Hope Mangiafico (00:00)
Hi, I'm Hope.
Nikki Humphrey (00:01)
Hi, I'm Nikki. Welcome to Equip Fellowship, where friends become family through Christ. We're two Jesus loving friends on a mission to share personal stories, resources, and real talk about our triumphs, breakthroughs, struggles, and setbacks. Why? Because we believe you are called to live victoriously, and we are here to equip you with Holy Spirit led strategies, to tools to strengthen your faith, transform your mindset, and walk boldly in God's promises.
Because here's the truth, you have been given great and precious promises and a light by God. So grab your coffee, lean in and let's grow together.
Hope Mangiafico (00:41)
.
Nikki Humphrey (00:43)
It's time to step into everything God has for you.
Hope Mangiafico (00:48)
I am so, I've said it before, I love when we change the intro for our topic and I'm so excited and I know we also say that probably at the beginning of every episode but the way that this is, I feel, gonna be such a upbeat, exciting, great reminder episode and to kind of become a little more lighthearted.
No pun intended. And just to see the truth of who we are as lights, you know?
Nikki Humphrey (01:19)
That's right, because God created us each to shine in different ways. And I think sometimes we feel like we need to be wholly healed and whole, two things, in order for our light to shine. But God didn't define it. We were born to shine right now because God placed a light in each and every one of us. Light doesn't have to strain to shine. When you think about
turning on a light switch or going outside and seeing the stars. Light doesn't have to strain to shine. It just does. So I want to remind you all today, if you are feeling broken, if you are feeling down, if you feel like the darkness is beginning to overcome you, rest assured that your God-given light inside of each and every one of you, it never goes out.
Hope Mangiafico (01:48)
Hmm.
Nikki Humphrey (02:13)
It is there. It may be shining at a different level right now. Think of like a dimmer switch on a light switch. It may be lower. It may be higher right now. But does it regardless of where you're at on that dimmer switch, you are still built to shine right in this moment. says Philippians 2.15 says, shine like bright lights in a world of darkness.
Hope Mangiafico (02:40)
That's so good and and complimenting what you're saying too. It's like You're always prepared to shine maybe dim at some points and like really desiring to embrace that Wherever your your light is and whatever level it's at right now, but it's there It doesn't have to strain and fully embracing that and in my mind. It's like embracing the things that make you you
Nikki Humphrey (02:54)
Mm-hmm.
Hope Mangiafico (03:08)
I think when we were talking about this, I mentioned like the quirks because there are things about me that like I attempt to dim down, right? Like I try to control that dimmer switch on things that really are like, it's just hope and it's great and it's good instead of trying to like, I don't know, I see like taking, you know, you have a candle and taking one of those like little candle bell things and just shutting it down.
Nikki Humphrey (03:37)
And I think just to build upon what I was saying before and what you're saying, Hope, is like each one of us were created with a unique light. And I was thinking about like this, like God didn't create us to be all identical light bulbs or flashlights or whatever. He put us all together. So we are a stunning constellation of lights. Each has our uniqueness, our brightness. I said, some lights are bold and bright.
Hope Mangiafico (04:02)
Hmm.
Nikki Humphrey (04:08)
the let's change the world kind, like just the go-getter bright light energy. Some lights are gentle and calming, like a soft light that comforts and soothes, like when you light a candle in the room, some of our lights are just that calming essence that envelops others when they come in contact with you.
Hope Mangiafico (04:17)
Hmm.
Nikki Humphrey (04:32)
Some of your lights are
creative sparkles. I love this one. Bringing beauty and laughter and creativity wherever they go. They add a little flair, a little zest, a little creative touch to everyone they come in contact with. Some are passion flames. They are inspiring each other into action. They just...
take things to a new level of thinking than we ever thought before. And some people are those steady, sturdy lanterns that I'm picturing like those big old-timey lanterns on the street corners. They're faithful, they're dependable, and they're always showing up. So again, every type of light matters, and together,
When we work together and we honor each other's God-given light,
Hope Mangiafico (05:33)
.
Nikki Humphrey (05:34)
it illuminates everything around us in such a great way.
Hope Mangiafico (05:40)
As you were describing the different lights, I was thinking about the ones that I need externally to then help my light because like I need that one that you talked like a candle like, ⁓ that's the kind of light that this light needs to then help us shine brighter. And it's such a good reminder of the need for each type and to not have comparison come in, which, you know, we've talked about so many times and
Having those illustrations you provided are so good. I love that so much.
