Ep. 74 Not Sure What's Next for You? Discover Your Loaves & Fishes
Have you ever found yourself in the quiet of your kitchen—coffee in hand, dishes in the sink—wondering, "What now?" Maybe your days finally have that white space you used to crave… but instead of clarity, you feel lost in the "onlys." Only a few hours to yourself. Only a small passion. Only one dream that feels too late.
In this kickoff episode of our new series, Writing the Next Chapter in Middle Motherhood we're asking one powerful question: 👉 What's already in your basket?
And no, I'm not talking about your grocery list—I'm talking about your gifts, your passions, your hard-won wisdom, and all that God has already placed in your hands.
Let's walk through how to find clarity by looking at what you ALREADY have, and how Jesus can take your "only" and multiply it for something beautiful in this next chapter.
Inspired by the miracle of the loaves and fishes (Matthew 14:13–21), we're exploring how God multiplies our "only" when we offer it back to Him. This isn't just for moms—this is for all of us navigating change, identity shifts, and a holy longing for something more. Your gifts, talents, and passions ARE your "loaves and fishes." Even if they seem ordinary, they are exactly what God wants to use.
Let's reflect together, take inventory, and stop overlooking the ordinary gifts God wants to use.
💡 In this episode, we:
🙋♀️ Normalize the identity shift that comes with kids in school or life transitions
🧺 Ask honest questions about what's already in our hands
📖 Explore what "loaves and fishes" look like in our real lives
✨ Reframe the lie of "only" and embrace what's more than enough in God's hands
📝 Walk through a life inventory—health, faith, friendships, finances, and more
🙏 Invite God to bless, break, and multiply what we offer
📣 Ready for next steps?
📥 Download the free Middle Motherhood Planner
🗓 Book your free Vision Session with Kara to dig deeper into your next chapter
💌 Share this episode with a friend in transition—because miracles often begin with an invitation
God's not waiting for perfection—He's asking us to bring what we have. Let's name it, offer it, and watch what He does with it. 💛
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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Have you ever looked at your life and thought, gosh, I have
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no idea to do with this next season of my life? Or
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maybe it's, I don't even know who I am anymore. Or maybe you're like the
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mom I was talking to today and she's like, kara, I know the Lord is
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calling me to more, but I just feel stuck.
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Maybe now you're in a phase of life where your calendar has more white
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space because your kids are in school and instead of feeling
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excited, you feel lost or maybe
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even a little guilty for wanting something more. If
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that's you, then I want you to know you're not alone. This season is what
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I like to call middle motherhood. It's all about transition
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and opportunity. And today we're going to start with the question,
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what's in your basket? Because before we talk about
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writing this next chapter, we have to start by
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looking at what's already in our hands. So if you're a
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mom in middle motherhood, or if you're a woman in really
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any transition of life, I encourage you to join us for today's episode
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so you can start to get clarity on what the next move
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the Lord is calling you to. Welcome to the Nourish
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to Bloom podcast where your faith meets your health. I'm your
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host, Kara Trochta, a registered dietitian and certified Catholic coach,
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and I'm here to help you cultivate a deep, deeper connection with your body, your
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spirit, and the nourishment that sustains them both. In
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a world filled with noise and confusion about food,
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health and body image, this podcast offers truth and healing from
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a Christ centered perspective. Together we'll untangle the deep
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roots of diet culture and discover what it means to truly
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care for ourselves through joyful nourishment of mind,
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body and soul. We're here to dive into the transformative power of
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intuitive eating coupled with the rich teachings of our Christian faith.
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With every episode, I'll be cheering you on, offering insights,
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inspiration and practical tools to help you heal your
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relationship with food and embrace the beauty of your body
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as a temple of the Holy Spirit with confidence and
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courage that can only be found in Christ. Join
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me as we journey together towards a more holistic approach to wellness, one
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that honors the wisdom of your body as God's creation, the
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teachings of our faith, and the unique purpose you're called to fulfill.
