Have you ever put a dream on hold because fear, comparison, or self-doubt got in the way? Maybe you've been waiting until you feel ready, or hoping for the perfect plan before you begin. But here's the truth: we don't need the full roadmap to step forward. Just like the disciples passing the bread, the miracle happens in the action.
This week, we're wrapping up our Loaves & Writing the Next Chapter in Middle Motherhood series by stepping into the part of the story where everyone ate, everyone was satisfied, and there was more than enough left over. 🍞🐟
Together, we'll explore:
✨ The Loaves & Fishes Model in Motion — why action is the place where God multiplies what we offer. 🌱 Someday, Should, and Soul Goals — how to recognize the goals that drain us vs. the ones that bring holy boldness. 💪 Do It Afraid — why fear doesn't disqualify us, but often points to where God is calling us next. 📝 Practical Tools — how to create a "To-Be List" and let it shape your "To-Do List," so your goals flow from identity as God's beloved.
📖 Scripture: "They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over." — Matthew 14:20
💛 Journal Prompt: "What soul goal is God inviting me to take action on right now? And what one small step can I take this week — even if I feel afraid?"
It's time for us to stop waiting until everything feels safe or certain. Let's take the step, pass the piece, and watch God multiply our loaves and fishes into something that feeds far more than just ourselves. 🌸
📣 Ready to take the next step?
We don't have to wait until everything feels perfect. Let's do this together:
🌸 Grab your FREE Middle Motherhood Planner — reflect, pray, and map out what's in your basket so you can take the next step with clarity. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OQkwOfJLTXm5WKKdNFvjFjp8x8aAEUag/view
🌸 Book your complimentary Life Audit & Clarity Session with Kara — a free 1:1 coaching conversation to help you uncover your soul goals and take action with confidence. https://calendly.com/karatrochta/lifeaudit?month=2025-09
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
00:00:03
What if the pieces of your life, the ones that feel
00:00:06
ordinary, small,
00:00:10
broken, maybe even overwhelming, were exactly what
00:00:14
God wanted to use to bless others?
00:00:18
So often we get into this transition and this
00:00:22
phase of middle motherhood and we wonder, is what I'm doing really making
00:00:25
a difference between the carpool runs, the
00:00:29
school projects, the never ending mountains of
00:00:32
laundry? It can really feel like our impact is
00:00:36
buried, pun intended, in the daily grind.
00:00:40
But y', all, this week we're going to zoom out to really look at
00:00:44
this bigger picture of when we offer God our loaves and
00:00:47
our fishes, when we surrender our dreams and our
00:00:51
desires, when we step forward with these
00:00:55
faith fueled soul goals, he
00:00:58
multiplies it. The end result of this
00:01:02
isn't scarcity. It's not fear.
00:01:06
It's not being enough or not doing enough.
00:01:10
It's satisfaction and it's freedom and it's
00:01:13
fulfillment. Not just for us, but for those
00:01:17
around us. Welcome to the Nourish to Bloom
00:01:21
podcast where your faith meets your health. I'm your host, Kara
00:01:24
Trochta, a registered dietitian and certified Catholic coach, and I'm here
00:01:28
to help you cultivate a deeper connection with your body, your spirit,
00:01:32
and the nourishment that sustains them both. In a world
00:01:36
filled with noise and confusion about food, health and
00:01:39
body image, this podcast offers truth and healing from a Christ
00:01:43
centered perspective. Together, we'll untangle the deep roots of
00:01:46
diet culture and discover what it means to truly care for
00:01:50
ourselves through joyful nourishment of mind, body and
00:01:54
soul. We're here to dive into the transformative power of intuitive
00:01:57
eating coupled with the rich teachings of our Christian faith.
00:02:01
With every episode, I'll be cheering you on, offering insights,
00:02:05
inspiration and practical tools to help you heal your
00:02:08
relationship with food and embrace the beauty of your body as
00:02:12
a temple of the Holy Spirit with confidence and
00:02:15
courage that can only be found in Christ. Join
00:02:19
me as we journey together towards a more holistic approach to wellness, one
00:02:23
that honors the wisdom of your body as God's creation, the
00:02:26
teachings of our faith, and the unique purpose you're called to
00:02:30
fulfill. You were made to bloom,
00:02:34
to come into full beauty and health in order to bear good fruit
00:02:37
for the Lord with your life. So if you're ready to nourish your body,
00:02:41
feed your soul and bloom into the best version of yourself, then you're
00:02:45
in the right place. And I'm so happy you're here. Welcome
00:02:49
to Nourish to Bloom, where every day is a sacred
00:02:52
invitation to thrive.
00:02:56
Hey there. Welcome back to the Nourish To Bloom podcast. So
00:02:59
happy to be spending some time with you this week,
00:03:03
man. It's been a day.