Nikki Humphrey (06:18)
since God created each and every one of us, I'm thinking as I was reading those out, I was having a download that's like, each one of those lights is a way I need God in different seasons. And a lot of times I need God to be my steady lantern. You know, just that rock that I go to, that I depend on, that I can unload to my father.
Hope Mangiafico (06:29)
Yeah.
Hmm.
Yeah. Absolutely. It's God's intention, right? Like everything, like my example of like a person bringing in the calm, right? Well, if we're the body of Christ, then yeah, it should translate from person to person and our needs from the Father because we mimic everything.
Nikki Humphrey (07:01)
Yes.
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (07:06)
That's
so cool.
Nikki Humphrey (07:09)
Yeah, because in Matthew 5 for 14, Jesus's words are, you are the light of the world.
Hope Mangiafico (07:17)
Yeah.
I love that it says a town or a light of the world, a town built on a hill that cannot be hidden. And as I was talking in the beginning I tried to hide it. It's like, well, I actually hope there's some deception there. You ain't hiding. That's good. Which is so encouraging, actually.
Nikki Humphrey (07:41)
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (07:43)
That's so funny.
Nikki Humphrey (07:47)
We can't hide it, we can't snuff it out. can't, like it's there and it's there for us to tap into. And again, like we talked about last episode, it's a choice to tap into it.
Hope Mangiafico (07:52)
See ya.
So.
Right. Well, yeah, everything's a choice. And so if you read the entire scripture of Matthew 5, 14 through 16, so I'm just going to start with what you said and then build on it, because now we're talking about choice, which there's a choice here. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. So you should choose. If you cannot hide it, you might as well put it on a stand and say, Lord, to you be the glory for how you made me.
Nikki Humphrey (08:40)
That's right. That fires me up. nobody that isn't up knows it fires me up. Because for years I lived in the darkness and I never thought that I would see the light again. But again, I had to choose to change my outlook, my mindset, my relationship with God, my relationship with Jesus to let the Holy Spirit come in and do the redeeming works inside of me. And now every day, even when it's hard,
Hope Mangiafico (08:44)
you
Nikki Humphrey (09:10)
I choose to shine my light a little bit more. And some days it's brighter and some days it's not so bright, but I know the converse side of not living in the light and living in the darkness. And it fires me up because I know everybody listening to this, everybody watching this can switch on their switch to bring it up a little bit if they choose to. And boy, what a difference it's going to make in your whole outlook, perception and the way you live.
Hope Mangiafico (09:21)
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely.
Nikki Humphrey (09:40)
and treat others.
Hope Mangiafico (09:41)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that even just kind of reading Matthew five just now for me is like, I've never read it through that lens before. Like I get to choose.
I get to choose that and and I also like your emphasis on like it may be different each day because God doesn't expect us to kind of be flat lines showing up because life happens. It's more about how we handle the ebbs and flow of life. You'll still have a light, but your light when you're on the hill on the hill mountaintop is gonna be probably a lot brighter than when it's in the valley. It's still gonna shine. It's gonna be more like a flashlight.
But you're going through some hard stuff, some growth. But it doesn't mean you're in actual darkness. And so you don't want to believe that lie. That's like in Psalm, right? It's like the, like what is the scripture? The shadow, the valley of the shadow, the valley of the shadow of death. It's a shadow. How are shadows created? Light.
Yeah, that's really cool. That's, I believe Psalm, is that Psalm 23? Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear no evil.
Nikki Humphrey (10:56)
Thanks, so.
Yes. I feel like if you're like living in the shadows, you're hiding. You're not living out your full expression.
Hope Mangiafico (11:09)
Yeah, that makes sense.
It makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, because if you're in, so that's interesting. Because if you're out, you can't be in the shadow. ⁓ Now things can be coming at you that cast shadows because of your light. But then you have a choice to keep coming out from the shadow. To reshine. This is just like visual episode. It's good.
Nikki Humphrey (11:33)
you
I don't. Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (11:42)
I love
Nikki Humphrey (11:44)
And just in our day to day, as we're talking, like we rely on lights constantly. I know I do. I might not be the norm, but like in the morning, I love to like turn on the lights and light up the room and just like change the atmosphere in the room. Like we said, by lighting a candle or when you think about like when I was little, I needed a nightlight to like.
Hope Mangiafico (11:51)
Hmm.
