Teaching Kids Their True Identity in Christ with Hosanna Wong

0:02 Hey friends, [music] welcome back. I'm Stacy Bellward, the host of the Connected Families podcast. Welcome to our community. We are people committed to pursuing God's grace [music] and truth for ourselves and then daily working to pass that grace and truth onto our children. I'm so glad that you are here. Well, you know, we're in a series this month talking about mean words hurt. Are they trash, truth, or treasure? And that's because we just released a new mini online course by that name. It's a video course, but you could easily listen to it, too. It's laid out just exactly like I start all these podcasts. I love it. Right. It's for you, parent, teacher, grandparents to receive the truth of trash, truth or treasure for yourself. And then to give you the tools so that you can teach it to your family. The course comes with a deep activity guide and there's tips in there for if you have small kids or teenagers so that you can adjust it for your kids's age. You guys, I'll have all the links in the show notes. We've been talking about it for the last few weeks.

1:07 I'm just really excited about that tool and you're going to hear that from the conversation that I have today. Why are we excited? Because the enemy of our soul does not play fair. He is dirty. He goes after our kids. And as we model this work of sorting out the messages that we're believing and then modeling that for our kids so that they have tools so that they can fight the lies and learn from the truth, hide God's identity messages in their hearts. They are seeing themselves as called and capable and ready to be a blessing in the world. So I have a great conversation coming up for you guys today. I invited Hosanna Wong to talk about her new book. It's called What God Says About You. It's a kids book. It's beautifully illustrated. It's based on her spoken word poem called I Have a New Name. It went viral in 2023 with over 11 million views across Instagram, Tik Tok, and YouTube. It addresses one of the most pressing challenges facing our young children today, understanding their true worth and identity. Hosanna has preached across the world about the power of knowing the names God calls us.

2:25 Friend, masterpiece chosen, brand new. Wong wants us to know who we are in Christ and wants every kid to know who they really are from a young age. I'm so excited to have her on the show today. Hosanna, welcome to the Connected Families podcast. We are delighted to have you here as a guest with us. Stacy, thank you for having me. I've been so looking forward to this. [laughter] You know what? I've actually seen you perform that amazing spoken word poem that I I mentioned in the intro. I have a new name. I saw it. You came to Minnesota where I am to the Thrive Conference, which I love and I go to every year. I'm an adviser for it. And you performed and it was just amazing.

3:10 >> Amazing. I love those women that put on Thrive. How far is that from you? Was that a road trip? just a couple hours, but I'm there a couple hours. [laughter] I told you this is such a Midwest thing that I love. I love I'm a California girl that married a Midwest man. He grew up in the Midwest and then he went to high school in Michigan. But his whole family is like road trips are nothing.

3:33 Couple hours, six hours, no problem. That's an afternoon. It's like I love it. So that's amazing. Yeah, I love the Thrive Conference women. That's awesome. That's awesome. We were in the same room. >> Okay. We'll put a link to Thrive, everybody, because I don't think I've ever mentioned [laughter] that on this show. That's the connection that I have to hosana. All right, so your video has had 11 million views. That is just amazing. Tell me about your ministry and what that has launched for you. Yeah, I grew up uh doing spoken word poetry.

4:05 Like the spoken word poem that you're mentioning, I have a new name. I grew up doing spoken word poetry when I was a kid. So some people like grow up singing. I grew up doing spoken word poetry. I grew up on the streets of San Francisco. My family had an outdoor church to our friends living without homes and battling with addiction on the streets of San Francisco. All my friends did spoken word. It was not unique. It was not different. A lot of our friends if they came on to the outside, like if they were inside prison for years, that was like an art form that they would be used to doing oral storytelling in prison. And so on the streets, everyone did it. And so it was just the natural way that I would share my story with my friends. And when I put my faith in Jesus and Jesus changed my life, it was the way I shared about Jesus with my friends.

