform, control, or disconnect in order to feel safe.

In this episode, we explore the intersection of neuroscience and faith, how early experiences can shape our brains, nervous systems, self-image, and even the way we experience God. We talk about the difference between who we truly are and who we learned to become in order to feel safe, why some of the behaviors we desperately want to "fix" may actually be attempts to protect us, and what happens when our theology says "God loves me" but something inside of us still struggles to let that love land.

We also bring this conversation into food and body, perfectionism, self-criticism, and the pressure so many women feel to become a better version of themselves. Alison shares what it means to "Recognize & Return," why receiving love and care can sometimes feel harder than giving it, and how healthy self-trust and trust in God can work together instead of competing with each other.

This isn't about finding one more thing about yourself to fix. It's about learning how to stop abandoning the parts of yourself that need your presence—and discovering a deeper kind of security rooted in connection with yourself, with others, and ultimately with God.

GUEST: Dr. Alison Cook // @dralisoncook
Website: www.DrAlisonCook.com
Podcast: The Best of You Podcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bestofyoupodcast
FREE QUIZ: Uncover the role you learned to play in your family
Get the Book: The Secure Soul: Finding Inner Strength and Connection When Trust Doesn't Come Easy — available now wherever books are sold

HOST: Leanne Ellington // StresslessEating.com // @leanneellington // @theteenagerbrain

To learn more about Leanne, head over to www.LeanneEllington.com, and to share your thoughts, questions, feedback, or guest suggestions instantly, head on over to www.WhatsGodGotToDoWithIt.com.

Follow Leanne on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leanneellington/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.