00:03:08
I mean, it's like 7:15 at night and I'm recording the
00:03:11
podcast. It's Monday night. If you're listening to this, it's
00:03:15
Tuesday morning and it has been a day. I was
00:03:19
texted at 8 o' clock this morning to see if I could come in and
00:03:22
sub for a teacher who had to go home sick. And
00:03:25
I did. It was a great day, but
00:03:29
it was subbing and then
00:03:32
elementary pickup, middle school pickup, come home, make a quick
00:03:36
dinner, turn around boys, going to baseball practice, taking
00:03:40
my daughter to meet the teacher, meeting all of the middle school teachers.
00:03:44
And now we're here and it's homework time and
00:03:48
it's been a day, right? This is exactly what I'm talking
00:03:52
about when we're talking about that middle motherhood transition
00:03:56
of where we have that time during the day to
00:03:59
maybe do something like substitute teaching, which if you are
00:04:03
dabbling and trying to figure out what to do and wanting to
00:04:06
make some extra income or something to help you get out of the house,
00:04:11
highly recommend substitute teaching in the sense of you can do
00:04:14
anything for a day. And what a blessing it is
00:04:18
for those teachers who maybe have a sick kid at
00:04:22
home that they need to take care of, maybe have to
00:04:26
go to some training, just like, thank God for
00:04:29
teachers, right? So if you have the opportunity to maybe step in and be a
00:04:33
substitute teacher, then maybe that's something the Lord's
00:04:37
putting on your heart. I definitely do it here, there, a little bit and
00:04:40
dabble in it as it works within my schedule. But
00:04:44
it's really great to help me get out of my house and
00:04:48
use my brain, interact with some adults and kids
00:04:52
and anyway, that's my plug for substitute teaching.
00:04:56
But this is what I'm talking about, right? Where we have this. This
00:04:59
openness and this space in our schedule to maybe step out and do something. And
00:05:03
that's really what this episode is all about. It's about
00:05:07
the action, right? So I want you
00:05:11
to stop and think about, like, have you ever set that goal? Have you ever,
00:05:14
like, really had that desire, that dream, that soul goal, and you
00:05:18
felt it with every fiber in your being,
00:05:22
but then it stalls out before you even start.
00:05:27
Maybe it's because you were afraid of failing or. Or
00:05:31
maybe you were waiting for the perfect time or the perfect
00:05:34
plan or the perfect amount of confidence. But
00:05:38
y', all, the truth is, is that if you wait
00:05:42
until you feel fearless, you will really be waiting
00:05:46
forever. And I want you to really turn
00:05:51
that word fear on its head.
00:05:55
Because sometimes fear isn't the sign that you're on the wrong
00:05:58
path. Sometimes it can mean that you're on that edge
00:06:02
of something meaningful, that it's like this healthy level
00:06:06
of fear, right? And it's that fear that keeps us tethered
00:06:10
and surrendered to God to have him come in and work with us
00:06:14
on whatever goal it is that we have set. And so
00:06:18
today we're really going to be wrapping up this, writing our
00:06:21
next chapter in middle motherhood series by talking
00:06:25
about what stepping out in holy boldness
00:06:29
looks like, what action looks like. Because, y', all, the
00:06:33
truth is, is that as much as we want these dreams and these
00:06:36
desires, the story doesn't end there, right? The
00:06:39
story doesn't end with our loaves in a basket. It ends
00:06:43
with a feast with satisfaction, abundance, and
00:06:47
leftovers. But in order to get that feast, it
00:06:50
required action. So just a quick review.
00:06:55
In the first episode of this series, we really looked at what is in
00:06:58
your basket, right? Your gifts, your passions and your
00:07:02
resources. And in episode two of the series, we
00:07:06
learned to look up and let go, surrendering that fear
00:07:09
and that comparison trap to what God's vision is.
00:07:14
And then in episode three, we talked about how,
00:07:19
how it feels to be blessed, broken and shared and how
00:07:23
that, that, that rhythm of blessed, broken and shared
00:07:27
really opens us up to those soul goals, right? Those soul
00:07:30
goals being aligned with God's calling and not just those
00:07:34
someday and should goals. And then today, in the final
00:07:38
episode of this series, we're really going to talk about action and outcome
00:07:42
in the lens of when we go back and we look at our. Our
00:07:45
scripture anchor. Scripture anchor. Matthew
00:07:49
14:20, they all ate and were satisfied.