4:51 >> So really now that is just what I've continued to do, just now sharing it with more friends. But at the time it was the language that all my friends spoke. And so sharing about God through the art of spoken word poetry, which if anyone's not familiar, just oral storytelling could be 3 minutes, 7 minutes long. and you write it, you memorize it. And so that's my background in spoken word poetry. When I was 18 years old, my dad got cancer and he passed away. And my dad was the pastor of our outdoor church. So I watched him like preach the gospel. And then at 18 years old, my family no longer looked the way I planned on it looking. My church no longer looked the way I thought it would look forever. And I didn't possess any of the skill sets that I thought I needed to have in order to effectively share the gospel too. I thought it had to look a very specific way. Like these are the main gifts, right? You could preach and be the main pastor. You could lead worship and be the worship leader. But all I knew how to do was poems with my friends. So I just kept doing poems with my friends.

5:51 And I would go on to travel the country and doing poems with more friends in prisons, in recovery ministries, in churches, conferences, conventions like Thrive in Minnesota. And I would go on to do that. And then in 2016, I had an identity crisis. Yeah. >> I completely lost who I was. I was already following Jesus. I was already in a healthy marriage. I had already overcome some things in my life. And yet, I was believing so many lies about myself and consumed with the opinions of so many people and I lost who I was. So, I wrote this spoken word piece. I have a new name first for myself. It's a declaration of names that God calls us.

6:34 names that God calls us that are in his word in the Bible. So, I started memorizing the names that God called me, just trying to make God's voice the loudest voice in my life. And I memorized these names, nine names. God calls us many names, but I picked these nine cuz I felt like they were a good umbrella over many of them. And I wrote this spoken word piece. It was somewhat of a lifeline for me to just be declaring God's word throughout my life.

6:57 And and through fighting to spend time in God's word and getting real with God and declaring these truths in my life truly, I started to get my posture back and my life back. And I started sharing this spoken word poem. I have a new name now in churches, conferences, conventions around the world. And I I did it live. I would do it live in rooms declaring these names. And I saw that I wasn't the only person who had had ups and downs in their lives, losses of people that we love and losses of identity and loss of purpose. And as I just declared the names God calls us, which is all in scripture, which is which is the power of the spoken word, I just saw that I wasn't alone and that we could all get our posture back when we remember what God says about us. And so that uh changed my personal life writing that poem. And then in 2023, which is what you mentioned, the poem going viral 2023, the poem went viral online because kids found the video.

7:57 >> What? >> Kids found the poem >> uh using social media platforms that I did not yet fully understand. Like I found out like, hey, do you know that this video is getting lots of views? And then kids started memorizing the nine names that I declare in the spoken word. So it's about a minute long, nine names. That section kids started memorizing and declaring all over the world. And then those videos went viral. It's the power of God's word and what it does when it's heard and proclaimed, 100%. And it was also when kids found it in a medium they were used to. Like it's not that different from my spoken word on the streets. It resonated with my friends because it was in a language they understood and now here was the word of God spoken in a quick concise way on their social media platforms. They were finding it on Tik Tok which at the time I was not familiar with Instagram which I have had but I've seen this these videos go viral as kids in their own language and the way they view content and spend their time found it and we're declaring the names God calls them. And in that moment, I remember thinking, man, what if I had known who I really was at a younger age? I'm seeing these kids say it with their chest, say it with confidence. I'm thinking, what if I wasn't in my late 20s when I realized this? Like, what if I was 12? What if I was eight declaring this? So, I was convicted that I had never really thought of packaging that message for children, but I was inspired by them, and I thought, how can we help every single age know who they really are? So yeah, that's the story of I have a new name getting 11 million views. I had uh very little to do with it, but praise God and I'm [clears throat] excited about it.

9:41 >> God will use it and he when those kids were finding you, what were they saying? Why was this resonating so deeply with them? >> First of all, I try to tell it as simply as possible. That's something I learned on the streets and I think it's something that resonated with kids that I have tried in my body of work to unpack complex ideas simply. So I think even in just I have a new name which is a seven minute spoken word poem the work of of bringing complex ideas in a simple way it it landed. I wasn't saying uh words that needed to be unpacked words you're not used to. I don't know. Like it was just like John 15:15, he calls you friend. 1 Thessalonians 1:4, he calls you chosen. There were words that kids knew, could understand, could comprehend. And I think when they were finding it, a lot of them would resonate with. I always thought I was all alone, but I'm not. I'm his friend. I always thought that I would always be picked last, but I'm not. I'm chosen. I always thought that something was wrong with my body cuz I don't look like the other kids in my class. No, I am God's temple.