Hmm.
Nikki Humphrey (12:11)
shine and keep me feeling safe and secure. Or even if we think about a porch light, we turn it on to welcome people to our home. it really is the light and interior designers say like this all the time, like lighting has such an impact on people, on the atmosphere, how people feel walking into spaces and.
Hope Mangiafico (12:20)
So true. Yeah.
Nikki Humphrey (12:39)
Isn't it cool that God put this a different kind, but same effect it has on people inside each and every one of us.
Hope Mangiafico (12:49)
As you're talking about the interior design, it like made me think about the different Kelvin and the different wattages that a light bulb can be. So you have like the warmer lights and the brighter lights, depending on the purpose, right? Like if you're going into a showroom, it's that bright white because they want to accentuate what they're showing. And it's not so much warm and cozy as much as that warm light where you may go into a ⁓
Nikki Humphrey (12:58)
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (13:16)
fancy restaurant and they're trying to set the mood and the vibe, but they all have a purpose to set that atmosphere and convey an environment that matches its purpose.
Nikki Humphrey (13:33)
So a question just popped in my head. What if we feel like our light is in misalignment with our purpose?
Hope Mangiafico (13:42)
Hmm. I have a response to that, although I don't know if it's how the question was intended.
Nikki Humphrey (13:50)
think whatever came up is meant to be because that question just popped randomly in my head.
Hope Mangiafico (13:55)
Yeah.
And am I just, yeah, my response is probably just for me, you know, kind of thing. But, you know, so often I ask the father questions, of course, right. We've talked about that all the time. And I always have had kind of ⁓ a beeline to purpose.
But on my journey to purpose, it feels like, the light in me has extreme ebbs and flows and I have an expectation a lot of times that my purpose and where I am in that season with my light, they don't match. And so I believe for me, I often allow
temporary wattages, if you will, intensities, to make me think I'm not aligned with where God wants me or has me.
Purpose hasn't changed, especially when you start thinking big picture and actually simplifies your purpose. It doesn't change and we have to, I have to not let these momentary dim moments make me think I'm off path in a curly queue. Cause I mean even,
Nikki Humphrey (14:59)
Mm-hmm.
Hope Mangiafico (15:16)
before recording I was telling Nikki I'm super nasally in the morning we had to bump up our time and I'm the one who picked the time but it's what we had to do and I get very frustrated in moments like that because I have a lot of those like one-off ailments big picture I'm supposed to shine a light on on God and on Jesus as Savior and teaching people right helping people with Holy Spirit and knowing the voice of the Holy Spirit but I also
have a passion for healing. And I constantly have these ailments that are so weird. They're so weird. And I get frustrated. Because I feel like I'm down here in this valley, praise the Lord, he gave me that little valley of revelation before telling this story. And I'm like, God, I'm not like how, how can you even give me the concept and belief that I can help people heal in any physical way?
but it's that momentary dimness. we've talked about this before too, trying to define how long will a moment be?
And so that's not necessarily an answer to the question as much as like...
Like it's not saying, well, this is how you come out of that thought that you're misaligned. It's check and make sure that you're not letting a momentary affliction, as I believe Paul would say, to define your trajectory and where you're headed.
Nikki Humphrey (16:47)
That's right. I think that was beautifully stated. And I think a lot of listeners are going to resonate with it because it's not a clear path for anybody. It's not a one-off answer to the question. And then you're going to just follow that formula every single time. I think in like previous episodes, Hope, you have said it's like a moment by moment clarity and...
Hope Mangiafico (17:05)
No.
No.
Nikki Humphrey (17:14)
coming to God and revelation and application to your life.
Hope Mangiafico (17:22)
Absolutely. And it's okay. I feel like it's needed to be said too. And maybe again, it's just for me, to have moments of like, because you're human still, you're a bright, beautiful light, but it's okay to have those moments like, oh no God, questioning it. He loves it. We've talked about this before too. He loves the questioning because he knows it's going to lead you back to him. And every time
That makes me think of Moses when he was in front of God and he came back and no one could look at him because he was shining so bright. So you just keep, well that like makes my eyes water. You just get brighter when you go turn to him because he is light. And literally he had to like protect his face for however long because no one could be in his presence because he shone, shone, shone, shined. I wanted to say shined. He shined so brightly.
And that's a good reminder that even when you feel like you're talking about the dimmer switch on the very dimmest setting and you know that's not where you're long-term supposed to be, just go with the father and go notch up.
