Have you ever caught yourself waiting for the perfect moment to finally feel worthy, happy, or successful— when the kids are older, when your body changes, when life finally "clicks"?
That quiet "I'll do it when…" mindset sneaks in so easily.
In this milestone 100th episode of Nourished to Bloom, we're slowing down and getting honest about the pressure to constantly chase what's next—while overlooking what God has already placed in our hands. Together, we explore how our culture measures worth through productivity, body changes, and visible outcomes… and how God gently invites us into a very different way of living.
Rooted in Jesus' words about the True Vine (John 15), this episode is an invitation to remain instead of rush, to tend instead of strive, and to trust that the future we long for is being shaped right now—by who we are becoming and how faithfully we steward the present.
In this episode, we reflect on:
🌱 Why the future we hope for is being built now, through daily faithfulness and presence
🍇 What it really means to remain on the True Vine—and why fruit comes from connection, not hustle
⚡ Why caring for the here and now isn't "settling," but an act of holy stewardship
👀 How constantly chasing future goals can disconnect us from our bodies, callings, and relationships today
💬 An honest reflection on the "most likely to succeed" label—and the freedom found in realizing success is about character and faithfulness, not outcomes
🙏 Why God doesn't rush formation, and how the process we want to skip is often where He does His deepest work
We're reminded of a powerful truth in this episode: We can't care well for our future gifts—our future body, calling, or dreams—if we neglect what we're living and stewarding today.
A gentle invitation
If you're feeling tired of striving, restless for clarity, or ready to dream in a more faith-filled way, we invite you to join us for the upcoming Goal Setting With God Retreat on February 3 at 11am CST. This retreat isn't about forcing outcomes—it's about remaining on the Vine, discerning God's invitations for this season, and learning how to steward the present in partnership with Him. The recording will be available. 👉 Click here to register
Friend, you are not behind. You are not failing. You are becoming.
The truest fruit grows when we remain connected and patient. You are in bloom—even now.
Join The Nourished to Bloom Community: www.community.karatrochta.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/karatrochta
The Nourished to Bloom Podcast Show Notes: www.podcast.karatrochta.com/shownotes
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We live in a culture that's always pointing us toward the
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next goal, the next version of ourselves, that next
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measure of success. We're constantly trying
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to prove our worth through productivity, through
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value, through time is money. We're always invited
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to think about who will be someday when our body
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changes, when life settles down, when things finally come
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click. But I want to challenge you because I think
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God is far more concerned with how we're caring for what's already in
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our hands. And in today's episode, we're slowing down and
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reflecting on a real powerful truth that
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the future we hope for is being built right now
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by who we are being and how faithfully we're stewarding
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the present. Together, we'll meditate on Jesus's
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words about remaining on the true vine and exploring why we're
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so tempted to skip the process and really talk
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honestly about bodies and our callings and that pressure
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to succeed. This is your invitation to
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stop rushing ahead and start tending the life God is
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growing right here, right now.
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Welcome to the Nourish to Bloom podcast where your faith meets your
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health. I'm your host Kara Trachta, a registered dietitian and
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certified Catholic coach and I'm here to help you cultivate a and teacher deeper connection
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with your body, your spirit and the nourishment that sustains them
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both. In a world filled with noise and.
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Confusion about food, health and body image. This podcast
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offers truth and healing from. A Christ centered perspective.
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Together we'll untangle the deep roots of diet culture and discover
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what it means to truly care for ourselves through joyful
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nourishment of mind, body and soul. We here to dive into
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the transformative. Power of intuitive eating coupled with the. Rich teachings of our
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Christian faith. With every episode, I'll be cheering you. On,
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offering insights, inspiration and practical tools to help
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you heal your relationship with. Food and embrace the beauty
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of your. Body as a temple of the Holy Spirit with
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confidence and courage that can only be found in Christ.
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Join me as we journey together towards. A more holistic approach to wellness,
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one. That honors the wisdom of your body as God's creation,
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the teachings of our faith, and the unique purpose you're called to
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fulfill. You were made to bloom,
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to come into full beauty and health in order to bear good fruit
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for the Lord with your life. So if you're ready to nourish your body,
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feed your soul and bloom into the best version of yourself, then you're
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in the right place and I'm so happy you're here. Welcome
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to Nourish to Bloom, where every day is a sacred
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invitation to thrive. Hey there, y'.
