Comparison has a way of quietly stealing our joy, clouding our purpose, and making us question whether we're enough.
But what if God never intended for us to measure our lives against someone else's?
In this episode of the Nourished to Bloom Podcast, Kara shares a simple phrase she recently heard that has been echoing in her heart: Compete, not compare. While the message was meant for young baseball players, it's a powerful reminder for every woman trying to navigate motherhood, body image, purpose, and faith.
Together we'll explore what Scripture teaches about faithfully running the race God has set before each of us through Philippians 3:14, 1 Timothy 4:7, and Acts 20:24. You'll discover three practical ways to break free from the comparison trap by rooting your identity in Christ, embracing lifelong growth, and renewing your mind with God's truth.
If you've been feeling behind, wondering what's next, or constantly measuring yourself against everyone else, this conversation will encourage you to lift your eyes from comparison and fix them on.
Because the Kingdom of God doesn't need another version of someone else.
It needs the woman God uniquely created you to be.
In this episode, you'll learn:
🌟Why comparison keeps us from living out God's unique purpose for our lives. 🪞How understanding your identity in Christ changes the way you see yourself. 🎁Why becoming a lifelong learner can uncover the gifts God has placed within you. 🧐How renewing your mind helps you replace fear with freedom. 🏃🏻♀️Practical ways to faithfully run your own race with confidence and peace.
Ready to stop comparing and start living with greater clarity and confidence? I'm opening a limited number of one-on-one coaching spots in mid-August, and I'd love to help you discover the unique race God has created you to run. If you're interested in learning more, email me at kara@karatrochta.com to schedule a vision call. I'd be honored to walk alongside you.
If this episode encouraged you, share it with a friend who could use the reminder that she doesn't have to compare—she simply has to faithfully run the race God has given her.
Beauty held is the seed. Beauty shared is the flower.
It's your time to bloom.🌸
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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What if one simple phrase could change the way you parent your kids,
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the way you see your body or your career, even
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your relationship with God? Today we're talking about 2 words that
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have been stuck in my mind ever since I heard them: compete,
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not compare. Because comparison doesn't just steal
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our joy, it distracts us from the race God actually calls
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us to run. Today I'm going to share 3 practical
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ways that we can stop chasing everyone else's life and start
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faithfully living our own.
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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 deeper connection
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with your body, your spirit, and the nourishment that sustains them both.
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In a world filled with noise and confusion about food,
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health, and body image, this podcast offers truth and healing from a
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Christ-centered perspective. Together, we'll untangle the deep roots of
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diet culture and discover what it means to truly care for
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ourselves through joyful nourishment of mind, body, and
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soul. We're here to dive into the transformative power of intuitive eating
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coupled with the rich teachings of our Christian faith. With every
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episode, I'll be cheering you on, offering insights, inspiration,
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and practical tools to help you heal your relationship with food
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And embrace the beauty of your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit
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with confidence and courage that can only be found in
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Christ. Join me as we journey together towards a more holistic
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approach to wellness, one that honors the wisdom of your body as
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God's creation, the teachings of our faith, and the unique
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purpose you're called to fulfill. You were made
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to bloom, to come into full beauty and health in
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order to bear good fruit for the Lord with your life. So if you're ready
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to nourish your body, feed your soul, and bloom into the best version of
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yourself, then you're in the right place, and I'm so happy you're here.
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Welcome to Nourish to Bloom, where every day is a sacred
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invitation to thrive. Hey there, welcome back to the Nourish
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to Bloom podcast. So happy to be here with you this
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week. It's been a couple of weeks, and I
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have to say that the 2 weeks that I didn't release an
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episode were a very welcomed
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rest. I had to wrestle with myself
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over the decision not to record for 2 weeks and remind
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myself that it was going to be okay. And I think that
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that whole process really just feeds into
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what was put on my heart and my mind to share with you today,
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because the whole reason why I struggled with not
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recording for 2 weeks was because in my head I was like, well,
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They all say that if you don't put an episode out every week, that you're
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gonna lose followers, you're going to lose traction, and just kind of the on and
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on and on downward spiral. But then I had to
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remind myself that, what are the things that I stand for? What are the
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things that I encourage other women to do, but sometimes
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don't do myself? And that's, you know, that
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rest, that one week I was on vacation, and the
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next week I was doing some catechist training, and it was
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going to be okay. Yeah. if I did not
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release episodes that week. And
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I mean, I'm really hoping it's okay that I didn't release episodes this week.
