Have you ever secretly wondered, "Is this really it? What comes next for me?" I want you to Imagine holding a big, beautiful book with your name on the spine. You flip through each chapter—childhood memories, falling in love, raising babies, embracing all the beautiful chaos—and then, at the last page, you see... it's blank. Not because your story is over, but because God is inviting you to co-write the next chapter together.
That's exactly what we explore into on this week's episode of Nourished to Bloom (Ep. 91!). If you're in that in-between place—kids aren't babies anymore, you're no longer needed every minute, and there's this gentle tug on your heart asking, "Who am I now? What is God inviting me into?"—then THIS is your episode.
🚨 Spoiler alert: It's not about being perfect. It's about feeling a "holy restlessness"—that nudge from God that whispers, "You were made for something more. It's your time to bloom."
Here are the highlights that hit home:
- 📖 The power of middle motherhood: That unique season where your role shifts and your identity gets a chance to reemerge and expand.
- 🌱 Life Audit 101: How taking a fearless inventory of your life (with zero shame!) can help you see where God's inviting you next.
- 🔥 Radiance over comfort: Are you living the greatness you were created for, or have you settled into autopilot? Pope Benedict's powerful reminder—you weren't made for comfort, but for greatness.
- ✨ Mission, obstacles, and plot twists: Discover how to navigate fear, doubt, and overwhelm while intentionally writing the next sacred chapter in your story—with God as your co-author.
- 🤝 Don't do it alone! God puts people in your life at the exact right moments. Working with a coach and mentor is exactly what you need to write that next chapter.
Ready to pick up the pen and step into your next chapter?
🌸 Your Challenge This Week: Ask yourself: "What do I want the next page of my sacred story to say?" If you're feeling that gentle restlessness, don't ignore it—lean in and let God stretch you past your comfort zone. NEXT STEPS:
Schedule your FREE Middle Motherhood Life Audit session Get clarity on where you are and where God may be leading you next. Book Now
👉 Download your free "Writing Your Next Chapter" Guide A simple, prayerful tool to help you begin this journey with intention. Download Now
👉 Join me for the online mini-retreat on December 10 at 11am CST "Writing the Next Chapter of Your Sacred Story" — a live, guided space to discern, dream, and begin writing with God. Register Now
Join The Nourished to Bloom Community: www.community.karatrochta.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/karatrochta
The Nourished to Bloom Podcast Show Notes: www.podcast.karatrochta.com/shownotes
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I want you to take a minute and picture something with me.
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I want you to imagine this big, beautiful book, the
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kind that's a little bit heavy when you pick it up. And on the spine
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of this book is your name. And you open it. And
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inside are the chapters that God has written with you so
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far. Your childhood, adolescence,
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college years, maybe falling in love, becoming a wife,
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marriage, having babies, the
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sleepless nights, the toddler years, the hustle,
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and all of the holy chaos that makes up your
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life. And then you flip to that very last page
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and it's blank. But it's not because the story
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is over, but because God is inviting you into a new
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chapter, a sacred chapter. A
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chapter that's going to write the pages of the season that I call
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Middle Motherhood, where He's inviting you into
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something new to explore who he created
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you to be in this very moment of his history.
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And that's what we're going to talk about today. How to begin writing the
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next chapter of your sacred story with God.
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Hey there. Welcome back to the Nourish to Bloom podcast. So happy
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to be spending some time with you here this week.
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And I am really excited about this
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episode. A little bit nervous and I'll get into kind of why I'm
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nervous about it, but really excited because I feel like this is,
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this is something that God has been putting on my heart and preparing me
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for, for years. But also something like this
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episode in particular, this whole idea of writing
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the next chapter of your sacred story has been something that
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God has been putting on my mind and my heart and that I've been wrestling
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with him about for, for a few months now. Like even
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before we did the whole series on,
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on like holiday eating and, and all of that. And
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so we're here and it's taken me a while to get on
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board with it. And I'm not gonna lie, there's some, some fear and some
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anxiety wrapped up into this because this is something a little bit
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different and, and it's moving me
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and, and my coaching in a new
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direction. Like I've said before, it's an expansion. It's not replacing
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helping women, healing their relationship with food in their body through Christ
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centered intuitive eating. But it's just something that is really
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an idea that I'm super passionate about.