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You were made to bloom, to come into
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full beauty and health in order to bear good fruit for the Lord with
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your life. So if you're ready to nourish your body, feed your soul,
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and bloom into the best version of yourself. Then you're in the right place.
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And I'm so happy you're here. Welcome to Nourish
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to Bloom, where every day is a sacred invitation to
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thrive. Hey there. Welcome back to the
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Nourish to Bloom podcast. So happy to be spending some time here
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with you this week. So this time of year always
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gets kind of, I don't know, I feel like we all get a little bit
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antsy where we're starting to crave the start of school
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because I think we, along with our kids, are maybe craving
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a little bit more structure. Now. Summer is great and, and I love it,
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but I think we're just starting to get to just that little bit of antsiness,
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right? And what I found and this happened to many years
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ago with my youngest son when he was going off to kindergarten. And I
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suddenly was now kind of like in that first phase of
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empty nesting where my days, like
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the hours between, you know, like 8:00am and two
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were completely empty. I was no longer having to
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parent kind of all day long. And so it kind of hit
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me and took me by surprise. And there's a little bit of like, okay, well
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now what do I do with all this time? Like, it's not necessarily enough time
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to go out and get a full time job, but is a career
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something I'm considering or just who am I
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now that, like, I kind of have a little bit of this wiggle room and
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what do I want to spend this time doing? And this
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really bloomed into what I call this phase of middle
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motherhood. And I see so many women go through this
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transition. And really, it's not the only transition that what we're going
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to talk to about today applies to. If you're a
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woman who is maybe an empty nester, right? Your kids are
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adults and they're off in college or they're grown and
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you kind of are still feeling the same thing of like, I'm not really sure
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who I am in this, in this chapter. I don't really know
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what I should do with my free time. If you are just in any
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sort of transition, then this series is really going
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to be for you. Because that's what we're starting off today is this four part
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series called Loaves and Writing the Next chapter
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in Middle Motherhood. But like I said, if you're not in that middle motherhood
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phase, that does not mean that this episode is not for you.
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But when I went through this in my own personal life, I
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found Some really great tools to kind of help me
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navigate that. I myself went through coaching and worked with
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somebody, not necessarily in anything that was specific to Middle
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Motherhood, but just doing some coaching to discover kind of who I was,
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what my interests were, kind of uncovering some of my gifts and my
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talents. And from there I really took this and,
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and for a while created a program and worked with women
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called Middle Motherhood Ment Mentorship and really walked
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this and guided this journey with women who were in that transition
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and offered them coaching and some structured
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activities to kind of help them navigate this transition. And that's kind
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of what we're going to be talking about here today because I see it so
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many times, especially with women who have, you know,
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maybe stayed at home once they had kids and now their kids have
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grown and they're entering school age and they find this free time.
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There's a little bit of an identity crisis that goes on there. There's a little
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bit of just uncertainty about, you know, what your day is going to look
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like. And, and maybe you are starting to feel this kind of like
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pull in, this tug at your heart to, to do something more,
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to use that time for something impactful or
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meaningful and you just don't know what that is. Well, that's what I'm going to
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help you with starting this series and what we're going to dive into
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today. Because the truth is, I think many of us have looked at our
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life and had these thoughts of, you know, I don't even know who I am
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anymore, or, you know, maybe you, you're just feeling stuck
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and this whole series. And I,
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and I thank the Lord for this inspiration. As I was reading scripture today,
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it was all about the loaves and the fishes. And
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it was like, I love it when the Lord, like I've said before, puts these
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things right in front of me. Because it was just that answer of like, okay,
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this is what I want to base this whole series
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on is this piece of Scripture, Matthew 14, 13,
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21. Because this whole series is grounded in that
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miracle that we often hear about when Jesus fed the 5.