00:07:53
And this is really about that taking action, even if it's scary, and
00:07:56
trusting that God is going to multiply it. So let's look back on
00:08:00
that scripture anchor. Golly, why am I having such a
00:08:04
tough time? Scripture anchor. Right. So Matthew
00:08:07
14:20. They all ate and were satisfied. And the
00:08:11
disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of broken pieces that were
00:08:15
left over. Okay? So if we kind of dig
00:08:18
into this and we look at this from the lens of action and
00:08:22
outcome. This verse shows us three things about God's way
00:08:26
of working. The first one, everyone ate,
00:08:31
meaning that there was enough for all. There was
00:08:34
enough food for all. Number two, they
00:08:38
were satisfied. And this shows us that
00:08:42
God's provision isn't about barely scraping by, but it's about
00:08:46
fullness and abundance and completeness.
00:08:50
And then there were leftovers and that his abundance
00:08:54
goes beyond what we could even plan for.
00:08:59
And then here's, I think, a really interesting key to this,
00:09:02
right? That the miracle of feeding the 5000
00:09:06
only happened because someone offered their loaves and fishes
00:09:10
and the disciples actually stepped forward to share them.
00:09:15
Right? It's not like when Jesus broke
00:09:18
the bread and blessed the fish, that there was just, you know,
00:09:22
automatically all this bread and fish, right?
00:09:26
It was this action of taking and sharing. And that was
00:09:30
when the multiplication came about, right? And nobody
00:09:34
knew that this miracle was going to happen until
00:09:38
action was taken. And the disciples pass this out and
00:09:42
then somebody took a piece and shared it with the next person,
00:09:45
right? We didn't have this. That Jesus
00:09:49
blessed the bread and, and. And broke it and everything. And that there
00:09:53
was just all this plethora of. Of loaves and fish. No. Right. It was
00:09:56
that it was revealed in the
00:10:00
sharing. It was multiplied in the sharing,
00:10:04
right? And so let's take it. Let's kind of bring all of this together
00:10:07
throughout all the episodes, right? So we've named our gifts,
00:10:12
we've surrendered our desires. Maybe you've set a soul
00:10:15
goal, but the real question for you is, is will you
00:10:19
step out in holy boldness and act on them?
00:10:23
I think deep down we have that desire to. We want to.
00:10:28
But just when we're about to take that step, this is where
00:10:32
fear shows up in thoughts of, what if I fail?
00:10:37
What if I look foolish? What if I don't have
00:10:40
what it takes? If these things are coming
00:10:44
up for you and whatever dream, desire, or goal you have
00:10:48
set, I want you to remember that Jesus didn't wait for the bread to
00:10:51
multiply before handing it out. Remember that the
00:10:55
disciples had to pass the pieces as they were,
00:10:59
and in the giving, the miracle happened. And
00:11:03
it's the same for us that when we step out in holy
00:11:06
boldness and we take action, that is that
00:11:09
invitation, and it's that place where God multiplies our
00:11:13
efforts. In fact, one of my most favorite prayers to say is,
00:11:17
lord, take my efforts and multiply them. It's 100% a
00:11:20
saint quote. And I do not know which saint to
00:11:24
attribute it to because I've just been writing it for so long. But Lord,
00:11:28
take my actions and multiply them.
00:11:32
So let's bring this back and let's look at it in the lens of those
00:11:34
three types of goals, right? Those someday goals. Someday
00:11:37
I'll fill in the blank. Those are the goals that keep us
00:11:41
dreaming. But if we don't take action on them, if they're
00:11:45
Truly our sole goal. And we're not taking action on them.
00:11:48
They stay parked in the future, unattainable,
00:11:52
not multiplied. And then we have those should goals. I should
00:11:57
fill in the blank. Those are the ones that drain us
00:12:00
because oftentimes they're fueled by pressure and comparison.
00:12:04
And then we have those soul goals. Those are the ones that tug at your
00:12:08
heart and probably make you a little bit nervous.
00:12:12
They're the ones that excite you and also make you maybe
00:12:16
a little bit fearful because they require that trust.
00:12:20
They require taking action and
00:12:24
God's blessing and his work in your life to
00:12:28
make those soul goals a reality. And
00:12:32
so soul goals is where we are really being able to experience
00:12:36
the fruitfulness. They're not achieved
00:12:39
by striving harder, but by partnering with God one step
00:12:43
at a time,
00:12:46
right? So it requires our label labor to produce this
00:12:50
fruitfulness. And so
00:12:53
oftentimes, though, we get to that point and that fear creeps in.
00:12:58
But remember, I want to challenge you, like to do it afraid
00:13:02
that fear doesn't disqualify you. That fear is again, can
00:13:05
be a sign that you're stepping into a new
00:13:08
territory, a place where the Lord wants you to be.
00:13:13
And so I want you to go back and I want you to think of
00:13:15
the disciples, because I don't know about you, but
00:13:19
with the loaves and the fishes that they had, the disciples were
00:13:23
probably wondering how this was going to play out, right? And so I'm sure
00:13:26
that handing out the bread felt a little awkward at first. They
00:13:30
were probably really wondering, like, is this really even going to work?