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So to understand how I got here, I think it's a little important
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to maybe revisit a little bit of my story. So
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you know that I have lived in Texas my whole
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life. I've been married to my husband Brandon for 16 years now
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and we have three kids, they're 12,
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10 and eight. And by training
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and kind of my professional career, you know that I'm a registered dietitian,
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nutritionist. And I started to work in
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intuitive eating really to help women ditch dieting and
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make peace with food. And that really came to
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be and start in about 2019 or 2020.
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And along the way through all of this, God has pulled me into
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mindset wellness and life coaching for Catholic and Christian
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moms. And that's honestly, that's really where my
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heart just lights up. It's this feeling of
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like, okay, yeah, this, this is the thing, this is my
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lane to help women know who
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God created them to be and then to go
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out on mission to their unique mission, operating
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from that place of they fully know who God created them to
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be. And this whole passion that I have around this idea of
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middle motherhood, it just didn't appear out of nowhere. It's really something
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that came out of my own story because when
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my oldest was born in 2013, I had just finished my dietetic
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internship and instead of jumping straight into a career,
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my husband and I decided that I would stay home with
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the kids. And so for, you know, nine years, I was
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in this full time stay at home mom mode. And it was beautiful. I
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loved it. Now don't get me wrong, the days could be really, really long. But
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it felt like I was right where God needed me to be, that there was
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nothing outside of the house, career wise, that was going to
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be more important or more fulfilling than being able to be home with my kids.
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And then a couple of years ago, my youngest was in
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transitional kindergarten, so it was a four day a week at school,
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it was right before kindergarten. And I really started to feel
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something shifting inside of me because my role as a stay at home
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mom was changing my identity as that mom who's
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always home with the kids started to change and evolve.
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And that's when these questions started popping up like,
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who am I now that the kids aren't home with me all day?
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What, what am I supposed to be doing? What's my role?
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What's my purpose? And kind of what's next for me?
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And at the same time, you know, I had started my nutrition practice
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and I was working with women on intuitive eating and body image and
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it's wonderful work and it's all good stuff, stuff. But God in his
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timing had placed a business coach and a mindset
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coach to work with in my life for my own
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self. And I really started to see this deep connection
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between how we think, how we see
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ourselves and the choices that we're making in life. And really beginning to
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understand that a huge chunk
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of the things that I was struggling with came down to I
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didn't really know who I was. And
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so I went through this whole process of learning who God created me
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to be. And so without even realizing it, I was being
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prepared. God was doing this character development on
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me, and I felt this huge nudge on my heart.
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To really help moms navigate this phase, this middle
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motherhood phase, where all the kids are in school, but they're not
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out of the house yet. Where the house is quiet during the day,
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but the afternoons and the evenings are still full.
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Where your identity, as you know mom
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is changing, right? You're maybe not home all the day. It just doesn't quite
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fit anymore. You're feeling this pulling for something more, but
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you're just not sure who you are and what you're supposed to be doing.
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And that's really what middle motherhood is. It's this beautiful
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transition in our. In your life where
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things really get to integrate with each other, your role as
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mom and really being able to experiment and
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try and get curious about what might be the next thing
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for you. And so for about a year,
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I actually coached women through this middle motherhood
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season. And somewhere along the way, I
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kind of had this thought that it would be
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better if I just focused on intuitive eating. And
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it was more. And that was about the time that I started to make what
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I was doing faith based. And so it felt like
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faith led wellness and Catholic intuitive eating was really more
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of this niche thing. And that I would have more success with
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it. And while I have coached numerous women in it, and I will continue
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to do so, I still
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sit there and feel so, so
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passionate about helping women in this middle
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motherhood transition. This. This point in their
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life where they are almost having this
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identity crisis of not really knowing who they are now
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that life is changing and things are looking a little bit different and their time
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is being used differently. And so this
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is really where this idea of writing the next chapter of
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your sacred story really started to take root.
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Now, some of you know that I am a catechist for Catechesis of the Good
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shepherd. And I. I'm a level two catechist. So I work with kids who
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are in first, second and third
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grade. And one of the big premises that we work on
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in this level of catechesis of the Good shepherd is really
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understanding the history of the kingdom of God.
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And so we work with the children through
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this in a variety of ways. You know, one of the ways we have this
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really, really long ribbon, like I can't even begin to explain to you how long
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it is. Like it takes up, you know, multiple kind of
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rooms. And the whole idea is for them to visually
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see like the length of the history of the kingdom of God.
