Hope Mangiafico (00:00)
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 help equip you with Holy Spirit led tools and strategies 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 by God. So grab your coffee, lean in and let's grow together. It's time to step into everything God has for you.
Hope Mangiafico (00:38)
.
Mm-mm-mm. We step with our bodies and today, a week four of Equipped for Wholeness, we're talking about restoring your radiance in your body. What makes us human? What makes us able to interact in the world, to hold our coffee, to walk boldly? All of those things. I feel like it's a topic that
so often because we often start with the body, right, when we're trying to go on a journey to wholeness or healing that I'm sure people have been wanting to get to the conversation about the body, right?
Nikki Humphrey (01:21)
yes. This is bringing up so much for me and hope's taking the lead on this today. And like I said, I have so much background in this that I'm just letting the Holy Spirit speak through me today because I know that if you have been dealing with a body that you feel is broken or mismanaged or not working to its full capacity or somehow you've been jipped by God by parts and pieces of your body.
this episode is for you. So lock in everybody.
Hope Mangiafico (01:51)
That's the truth The reason we have history right and such a well of information is because we've started with the body first on our healing journey and trying to deal with external factors as I'm sure
many listeners have as well where you're trying to focus on the weight or the diet or the exercise or gosh knows you start getting holistic and you go down the supplement world but you hit a wall and that I know was me for many many many years honestly I could say up until this this past year of 2025 like really understanding this layered approach this divine order of spirit soul and mind
and finally the body. And I think as we enter into today, the most important scripture that you can carry into this conversation is 3 John 1, 2, where it says, beloved, which first, I just love that greeting, beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health so physically, even as your soul prospers.
So your physical health is designed to rise to the level of your inner world, which are all the things we talked about in weeks one, two, and three. So a little plug, there is a playlist for all of these episodes. If you're just jumping in today, there is an Equip for Wholeness, Restoring Your Radiance playlist on YouTube specifically, and then you can see the episodes as well on any streaming services or.
It is not too late to join in and so you're welcome to check out the link will be in the show notes if you want to jump in at any point in time on your own journey if this is speaking to you and you're like, I gotta work through this, I gotta do this, we got you. And I think as we're reaching today for the conversation, it's important to remember that despite the emphasis of the spirit first and the soul and mind second,
your body still matters, which ties to what you were saying, Nikki, of going through life thinking, you know, your body's messed up or having this distorted, hateful, really, relationship with your body. It does matter. And so today being week four does not belittle the body. And I really want to emphasize that. I know you're probably in agreement with that.
And the reason, one of the reasons the body really matters for a lot of reasons, one, it makes us human, makes us able to be different than all the rest of creation that God made is your body is a temple. It is the home for a Holy Spirit, which is 1 Corinthians 6, 19. So that's the first reason. If you are still working on loving yourself, if you've already worked on that relationship with the Lord, you should at least begin this because you want to honor Him.
and then honoring yourself will become the fruit.
And because there is that divine order of things, they are not separate. So we will first talk about the spirit and body connection because week one, excuse me, technically week two, we talked about the spirit and the spirit still chit chats with the body. They are related.
And if you recall, we talked about iniquity. And that's largely rooted in the spiritual realm. And it's what science would call genetic predisposition of ailments in your body. ⁓ Or if you go to the doctor, it's your family history. So that is actually iniquity when you talk about the spiritual realm. And iniquity is spiritual distortion.
pass down the bloodline until someone breaks it. And that's really important to realize because one, it's a pattern that runs in your family. And so you did not just up and choose this one day. You are already predisposed to be thinking certain thoughts, unfortunately, having certain addictions, fears, tendencies, sicknesses. You just inherited those puppies. But now you know, wait, I can change it.
And that's really important to realize as we're talking about the body today. And to remember that, as I mentioned before, the body isn't separate from your spirit or your mind or your soul, but it strictly reflects what's going on in those other realms. And so when the iniquity that we're talking about in the spirit is broken and that internal brokenness of the mind and the soul, all those wounds that Nikki talked about last week,
We we feel, and we begin to different and behave different, I should say, and that body begins to respond.