10:46 >> That's it. They were just names that directly spoke truth to lies that kids knew. And in my experience as being a child and an adult and just being a hosana for some years, it is easier to identify the lies I've heard. I'm more used to them. So when I wrote the spoken word piece, it starts with lies that I've heard and then it ends with truths that combat the lies. But I can just say from like a an art form stance, from a memorization stance because memorizing the part of the spoken word art form, it was so easy to remember to memorize the first half of the poem cuz it was all these lies that I'm so accustomed to.

11:23 And in memorizing scripture, first of all, the references cuz there's a lot of numbers. But [laughter] >> even just like I felt my body as I was trying to memorize the truth, I wasn't as used to it. I didn't know it as well. I hadn't put those truths on repeat in my life. I remember thinking as a 5-year-old that I was fat. Yeah. Five. That's really young. And as I at one time as an adult, I was going back through my journals realizing, wow, it was like a theme. This whole I'm fat.

11:51 I'm too big through years and years of my life. That's that's powerful to me. That means that this is so real for our kids. I don't know. Like did you have a lie that you felt when you think back to even being really young? What was one of the lies that you thought? >> Yeah, I remember thinking I was always a little too different. >> Like I remember feeling like I didn't know how to fit. And so I believe that I always had to change a little bit about myself.

12:18 >> Yeah. >> To be accepted anywhere. Like my family had a different background than a lot of my friends families did. My dad battled addiction for years and fought in a gang for years before he found Jesus. And then he started an outdoor church to our friends living without home. So now my family's background is different than all my friends family's background that I know of, right? As much as we talked about as kids. My church is different than all my friends churches. I was the only Chinese kid in my class. My family had less money than all my friends families had. And then I also just had a different family dynamic. Like I'm uh you know some of us grow up thinking there's like the ideal family. Yeah.

12:59 There's the most healthy, most godly, perfect version of family. And whatever has made us have this picture in our mind. Anything less than that or different than that, we think is less than, like for example, I come from a mixed family. Me and my little brother Elijah, we share both parents. But me and my sister, my older sister, we both share a dad and she shares a mom with our other brother. And our other brother shares a dad with four other brothers.

13:26 So even growing up when people would ask me like where are you in the family? Are you the oldest, youngest? You know, they're trying to figure out like what's wrong with me? Like do you give off youngest energy or like what are you? It's like what do I say? I'm first, second, and seventh. Like what do I do with that? >> And I think I just believe the lie that I don't fit really well anywhere. Like something's a little bit wrong with me everywhere I go. And so I have to shape shift myself to fit into what I presume is the mold everywhere I am. And because of that I did. What you believe about yourself determines how you live. So if you believe you're fat when you're 5 years old, if you believe that you are a little bit less important than everyone else when you're 7 years old, you're just going to live like that your whole life.

14:11 >> Yeah. Yeah. And these lies come from all different places, don't they? I mean, they can come from something that someone has said to us. It can even come from nonverbal body language in an interaction. And then the enemy comes at us and just loves to feed those lies. And so this is a battle we need to fight. But I think it's so important we have to name them first, >> right? >> Name them, evaluate them. I told you earlier and everybody in our audience knows that we've been talking about this little mini course curriculum that we just put out this month. Mean words hurt. No matter if it's our own words, if it's the enemy's words, if it's our parents' words, if it's our friends words, they hurt. And the rule then is to say, is it trash? Like, toss that in the garbage. Is it maybe there's a little bit of truth and I can be self-aware and I can take the truth, throw away the trash, or is this treasure? Is this who God says I am? And right there is the point that I'm so grateful to have you on the show and talk about this new book that you've produced. It's absolutely beautiful, by the way. The illustrations are just gorgeous.

15:23 >> But I just, you know, our course comes with this activity guide because we want parents to model this action that you're describing from start to finish. This whole podcast, it was what you did yourself. It's how you created the I have a new name. And then this book, it's identify it. what is it and what am I gonna replace it with? What does God call me? And then so we do that ourselves and then we need to teach our kids how to do that, >> right?