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And then we also have this what we call blue unity strip. So it's like
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a shortened version of that really long ribbon. And the idea is
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that it's a reminder, it's a visual, like tactile
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thing that the children get to see that shows the whole history of the kingdom
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of God, from creation to
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the earth being formed, to the first single cell
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organisms, to the plants, to the animals, and how God
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created all of these. And then he created something very special.
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He created human beings who were unlike any other creation
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that he had created before. We had intellectual
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minds and we had hands that could do work, and that we were made in
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the image of God, that we were this very, very, very special creature
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that he created. And that everything that he had created
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up until this point was for us, that we were
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like these special guests invited to this
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very special banquet that we would have everything that we would need. And
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so human beings were created. And so that whole part is
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this phase that we call creation. And then we have the birth of
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Jesus Christ. And that marked the beginning of
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redemption and how we are still living in this redemptive time.
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And then what we are waiting for is parousia, when God will
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be all in all. But as we're looking at this timeline with the children,
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we mark where we are in the, in, in history
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today in, you know, 2025. We mark it on our timeline.
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And right next to it on this timeline is
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this blank page. It' looks like a book and it's just a blank page.
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And when you are, we're doing this work with the children, you're asking
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wondering questions, you're really trying to pull out of them what they're getting
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from this. What, what, how the Lord is speaking to them about this particular
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work. And it's always so beautiful when you get to this part
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and you ask them about this blank page. Why
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do you think there's this blank page? Who, whose blank
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page is this? And when you see them make that connection,
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that this blank page is their life,
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it is their story, it is their part of the history of the
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kingdom of God, they get so excited, they just
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light up. And that's what I want you to do too.
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I want you to realize that your life is your
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sacred story. And that is, it is a part of the history of the kingdom
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of God. And now is the time.
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Regardless of what has happened in the past, regardless of how it's gone in the
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past of what you focused on, maybe you were more focused on worldly
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things like I was around, you know, dieting and having the perfect body.
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Or you know, maybe you were more focused on a
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particular career thing, right? The, the wounds. Whatever has
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happened in the past, this is the time that you can turn the
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page and it is blank. And it is the beginning of the
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next chapter of your sacred story. And
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it's beautiful. It's beautiful to do this in this season of motherhood because it's this
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in between place where you have everything you've ever prayed for. Maybe
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kids, family, life activities, the busy calendar.
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But at the exact same time, maybe you're not feeling completely fulfilled.
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On the one hand, you are so grateful for everything that you
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have. You love your family and life is beautiful.
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But on the other hand, maybe something feels off or slightly out
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of alignment. Maybe you say things like,
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lord, I'm so thankful for this beautiful life, but I still feel like something's
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missing. Now, don't get me wrong, you're not totally unhappy.
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You're not in crisis. It's just kind of like you're lukewarm
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in life. You're busy all day, but not
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satisfied. You collapse into bed exhausted, but
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not necessarily fulfilled. You're living what your
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teenage self would have called the dream. You got the
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degree, you got married, you have kids. And maybe you've had the option to
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stay home. But yet you are still thinking, is this
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it? Like, what am I doing with my life?
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What is my purpose now? And here's what can
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make this even more confusing is that you are feeling this
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restlessness. But it can come from two very different places.
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And it's really important that you identify it. Sometimes it
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comes from the world, but then sometimes it comes from God.
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And so the world's restlessness is sounding
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like I should be doing more, I should be working, I should have a cleaner
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house, better meals, be more organized, a more toned body,
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a bigger social media following, a more impressive career. Like it
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feels like this constant pressure. You are on an
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overwhelm autopilot. You feel shame and
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guilt, like you're never enough and you're always behind.
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That is what the world is telling you.
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But this holy restlessness, that's the one from
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God. And it feels different. It's like this tug
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on your heart. It's a gentle pulling on your heart. It's
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some curiosity. It's a sense of anticipation
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mixed with a little fear. And maybe you're catching yourself
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daydreaming. Love. You know, I've always dreamed of doing this.
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What if I tried this? What if there's something more God is asking
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of me? And it's not about proving your
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worth, but it's about responding to a call that the Lord
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has on your life. A unique mission.