Nikki Humphrey (18:39)
Yes. Yeah. And I think it's, your answer is I think vastly different than where a lot of people in the world present their light. You know, a lot of times was as you were talking and I was getting like a contrary picture in my head, you know, as little kids were like this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. I'm with the light of mine. And
We think that we have to shine all the time. Let it shine, let it shine all the time. But we can get into this fake persona at that I'm shining so brightly and I'm with Jesus's light and.
Hope Mangiafico (19:08)
Yeah.
Nikki Humphrey (19:22)
Maybe some people in the world are like that 90 % of the time, but like you said earlier, we're on the spectrum of like, sometimes we're brighter, sometimes we're lower, sometimes we're in between and honoring where we're at, like you were just talking about, and going to your father when we feel lower to bump us up a little bit and just releasing people from the fact that we don't have to be at our brightest...
Hope Mangiafico (19:33)
Yeah.
Nikki Humphrey (19:51)
setting all the time. We don't have to be at the highest wattage all the time. It's okay to have those ebbs and flows, but keep coming back to the source of light, God, checking in and getting renewed in His presence and His spirit.
Hope Mangiafico (20:13)
And you can only go up from there holistically, not necessarily like you're then going to be shining bright, bright, bright, bright, bright, bright, bright, bright, the time. But just it's so in alignment with everything that we talk about in the podcast and every episode. ⁓ And that's so encouraging to me. And it's also so encouraging because. I can still fall guilty of of that thought, like you're saying, because you do.
If you're listening to our podcast, you're probably like us and you want to so badly just give him glory in all you do. But then you're like, well, something happened and that, know, you just, happened. We'll just put it that way. Cause we all show up differently when things happen. But you will still glorify him when you check back in with him and you'll.
go back into that brighter stage. ⁓ And yeah, I'm wondering if part of my journey this year, because this year has been full of interesting journeys, learning to be fully honest with where I'm at so he can come in full force.
And allow me, you you were talking about, in the beginning, the different types of lights. And I think, I think if I compare it to scripture where you have the gifts of the Holy Spirit and it says the Lord gives different people. So it's like, he gives different gifts to different people. But what I've noticed when I read or when I'm in the presence of other people is you can actually operate in all the gifts. It's just when they're needed.
And so going back to your beginning talking about the lantern or the flashlight or candle or a light post outside, once you come to him, let him guide what type of light you are in that moment. Because many of us do tend to favor a certain type of display. That's just the innate way that he made you. But you have the ability based on
what he believes you need and he believes the world needs from you to operate at that different wattage just like the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They're all available all the time to all of us but we're not always operating in all of them because we're not needing to operate in all of them all the time.
Nikki Humphrey (22:47)
That's so good hope. And as you were talking, I just thought like, in order to approach many different kinds of people, your light needs to be different for other people. Like if you go to somebody and they're completely broken, know, mentally, physically, spiritually, you can't come in like, holy light shining so brightly. You have to come in with that calm, peaceful, loving.
empathetic, encouraging light. So we need to be able to switch our wattage in order to serve the people that God puts in front of us. And so that's why you need discernment from the Father. Like what kind of light should I use right now to help this person?
Hope Mangiafico (23:20)
Yeah.
And what I'm hearing as you're saying that, it's so true and it's so good. And as you're saying that, the old me, because I also have seen this on social media and I want to just break this off of anybody, is we've had this belief system that, well, I'm just too much. You know, like I'm too much for them. And so like they're poo-pooing on me where it's like, no, that becomes about you.
And I've been guilty of this, like, if you're too much for this room, go to another one kind of thing, right? That's not the right heart. You do have your people and we've talked about community on here, but Nikki is presenting this from a beautiful servant heart that's in alignment with the father. And so it's not a rejection of who you are and that you're too much for that person. just, I find that that was definitely a trend for a while on social media. You know, of just like,
don't they say you're too much then peace out. No, you are going in with a servant heart and saying, God, I am yours. made me this beautiful, you remind yourself this beautiful light, a light that was meant for a hill that can't be hidden. How do you want me to be presented to this person? Not with that heart of rejection that I believe has been taught.
I don't know, that was just this came that came to my mind as you were speaking of just like being too much for people.