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All. I'm really glad you're here today. I'm
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happy to be spending some time here with you on the Nourish to Bloom
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podcast. Quick shout out, y'. All. It's the hundredth
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episode of the podcast, which is really kind of
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amazing. 100 episodes. It's really exciting. There
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was this, I mean, I feel. Like there's always this pressure, right, of. Like,
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how are you gonna like, do this big bang thing for the hundredth
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episode? Or you see people all over social media, like,
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I don't know, doing special things for the hundredth episode. And
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I'm gonna be honest in my process with you right now. A lot
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of times when I write the podcast, I'll like, write things out. I'll write
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a lot of ideas out, words I wanna say,
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scripture and how it's spoken to me and things like that. And I will
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fully admit that I use chat GPT to kind of help me
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organize these things because it doesn't always come out in a very
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organized way. But I have to share this because,
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you know, it is the hundredth episode and I was just kind of
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chatgpt touched my heart today, even though, you know, it obviously doesn't have
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feelings. But I just want to share as I was putting
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like all of my thoughts into it and, and just kind of asking for some
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like, logical order to
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it came back with like, this is a beautiful and
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very you message. Tender and honest,
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faith filled and quietly countercultural. And I took
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that as the biggest compliment y', all, like, especially the countercultural part,
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because sometimes I like that that inner
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like, rebel part of me wants to be like, oh yeah, the things that I'm
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doing are countercultural. And I think that really lends
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this episode to that idea of kind of being
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like that rebel for the Lord and doing things
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differently than the way that the world wants to. And so this has
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really been something that has been coming a lot
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up a lot for me with coaching different
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clients, but also just kind of this natural struggle
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that I'm feeling in life right now. I turned 40
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this year and so, I don't know, it just kind of brings up a lot
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of these different questions. And so it's kind of what we're going to
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spend some time on today is just really in through the
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lens of the true vine and understanding that
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we do have these dreams, we do have these goals and these
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futures that we're longing for, but that future
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is being built on what we're doing right here and right now on
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who we are being right here and right now. And I think that's a very.
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I think that's a message that a. Lot of us forget. We want to rush
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the process. We just want to
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have that dream, right? And so that's what we're going to really spend some
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time on today. And so I want to start by just asking you kind of
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a general question, one that you obviously don't need to answer
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out loud, but maybe it's something you do want to journal, or maybe it's something
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you just want to hold in your heart. And I think that it's a question
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that comes up a lot for us, especially as women.
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But the question is, what are you waiting to
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feel worthy of your life?
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Like, what are you waiting on to feel worthy of your life?
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For some of us, it may be a certain number on the scale,
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or it's a version of your body, one that you imagine
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you'll have someday. Like, you probably can picture it in your head,
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or it's a future season where things finally
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make sense, or it's a goal that you'll pursue
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after you fix yourself first, or when the
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kids go to school, or we kind of put this caveat like, I'll do that
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when. And, you know, if you're anything like
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me, and like so many of the women that I walk with through
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coaching, you might find yourself dreaming about that future
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version of you. But as you
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get stuck in that dreaming, it also comes with
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quietly neglecting the body, the calling, and the
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life God has entrusted to you right now.
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And so I want to talk about why caring for the here and now isn't
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settling. It's really stewardship at the heart
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of it. It is stewardship and why
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tending to what God has given you today is the only way
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to prepare for the dreams that he may be growing for tomorrow.
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And so let's spend some time sitting with the parable of the
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true vine. In it, Jesus tells us, I am
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the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in
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me and I in him will bear much fruit,
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because without me, you can do nothing,
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y'. All. There's something so grounding about this image,
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right? We can all picture a vine.
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We can picture that, you know, its purpose. We can picture its growth.
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There's no hustling, there's no striving.
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There's no. No forcing fruit, but
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just remaining, y', all, like branches don't wake
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up anxious about whether they're producing enough grapes.
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They don't panic because they're still just buds,
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and they don't compare themselves to the other branches.
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Their only job is to stay connected and stay
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connected until it is the right time.
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Because fruit is not something that we manufacture. It's something that
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grows when we receive what the vine is giving us right
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now. And I think that's a part that so many
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of us get. And so I want to kind of paint this
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picture with something that I see that comes up a lot with the
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intuitive eating coaching that I do and the body image coaching that
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I do. And I think it's something that we can all kind of
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easily like, picture, because I think at some point in time in our lives,
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many of us have all had this, like, idea of what we want our
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bodies to look like, right? And so, so many women
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that I work with dream about what their body will look like someday
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when they lose the weight, when they finally feel confident,
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when they fix their relationship with food, and
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they put everything in that light of it. So when that happens, then I'll
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live, then I'll take care of myself,
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then I'll trust my body.
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But here's some compassionate, hard truth. You cannot
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care well for your future body if you
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refuse to care for the one that you're living in right now.