15:50 >> So, hey everybody, go and get the book. Get it for a Christmas present. You know, Christmas is just around the corner, but you can sit with your child and read read the book. So, tell me more about the book and and like what are the messages in the book for kids? >> Right. Yeah. So what what God says about you is basically I have a new name for kids. Yeah. And I've unpacked nine names that God calls us as simply and as sweetly and practically as I can so kids can read the book and then they can discover what God says about them. And then at the so every page every spread is a different scenery in America. There is cities, there is farms, there is subways, and I shouldn't even say that because there's some parts that were inspired in London, some that were inspired in Singapore. Like there's all over the world. Oh yeah. Well, there's a lot of like metropolises. Like one is kind of modeled after San Francisco. So it has three. Like kids are eating at a Chinese restaurant, an Italian restaurant, a Mexican restaurant.

16:56 >> So it's called What God Says About You. And it's special because every kid I've been able to hand this to, I've been able to say, "There's a kid in here that looks just like you. There's kids of every skin color, hair, style, race, height, size, shape, and different abilities." And I've been able to say, "Hey, there's a kid in here that looks just like you. Find the kid that looks like you." And find a kid that looks like one of your friends. Because in a book that's about what God says about you, I wanted kids that looked different and looked like the kids that will read it to know this is what God says about you specifically. And so, and I also wanted every spread to be different landscapes around the world and specifically in the US to show kids so that every kid would feel a sense of home like this applies to where I am.

17:38 And also a sense of wonder like maybe imagining going to one of these places one day. And so every spread is a page and name that God calls us. And then at the end, all nine names are listed with scripture references. And what I've heard from parents reading this to their kids at night is that they go through the book and at the last page, they have the kids point to what name they are answering to that day. So maybe that day they say, "Today I needed to remember that I'm God's friend. Today was hard at school. I had to remember I'm God's masterpiece." And you know what it is?

18:11 It's also a conversation starter because for so many of us, hey, not just kids, so many of us at all ages, sometimes it can be just difficult to be introspective or to be social. So when you ask someone, how are you? How was your day? That can be overwhelming. And and I can see it's a good conversation starter of, hey, what name do you need to answer to today? And kids are able to say chosen, temple, loved, free. And that can also be a catalyst to a good conversation. So yeah, nine names God calls us, what God says about you with beautiful landscapes and beautiful kids.

18:47 And then at the end of the day, they can pick what name God's calling them. And it's God's friend, chosen, God's masterpiece, God's temple, God's messenger, greatly loved, free indeed, child of God, and brand new. And I just pray that it's a blessing, the perfect gift for kids this Christmas. Let's give them the gift of knowing who they really are. That's right. Oh, I love it. I love that you said that it's a conversation starter. I know even in our course, we literally have a page of conversation starters with your kids when you're sitting there on the couch whenever so that you can have conversation around things. We have Bible memory verses. So, Man, this is going to We should have gotten together earlier because I know all the words together.

19:32 >> Praise God. And I like also that you said, what is it? Trash >> truth. Was it a treasure? >> I love that. There's a line in the book that it made me think of. This is why. This is why we're secretly collaborating. We didn't know we were collaborating, but now we know. Says, "As you journey through your life, you'll be called many names. Some silly, some snarky, some true. >> But no one has the power to give you your true name except for God who created you." As you travel along the road of life, when you're home or at school or afar, remember the names that God's given you. They'll remind you who you truly are. and then unpacks the nine names. What I love about that is just saying you'll be called a lot of names throughout your life. Some silly, some snarky, some true. Some are trash, some are true, some are treasures. How will we know the difference? And that is a lesson that I so far have dedicated 16 years of my life telling adults, >> trying to help them undo the lies they've heard because we've heard all these things and we can't tell the difference between what's true and what's not. This is why it's so important that we know God's word and that we're in a community that also knows God's word. Because some people might say something that's true. Hey, you're not good at your job. You're late all the time. Our answer can't be, this person's wrong about me. Are you late?