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But we're going to pause on some of these small details
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that sets this whole miracle in motion. So in verse 17,
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the disciples come to Jesus and say, we have here only
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five loaves and two fishes. Only
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that word speaks volumes because I think it's how
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we often see what we have too. Only a few hours
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of free time, only a part time job,
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only a small dream, only a
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quiet whisper of a passion that hasn't been nurtured in years.
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Only feeling like you have this very little thing to offer
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and how could it possibly be enough? It's probably maybe what the
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disciples were thinking, right? They tell Jesus we only have
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these five loaves and two fish. And they're looking out at this crowd and they're
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like, this is all we have. This is all that we can, we can give.
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How are we going to meet this need? And I think we
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can sometimes do that ourselves too, right? Maybe we have this
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dream or this passion or this mission, or we want to see this change in
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the world. And we, we look at ourselves and we look at what we can
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bring and we say, well, I only have this.
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But what we see in the scripture is that Jesus doesn't dismiss
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their only he takes it
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and he blesses it, he uses it and then
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he multiplies it.
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And so when you're in this middle motherhood transition,
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we have all of these feelings stirring up, right? We, we see
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ourselves maybe as this only one dimensional
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because for many of us, our sense of identity has been
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deeply tied to being mom. And like rightfully
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so and beautifully so, right? It's, it's, it's our holy and beautiful
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calling to be a spouse, to be a mother. It's our primary vocation.
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But that doesn't stop that. Maybe we, we feel this urge or this
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pull or this desire to offer something a little more.
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Because what happens when the diapers and the nap schedules turn into
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drop offs and school lunches and sudd.
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You're seeing a whole lot of space. And maybe it's a
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little bit scary, but maybe it's also space to
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wonder, who am I when I'm not
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actively parenting all day?
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What do I even want anymore? How do
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I begin dreaming again when maybe I've been in survival
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mode for so long? And that's really what today is
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all about. It's about taking inventory of what's already in our
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basket. What is that maybe only we're
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offering to the Lord. So like I said, I had,
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I have a middle motherhood mentorship program. And in that
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method, the first step that we always go through is evaluating where you are
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right now. And this isn't about judgment, it's really just
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about gaining awareness. Because I don't think we often stop to look
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at where we are. We may want something different, we may something
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may want something more, we may want this change, but we haven't even
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stopped to pause to look at what things look like right
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now. And so we're going to Go
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through this. And if you have a journal or if you need to come back
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and listen to this with a journal, please do so. But we're going to walk
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together through it. And so when we do this, a couple of areas, we go
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through a couple of areas of your life. And so we're going to look at
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health and wellness, your marriage or your relationships,
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finances, career or purpose,
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your emotional well being, your friendships, and then
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your faith in your spiritual life. And so within each of these different
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categories of your life, I want you to stop and reflect
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and ask yourself for each one, what's going well
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here? Where are the areas that you feel like you're
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thriving, that you're flourishing,
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that like, you would rate this a 10 or that you're seeing God
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working in that area? And then what
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feels unsettled or unclear? Maybe
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you have some anxiety or some worry in a particular area of your
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life. Maybe it's a place where you feel like you
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really need the Lord to come and work and move.
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Maybe it's an area that is an unanswered
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prayer. And then
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what areas of your life do you feel most alive?
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Do you feel motivated? That what areas energize
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you? And then what are the areas that you feel
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maybe disconnected or
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fatigued or worn out or weary?
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And so as you do this, you may notice some patterns or
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even just kind of asking some of these questions, you may have had these things
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immediately pop up of like, okay, yeah, I feel
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this, or yeah, I'm really excited about this.
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And so you may notice some pattern patterns, or you just
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get a general sense of where you feel fulfilled
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and where maybe you're craving more purpose.
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So this all ties into now thinking about your gifts
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and your talents and your passions, these things that come
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naturally to you or excite you or kind of light you up.