Nikki Humphrey (25:02)
Right. And I would say in the past, was too much, I was coming in guns blazing to people. Like my life was definitely like, I was fired up with the Holy Spirit. I was like, I'm gonna go in there and help and serve. And honestly, I think that caused a lot of people to push back from me or pull away from me because it was too much for them in the moment. They didn't need every little detail of how like,
God could come in and transform and ignite and all of this. They just needed me to be there with them in that moment and to start building a relationship where that soft light can turn into like a brighter light in a ⁓ different force coming in for them and allowing God to work inside of them.
Hope Mangiafico (25:54)
Yeah.
That's so true. And I was just thinking about it I was the same way for one of our bonding experiences. But you think about it and if you go in and you're like, no, they just rejected me. It's like, well, wait, Hope, you're not on that brightness all the time. So that's actually not who you always are. That was either just for pure passion, excitement and not knowing how to control it, whatever.
⁓ Or it was forced because you thought you had to but if you step back you're like well wait when I'm at home Just hanging around I'm still a light, but I'm more like a candle And when I'm with the group of people that get the things I enjoy the things that I enjoy I'm a little brighter and it's it matches the environment So like I don't know if that's coming out correctly But when you presented what you said I used to think man no one gets me like no one understands that's fire
you all the time so that's actually not you. You are not this one display of light.
I did not understand that.
Nikki Humphrey (27:08)
Right?
Hope Mangiafico (27:09)
I thought I was too much for the room and I needed to enter into a different space.
Nikki Humphrey (27:14)
Yes, same.
I'm just laughing right now because I'm like, how ridiculous did I make things? And God was probably just chuckling like, girl, what, Simmer, you're being too much right now. Like you're doing too much. Like that is, you've missed the whole point.
Hope Mangiafico (27:38)
It's wild. It's funny.
Nikki Humphrey (27:42)
so glad that we can laugh at ourselves about this because it's true. We didn't realize it in the moment. I didn't realize it.
Hope Mangiafico (27:50)
Me neither, I getting on with you. We should send videos to people and we're like, hey, you haven't seen me.
Nikki Humphrey (27:56)
you
Hope Mangiafico (28:06)
Here's my face, cause video shut.
The video shows my light so much better.
Nikki Humphrey (28:17)
Yes, and we talked about this in the episode in the past, we're like, how do we get the Jesus glow? Like, how do we, how do they do, like?
It never leaves.
Hope Mangiafico (28:27)
The Jesus glow never leaves.
I think we were defining it as this exuberant personality.
Nikki Humphrey (28:34)
Yes, we totally mislabeled it.
Hope Mangiafico (28:40)
because they were bold personalities. But they weren't all the time that way. If you actually sat down and had a one-off conversation with them, they still gloat. I want to say glued. Why do I have such hard time with past tense words? They still had a light to them, but it wasn't that over the top personality.
Nikki Humphrey (28:51)
Yeah.
Hope Mangiafico (29:04)
That's so good.
Nikki Humphrey (29:05)
And we need to make sure that we are in alignment with our God given personality and not aligning with a persona that we want to emulate.
Hope Mangiafico (29:15)
Mm.
That's it.
Nikki Humphrey (29:23)
That was a correction from God. Thank you. I needed that.
Hope Mangiafico (29:27)
No, that's it.
A persona.
And when you say that, what I picture is you like coming out of your skin suit and trying to go into someone else's and be holistically a whole other person because persona, it's a person. That's not you.
Nikki Humphrey (29:43)
Kiss.
Right. Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (29:55)
Wow.
of its power.
Nikki Humphrey (30:01)
Yeah, because it's easy to get caught up in somebody what somebody else is doing what somebody else is light because we're attracted to light. It's natural to be attracted to somebody's light, but we aren't necessarily created to carry that particular light because we're like you said in the past, we're just a study of one. We're all different. We're all created differently. God made no two people the same.
Hope Mangiafico (30:12)
Yes.
Nikki Humphrey (30:30)
And that's on purpose. So again, like we said in the beginning, we have to honor our light and where we're at every day, because some days it's going to be brighter, some days it's going to be not so bright. And as I am going back to God more and honestly assessing where I'm at and acknowledging where I'm at, like I'm not just good all the time, right? Just being radically honest with myself and God.
I find that I don't think that God tests, but I just think like everyday occurrences that used to trip me up and make me so upset. Like
Hope Mangiafico (31:07)
Yeah.