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Your body today is not an obstacle to be overcome.
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And if we're constantly trying to escape it, to punish it, or delay
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caring for it until it changes, we're essentially cutting ourselves
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off from the vine. Because remaining looks like
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nourishment today. Listening to your body
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today, respecting your hunger today,
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moving with kindness today. Because
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buds don't become grapes by being shamed.
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They grow by being nourished and
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nurtured and sustained and receiving
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what the vine is giving it,
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right? So this idea of stewardship, of caring what is our caring for what
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is already in our hands, like I said, it's been really heavy on
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my heart lately. And kind of,
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I'll be really honest with you, I feel like this is
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kind of like, an embarrassing story, but, like, this is probably
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why it's been on my heart lately. Especially because I'm turning
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40. And one of the strangest things that has
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followed me through my adult life is something
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that sounds so silly when I say it out loud. But in high school, I
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was voted most likely to succeed. And I mean,
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honestly, who cares about. High school accolades, right?
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Like, it should not be something that keeps coming up, but it
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is a label that has haunted me more than I would really
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like to admit, because there's been
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seasons, especially, like I said, as I'm approaching 40, where there's this
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old voice that creeps in, and I'd like to say it whispers,
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but it more like shouts. Is this it?
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Like, what have you done with your life?
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Shouldn't you have more to show for yourself by now
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you haven't been successful.
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And I think the part of that voice is rooted
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in the world's definition of success.
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The paycheck, a specific title,
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a measurable, tangible, visible outcome.
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Right? That's what weighs on me when
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I think about that.
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What would I show somebody else? How would I show
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somebody else that I've met
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their measure of success? But listen to those
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words, right? How would I show them
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that I have met their standard of success?
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But when I honestly look at my life, I see that the Lord
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has given me really the things that I have deeply desired.
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A husband, a strong marriage, children,
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the gift of being present in motherhood.
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And yet there's still that quiet tension that says, but where's the proof?
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And here's what I have to keep reminding myself. And here's where
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the true vine really, really helps me. And it's what I continue to
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have to learn and revisit. And maybe this is something you
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need to hear, too. But success in the Lord's eyes
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is not about outcomes. It's about obedience.
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It's about faithfulness and trust. It's
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about remaining knowing
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that the fruit may come later and it might not look
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like what I expect it to look like. Yes,
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I have dreams. Yes, I desire a coaching business
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that provides an income. Like, yes, I have goals.
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But right now, the Lord is asking me to steward what I already have, what
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he has already given me, what he has already entrusted to me,
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which is 100% the family I have,
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but also the clients that I serve today, the ones that
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he brings to me because he
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knows that this is what he created me for. The conversations
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I'm entrusted with today, the calling that is forming my
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character today. And he keeps inviting me to remain
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and to trust that the fruit will grow in its own season, that
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maybe I am not ready for that yet.
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And I think that's kind of where we get really,
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maybe frustrated. We get really discouraged. Like, we just want
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to skip over the whole process, right? We just want to snap our fingers
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and. And like, have the. The goal and the dream
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realized. Right.
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And if he's going to continue to gently reframe this for me, right.
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Especially as I look at it on that most likely to succeed
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label from. High school.
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I can really say for a long Time. I really think that I misunderstood
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what that even meant. And I unfortunately carried
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it like this future expectation, as if success was some
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event that I hadn't arrived at yet,
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that it was some visible outcome I was supposed to achieve by a certain
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age. But when I continue to reflect on it more honestly,
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it's the realization of something much more important.
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It's a recognition that
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had very little to do with where I'd end up
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and really everything to do with how I was living
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along the way. It was never
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about a paycheck. It was never about a title. It was never about a final
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destination or meeting other people's expectations or
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standards of success. It was really about the
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character, my work ethic, my faithfulness,
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the way that I showed up and doing what was in front of
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me with care and integrity.
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And when I can think about that, right, it was the process, not the
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outcome. It's incredibly freeing
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because it's a reminder that success, that true success, was never meant to
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be measured by outcomes alone, that it was always meant to be
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measured about who I was becoming in the process.
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Remember, like my favorite quote, y' all is God's plan for us takes a lifetime.
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But when we reflect back on the true vine, that's the part of the
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gospel that tends to challenge us the most. Not the promise of
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fruit, but the process. Because we all want to be the grapes.
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We all want to be the finished version. We want to be the
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visible fruit, whether that's the healed relationship with
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food, the confident body, the clear calling, the
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meaningful work that finally seems to quote, unquote, count.