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And these two sources feel very, very different in our bodies and our souls.
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One weighs on you, almost crushing you,
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while the other one stretches you.
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It moves you into this place of
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service and love and really being united
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and aligned. And that the life that
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you desire is also the one that God
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wills for you. And so part of writing that next
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chapter of your sacred story is learning to tell the difference between this
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worldly pressure and. And God's invitation.
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Because I think a lot of moms in middle motherhood describe feeling like
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they're just living the same day over and over again. You wake
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up, you make breakfast, you get the kids to school, you come home.
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Or maybe you work out. And then there's the laundry, the dishes, the errands.
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Maybe you try to organize that closet you've been putting off for five years.
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Then the school pickups, sports, homework, dinner, bedtime,
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rinse, wash and repeat. And here's the thing.
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There's nothing wrong with any of that. Those are all good and
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holy responsibilities. Those are all part of your primary vocation
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as wife and mother. But when we don't have this
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bigger sense of who we are and where
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all of this is going, those days can start to feel like you're just
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getting through instead of intentionally living. It
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doesn't allow you to do these things with a joyful heart.
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Because we start living in the land of shoulds. I should keep a
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perfect house. I should finally finish the baby books.
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Confession here. My youngest, who is now 8,
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his baby book is still literally in the box that it came shipped
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in, never opened. Don't think I will be getting to that one.
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But I should lose the weight. I should volunteer more. I should be happy with
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what I have. And when we don't want to face those questions
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of what's next or what do I really want?
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We start to buffer. We start to numb, and we start to
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distract. And that's where some of these unhealthy habits start to form
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that we feel guilt and shame about. The scrolling, the
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online shopping, another target run, snacking
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over committing anything to avoid any of the discomfort that
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you're feeling of this inner restlessness.
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But you and I both know at this point that those distractions never truly
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satisfy. They're just these quick hits,
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but they're not lasting fulfillment. And so I want to
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share a quote from Pope Benedict XVI that I love.
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He said, the world offers you comfort, but you
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were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.
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I want you to sit with that for a second. Are
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you living the greatness that you were made
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for? If I asked you that right now,
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what would you say? Because I think most women would
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say, no. I don't feel like most of us walk around feeling like
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we're living for greatness. A word that keeps coming up for me.
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Of what? Of, like, how to
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summarize living and being the woman that
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God created you to be. Is this idea of being just
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radiant? Can you. Can you, like, imagine that? Like, if
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you were a woman who is living her greatness, you would just
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be radiant, radiant for the
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Lord. Radiant with love, radiant with joy. It would just
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be like everything about you was lit up.
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But I would say that most of us are not living in that, in that
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right now. But, like, what if you were living
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even a quarter of it? What would you think your life
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would feel like? What do you think your days would look like?
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God made you in his image, right? He made us with these
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intellectual minds that could think and reason
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and dream and decide side and problem
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solving all these beautiful things. And he gave us hands
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that could allow us to fulfill those things of our minds and our hearts
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and our souls. He gave you unique
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traits, talents and desires and a very
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specific story. He didn't make
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you to be a carbon copy of the mom that's sitting
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next to you or the influencer that you see on Instagram
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or the woman that you secretly compare yourself to.
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You are a one of a kind creation. And your story
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matters and this next chapter matters. And your life
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right now, it is. Oh, gosh, it's just. It's this
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page in the history of the kingdom of God. Now, maybe you
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aren't going to have a book in the Bible, but we can think about all
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the women of the Bible and how
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they lived for the Lord and how they trusted in the Lord. And
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Mary being, you know, the epitome of that, of
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surrendering herself and surrendering to God's truth and seeing
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how, I mean, she became that
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hamate of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to your will.
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And she lived that out and we can look to her, we can look to
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how she lives her life and her page her sacred story in the history of
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the kingdom, Kingdom of God and know that we are,
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we have that same thing awaiting for us.
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You can see that who you are
00:20:50
is something that was done on purpose, that you were
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created for this specific moment in the history of the kingdom of
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God, in the home
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that you're living in, in being the wife to the
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husband that you have in your family with these
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gifts that you were made and created to
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live in this moment. So the question becomes,
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what do you want your part of the history of the Kingdom of God to
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say? What legacy do you want to leave
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for your kids and your grandkids? What story
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do you want them to tell over and over again about how mom
00:21:31
lives her life for God and with God?