And in simple terms, internal realities equals physical symptoms. Period. It's that symptom. It's that symptom. Words. It's that simple.
Now, most of us, and I know Nikki, you have your own stories, I do too, we've probably had some kind of emotional, spiritual wounds that actually show up in our hormone levels. Nervous system, sleep, energy levels, immunity, inflammation, the gut. We've all had some kind of issue there, right? We have those wall-kicking moments where it's like, what am I doing wrong? Remember.
I'm gonna start sounding like a tape on repeat. It's observing and taking responsibility and breaking it off and then beginning to shift and change your mindset and everything. So you are still acting certain ways, like an uphill battle.
until you acknowledge this was inherited thought patterns and things like that. That's very important to remember.
And I think the best way to view this, I know for me personally, is that health and wellness starts to become your reality when you begin the restoring in your spirit. And that is processed in the renewal of the mind that Nikki talked about last week. And then you just have this fruitfulness in your body. And I wanted to take a short moment in this part of the conversation, talk about my one very specific personal journey. I have about 45, just like Nikki does.
But something that's really powerful to give as a demonstration that I've talked about a couple times on our podcast is the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. So I was diagnosed with diabetes at 11 years old, mind you, At 11 years old, you are responsible for your actions. But it's very different as a kid, right?
So things that are showing up with type 1 diabetes, inherited things or things that happened around me. When I went to learn about spiritual roots, the spiritual root behind that is rejection. Well, as an adult, now that I'm learning that, I see where that came in from on multiple aspects. And I'm like, cool, I got an answer here. This is great.
The reason I'm sharing this is because I went away to a retreat that addressed this and they say and as a listener and Nikki you agree with this and I want just the listeners to remember by the blood and power of Jesus Christ our Savior we are healed we are trying to walk into that healing see the manifestation of it by aligning these three parts of us the spirit the soul and mind and the body okay so when I went to this retreat
I had healing, not only do they say, through Jesus you're healed, but I actually had blood sugars that were great and not needing insulin, okay? The reason it was working was rejection had been renounced, that spiritual aspect that was inherited and happening to me. It has a soul and mind component to it too, which is where the story gets really good, because I was doing really good in this retreat away from everyday life, not having to deal with
the everyday rejections that I process through my mind. I get back home, your girl don't even get 24 hours and her blood sugars are a hot mess express. And the fruit is really cool to see that when you remove yourself from the worldly things, the things that mess up your mind and the things that you inherited and you finally renounce that, you see freedom, you see the healing that is yours.
but it's that renewal of the mind that officially sets you free in the body. And that's where I'm currently at, specifically with type 1 diabetes. And I wanted to share that because, as an onion, like we always talk about, your girl has peeled back the spiritual iniquity thing 10 ways to Sunday.
Now we're on the renewal of the minus facts for me with rejection. You know, they're like, it was in childhood from a father. Cool. Got that. Well, guess what? We all can say it wasn't one time. It wasn't two times. It wasn't three times. You're going 30 plus years dealing with this. That renewal is going to take time to finally show up in the body and specifically for me, going back to Nikki saying in the beginning about
walking through the journey of hating your body or thinking it's broken or not working for you. At diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, you are told pancreas just kind of rebelled against you, it doesn't work anymore. So what do you believe? It's your enemy.
Guess where that resides? In the mind. So it is a very layered concept. But the healing is yours in the name of your savior, Jesus. Okay? And I'm saying that, preaching to myself, because it is. There's an order of events here. And they just take a while sometimes. But your body is doing all that it can to help you.
Speaking of that and the mind battle with rejection, we gotta talk about the mind-body connection. So spirit was the iniquity part. I think I have like the check box on that one. And this mind-body is that continual process in a different way than the spirit-body. And the cool thing about the mind-body connection is they're constantly communicating with each other. The mind is always talking to the body, which we often
get upset when we see symptoms or things to manifest in our body, but it's actually a loving body that's giving the signs of saying, hey, pay attention, I'm trying to help you, right?