Nikki Humphrey (31:09)
now I'm just chuckling. Now I'm like, okay, I'm just going to go with it. And it's been coming up a lot in my baking lately. Like I won't have like the just right ingredient, which you usually need but I'm just like, okay, just let me use this instead in this. And like before I'd get all frustrated and march into the store and have to err and it'd be like,
nobody'd really want to eat it at the end because it was just a miserable thing to witness. And then I'm like, eat this. And everybody's like, but like this past week, like three things like totally didn't have the right ingredients, totally maybe over measured or under measured. And it's just like every time it came out great, different than maybe it should have appeared, but it was still really
Hope Mangiafico (31:31)
You .
Nikki Humphrey (31:55)
good. And that just comes from acknowledging my feelings and choosing a different path than I normally would have taken.
Hope Mangiafico (32:07)
So in that situation in the past, you would have put your light under a basket.
Nikki Humphrey (32:12)
Yes, slap that dimmer switch all the way down, put it in a basket.
Hope Mangiafico (32:16)
Yeah,
you would have put it going back to the Matthew five 14 reference of choices you would have chosen to be hidden under a basket and turned on that dimmer switch. I'm super guilty, especially when it comes to cooking. It goes from being yeah, cooking for everyone to like get me out of the kitchen.
and everyone's like, get her out of the kitchen. That's so good. And I love to, you know, so often in the body of Christ, like we talk about honoring other people, but we don't want to forget about honoring ourselves and where we are. Like that's that radical honesty you talk about a lot, but it actually has a backbone of honor. If you can honor where you are, which is acknowledging
Life is gonna just feel smoother. Doesn't mean it is smoother, but it's gonna feel smoother and your example is a perfect illustration of that.
But we like to dishonor ourselves a lot, which is what then puts us under that basket or dims the switch.
So interesting.
Nikki Humphrey (33:28)
And I think part of that for me is like, I wanted to be perfect and everything. I wanted my thing to come out just like the picture and the cookbook or whatever, like my life and how others perceive me. But it's just like, okay, well, let's just go and work with what we have. And that's what God wants, like to work with the gifts he gives us. And ultimately, like my baking, like it still came out good. It doesn't maybe like how it was intended, but it's still a good gift from God.
Hope Mangiafico (33:59)
Amen.
Wow.
And we've talked about in episodes about perfection. And I think it was just in the last episode about the yeah, the only perfect beings are Jesus, the Lord, and Holy Spirit. And when we're striving for that perfection, it's a persona.
Nikki Humphrey (34:23)
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (34:24)
Using the Lord's download to you. Because he doesn't, whenever you see a word in scripture that says like the person was a perfect man or had a perfect heart, it wasn't that they were perfect in how we understand it. It's that their heart wanted what he wanted. It's an alignment. Perfection in God's eyes is just aligning with his desires, the desires of your heart he'll give you because it's that.
perfect alignment, that perfect desire.
So we have to change that definition of perfection because falling in that trap is so easy to do. And like you said, you can catch it sooner. And I think we all make great progress in that, a helpful tool is to remember God's heart of what he defines as perfection. And like you said, giving in your example of he just wants... ⁓
Part of that is just like you're saying, like he just wants you to try and it's gonna turn out good because he's a good father and even if it's not matching that book that's supposed to be the perfect example. There's one book that has perfect examples.
Nikki Humphrey (35:41)
Right.
That's right. That's right.
That's so true.
Hope Mangiafico (35:51)
You
Nikki Humphrey (35:54)
And I just, when we think about light, darkness is so heavy and light is just light. And that's so simple. Again, not easy, but which way do we want to live? Do we want to think with everything's dark and it's harder, you know, like you get up in the middle of the night and you're trying to like navigate through it. It's just harder, but just with the little light, makes it so much easier to navigate your way.
through the darkness. And so that's why I think this is so important to Hope and I, because we've been in the darkness for a long time. We've been in that victim mode, the doom and gloom, the curly Q's, the woe is me. And it's hard. It's like a full time job living that way. And when you become, just step into like even a little bit, even if you're completely dark right now, even if it's just, we've talked about this before, that pinprick of light.
Hope Mangiafico (36:30)
. .
Nikki Humphrey (36:53)
A little bit of light is the absence of darkness, right? And just
let it in. Little by little, renew yourself, let God's light wash over you. And slowly things will begin to change. You know, again, like my attitude in the kitchen, that wasn't a goal of mine to have a better cooking attitude in the kitchen. like, no, but it was just that surrender to God and working on my relationship with him and
letting him minister to me or convict me or challenge me, that those things that we do in private with the Lord go on to help many avenues in our life.