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I will fully admit I didn't live this way for a really long time.
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And there are times that in my life right now that it still creeps up
00:21:43
that I get into this self reliance mode, that it is all on
00:21:47
me and I have to figure all of this out. But one of the most
00:21:51
important shifts that I made in the coaching that I received
00:21:55
and that I continue to help clients with is
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realizing that we are co creating our lives with God.
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He is the ultimate team player. He is the
00:22:06
ultimate partner to do this with.
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He gives us free will, he gives us gifts
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and he gives us these desires. He gives us time.
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And then he invites us to use all of these things
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with him to live out your unique mission.
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Because the truth is, is that we're always creating something,
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either more of what we want or more of what we don't want.
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And if we continue to stay on this autopilot, if you just keep doing
00:22:38
more of the same out of fear, out of habit, or
00:22:42
out of other people's expectations, you're still creating.
00:22:46
It's just not something that you want and you're not doing it intentionally.
00:22:51
And so writing the next chapter of your sacred story begins when you say,
00:22:55
okay Lord, I'm ready. I'm
00:22:59
ready to start this thing. I'm ready to write this
00:23:02
next chapter with you, with intention and purpose.
00:23:07
Lord, speak now. Your servant is listening. Guide me and direct
00:23:10
me. Help me to know who you created me to be and how you want
00:23:14
me to live. And so I have some
00:23:18
steps, kind of like this blueprint, this outline of how
00:23:22
you begin to write this next chapter. And it's kind of
00:23:26
all based off about how I would think you would write a book. I'VE never
00:23:29
written a book in my life, but just kind of how I think you
00:23:33
would write this book. And
00:23:36
it really begins with what I call
00:23:40
this Life audit, Taking an honest look at where you are.
00:23:46
Because before you can write the next chapter, it's really helpful to understand the one
00:23:50
that you're in. And this is why I call it like
00:23:53
this life audit. And it's not a shame session. It's not a chance to beat
00:23:57
yourself up. It's really just about taking an honest inventory
00:24:00
of where you are in different areas of your life. Your health and
00:24:04
wellness, your marriage, your friendships, your motherhood, your faith,
00:24:08
your finances, your passion. And really looking at it in
00:24:12
the sense of, I think we get into this idea of
00:24:15
overwhelm. And, like, when we want to make changes, we try to change everything.
00:24:19
But the idea of the life audit really helps you paint a picture of what's
00:24:23
working, where you're feeling aligned and at peace,
00:24:28
maybe where you're feeling unsettled, where you feel like you're just going
00:24:31
through the motions, where you are coping instead of
00:24:35
thriving. And it's just this snapshot, because once you kind of see
00:24:38
where you are, and you might realize, okay, you
00:24:42
know, my health and wellness is really strong, but I really need to
00:24:46
work on, you know, relationships and friendships
00:24:50
or leaning into, you know, what is it? The passions that I have,
00:24:54
these dreams that have kind of been on the front? Maybe I need to start
00:24:58
leaning into these more. Because when you kind of see where you
00:25:02
are and you see maybe where the Lord is
00:25:05
inviting you to grow, you can start to decide, what do I want to
00:25:09
stay the same? What do I want to change? And where is God
00:25:13
inviting you? Into something new? And that's really that doorway into the
00:25:17
next chapter. It really starts to point you in the
00:25:20
direction of where the story is going to go.
00:25:24
And so the second part of writing the next chapter is
00:25:28
what I honestly think is the most important part. And it's
00:25:32
character development, who you are
00:25:35
becoming. Because every good story is
00:25:38
invested in character development. And God is no different with us.
00:25:42
And that's where the identity work comes in. Like I said,
00:25:46
this is the most important piece because
00:25:50
you are the leading character in your sacred story.
00:25:55
So who are you really? It's not about the
00:25:59
roles that you fulfill. Mom, wife, friend, volunteer. But
00:26:03
it's really about knowing who you are as a beloved daughter
00:26:07
of God. What are your strengths? What
00:26:10
are your gifts? What have you always been good at, even as a
00:26:14
kid or teen? What do people come and ask you for advice about?
00:26:19
What Are you drawn into again and again podcasts you listen
00:26:23
to, books you pick up conversations that light you up.
00:26:29
What do you think God thinks about you?