And examples, in case you haven't really paid attention to this before, it's the shoulders tightening when you're stressed your stomach dropping when you're anxious. Or on a positive note, a positive example, when there's a peace and a moment and it just instantly calms your whole body. That is that mind-body connection happening real time.
The other thing that you may have heard before too, kind of that mind-body connection is the gut is the second brain. And this is often taught, and this was my story at least, that what you do with your gut affects your mind. And it's always kind of taught gut to mind, gut to mind. But what about the mind to the gut? It's this loop. And I try to focus on the gut constantly to change the mind, but if I wasn't changing the mind, I was gonna continue chasing
healing the gut, because my mind was actually what was causing the gut problem to begin with. It's this vicious cycle until you also do the renewal of the mind process. Have you ever been in a vicious cycle, Nikki?
Nikki Humphrey (14:10)
Yes, a lot.
And I just thought of an illustration as you were talking Hope about the mind, the gut, the gut, the mind. So if you think of like, say the gut is like you have a sewing needle with a little eye hole. And then the mind is like the string. Well, if they're working separately, the needle is not going to fix the problem. And if you just have the string, the string is not going to fix the problem. But what you need to do
Hope Mangiafico (14:28)
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
Nikki Humphrey (14:38)
is have, like you said Hope, the mind and the gut talking and interfacing with one another. So they're mutually beneficial, just like a needle with a string, fix the problems that are occurring on that secular behavioral loop.
Hope Mangiafico (14:47)
Yes.
That's a great illustration. and the reason that's so true is no amount of supplements can fix what the mind is telling the body to mess up. Like, they have to work together. And again, so guilty chasing supplements as like a band-aid instead of zooming out and seeing.
Nikki Humphrey (15:05)
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (15:17)
the entire tapestry you're trying to put together. And I think that's also a really important thing to take note of. like autoimmune diseases, the reason they manifest is because your mind is telling your body that it's broken, that it hates itself, all of these self autoimmune, auto self, so self hate and all of self rejection, self bitterness, all of that.
Nikki Humphrey (15:19)
What? Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (15:46)
creates the autoimmune response, which is why it looks like externally the body is tearing itself down more and more. It's because you're telling it that your body is actually a threat. So what is it doing? It's listening to you. It's a powerful thing. And it will not, it's kind of like God can't go against himself. The body can't go against itself either.
it listens to the mind. It's a beautiful relationship, really, when you finally honor that relationship and let them work together like the needle and the thread. It will make a beautiful tapestry, actually, that we call you as an individual. So it's important to just remember that because the mind is causing the bodily chaos for survival when you're feeding it all of those negative thoughts.
So the anger, the self-hatred, the rejection, it's telling the body it's bad. So it's causing harm to actually try and help itself. But when you restore the mind, it will decrease stress, decrease inflammation, stabilize digestion, and finally stop fighting for survival. And boy, we all know states of survival. We've all been there. And for me, this is where it gets really interesting.
going back to where Nikki talked about the perspective of body, when I started realizing this, I actually started having a bad view of my body, which sounds so odd, but I couldn't get past the fact that my body was still acting so crazy because it's not like I wasn't trying anymore necessarily, but sometimes you're tired of trying and you just keep saying,
What is wrong with you body? Like, what are you doing? Why won't you just produce insulin? Why won't you just create the feel-good hormones so I can just get out of bed and do a thing? That bodily perspective was still so hard for me to shift after years of even beginning this journey because I had to retrain so much of what I...
how I defined a lot of things previously.
Nikki Humphrey (18:15)
same. And I feel like once the enemy gets a hold of those things that he knows that we are loathing about ourselves that we don't like that we're trying to fix that we think is broken that we think that the extreme language like this will always be this way. This will never be. It's like he uses that as a weapon and it's up to us to figure out
Hope Mangiafico (18:23)
Yes.