Hope Mangiafico (37:37)
Amen. And that's what's so beautiful about the relationship with Him. ⁓ I love that. It's so true.
Yeah, even in the kitchen. Because he cares about the details of your life. know, people are always encouraged when they hear that. But this is a great example of that. Like, he cares about all of it. So he's such a cool father where you just go to him and work on one area with him. It gets sprinkled on everything, a little glitter on everything.
Nikki Humphrey (37:51)
Yes.
Yeah, because we know those atmospheres that we go into that are inherently or consistently dark, right? We know the people or the places or the environments that we go in. was like, we almost got to be armored up because we like, we got to get mentally ready because that darkness is going to smack us in the face. As soon as we, we know how those environments are. And so if you're feeling like you are creating environment like that and the spaces that you enter, how can you change just a little bit at a time?
Hope Mangiafico (38:43)
And you know what's funny? I was talking to someone yesterday and I was telling her about the dried flower thing that I'm doing. She's like, you know what's so weird? She's like, I've just started really liking flowers too. She's like, what is it about flowers? And as we're talking, it's like, it lights up a room. They bring so much joy because they have these beautiful, rich colors. Any space, even if you're in a colorful space, you're drawn to the flowers.
They're living beautiful things created by the father. And I didn't actually have a response at the moment. It was like one of those things you're like, you hear the comment, you just kinda let it sit on you, know? And I started walking around the house and thinking about it. was like, I felt like the father was like, they remind you of you. Like my design of you. And I would have never thought that, but what a beautiful.
thing for the Father to say is like, that's actually a good reminder of what I say about you, how I created you, the beauty that's in you. and I would say the same about myself in regard to like, I didn't really appreciate flowers until the past couple of years. So it's like, we're all by the grace of God, awakening to the truth of who He designed us to be and beauty and light and
We're seeing it exteriorly in these beautiful things that he made.
Nikki Humphrey (40:11)
That's good.
Hope Mangiafico (40:15)
I meant to text her that to let her know. But I think it's because the Lord wants us to be reminded of how beautiful he sees us.
Nikki Humphrey (40:23)
Yes, agreed. And others. And pointing that out to them. If we see something, say something. And you we talked about that with like Britt during the community series, but I found myself more when I go out into public, which is hard for me to give people compliments as I see it. Cause you know, you see somebody when you're like, cute outfit. Yeah, that haircut looks good. Like whatever, whatever it is. And now I've just been speaking it out more.
Hope Mangiafico (40:27)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Mm hmm.
Nikki Humphrey (40:53)
And these people immediately, I mean, that's just bumping up their light a little bit. You know what I mean? Like they don't really say anything back or whatever. They might smile or say thank you or, know, but it's just like, it's like this automatic like bump up in wattage.
Hope Mangiafico (40:57)
Yes.
Yes. Yes.
Yeah.
That's really good. And I'm getting this image as to why that works so well. We are in an isolated culture overall and light, I don't know much about the science behind it, but when you speak and you bring that light together, it's gonna be brighter. Whereas like when you're in isolation,
you're only by yourself, right? It's just kind of going towards the beginning where you're talking about how we all come together with this light. But the reason it carries that much weight, even if they don't express it, but you see a shift, is boop, bumped right into them. You can only do that by bumping right into them. And it's more valuable now than ever because without us realizing it, culture has become a more isolated culture.
And the good news about that is the effects of your comments actually probably carry more weight now than they ever have. Our lights carry more weight now than they ever have. And that's good news.
Nikki Humphrey (42:30)
It is good news because I mean, just think of somebody like a stranger complimented you. Like, how would you feel? Like.
Hope Mangiafico (42:35)
Right.
Well, I would be so for me, I'd be like thrown off for a second because you're not used to it. But then you're like, oh, wait, that was nice. That felt good. And I loved Nikki. I didn't get to comment on it. And this was like a light bulb, light bulb moment for me that you said light is light, like light and like weight. And I'm like, yeah. And I just like, wow, that's really cool. Like I never thought about it. So.
Nikki Humphrey (42:55)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, like...
Hope Mangiafico (43:02)
you get a compliment or you extend the compliment out or and it's like throw someone off all of a sudden yeah they just naturally feel lighter you know and wait and I think that is so cool and in describing we we often describe darkness as heavy like but I've never sat down to think about what that means from a feeling standpoint and my
Nikki Humphrey (43:27)
Yeah, from a spiritual
perspective.
