Do You Know Who You Really Are?What God Says About Your True Identity and Why It Changes Everything.

Welcome to the Shifter Podcast, where faith meets neuroscience, healing meets identity, and women rise into the fullness of who God created them to be. A space where you learn how to turn your pain into purpose. I'm your host, Rosangela Atte, certified Christian life and brain coach, prophetic voice, mentor, wife, grandmother, and a woman on a mission to help you renew your mind, Regulate your nervous system and break free from the lies that have kept you stuck so you can walk in your God-given identity and discover your purpose. This is a space for raw stories, real breakthroughs, and Spirit-led conversations that will shift you from surviving to thriving. If you're ready to heal, be whole, and walk in freedom, you're in the right place. Let's shift her. Before we begin, let's prepare our hearts, minds, and body to receive the word of God. Place both feet on the floor. Soften your shoulders and your jaw. Inhale through the nose for a slow count of 4, hold for 2, and exhale gently through the mouth for a count of 6. Do this twice more. In for 4, hold for 2, out for 6. The longer exhale signals your body that you are safe. It quiets reactivity and it opens attention to the Holy Spirit. Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly. Feel the rise and the fall. Say quietly, "In Jesus, I am safe. I am present. I am loved." Gentle touch and slow breath comes the alarm center of the brain, and it strengthens your mind's connection with your body so you can focus on the truth. Let your eyes softly scan the room. Name. In your mind or out loud, 3 colors you see, 2 shapes, and 1 thing you're grateful for right now. Your attention shifts from inner swirl to present reality. Gratitude primes the brain for learning and hope. Now that we're here, present, peaceful, and attentive, let's dive in. I have a very important question to ask you. Do you know who you truly are? Not who your family says you are, not who the enemy says you are, not who the people around you or society say you are, but who you truly are, who God created you to be? Well, if you don't, I believe that in this episode you will find the answer. Do you know who you really are? Discover what God says about your true identity and why it changes everything. In this episode of the Shifter Podcast, we dive into the foundational truth every believer must know: who you are in Christ. Your identity is the key to walking in purpose, living in freedom, and embracing the calling God has placed on your life. How we discover who we are in Christ? Well, we look at the Word of God. How we were created. Genesis 1:24-26 says, Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind." And it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness." Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Notice the shift. For animals, God spoke to the earth. For humanity, he counseled within himself. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, let us make man in our image. The Hebrew word for image is selem. A representation, a shadow, an imprint. The Hebrew word for likeness—it's demut, resemblance, pattern. The Greek word uses icon, where we get the word icon from—a visible manifestation. So this isn't about physical features. John 4:24 says God is spirit, so His image in us is spiritual, moral, creative, relational. And authoritative. We are 3-part beings: spirit, soul, and body, just like 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says. The Trinity's harmony is mirrored in us. Body, which is the temple that stewards creation. The soul— mind, will, emotions— where choices are made. And the spirit, the part of us that communes with God and is made alive in Christ. Psalm 139:13-18 from the Amplified Version says, for you formed my innermost parts, you knit me together in my mother's womb. I will give thanks and praise you, for I am fearfully wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being formed in secret, and intricately and skillfully formed As if embroidered with many colors in the depth of the earth. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in your book were all written the days that were appointed for me, when as yet there was not one of them. How precious are all your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with you. The verb knit here draws from the Hebrew sakak, to weave, to knit, to cover, to shape, hedge about. It paints a picture of God interlacing your parts with intention, joining this to that, curating the whole you. You are not mass-produced. You are lovingly woven. Our lifelong work is to uncover who we already are in him by shedding the layers that hide our true identity. One day, as I was taking a shower, the Lord spoke to me and said, Rosangela, so many of my children die as caterpillars. I said, God, what do you mean? He said, look at what happens in the cocoon while the caterpillar is transforming into a butterfly. So I did, and what I found out really blew my mind. So, So what happens is the caterpillar, as it grows, it molts and it sheds its outer layers 4 or 5 times, and then it encloses itself in the chrysalis. And, you know, it is a dark, restricted, lonely place of dying because what happens inside, these enzymes are activated. And the color pillar gets completely liquefied. It becomes mucus. It becomes goop. Everything that was the old creation is completely destroyed, and the only things that are left