Ha!
Nikki Humphrey (18:42)
what weapons Satan is using against us and to clear them out of our lives. For example, if a mirror is a trigger for you, like a full length mirror and you have a history, and this is speaking from me, so maybe nobody else has this example, but going in front of a mirror and nitpicking every part of your body, maybe you get rid of the full length mirror. Or maybe you're like, I will only look in the full length mirror when I'm fully dressed.
Hope Mangiafico (18:45)
Yes.
Right.
Hmm.
Nikki Humphrey (19:11)
because
there's nothing that Satan wants more than for you to hate yourself, to tear yourself apart and to be resentful of the body that God gave you.
Hope Mangiafico (19:22)
Mm-mm-mm.
And wouldn't it be like the enemy to do that because our bodies are what actually set us apart and he hates that. So it makes complete sense. And he knows scripture better than most of us. He knows he was there on who knows how many parts of creation aspects. mean, who knows what all the enemy has actually witnessed. So he has such an understanding.
how we act in our predictable programs. So it makes so much sense. And the mindfulness going back to just like the talking about the mind-body connection, you've got to pay attention. No more just going through life just haphazardly and just going through the motions. You cannot do that if you want to be victorious. And as Nikki said, I believe Nikki, it was our last episode, the one about
Nikki Humphrey (19:56)
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (20:24)
restoring your mind that we fight from victory not for victory and the body is an area that we tend to fight for victory.
Nikki Humphrey (20:36)
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (20:38)
and we forget that we can fight from it because we already addressed the spirit element and the mind element. We've already laid the foundation there that gives you the power to fight from things.
Mm-mm-mm. That's so good. And our bodies want to be a team player. Like, remember that. Again, as things show up. Again, I had to really retrain my mind on this one. I did not realize it really wanted to be a teammate. Which is really sweet when you think about it, actually.
Nikki Humphrey (20:55)
I know.
It is and my husband and I coach track for middle schoolers and I tell the kids all the time that your body and mind work together. So you have to be very careful when you're in that difficult part of your race what you're telling your body to do.
Hope Mangiafico (21:28)
Mm-hmm.
Thank you.
Nikki Humphrey (21:37)
You have to be specific in the language that you're using. So whether you're running a track event or just going day by day, when you're vague in what you want the outcomes to be, that's probably why you're not getting the outcomes that you want. You have to be consistent with the language that you're using.
Hope Mangiafico (21:58)
And you know, Nikki, I was just thinking about something else that you said I believe it was on week two. Could have been even the first week where we started this whole series.
but you talked about some of the sounds so crazy because you haven't experienced the freedom yet. And I think as you were giving the example of coaching track, it's so easy to hear that and to ignore it because you're used to what you've practiced. But if you just one time say, Nikki, that sounds cuckoo. I'll pretend like I'm a, you know, a high schooler, a middle schooler. That sounds crazy, but I'll try it once. And that gives you the taste of that freedom. Not easily.
Nikki Humphrey (22:21)
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
Hope Mangiafico (22:38)
It's not gonna be easy because it's so darn easy to just fall into that pit. But once you taste that freedom...
I want to say there's no turning back. might be a little stubble back, but there's not going to be a full force turning back.
Nikki Humphrey (22:56)
Yes. Yeah, because there's a big difference going back to the track now. There's a big difference when like you're in a track race and a lot of the kids will be like, I'm like, well, what do you tell yourself when it gets hard? And they'll be like, well, I'm just singing a song or I'm just doing this. And it's just like, but you're not telling your body to do anything. And so you have to be again, specific with the language. A song's not going to tell your body what to do. Your song, just your brain, you just like that. Rhythmic.
Hope Mangiafico (23:13)
Hmm.
Nikki Humphrey (23:24)
whatever you're saying in your head, your like fast legs, strong arms, or whatever it is to like get you, you're actually telling your body what it needs to do to have that breakthrough. And we can apply that to any area of our life. God show me what I need to do to tell my body to have my gut speak to my mind and my mind to my gut to break through whatever I need to break off.