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I guess we will see who comes back and keeps listening. But
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y'all, this is just kind of where it's all at, right? And I wanted to
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start today's episode with a verse that was put on
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my heart and my mind. You'll understand why here in a
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minute. But, um, it's from St. Paul's letter to the Philippians,
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chapter 3, verse 14, where St. Paul writes, I press on
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toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me
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heavenward in Christ Jesus. I love that,
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right? Especially the part where it says that God has called me heavenward, that
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he was so focused on, on that long-term goal, what
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he was living his life towards. And I also love this image
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because Paul doesn't say, I look around and see how
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everyone else is doing. He says, I press on.
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His eyes were forward-focused on the race
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that God had given him to run. And we can take that to heart too,
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that we can focus on the race that God has given each one of us
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to run, the one that is calling us heavenward towards
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Christ Jesus. And the reason why this verse came
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to mind is I recently watched a part of an interview with
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Texas A&M head baseball coach Michael Early. And in this
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interview, he was sharing that he tells his young freshman players and
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even his own son to compete, not compare.
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Compete, not compare. And in
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baseball, he's, you know, encouraging his players to go out there and play their
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game and not spend their whole time measuring
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themselves against another player's size, talent, stats, or
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performance. And honestly, I don't
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think that's just good baseball advice. I think it's a beautiful
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reminder for all of us sitting here today. For me, as a
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mom with kids who are playing sports and having an
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almost teenage daughter, this is exactly what I want my
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children to believe, that they have
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their own race to run and that they are going
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to run it at their own pace. Using their own gifts,
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through the strength that the Lord has given them,
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and even through the limitations and the obstacles that come
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about. And that moment where
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they begin comparing themselves to someone else is just
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them undermining who God created them to be.
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And I want them to know that God doesn't need another version of them, of
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someone else. Like, he specifically created
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them for a purpose, and he wants them to faithfully run this race
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that he designed specifically for them.
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And if I'm being honest and looking at
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just my own life and, and other women around me, y'all,
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comparison doesn't end in childhood. Let's be
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honest, we just get older and compare different things.
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We compare our bodies, our homes, our parenting,
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our careers, vocations, bank accounts, spiritual
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lives. Like, the list just goes on and on of this comparison,
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of looking around and seeing how is everybody else doing it.
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And I think this especially comes to a tee in these
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middle motherhood years when so many of it— so many of us are asking questions
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of, you know, who am I now and what's next for me?
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But what I really think is that comparison becomes one of the biggest
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obstacles to hearing God's voice, because instead of listening
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to the author of our story, we're busy trying to read everyone
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else's manuscript. But here's what I know.
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God has a blank page that he wants
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to write with your life. And this
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blank page tells a story, your story,
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that has an important role in the history of his kingdom.
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And that story can only be written when we stop trying to
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live someone else's life. So
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when I think about my own journey
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and the women that I've had the privilege of coaching through this exact
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struggle, I think that there are 3 things that can
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really help you compete instead of compare.
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3 kind of foundational ideas that will help you stop
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comparing and compete and run the race
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that you were designed to run. And the
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first one is identity and purpose.
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This is where it all begins. If you are
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operating from an identity that is built on world standards of
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beauty, success, productivity, or achievement,
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you are building your house on sand, as scripture would say.
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Those standards are constantly shifting, leaving you
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wondering if you're enough. It leaves you off balance and
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unstable. So now's the time to
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take some inventory. Where are your beliefs
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rooted? Where are you finding your worth?
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For me personally, doing this identity work cleared out
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so much of the noise, especially like
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the nutrition noise and the body image noise that just
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lived rent-free in my head for so long,
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that I could finally hear the Lord's voice instead of
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everyone else's. When I was able to
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really sit with this identity work and let go
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of those world standards and instead really
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embrace and embody being created in his image.
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When we know who we are in Christ, we stop feeling that need
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to prove ourselves. We stop needing to compare how
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we are running our race to how everyone else is. Because we
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already know whose we are. We already know that we're not doing
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this alone. The second kind of
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key point is become a lifelong learner.
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And I love this. I was recently at my Level 3
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Catechesis of the Good Shepherd formation, and one of our formation leaders
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said something that was really inspiring to me. She
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shared that for her, this work in the Good Shepherd
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was something she could never tire of learning.
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And I loved that, that just that perspective of she had found something
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that she could never get exhausted of learning more about.