in this liquid mess are these cells called the imago cells, from the Latin word meaning image. Image. For us as Christians, the image of Christ. And these cells contain the blueprint of what the new creation, the butterfly, it's going to look like. The size, the length of the antennas, of the legs, the shapes of the wings, the design, the colors, the pattern, everything. And once the whole new creation is complete, it slowly emerges from this dark, lonely place of dying to itself, to the old creation. And the new creation, it's ready to take flight and accomplish what it's created to be, which is to pollinate Spread God's Love and multiply the Anointing on its life. This is exactly the picture of who we are. And when God said, so many of my children die as caterpillars, because so many of us never really become who we're meant to be. Because we're either unwilling to be crushed and formed in that place of loneliness. So we do not yield to the process. Some of us leave this earth unfortunately too early, but so many, so many never become who we're meant to be. So my mission has become to make people understand, in particular women, that they are created to be a completely new creation in Christ. And it's already on the inside of us because these enzymes that begin to be activated in the body of the caterpillar are already inside of us. They're already on the inside of the caterpillar when the caterpillar is born, but they only are activated at the right time when the caterpillar is ready. So the potential is already on the inside of us to become who we're meant to be, but it needs to be activated by God, by a time of relinquishing everything that we desire— our agenda, our dreams, our visions, everything. That we think might be from God, but it might not. So just relinquish everything and let God take you through this process, which is painful and long, but it needs to take place in order for you to become who you're meant to be. So if right now you're in this season of crushing, stretching, pain, whatever it is that you're going through, God is there and there is so much purpose in that pain. That is what will propel you to do what God has called you to do. So be encouraged that this is a process that needs to happen and you just need to yield and trust God. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. This process is not punishment; it is preparation. Identity is revealed in the refining. Joseph, Daniel, Esther, and the three Hebrews were all tested before their elevation. Gold must be refined by fire. Your trials are equipping you to carry authority without being destroyed. By it. The greater the calling on your life, the greater the pruning, and the greater the grace. This transformation begins with transforming our mind, letting go of unforgiveness and the wrong mindsets, just like Romans 12:2 says, and now do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove What is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God? Old lies and patterns lose their grip when we stop firing them. God's truth plus repeated meditation and new actions create new wiring in the brain. What you repeatedly think, feel, and do becomes your brain's default. Neuroscience perspective on this. Repetition strengthens pathways. Every time you dwell on negativity, like news spirals, gossip, toxic conversations, dark entertainment, you reinforce circuits of fear, worry, and despair. Picture your brain as a garden. Focus is water. Repetition is fertilizer. Water weeds, get more weeds. Negativity bias. The brain is designed to notice threat more than blessing. That's survival mechanism. Constant negative input amplifies this bias, making it harder to perceive hope, gratitude, or joy. Stress chemistry. Chronic negative focus elevates cortisol and adrenaline. Over time, this can shrink the hippocampus, which is our memory and learning center, and sensitize the amygdala, which is our fear and hypervigilance center. Translation: you become more anxious and reactive and less able to think clearly. The neuroplastic trap: the more you rehearse a thought, the more automatic it becomes. The default lens: negative world becomes negative me becomes negative future. But neuroplasticity also means you can rewire on purpose with truth, gratitude, and obedient action. Proverbs 23:7 says, for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Philippians 4:8 says, finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. Romans 8:6 says, for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 12:2. And do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove that is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The holistic truth is what you watch, hear, read, and dwell on is training your brain either toward despair and fear or toward faith, love, and hope. Shifting your focus to God's word, worship, gratitude, and life-giving conversation isn't positive thinking. It's scripture-directed neuroplasticity. Another important practice we are called to observe is fasting. God designed us as one integrated being, so when we fast in obedience and devotion, the benefits cascade through spirit, soul, body, and mind. For the spirit, fasting quiets the flesh and heightens discernment. It clears space for intimacy and breakthrough. Jesus's fast before public ministry. For the soul, unhealthy comforts and false coping are exposed and surrendered. The will is strengthened in love. For our mind, fasting is associated with increases in BDNF, brain