00:26:33
We often spend years knowing everyone else's needs and
00:26:36
preferences, but I think we often forget,
00:26:40
or maybe not even really know our own. But
00:26:44
this is the opportunity, the next chapter is the opportunity for
00:26:48
you to really lean into becoming the woman God created
00:26:51
you to be. It's an opportunity to
00:26:55
rediscover and root your identity in Christ,
00:26:59
understanding your temperament, your wiring, your
00:27:03
holy desires, and living from that place on purpose.
00:27:07
Saint Catherine of Siena has that beautiful line that says, be who
00:27:11
God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.
00:27:16
St. Edith Sign says, the world does not need what women have, it
00:27:20
needs what women are. And I can't think
00:27:24
of a time in history that we need this more than we do now.
00:27:28
And so this, this character development, this
00:27:32
identity work is really about becoming that woman.
00:27:37
And step three is about discovering your mission in this season.
00:27:42
Because once you begin to know who you are, you can begin to
00:27:45
discern what you are being called to do. In this chapter, this is
00:27:49
the story. Your purpose at the deepest level is always the
00:27:53
same. To know, love and serve God and others. But
00:27:57
your mission, that's how you're living that out. And that's going to shift
00:28:00
by season. For some
00:28:04
women, the mission in this chapter is discover that they are exactly
00:28:08
where God wants them to be, at home, pouring into their
00:28:11
family. But maybe it's they really need a mindset shift to see.
00:28:15
See this as holy, meaningful, and enough that they can be
00:28:19
content and joyful and fulfilled right where they are.
00:28:23
That God is calling them to do what they are doing, and he is not
00:28:26
calling them to do something outside of that.
00:28:30
But for others, the mission may include something new.
00:28:34
Maybe it's starting a ministry or a business. Maybe it's
00:28:38
a creative project, or maybe it's going back to school.
00:28:43
Maybe it's serving in a way they've always dreamed of but never gave themselves permission
00:28:46
to explore. Mission is about how you love
00:28:50
and serve with your gifts in this season in a way that
00:28:55
complements your vocation as wife and mom.
00:28:58
It's not about choosing either or, but it's about really
00:29:02
finding that. And. And so that leads us into
00:29:05
step four. And this is another important one. But it's facing the
00:29:09
obstacles. Because if you read a book,
00:29:13
every good book has that story of. Every good story has a
00:29:17
conflict, right? Something that the character has to overcome.
00:29:21
And you know that yours has in the past. So it's not unlikely to
00:29:25
think that this new chapter will have that too.
00:29:30
But I see in this chapter, what usually pops up for women is
00:29:34
fear and doubt overwhelm, anxiety,
00:29:39
what people will think, maybe it's imposter
00:29:43
syndrome, old habits, ungodly self
00:29:46
reliance. This is the enemy.
00:29:51
And he will try to use all of these to keep you small and
00:29:54
stuck. Because when you do
00:29:58
not become the woman that God created you to be, when you are
00:30:01
not that operating from that standpoint and you are
00:30:05
not doing the things that the Lord is calling you to do, the enemy wins.
00:30:10
And he knows that he can win through these things like fear and
00:30:14
doubt and overwhelm. And this is where
00:30:17
mindset work becomes so critical, because this is literally going
00:30:21
to battle against spiritual warfare.
00:30:25
It really, mindset work really helps you learn to notice, oh,
00:30:28
this thought is from the enemy, not from God. This
00:30:32
shame is not the Holy Spirit. This is an accusation of the enemy.
00:30:36
This fear is trying to keep me from the very thing that God is calling
00:30:39
me into. And when you start to learn these
00:30:43
tools of mindset work, little by little, you start to put on the mind of
00:30:46
Christ. You begin to replace lies with truth.
00:30:50
And you stop letting your old operating system run the show and you
00:30:54
start living by a new one, one that
00:30:58
I like to call your holy operating procedures, that holy
00:31:01
headspace. And you stop letting fear write your story
00:31:05
and you let faith write it instead.