Hope Mangiafico (43:31)
Yeah. ⁓ And so anyways, it's so cool to think about like why it carries so powerfully when you go out and you lighten someone's load by just complimenting them.
Nikki Humphrey (43:48)
I remember when Josephine was little, maybe like three, we'd call spreading sunshine. And I'd get her in the stroller and I'd be like, all right, let's go spread sunshine today. How many people do you want to spread sunshine to today? And she'd say a number. And then we'd go out and be like, okay, there's one. All right, let's give a compliment. Let's say something nice. And it's just, you know, I got not a habit of doing that because, you know, as my daughter got older, that doesn't seem.
Hope Mangiafico (43:54)
you
Okay.
Nikki Humphrey (44:18)
like the cool thing to do with mom to go out and spread sunshine. But I thought about it the other day and I'm like, wouldn't it be cool if I just started doing that?
Hope Mangiafico (44:27)
Yeah, right. Same concept, maybe different title. That's the same concept. No, it's great. I love that. I feel like it's no coincidence either. We've had beautiful weather here, but as we're recording, I'm actually first time ever having to rely on our interior lighting because it's raining and overcast outside.
Nikki Humphrey (44:33)
Yes. Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (44:56)
I'm like, that's not a coincidence.
Nikki Humphrey (44:56)
It's like the dreariest,
not bright day and it is feeling heavy in the atmosphere. So I have four lights on right now.
Hope Mangiafico (45:07)
⁓ It's wild! That's so crazy. I have a light right above me so that helps a lot. ⁓ But yeah, that's so funny. Perfect timing.
Nikki Humphrey (45:21)
So I think right now would be a great time that we have, if you're feeling heavy and not light, we have a free seven day shine challenge that we're going to link in the show notes for you. Just some simple things that you can do for seven days each day. Go through the list and...
follow what it says. And these are again, simple, straightforward challenges to help you not only shine a little bit brighter, bump up your wattage a little bit, but for the people that you encounter, for the people that you seek out to share these tasks with, not tasks, but like.
I don't know what to call it besides test, but the things on the list each day. Yeah, it will make a difference.
Hope Mangiafico (46:13)
Yeah.
Yeah, it's so good and I love that when you download it, ⁓ it has scripture linked to most of the days, which is just a reminder of the truth as to why you're doing it. ⁓ It's always okay to start out like, especially when you don't really know the Lord and you're like, I just want to smile more to people, but knowing the root behind it adds that much more power behind.
You were saying tasked. was trying to think of another word and I get it wasn't really coming to me, but it's like behind this servant act.
Nikki Humphrey (46:53)
Yes, that's it.
Hope Mangiafico (46:56)
And it makes me think about what you were saying earlier, like you were describing content earlier that just came with a servant heart. And so this is being like Jesus, a servant heart, and you bless people and you are blessed in the interim of doing it.
Nikki Humphrey (47:08)
Yes.
Yes, and just an example, I'll ⁓ share day one. Day one is speak life. Send a message to someone who needs encouragement today. Example, hey, I see you trying your best. You matter so much to me. And then the scripture reference is Proverbs 16, 24. Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. So yeah, just get out your phone. Think of somebody who might need encouragement. Send an encouraging text and
Go on with your day. I guarantee you, as soon as you send that, you're gonna feel lighter. And then the person receiving it on the other side is going to feel lighter and brighter too.
Hope Mangiafico (47:54)
Exactly, and what a great time before the Christmas holiday, know, dress, but people are loving the lights, you know, the light decorations. Why not make those lights all shine a little brighter? So I think it's a perfect timing that we did not orchestrate ourselves for this challenge. And I had a scripture to end with. It's John 8-12.
Nikki Humphrey (47:59)
where everybody's stressed.
Hope Mangiafico (48:23)
And it said once more, Jesus addressed the crowd. He said, I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.
Enter into the rest of your day, tomorrow, this challenge with John 8-12 that you have the light of life.
Nikki Humphrey (48:47)
Love that. So thank you for joining us today. As you go out into your day, be a reminder of hope, be a carrier of joy, be a warm, inviting glow that leads other to Jesus. You are light, you are loved, and you are needed.
Keep shining.
Hope Mangiafico (49:09)
We'll see you in the overflow.