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And it really reminded me that our faith is the same. It's never something
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that we master. It's something that we continue learning and
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living and allowing God to deepen throughout our lives.
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And we can see this thread of, of this
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lifelong learner. Um, and it made me think of
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1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 7, where Paul encourages
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Timothy to train yourself in godliness.
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And training isn't something that you do once.
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It's something that you return to over and over again.
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And the same is so true in our spiritual lives. And
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it's also true of the gifts that God has placed inside each one of us.
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Right? And so it made me start thinking about the things that I never tire
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of learning about. Intuitive eating,
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women's health, mindset and psychology,
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coaching, human formation, helping
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women become who God created them to be. And so I
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want you to take this stance too. And it makes
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me wonder, what are those things for you? What are the
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things that you never tire of learning about? Because those
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interests aren't random. They're often clues to how God
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uniquely wired you to serve him. And so if you're one
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of those people who has been wondering, you know, what's next for you,
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this is really a beautiful place for you to begin exploring,
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really embracing this, this attitude of being
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a lifelong learner. What are the things that God constantly
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calls you back to? Because it's probably where he's
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wanting you to serve. And the 3rd
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key thing is to renew your mind.
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Y'all, y'all know that I know and believe that this one is huge, that
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mindset piece, because that
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comparison game is almost always rooted in fear.
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Fear that you're behind, fear that you're not enough, fear that
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someone else is doing it better. Fear that you've somehow missed what God
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has for you. Those aren't thoughts that come
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from the Lord. Those are the messages that you have,
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you have absorbed from the world. And when you begin
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replacing those lies with God's truth, something incredible
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happens. Transformation. You
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stop seeing other women as competition, and
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instead you begin celebrating them. You stop wishing
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for someone else's life and instead become grateful for the
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life that God has entrusted you to live.
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Y'all, and that's that kingdom work. That's that body of Christ's work.
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And that's what God's grace is allowing you to do. To love
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him. To love your neighbor. And yes, to
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love yourself as a daughter created in his image.
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And y'all, this is how we compete instead of compare.
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And so as I wrap up today, I'm going to leave you with one final
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scripture verse. It's Acts chapter 20, verse 24, where Saint
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Paul says, I consider my life worth nothing to me. My
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only aim is to finish the race and complete the
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task the Lord Jesus has given me.
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And notice what he doesn't say. He doesn't say my goal is to beat
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everyone else. He doesn't say, my goal is to have Peter's
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ministry or John's gift. He says, my only
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aim is to finish the race the Lord has given me.
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Y'all, comparison is exhausting because you're
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trying to run a race that God never assigned you to.
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You're running in the wrong lane. But when your
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identity is rooted in Christ, and when you continue training your
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heart in godliness, when you renew your mind in his truth instead
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of the world's standards and you
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stop looking sideways and you start looking upward,
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that's when you're going to move forward. So this
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week I want to leave you with one simple question: where have you
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been comparing instead of competing?
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Maybe it's your body. Maybe it's motherhood.
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Maybe it's your career. Maybe it's your faith.
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Whatever it is, bring it before the Lord. Lay it at his
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feet and allow him to transform it. Allow him to show you the
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race that you are meant to run. Ask him to help you
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faithfully run this race because y'all, the
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kingdom of God doesn't need another version of me. It doesn't need
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another version of someone else. It needs the
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woman he uniquely created you to be.
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And so if today's episode has spoken to you and you're like,
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yeah, I really want to compete, not compete. Compare,
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and you want to leave that comparison behind and live with greater
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clarity and confidence in who God created you to be, I'd
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love to walk alongside you and mentor you through this journey.
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I'm opening some new one-on-one coaching spots starting in
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mid-August, and this identity and mindset work is
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exactly where you need to begin. So if
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you are ready to say yes to the race the Lord is
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calling you to, send me an email,
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kara@karatrokta.com, and we'll take it from there to
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schedule a vision call and really talk about
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what is this race? What does it look like? What is the Lord calling you
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to? And create this individual approach to you
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being able to have the tools and the support and the encouragement that
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you need to run your race well.
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Until next time, remember, beauty held is a seed, beauty shared is a
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flower. It is your time to bloom.
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And remember, most importantly, go compete, don't compare.
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I hope you have a beautiful and blessed week. And again, so
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excited to be back here with you this week, and I will
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talk to you soon. Take care. Bye. Bye.