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So reflecting on more about the
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loaves and fishes, right, that you're going to bring to the Lord, that you
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could offer to the Lord that starts to reveal those gifts, those talents
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and those passions. Your loaves and fishes are those gifts,
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talents and passions. So when you think about it that way,
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and you're trying to uncover maybe what these gifts and talents and passions
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are, what do people come to you for advice or help
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with, or what's something that
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you could talk about for hours with somebody, a subject
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or a problem or a population,
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a group of people that you would really like to
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help or that you could just talk more about,
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or what brings you joy, even if you haven't made time
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for it lately because These are the loaves and the
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fishes that God has placed in your hands. And
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you may be looking at them, and they may seem really small or
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very ordinary to you, but I want you to know that they are exactly
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what God wants to use in this season.
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Jesus didn't ask the disciples to have enough. He just
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asked them to bring them what they have. And that's
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all he's asking of you, too. I want you to know that if you're in
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that transition, if you find yourself and you're, like, nodding your head, like, I'm
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100% in that middle motherhood phase, you don't have to have it
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all figured out to begin the next chapter.
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It's really about just being willing to bring what's in your basket,
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to bring your loaves and fishes to Him.
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And that looks like bringing it all. Our confusion, our
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dreams, our doubts, our time, our passions,
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and then being able to lay it before him,
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and then inviting him to bless it, to break it open,
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and to use it in ways that, gosh, we couldn't even imagine,
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right? So the challenge that I want you to really focus on for this next
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week is to just really reflect on what is in your
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basket right now. What are you recognizing as your
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loaves and fishes? What gifts,
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desires, or time do you have in this season
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to offer? And where might God be inviting
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you to use them in a new or deeper way?
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Because next week we're going to talk about what happens after we bring our
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basket, how to look up and let go so
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God can begin to multiply what we are offering.
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We're really going to focus on discernment and vision in this
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next episode. But for now, I want you to know that
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if you are just aware that you are in that middle motherhood season, that
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you're like, yeah, I am feeling these things. I really maybe don't know
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who I am or what the Lord is calling me to in this
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next chapter. Maybe you're scared of the blank space
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in your calendar because your kids are in school. I want you to know that
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you're not behind. You're not late. You don't have to
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force anything. You're exactly where you're supposed to be,
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and your only is more than enough when we place it in God's
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hands. And so, first, if this episode
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resonated with you, I invite you to share it with another woman who might need
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it. And then if you want to dive deeper into this,
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if you want to really get into this,
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taking inventory, understanding what your loaves and fishes are
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I have put a free middle motherhood planner
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like a paper planning worksheet exercise in
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the show notes that you can go through. But what
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I'd really love for you to do is grab a free session with me,
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a middle motherhood vision session. So in that
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session we're going to walk through and do a life audit. Take a really, really
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deep inventory of where you are in your life. What
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are the areas that maybe you're seeking some change or you want to,
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you know, make some habit changes or explore a little bit
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more. Maybe you've had this dream or this desire, this passion that
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you've been waiting for this season of life to start exploring.
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In this session we're going to take those and we're going to look at them
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and then we're going to start to really again uncover those loaves and
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fishes and help you put a plan together on what does this
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goal look like and what are the next steps that you can take so you
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be can begin with writing this next chapter,
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your next chapter in God's history kingdom. So
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your three things to do share the episode with another
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woman who might need this. Number two, grab that middle
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motherhood planner. And number three, book your free middle motherhood
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vision session with me. You can find the links for all of those in the
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show notes. But remember, until the next time,
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keep offering, keep identifying. Keep taking your loaves and
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fishes to him. He's not done writing your story.
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This is an exciting new page turner of
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your next chapter. And remember, beauty held is the seed,
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beauty shared is the flower. It is your time to bloom.
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Thanks again for joining me. I hope you have a beautiful and blessed week.
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Can't wait to go into this series with you. I hope to
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see so many of you in this free session. Don't forget to
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grab that and until then, I will talk to you soon. Bye.