Hope Mangiafico (23:25)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yes, yes, yes, yes. So we're gonna actually wrap up the episode with steps to renewing your relationship. And that's kind of part of that journey that even I'm excited because
We've said it multiple times, we're going through this with you guys because we don't arrive. And as I developed this with the Lord, I'm like, man, this stuff is really good that I can admit that I have not fully implemented.
So there's that. So if we talk about the everyday activities and you talk about like manifestation of symptoms and sicknesses, it's really important to remember that symptoms are signals. They're not malfunctions. And when you see a symptom, it is simply your body's language, which is so important to learn how your
talks to you.
And it's also, because we talked about your body as a team player, it's your teammate, it is loyal, it's not rebellious, which is, that's a tough one to actually, like, accept. But it's so true. It's faithful, not faulty, and it's protective, not problematic. And it makes me think about the track example you gave, Nikki, if you're telling it, like, strong legs, fast arms, for example.
That's gonna be a protective way to help it continue to do well because it's not going to want to create problems in you.
how it works.
And your body is phenomenal. Every aspect of your body was put together, knit together in the womb.
formed so perfectly by the Father and he breathed into it and was like, using you as an example, Nikki, this is Nikki, this is my daughter, totally wonderful in body, soul, and spirit. But on the flip side, we're utilizing all of this in perspective of Abba God as our creator. Culture has kind of put a little spin on all of this.
to where it will kind of give us two extremes of that our body is imperfect so we need to fix it or our body is perfect, we don't need to change a thing. But that's where we go back to our foundations. If you have already begun the restoration of your spirit and in the mind, you start to realize how wildly inappropriate these statements are. Now I led into these two extremes.
by talking about God's creation of Nikki and how wonderful it was because his intent from the beginning is that it's wonderful. But he did not create the iniquities. He did not create all those thought patterns that came from a fallen state, the sin body. So we're in pursuit of getting rid of those extremes and getting to that wholeness that God said in the beginning when he knit you together in the womb that he knew you before.
the foundation of the earth. That's what we're pursuing here and is why the body is a friend. And that is a biblical perspective, whereas the two extremes, they're not biblical, period. I could see how you could put a little twist on them and make them sound biblical. They're not, and they won't lead you to wholeness. So now, putting all together.
Today is the day that we restore the relationship to our bodies and befriend the body again. And as I actually in my mind, I go back to 3 John 1, 2, which I opened with, where it starts by saying, beloved. The father wants to call our bodies beloved.
which is more intimate and tender than a friendship.
It's friends for life. Through thick and thin, till death do you apart. Literally. So that's what he wants. And you think about it, just like reconciliation is needed in any strained relationship, it's why this is needed today. Because I believe all of us can say we have not had an appropriate perspective on our bodies. We've blamed most of it on ourselves. When there is a spiritual aspect,
that caused it, there is some mind stuff that have caused it, and now today we get to say, okay, we get that, we get the spirit, we get the mind, and I'm saying yes today to the body so I can finalize this journey. Finalize the journey is a weird term to say, but it's like really like you have all that you need to actually pursue wholeness in its entirety. There's layers to it.
You'll have all that you need for that Getting Started package.
And the important part of all of this, and I know Nikki, you could agree with this too, is this reconciliation makes the body feel safe again. And we have culturally with our mind, and then again, the iniquity inherited stuff made our body constantly feel unsafe.
Everything's a threat. We're a threat. Family's a threat. Friends a threat. God can be a threat.
We've given it no cues for safety. And this reconciliation is a major cue for that. And that feels so good, doesn't it? Like that honoring to begin the healing process. Even my body now is like settling as I'm thinking about it.
Now, couple steps to renew this relationship. Number one, ask the Lord to reveal His heart for your body. Sprinkle a little bit of that here in today's episode. But boy, hearing it directly from the Father, that's gonna be filthy rich and so good. Number two, this is a big one, but remember there's joy attached to it. Repent for partnering with the lies about your body.