fertilizer. It supports clarity, learning, and resilience. It makes the rewiring and the renewing work more effective. It also benefits our bodies by activating autophagy. It reduces inflammation and stabilizes blood sugar, and it's supportive of overall healing. I have found fasting so helpful and beneficial in so many ways that it has become a lifestyle for me. I fast all the time. Usually what I do, and I do not recommend that you do this, please always ask first of all, the Lord, what type of fast you should do, and also talk to your doctor and ask if you are able to sustain fasting. I fast 6 days a week, only have one meal, usually dinner, and I eat very wholesome foods. I follow a Mediterranean diet and no alcohol and no refined sugar. More than anything, it has brought me so much spiritual clarity and strength because my flesh is so weak that it cannot prevail over my spirit. So I am overall a better person because I fast, because my flesh is weak, and when I go and spend time with the Lord I notice that all those thoughts that come to your mind, all the distractions— oh, I have this to do, I gotta do this, I gotta do that— uh, they're not present. Or if they come, they are gone as soon as I say in the name of Jesus, because your flesh is just not in the way. And that's what fasting is supposed to do. But it also helps with many other things, like I said. But please always fast with wisdom, and if you have any medical conditions, consult a professional. The point here is alignment, not punishment. Another very important thing I want to talk about is guarding our gates, because this influences every part of our being and who we are. Our eyes, our ears, and our mouth are gates. What enters will be multiplied. In our hearts, Romans 10:17 says, "So the faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." This isn't legalism; it's spiritual hygiene and neural stewardship. You become what you repeatedly receive and what you repeatedly declare. To carry weighty identity, we must live yielded. Luke 9:23 says, "Then he said to them all, 'If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross.' daily and follow me. Galatians 2:20 says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life in which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Romans 8:13, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, You will live. James 4:7 says, therefore submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Practically and neurologically, submission settles inner conflict. When your values and your actions align, your prefrontal cortex, which is your thinking part of the brain, decision-making of the brain, more effectively regulates your amygdala, which is your alarm system, and Triatum, which is the habits. Obedience reduces internal noise and frees bandwidth for hearing God. Crucifying the flesh means starving pathways of sin so they prune while rehearsing righteousness so it wires in. We also need the right environment in order to grow and thrive. Just as a fish dies out of water and a plant withers Out of the soil, we cannot flourish outside of His presence. Acts 17:28 says, "For in Him we live and move and have our being." Identity matures in the atmosphere of worship, the word, and obedience. If you feel tired or behind, you're not late; you are in training. Heaven is not anxious about your timeline. Keep saying yes. Keep renewing your mind. Keep pruning. What doesn't look like Jesus. God is at work in the hidden place. You are seated in Christ, chosen and loved before the foundation of the world. Jesus died for you, conquered sin and death, and gave you authority and purpose. You are wonderfully made, fearfully and deeply known by God, and called to walk in freedom, identity, and destiny. Stand firm in this truth. Amen. And let it shape every thought, word, and action. Let's pray. Jesus, our King, thank you for making us in your image and calling us to reflect your nature on the earth. We ask for grace to renew our minds, to submit fully to you, and to put to death everything in us that resists your Spirit. Tune our attention to your word, train our tongues for life, align our bodies Souls and spirits with your presence. We choose to guard our gates, to fast when you lead, to worship in the waiting, and to walk in joyful obedience. From Christ in us, reveal our assignments and anoint us to set the captives free. We receive your peace, your power, and your purpose now in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Thank you so much for joining me on. The Shifter podcast today. If today's episode spoke to your spirit, share it with a sister who needs it and leave a review so more women can find this space. Remember, you are woven by God, renewed by his word, and carried by his spirit. Your past is not your prophecy. In Christ, you are who he says you are— whole, holy, and commissioned for such a time as this. My prayer is that today's episode has reminded you of who you are in Christ and the power of renewing your mind With His truth. If you're ready to go deeper, to discover your God-given identity, and to turn your pain into purpose, I'd love to walk alongside you in this journey. You can connect with me for coaching, resources, and next steps at theshifthercoaching@gmail.com. Until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus, your heart rooted in His Word, and your life anchored in obedience. And always remember, you were created to shift into the fullness of who God designed you to be. Amen.