What if the reason you keep reaching for the wine, even when you genuinely don’t want to drink, isn’t because you lack willpower?
What if your brain is simply running a pattern it has practiced over and over again?
In this episode, I sit down with neuroscience expert and faith-based coach Leanne Ellington to talk about what is really happening beneath the habits we desperately want to change.
Leanne shares her own journey from decades of struggling with food and body imageto discovering the nervous system, neuroplasticity, and eventually a relationship with God, and how she came to understand that lasting transformation requires more than simply trying harder.
We unpack the powerful connection between brain science, faith, identity, and behavior change, and why knowing what God says about you intellectually can feel very different from actually believing it in your body.
We talk about rewiring old neural pathways, the role of free will in transformation, and why prayer and action were designed to work together.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why reaching for alcohol automatically can be a brain pattern, not a character flaw
- How repeated behaviors create and strengthen neural pathways
- Why you can know what God says about you and still struggle to feel like it is true
- The connection between your nervous system, subconscious beliefs, self-image, and your drinking
- What “renewing your mind” can look like through the lens of neuroplasticity
- How to separate the data from the drama after drinking when you hadn’t planned to
- How a drinking moment can become a growth point instead of evidence that you’ve failed
- Why lasting change involves not only asking, “What should I do differently?” but also, “Who am I becoming?”
Watch Here:
Listen Here:
If You’ve Ever Thought…
“I know I don’t want to drink, so why do I keep doing it?”
“I know what God says about me, but I don’t actually feel like I believe it.”
“Why can’t I just pray harder and make this desire go away?”
“I’ve broken so many promises to myself that I don’t trust myself anymore.”
…this conversation will help you understand that there may be much more happening beneath the behavior than you realize, and that your brain was designed with the capacity to change.
You don’t have to respond to an old pattern with more shame. You can get curious. You can learn from the data. You can practice a new response.
And, one choice at a time, you can begin building new pathways and becoming more aligned with the woman God says you already are.
Ready to Practice Something Different?
If you’re reading this thinking, I understand all of this—but I need help actually doing it, this is exactly why I created the Love Life Sober 40-Day Alcohol Fast.
Our final Fast of the year begins October 5th.
For 40 days, we stop trying harder and start trying different.
You’ll have four live coaching calls every week, a private community of Christian women walking alongside you, and a proven roadmap to help you understand the jobs you’ve been giving alcohol and begin discovering healthier ways to meet those needs.
Forty days is long enough to experience real change—and short enough to feel possible.
Imagine going into the end of the year clear-headed, present, sleeping better, remembering your evenings, and feeling closer to God instead of constantly wondering whether alcohol is getting in the way.
Join us for the October 40-Day Alcohol Fast.
Continue Your Journey
If this conversation resonated with you, you may also enjoy:
