Lent is coming to a close, and whether you're eagerly awaiting Easter brunch, the return of chocolate, or just cherishing the joy of the Resurrection, it's time to reflect deeply on the transformation Lent can bring. Lent isn't just about giving something up—it's about realigning our hearts and habits to God's call.
In this episode, I'm sharing three foundational tools to help you carry the fruits of Lent beyond the 40 days. These tools are designed to ensure your Lenten commitments don't just end on Easter but evolve into lasting, life-giving changes.
Key Takeaways:
🌱 Cultivating a Heart of Good Soil: How your spiritual disposition sets the stage for growth 🧠 Renewing Mindsets: Recognizing lies and reframing them with God's truth 🚫 Removing Distractions: Making room to hear God's whispers in your life
📣 To continue nourishing your journey, join our final live Q&A session this Wednesday at 1 PM Central! Whether you've participated before or it's your first time, I'll be there to answer questions and support your Lent reflections. lent.karatrochta.com
If you're ready to live intentionally with peace and purpose, and to let the fruits of Lent grow beyond 40 days, tune in now. Let's journey together towards a life truly nourished by faith.
Remember, beauty held is the seed, beauty shared is the flower. It's your time to bloom! 🌸 Let's get started!
Next Steps:
- Join the Final Live Q&A Session: Sign up at lent.karatrochta.com for details and access.
- Connect with the Nourished to Bloom Community: Join Us Here
- Check Out the Nourished to Bloom Show Notes: Explore More
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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So we've made it to Holy Week and we are in that
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final stretch of Lent. So how are you really
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feeling as we are entering into Holy Week and
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Easter is on Sunday? Are you
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dreaming of that Easter brunch? The chocolate that you
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can have? Or maybe it's just that
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joy of celebrating the Resurrection with your friends or your
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family. Or maybe you're really looking forward to
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indulging into whatever that something is that you gave up for
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Lent. Maybe sweets or scrolling socials or
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sleeping in. But can we have a heart to heart for
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a second? Because we have to remember that Lent isn't just about
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sacrificing something and white knuckling through it for 40
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days. It's not this spiritual crash
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diet where we give up something only to jump back
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into or fall into old habits. Second Easter
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morning hits Lent is meant. To be so much
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more. It's that invitation to
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transformation and that real
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transformation. It's likely going to take longer than the 40 days
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of Lent. It takes time, it takes intentionality,
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and of course, it takes the grace of God.
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So today in this episode, I really want to
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gently nudge you to pause and ask
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yourself, has this Lent just been about what you gave
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up, or has it been a season that's
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formed you in some way? Has it softened your heart or
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realigned your habits or giving you clarity around what
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God is calling you into? Because I want to challenge
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you to not fall back into what was, quote unquote
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normal if that normal wasn't serving you before
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Lent. So in today's episode, I'm going to share
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three tools that I know can help you carry the fruit
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of your Lent beyond Lent and really letting
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those Lenten sacrifices actually lead to something that's
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lasting and life giving. Welcome
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to the Nourish to Bloom podcast where your faith meets your
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health. I'm your host, Kara Trochta, 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
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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're 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
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Christ. Join me as we journey together towards a more holistic approach
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to wellness, one that honors the wisdom of your body as God's
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creation, the teachings of our faith, and the unique purpose
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you're called to fulfill. You were made to
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bloom, to come into full beauty and health in order
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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 to
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this episode of the Nourish to Bloom podcast. I hope you are
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having a beautiful and blessed week as we
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are ending our Lenten journey and entering into
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Holy Week and all the Holy Week, all the
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emotions that Holy Week brings, right? The
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solemnness, the sorrow of Christ's passion, but then just
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the joy of Easter Sunday and the
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resurrection. Or are you just too busy
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trying to Amazon last minute Easter basket
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gifts? Or are you trying to
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plan where everybody's going to sleep when they visit your house and what you're going
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to serve and just on and on and on, right? Just the
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gosh, rat race of it. All right, that comes with
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the holidays. Or are you really taking that
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posture of really
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focusing your mind and your heart on
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what really matters in this Holy Week?
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I think we're all probably all over the place. I know that I am.
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Just seems like everything hits all at the same time. We
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have had a field trip today and a
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second grade musical on Thursday and it's just like, oh my gosh,
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all these things happening in this week when really that
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reality is just wanting to, I think, sit there
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at, at the cross at the foot of Jesus and
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just thank him for the sacrifice
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that he. He went through and just all that it means for you
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and for me. And so,
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you know, I think it's a good time to kind of reflect back on what
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your Lenten journey has been. Have you
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really had some realigning of habits? Have you
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experienced something that's really transformed you over these
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last 40 days? Or are you in
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that place where you're like, all right, can't wait till Easter Sunday so I can
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get back to whatever it was that you gave up. And
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I want to challenge you to really stop and Think about what your
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Lenten journey has been and what it has meant, and if you
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have taken steps to realign some of
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your habits or you have found clarity
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in this particular area of your life.
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I really want to offer you three tools that I I
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believe are kind of foundational to really helping you
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continue to move forward on these changes that you've made or
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the transformation that you've experienced. And really this
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idea of being able to carry the fruit of your
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Lent beyond Lent and
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letting these sacrifices continue to
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grow and transform into something that'
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sustainable and lasting and life giving.
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So I have these three tools that I think are, like I said, are really
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foundational. And the first one is
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your spiritual disposition, what your heart
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posture is. This one is something
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that I think the Lord kind of gave me this message last
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week through the readings. And I think it's really everything.
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It's kind of. It's
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foundational because I think the Lord just kind
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of gives this to us and it's really. Do you remember the parable
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of the sower? Right. We can find it in Luke chapter
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six. And Jesus tells us in the parable of the
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sower about seeds being scattered, right? And some land on rocky
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ground, some among thorns, some get eaten by birds.
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And then he tells us about the good soil, that that's where the seed
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takes root and grows, and it produces a harvest.
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Let's listen. Luke chapter
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8, verse 4
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through 8. The parable of the Se When a. Large crowd
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gathered with people from one town after another journeying to him, he
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spoke in a parable, A sower went out to sew his seed.
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And as he sowed, some seed fell. On the path and was trampled,
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and the birds of the sky ate it up. Some seed fell on
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rocky ground, and. When it grew, it withered for lack of moisture.
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Some seed fell among thorns, and the. Thorns grew with it and choked
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it. And some seed fell on good soil. And
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when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold. After
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saying this, he called out, whoever has ears ought to hear.
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So we know that Jesus teaches us in parables, and he doesn't always
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give an explanation to the meaning,
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understand what the point or the teaching of the parable was. But
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with this one he does. So if we go a little bit. Further here in
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Luke chapter eight, he explains really what this parable of the
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sower means. And it's all about our heart posture.
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So In Luke chapter 8, starting verse. 11, this is the meaning
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of the parable. The seed is the word of God. Those
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on the path are the ones. Who have heard, but the devil comes. And takes
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away the word from their. Hearts that they may not believe and be
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saved. Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they
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hear, receive the word. With joy, but they have no root. They
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believe only for a time and fall away in time of trial.
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As for the seed that fell among thorns, they are the ones who have.
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Heard, but as they go along, they are choked by the anxieties and
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riches. And pleasures of life, and they fail. To produce mature
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fruit. But as for the seed that fell. On rich soil, they
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are the ones. Who, when they have heard the word. Embrace it with a generous
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and good. Heart and bear fruit through the perseverance,
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right? So he explains what these different types of soil are
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and how these are all of our this is our heart posture, that
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this, this is really an explanation of our heart and our spiritual
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disposition to how we are living our lives
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and hearts and our minds are turned towards,
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right? If our spiritual disposition is distracted or cynical
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or hardened, even those most beautiful seeds that God is trying to
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plant in us, seeds of peace, of
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purpose, of healing or discipline, they're not going to
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take root. So I want to invite you
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to reflect on what is your spiritual disposition? What kind of
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soil is your heart? Do you need to keep tending your
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soil, to cultivate it, to turn your heart and
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your mind and your whole spiritual disposition towards the
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Lord, right? And so then letting this week be that
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time of reflecting, of understanding, in what areas of your
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life is the devil coming and stealing the word of
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God, Right? What areas of your life do you find
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such joy and comfort and peace. In the word of God? But
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then a time of struggle or trial hits, and you're so easy to give
00:11:02
that up, to give up that hope, to say, oh, I need to figure this
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out on my. On my own, instead of surrendering it to the Lord,
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or what part of your life are you
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letting the anxieties and the riches and the worldly pleasures
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and the external pressures choke out
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that seed, that fruit that the Lord is trying to bear in your
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life? So take some time and reflect and ask
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yourself, what spiritual fruit have you seen growing over these
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last 40 days? And then where do you need to keep
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watering or pulling weeds so that growth
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continues and then inviting the
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Lord into it? God, what are you still trying to show me
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here? And being open to listening
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to how he's asking you to shift and change your spiritual
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disposition. And then with this,
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this first kind of tool of, of your spiritual
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disposition, the next one kind of goes hand in Hand with it.
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It's that renewal of your mindset. It's
00:12:07
recognizing the lies. Like, if you've listened to
00:12:11
this podcast at all for a bit, you know how much I love a
00:12:14
mindset because it's something I could talk about all day because it
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is so foundational. And it's how this. This spiritual
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disposition, right? Our. How our hearts are open to receiving
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the word of God and it is so
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interconnected with our mindset, right, that. That
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mindset work really is this spiritual work too,
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because we know that so much of that spiritual warfare takes
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place in the mind. Because the
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enemy is so sneaky, right? Like, he doesn't come at us with
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these, like, flashing warning signs, like, here I am. I'm the devil, I'm the
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enemy. Beware. He whispers these lies that
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sound almost like the truth.
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You're not disciplined enough. You messed up again, so
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why even try? This change isn't
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sustainable for you. You can't do this. You'll never be good
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at this. But y'all. Scripture
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tells us to take every thought captive and make it obedient
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to Christ. 2nd Corinthians 10:5 tells us
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this. And that means learning to recognize
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what thoughts are not coming from God and
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then learning to reframe, to
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renounce that lie in the name of Christ and then replace
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it with God's truth. And it's something that
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we can practically do. I've talked about it before in previous
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episodes, but mind mapping, right? How we can start to create this
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holy headspace, understanding that you have this
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thought, and when you think this thought, how do you feel? And when you
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feel this way, what do you do? What are the actions that you're
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taking? And then what fruit is it bearing? You can
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map that out all day long, right? The
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thought produces an emotion, and from that emotion,
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we act a certain way. And when we act a certain way,
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we get certain results, which is the fruit that that thought is bearing in our
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life. And so when we
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can recognize this thought and understand that it's a lie, we can name
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that lie, we can write it down, or we can say
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it out loud and call it for what it is, a
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lie. And then in the name of Jesus, we can renounce that
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lie simply by saying, in the name of Jesus
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Christ, I renounce whatever that lie is,
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fill in that blank there. And then
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we can reframe it, and we can embrace what
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scripture or God given truth we know
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so we don't have to be a victim to that thought or to that lie
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anymore. So you can name it, renounce
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it, and then reframe it.
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So the lie, I'll always struggle with this, with this,
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whatever this is, so renounce it. In the
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name of Jesus, I renounce this lie that I'm always
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going to struggle with this habit.
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And the truth is, God's mercies are new every morning.
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He is making me new.
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So just remember that this mindset work is spiritual work,
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and it goes hand in hand with that spiritual
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disposition. This is what helps us have a holy headspace,
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and it's what helps us have a heart that is turned towards the
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Lord. And when you start to uproot these weeds of
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unhealthy thinking, you learn to make room
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for the seeds of freedom and lasting change.
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And that brings us to this third tool that I think is so
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necessary and it's really is so practical.
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But we struggle with this a lot. But it's removing
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distractions in our life. And when we can remove these
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distractions, it's making space, it's making room to listen
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to the Lord. And y'all, I get it. It's really not
00:16:21
glamorous. It's something we like
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to hold on to. But it is so necessary to remove these
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distractions because I think all of us, right, we want to hear the
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Lord's voice. We want to say, lord, speak to me, God, I want to hear
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you. While our phones are buzzing, our schedules are jammed, and
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we've said yes to way too many things. We are
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so distracted by so much noise in our
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life that we cannot hear the Lord
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speaking to us. It's really hard
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to hear God's voice when we are constantly surrounded by this
00:16:57
noise. So what would. What would it look like
00:17:00
to just clear the clutter, even just a little bit?
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Clear the clutter of your life, of your mind? Maybe that
00:17:08
looks like unsubscribing from emails that just constantly
00:17:12
flood your inbox, that don't bring you peace or purpose, that are
00:17:15
not helpful, but literally just junk. Maybe it's
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unsubscribing from a. From
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Netflix, Prime Video, Live
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tv, whatever it is unsubscribing from
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a subscription that is just costing you wasted
00:17:33
money, that just sends you junk. Maybe it's
00:17:36
turning off notifications on your phone so you're not constantly
00:17:40
listening to a buzz going off and anxiously wondering, like, does that need
00:17:44
my attention? Maybe it's saying no to
00:17:48
something good so that you can say yes
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to something great. Clearing
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distractions isn't about perfection. It's not about
00:17:59
trying to be more productive. It's really about creating this space
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to actually hear what God might be whispering into your life right
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now. And here's the
00:18:10
truth. When we declutter our time, our minds
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and our hearts, we can see and
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witness God showing up because he's already there.
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He's always speaking. We just have to make space
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to receive it. So as we wrap
00:18:29
up this Lenten season and we're going forward, I want you to know
00:18:32
this, that you don't have to go back to the way it was before.
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That you don't have to give up or unlearn the growth
00:18:40
or healing or connection you've built with God during this season.
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And you don't have to do it alone.
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So let this time of Holy Week be
00:18:52
a time of reflection, not regret, not of beating yourself
00:18:56
up, of oh, I should have done more or I should have made more progress,
00:19:00
but just reflecting on the fruit that the Lord is already
00:19:03
producing in your life by just that small sacrifice that
00:19:07
you made almost 40 days ago.
00:19:11
And let this Holy Week continue to be a time of
00:19:14
preparation. Not just for Easter brunch,
00:19:18
but a time of preparation of how the Lord
00:19:21
is changing you, of that transformation that
00:19:25
he's made in you, that you are
00:19:29
getting closer to that person who's living with purpose, with
00:19:32
peace, and a faith that is going to continue to grow beyond
00:19:36
these 40 days. I thank you
00:19:40
for tuning in to the podcast for our 40 day
00:19:44
Linton challenge. And just a reminder that we have our last
00:19:47
live Q and A session taking place this Wednesday at
00:19:51
1pm Central Standard Time. So even if you haven't made it in the weeks
00:19:55
before, you can come join us this week, 1pm
00:19:59
on Wednesday. You can sign
00:20:01
up@lintcaratracta.com and you'll get all the
00:20:05
information to join us on that zoom call. But thank you
00:20:09
for joining me, journeying with me during this Lenten season.
00:20:12
I hope your Holy Week is beautiful and blessed,
00:20:16
and I hope that you can fully
00:20:19
embrace the alleluia that comes on this
00:20:22
Sunday morning. Remember, beauty held is
00:20:26
the seed, beauty shared is the flower. It is your
00:20:30
time to bloom. Until then, until next
00:20:33
week. Take care and God bless. We'll talk soon. Bye.