00:31:09
Now, I said that I was nervous about this podcast and
00:31:12
I am. It's why I've literally procrastinated doing this
00:31:16
for months now. And even today, you know, I
00:31:20
mean, I've had, I've kind of had this, the whole thing planned out since like
00:31:24
last week. And I just couldn't hit record, couldn't hit record. And I
00:31:28
had that moment of realization this morning that really, it's because I'm
00:31:31
afraid. I'm afraid of putting this out into the world. And
00:31:35
nobody will listen, nobody will
00:31:39
be interested in this. Nobody will sign up for coaching,
00:31:43
nobody will download the free guide that I will
00:31:46
put this thing out there that I am so dang passionate about that
00:31:50
it literally lights me up. And I just think about this all the time,
00:31:54
about how this is what I want for women to just really become that woman
00:31:58
that God created them to be. But if I put this
00:32:02
out there and it doesn't go anywhere that I've just failed.
00:32:07
And as I'm sitting there, I'm realizing it, it's, you know, that is that
00:32:10
ungodly self reliance showing up
00:32:15
that, that I believe that it is all on me that I can make
00:32:18
this happen or not happen,
00:32:22
and the way that God always does. He is gracious and
00:32:26
mercy and merciful and compassionate. And he.
00:32:30
He puts things in my path that help me navigate this. And this is where
00:32:33
that holy headspace is really important, because
00:32:37
when you can recognize these things, you go out seeking what God's
00:32:41
truth is, and he doesn't fail to provide it for
00:32:44
you. And so, you know, today, as I was thinking
00:32:48
about all of this, he put Daniel, chapter
00:32:52
one, verse one through eight and 16 through 20 in my
00:32:56
path. It's the daily readings for today, but it's all about
00:33:00
how Daniel was taken by
00:33:03
King Nebuchadnezzar. And he and, you know, three other
00:33:07
guys were supposed to be trained to serve the king and how they
00:33:11
were supposed to eat from the king's table, and how Daniel, you know, he made
00:33:14
that choice that he was not going to follow this worldly thing, but that
00:33:18
he wanted to stay true to God. And
00:33:22
so he asked for, you know, just vegetables and water for him and
00:33:25
his three counterparts. And there was, you know, the steward
00:33:29
was like, yeah, I don't really know that the king is going to notice when
00:33:32
y' all are not, you know, as performing as well as the others
00:33:36
who. Who are having all this food. And Daniel said, just get. Just give me
00:33:40
a chance. Just give me a chance. And
00:33:44
in 10 days, you can make that decision. And so what
00:33:47
happened was, over these 10 days of just eating vegetables and water, that
00:33:52
Daniel and his three counterparts performed better. They looked
00:33:55
better than the other guys who had been eating of the king's table.
00:33:59
And that was God working, right? And so I had to
00:34:03
take that as like, okay, thank you for giving me Daniel as the
00:34:07
example to show up and put this out there, that
00:34:11
even if this doesn't play out the way that I want it to, that
00:34:16
it's going to be for your good and it's going to be for your glory,
00:34:19
and that you are going to take care of that, right? So
00:34:23
you have to stop letting fear write your story, and you have to
00:34:27
let faith write it instead. And so step five is
00:34:30
saying yes to the Lord and getting that
00:34:34
happily ever after ending like the real kind, right y'. All.
00:34:38
Your happily ever after isn't a perfect house. It isn't a perfect body,
00:34:41
it isn't perfect kids. It isn't perfect anything.
00:34:45
It's a faithful ever after. It's living a life where
00:34:49
you feel aligned and peaceful and on mission with God.
00:34:53
A life where you can end your days. Maybe Tired, but deeply
00:34:57
satisfied. Because you know that you're living the story he asked you to live.
00:35:02
It doesn't mean that there won't be suffering or setbacks or hard seasons.
00:35:06
It means that you'll walk through them as the woman God created you
00:35:10
to be. Not just a bystander in your own life.
00:35:13
Letting some ghost writer, you know, I
00:35:17
think the enemy, right, for many of us. But not letting some ghost writer
00:35:21
write your story, but you writing it and living it
00:35:25
with God. The next chapter becomes part of your
00:35:28
legacy. It's part of your testimony of how
00:35:32
God was so faithful to you. And your
00:35:35
sacred story is one that reveals how God has loved you and
00:35:39
worked through you. And here's the good news. That no
00:35:43
matter what's been in your past chapters, this page in front of you right now
00:35:46
is blank. So maybe you need a plot
00:35:50
twist in your sacred story. Those are always
00:35:54
fun, right, when something completely unexpected
00:35:57
happens to that main character. But it is so good for them.