20:45 Can you be better at your job? Or someone might say like, you're trash. You're garbage. You're gross. You're unlovable. Well, that's not true. That doesn't go with what the word of God says about me. So, it's so important with all the names that we hear that we have a community and a relationship with the word of God, God himself, to know the difference. Yeah. >> And I just think, man, Lord, what would it have been like I known these truths about myself at a young age and how much like less trauma would we be healing from with the adults that I minister to, with the people that I try to mentor now had we known earlier? And so I just think the next battle trauma, Hosana, it's also ministry. It's a place of moving out and living into the fulfillment like what has God created me to do? I am called and capable. I am his workmanship and he's created me to good do good deeds. So yes, I don't want any of the trauma that all that the negative lies give. But I also want to be a blessing in this world. And really, that's what's at stake here for ourselves as parents, as caregivers, and for our kids. Oh, like there's so much at stake with this. Okay, we need to close. But here's also just one thing that I love. I went back and I listened to your spoken word again. And there's this spot in the middle where you had started off saying, "Here's all the lies."

22:05 >> Yeah. >> And then I wrote it down. Here it was. It said, "But from this moment forward, I can choose what I answer to." This makes me cry. When I hear unworthy, I don't even look over my shoulder. And I want that for myself. I want that for every listener. But I really want it for my girls and all the kids of all the families that are in our community cuz that's what we want. We want the freedom that comes from not listening to the lies wherever they come from and to listening to God and what he says about us. That's what's at stake, isn't it?

22:41 Just it's so powerful. Thank you for this message. Thank Thank you. Thanks for having me and allowing me to share it. I believe that we might hear all these names throughout all our lives, but we can choose to not answer to them and to replace the lies with truth and >> teach our kids to do it. >> Yeah. Know who they really are. Amen. Will you just close us in prayer? Will you pray over all of those parents who are caring for kids because I know that their kid, they can see the lies that their kids are believing. And so this is a holy spirit-led thing when we parents shepherd our kids into what does God say about you and we need his wisdom to do it.

23:21 >> Yeah. Amen. I think let me um declare these nine names over all of us today >> and then I'll pray for us. Does that sound good? >> Wonderful. >> If you ever are wondering who you really are, you can declare these names. John 15:15, he calls me friend. 1 Thessalonians 1:4, he calls me chosen. Ephesians 2:10, he calls me his masterpiece. He calls me his art. He calls me handmade. He calls me purpose and fashion for good things. 1 Corinthians 6:19, he calls my body a temple. He calls it the residence of the Holy Spirit. Acts: 18, he calls me his messenger to the world. Galatians 3:26, he calls me his child. Romans 5'8, he calls me greatly loved. John 8:36, he calls me free. Free indeed. 2 Corinthians 5:17, he calls me brand new.

24:12 And it's amazing how different these names are from the names we're used to listening to. You are not what the world says about you. You are what God says about you. And I just want to pray for all the parents today. God, thank you for the responsibility and the privilege you have given many to mentor, to coach, and to parent little ones. God, I just pray that you would remind us who we really are so that truth can outpour to the little ones in our lives. God, we know that if we don't allow you to transform our hurts, we will transfer our hurts. So, we pray, God, that you would heal us from the wounds and the lies that we've believed. And would you help us, empower us to tell our little ones who they really are in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. And amen.

24:55 >> Amen. Oh, what a delightful conversation with you. Thanks for coming on the connected families podcast today. Thank you for having me. Thanks for tuning in today, friends. Man, I enjoyed that conversation. I just love that topic, living into what Jesus says about us. If you found this episode helpful, fun to listen to, send it to a friend in your community, text them the link, share it on social. We appreciate that so much. Hey, all the links for Hosana and her book, including an audio version. She told me that offline that there's this fun reading that she did. Remember she spoken words. So I bet it's just great with music and stuff, but you can get access to that even through Amazon.

25:38 We'll put links in the show notes to it so you can get her book for your kids for Christmas. All right. Well, Connected Families is a nonprofit ministry made possible by the table community and other donors. The table is a group of people from around the world who are committed to Christ centered transformation in families. Your monthly giving equips parents and caregivers with biblical researchinformed resources that cut the overwhelm and guide parents. Well, a very big thank you to all of you who have joined the table community in the last couple of months.

26:14 We appreciate you so [music] much. This podcast is available because of you. For more information about connected families, [music] follow us on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube or go to connectedfamilies.org. I will see you next time. [music]