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But Jesus doesn't say try harder to produce fruit.
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He just simply tells us and asks us to remain.
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And remaining means allowing ourselves to be in that
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growing phase here and now, y'. All.
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A bud is not behind a branch in
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winter is not failing. A season of
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quiet faithfulness is not a waste.
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It's this problem that we just so very often try to skip. The very
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process that forms us into the people who can actually
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steward the fruit when it comes. We want the
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body confidence without learning how to listen to our body. We want
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the calling without learning how to be faithful in small, unseen
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ways. We want the dream without the discipline of daily
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trust. But here's the thing, guys.
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Fruit that comes too fast doesn't last
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in viticulture. Grapes grown too quickly,
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without deep roots produce shallow
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flavor. The best fruit comes from
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the vines that have endured seasons pruning, patience and
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rest. And the same is true for us.
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Your future body, your future calling, your Future goals are
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being shaped by how you care for what's in front of you right now.
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If we don't learn to nourish and respect and remain present with our
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body today, we won't suddenly know how to do that in a
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smaller or better body later. If we don't
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learn to steward today's responsibilities, today's tasks,
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relationships and invitations, we won't
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magically be capable of handling bigger ones.
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This is about formation. And God doesn't
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rush. Doesn't rush formation.
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He forms us through the process.
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And I think this is where goal setting often goes really wrong.
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We treat goals like escape plans, like get me
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out of here and into the life that I want.
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But God centered goals are not about escaping the present. They're about
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tending it faithfully. They help us ask
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better questions. What is God growing in
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me now? What needs care instead of
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control? Where is he asking me to
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remain instead of rush ahead?
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But when we skip that process, we don't just miss the growth. We
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don't just become fruit with shallow flavor. We miss
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that intimacy with God. And that intimacy
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with God, that, that faithfulness and that relationship
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is what we need to be
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authentic and fully ourselves.
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Because remaining on the vine means receiving what he is offering today,
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even when it doesn't look impressive yet.
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And that's really where that real fruit begins.
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And so I want to offer you a gentle next step. If
00:20:03
you're feeling that tension between where you are and where you thought
00:20:07
you'd be. If you're thinking you
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should have had it all figured out by now. If you're longing for
00:20:14
clarity but also sensing the Lord inviting you to
00:20:18
slow down and be intentional, to remain
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and steward what's right in front of you. If you're
00:20:26
really and honestly ready to dream again, but not in
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the world's way of dreaming, but in God's way, I want to invite
00:20:33
you to join us for that Goal Setting with God retreat that's taking place on
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February 3rd at 11am Central Time via Zoom.
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You can find the link to register for it in the show description.
00:20:45
And if you can't make it live, no worries, it will be recorded.
00:20:49
This retreat is not about hustling harder or
00:20:53
fixing yourself or forcing outcomes, but
00:20:56
it's really about creating this holy space to
00:21:00
envision what remaining on the vine looks like and
00:21:04
discern what God is actually asking of you in this season,
00:21:08
to tend to the here and now so you can faithfully steward
00:21:12
what he may be growing for you in the future. It'll
00:21:16
be time spent in prayer and reflection and intentional goal
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setting that's anchored in faith and not pressure,
00:21:23
that's rooted in trust and not timelines, and one
00:21:27
that's focused on obedience, not comparison.
00:21:32
So if you're tired of chasing those goals that don't bring peace, and if you
00:21:35
want to learn how to care for what God has placed in your hands today,
00:21:39
then this retreat is for you. Again, you can find all the
00:21:42
details and register registration link in the
00:21:46
show description I would love to walk this journey with you. I
00:21:50
thank you so much for spending this time here with me. Thank you
00:21:53
for helping me get to 100 episodes
00:21:57
of the Nourish to Bloom podcast and just really take that message
00:22:01
away of your future is being built by
00:22:04
who you are and what you are doing in the here and
00:22:08
now. And y' all Beauty held is a
00:22:12
seed. Beauty shared is a flower. It is your time to
00:22:15
bloom, and blooming may mean that you're that little
00:22:19
bud on the vine right now. Blooming may be that
00:22:23
you are a branch in winter that
00:22:27
is dormant, but there's a process. You are alive.
00:22:31
There is, gosh, all of God's provisions
00:22:34
flowing through you. So when your time is right,
00:22:39
you are that beautiful
00:22:43
woman that God created you to be in full bloom.
00:22:48
I hope you have a beautiful and blessed week. Don't forget to sign up for
00:22:51
our Goal Setting with God retreat. Until then, take
00:22:55
care and I'll see you soon. Bye.
00:22:57
Sam.