00:36:01
So lean in to that plot twist. Lean in to whatever
00:36:05
this next chapter of your sacred story may look like.
00:36:10
But I think it's important to know that you don't have to do this alone,
00:36:15
that God is going to be with you. But also you don't have
00:36:19
to do this alone. You don't have,
00:36:22
like, how do I say this? God is going to be with you
00:36:26
the whole time, but you don't have to figure this out by yourself.
00:36:30
I didn't. God places coach
00:36:33
placed coaches and mentors in my life to help me see what
00:36:37
I couldn't see, to ask the hard
00:36:40
questions, to help me cast a vision when I was stuck
00:36:44
in that Groundhog Day. And honestly, I still work with
00:36:48
mentors. I still have coaches, because I don't know
00:36:52
my own blind spots. Sometimes I need help
00:36:55
getting pulled out of the stuck situation that I
00:36:59
am in. And we know that God designed us for community, for
00:37:03
support, for people who can walk alongside us while we discern and
00:37:07
take these next steps. So you don't have to
00:37:11
do this alone. And so maybe you're listening and you're thinking,
00:37:14
like, kara, this is me. I feel this tug. I
00:37:18
feel this lukewarm in life, like I'm super
00:37:22
grateful for everything I have. But I also know that there's more
00:37:25
that I can offer. And you want to write that next chapter of
00:37:29
your sacred story with God. And if that's. That's you.
00:37:33
I have three simple but powerful things that you can
00:37:37
take as your first step. Number one is to do a
00:37:41
life audit with me. I offer These free middle
00:37:44
motherhood life audit sessions where we walk through where you are right now,
00:37:48
your health, your relationships, motherhood, faith, finances,
00:37:52
passions. And we start to identify where God might be inviting you
00:37:56
you into something new. It's a really, really beautiful starting
00:37:59
place. Whether or not we ever work together beyond that, it just helps you
00:38:03
get clarity. You only get this one life.
00:38:07
So do you want more of the same? Number two,
00:38:12
download the free guide for writing your next
00:38:16
chapter of your sacred story. It's
00:38:20
multi page guide that's going to take you through each of these five steps that
00:38:23
we talked about, asking you some different questions, allowing you specific space to
00:38:27
just really connect with God and allow him to speak to you
00:38:31
of what this next chapter might entail. And then number
00:38:35
three, join me for a free online
00:38:39
mini retreat. It's going to take place December 10th at
00:38:43
11am Central. And it's all about writing
00:38:47
your next chapter. We're going to go through all of these
00:38:50
steps in deeper and more detail. It's beautiful
00:38:54
because you'll get that FaceTime with me to be able to ask questions
00:38:58
to help you get that clarity, to gain some confidence in what these
00:39:02
next steps are. But then you also will be in a community
00:39:05
with other women who are in the same exact place
00:39:09
and can, you know, help give you ideas or
00:39:13
it's just kind of a think tank at that point too. And
00:39:17
I think it's a really beautiful thing to help
00:39:21
kind of give you some clarity and some practical
00:39:24
steps to take going into the new year. So you can almost think
00:39:28
of it as kind of like a New Year's resolution planning
00:39:32
retreat, but we're doing it with God.
00:39:36
And so if you are ready to
00:39:39
turn that page, if you're ready for that plot twist and you want
00:39:43
to let God write something new with you, then this
00:39:47
is the time. So book that life audit session,
00:39:50
download the guide and join me for that free mini retreat on December
00:39:54
10th. And if this episode has made you think of any other
00:39:57
mom that you know in middle motherhood, would you please share the
00:40:01
episode with her and let it be an invitation for her as well.
00:40:05
Y', all, your life is your story and your story is sacred.
00:40:09
And it's all part of that history of the kingdom of God.
00:40:13
God created you for this moment in time with your unique gifts and talents
00:40:16
to fulfill the mission that he has just for you.
00:40:21
It's time for a plot twist. It's time to stop rereading the old
00:40:24
chapter. And maybe it's time to pick up that pen with God
00:40:28
and start writing the next one. Remember, beauty held is
00:40:32
the seed, beauty shared is the flower. It is your time to bloom.
00:40:36
Thank you so much for spending this time here with me this week. I hope
00:40:39
you have a beautiful and blessed week and we will talk soon. Bye.