Those lies don't just go away without the repentance. Because your heart has to change. You have to align with these truths that Nikki and I have talked about through this whole series, including this part. Number three, invite Holy Spirit to teach you your body's language. I love this because it goes back to where each a study of one.
why symptoms shows up for Nikki may be different than me. There may be a root cause that's somewhat similar, but the reason that root manifests will most likely not be the same. And I need to know my body so well. And I can. And I've just really started doing that in the past year where I get it now and I'm like, thank you, Lord.
It's amazing.
Number four, speak blessings over your body daily. And I love your example, Nikki, where you talked about sometimes just getting rid of the mirror, if that's causing you to trip and fall, for example, to stumble in that area. Because if you're running into something that's stopping you from being able to speak a blessing, you need to get it out of your life for that season.
Nikki Humphrey (31:54)
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (31:55)
and that could have a lot of different faces, but it's important. Invaluable, actually.
Number five, treat the symptoms as signals, not failures, which that was a hard one for me. It's not about your actions. That's the freedom in Christ. You have a responsibility, but your actions are not strong enough.
to completely dismantle God's plan.
and he'll use it all for good. And number six, practice kindness through action, such as eat the foods that feel good. Do the exercises that bring you joy. Ugh, and that one was also very hard for me. And it makes you feel good. Not the ones that everyone else is doing that you think you should do, but authentic joy from it. Rest without guilt and slow down.
when your body's language is saying, hey, I need to move slower. Don't treat it like an enemy. So you've have to practice kindness through your actions.
And the last little note I wanted to add is, this was really important when we were creating the course, that there is such a thing as living in a traumatized body. And that's where your mind is constantly racing or you're feeling stuck in fight or flight or freeze, which is where I was for a really long time. And that can make implementing all of this very difficult, not 24 seven, but you'll have moments where maybe you get, I don't like love saying the word triggered because it's become such a like.
hot word, buzzword, but you get triggered so you freeze. When that happens, you cannot easily connect with the father, with others, or with yourself. Instead of hating your body and getting angry at yourself, implementing one of those six steps, you need to cue safety to your body externally before you can deep dive. And I wanted to emphasize that because sometimes alongside these...
topics that we've talked about, you might need something like a somatic practitioner. We are not those, but there are people that can tell you and teach you how to cue safety externally so you can do this work. There's little things like laying on the floor, for example, doing what's called a containment hug, things to just tell your body, hey, that trauma is not actually what's happening right now. You're in a safe environment. And then as your brain comes back on your prefrontal,
prefrontal cortex comes back on, you can breathe, you can think again, connect again, and begin healing again. You're not broken. Life has happened to you. And you have to remember that in every part of this journey, especially with the body, because it's what we see the most and it's what we tend to be the most hateful towards. That's all.
Nikki Humphrey (35:03)
I have a closing encouragement that I'd like to read.
Hope Mangiafico (35:06)
Perfect.
Nikki Humphrey (35:09)
As we close this week, so funny you said about the somatic breathing, as we close this week, I want you all just to take a deep breath.
and let this truth settle in. You are not behind. Your body is not failing you and healing is not something you have to force. This week wasn't about fixing your body. It was about understanding it. It was about seeing your body not as an obstacle, but as a faithful messenger, not as the enemy, but as a partner in your healing. You begun to see
the divine order God designed, spirit, soul, then body. And that alone changes everything. When the inner foundation is restored, the body no longer has to carry what it was never meant to hold on to. As you move forward, practice compassion instead of criticism.
curiosity instead of frustration, listening instead of striving. Let your body feel safe enough to exhale. Let your nervous system know it doesn't have to stay on high alert. Let God meet you exactly where you are, not where you think you should be.
Hope Mangiafico (36:34)
wonderful ending to all of that. Thank you guys so much for joining us. Until next time, we'll see you in the overflow.