00:13:35
But what did they do? They acted in
00:13:39
obedience and in trust. And in that action,
00:13:43
the multiplication, the miracle happened,
00:13:48
right? And so courage isn't really that absence of fear. It's really
00:13:52
about moving forward in obedience, despite fear.
00:13:58
So here's how you can start to do this, right? In one of the
00:14:01
episodes, we talked about creating that to be list. Who do you want to
00:14:05
become? Who are you being as a. As God's beloved
00:14:09
daughter, what are your. What's your
00:14:12
attitude? What are your attributes? What's your character? What's
00:14:16
your spiritual disposition? Are you faithful, bold,
00:14:20
compassionate, intentional, purposeful? And
00:14:24
from there we can create an aligned to do list,
00:14:28
right? When we are acting and being that
00:14:31
beloved daughter of God, that's going to shape the things that
00:14:35
we do. It's going to create our to do list.
00:14:40
And so what's one step that reflects you being
00:14:43
that beloved God or of beloved daughter
00:14:47
of God, Right? If I want to be
00:14:50
courageous, that might mean Stepping
00:14:54
out and sending an email to a colleague about
00:14:58
a job opportunity. Or maybe it's applying
00:15:02
for the opportunity, or maybe it's saying
00:15:05
yes to the small nudge that you're feeling.
00:15:11
And when we do this and we take that first step, the Lord's going to
00:15:14
reveal the next step. He's going to reveal that multiplication and that
00:15:17
miracle of what's coming next. So take this one
00:15:21
step at a time. Don't wait for that whole plan
00:15:25
to be revealed, because it's never going to happen. You have to
00:15:28
take one step at a time. Let the Lord be a lamp
00:15:32
unto your path. Just like the disciples pass
00:15:36
that first piece and then trust that the Lord is going to multiply it.
00:15:42
So I want you to remember that the loaves and the fishes story didn't end
00:15:45
in the basket. It ended in a feast in
00:15:48
abundance and fulfillment and
00:15:52
satisfaction. And that's what God has planned for
00:15:56
you, too. And so when you offer your gifts,
00:15:59
even when they feel small or ordinary or broken, and
00:16:03
you step forward in obedience, he's going to multiply.
00:16:08
He's going to bring that satisfaction and that fulfillment in your life,
00:16:12
and he's going to create abundance beyond what you could even
00:16:16
imagine. So my challenge to you is
00:16:19
don't wait until you feel fearless. Take that
00:16:23
first step. Do it afraid,
00:16:28
past the peace. Because your
00:16:31
next chapter in middle motherhood isn't just about really, really you
00:16:35
being fed, but it's about others being
00:16:38
nourished through your gifts and your talents,
00:16:42
through you taking action towards your
00:16:45
dreams and your desires and those goals. It's about
00:16:49
others being nourished through what God is going to multiply,
00:16:53
through your life and through your obedience.
00:16:58
Okay, thank you so much for being here with me this
00:17:01
week and for being with me through this whole series. It's not
00:17:05
too late to grab your free middle
00:17:08
motherhood planner. It's a really, really great resource. It's a
00:17:12
PDF download. It has some really great exercises to walk you through to
00:17:16
help you gain some clarity on writing your next chapter in middle
00:17:19
motherhood. And then, of course, it is definitely never too late to
00:17:23
grab that middle motherhood vision
00:17:27
planning session. It's a free session, one hour with me.
00:17:30
You and I are gonna sit down, we're gonna look at what life looks like
00:17:34
now, maybe some of those dreams and those desires, those nudges that you feel on
00:17:38
your heart. Let's get some clarity on em and really help
00:17:42
you carve out this path, carve out what that
00:17:45
next step is for you to take what's
00:17:49
passing that piece of bread. What does that look like for you? So
00:17:53
grab that. You can find both the links for the planner and the session
00:17:56
in the show notes below. And thank you so
00:18:00
much for being here with me this week. Next week we're going to kick off
00:18:04
a new series for the month of September and we're going
00:18:08
to talk about Christ centered self care and what that looks like and
00:18:12
why that's important for our health, our wellness and our
00:18:15
whole person well being and how that also can help us with
00:18:19
our mindset and with us taking this action and
00:18:23
and really living that purpose and that calling that
00:18:27
the Lord has for you in your life. So please join me for
00:18:30
that as we get started on that series. I hope you have a
00:18:34
beautiful and blessed week. Remember, beauty held is the seed, beauty shared
00:18:38
is the flower. It is your time to bloom.
00:18:42
God bless. Take care and I'll talk to you soon. Bye.