9: 10 Practicals To Slay The Catholic Girl Life

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mari-wagner_1_05-15-2024_093228:

Hey there, friend.

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Welcome back to ever be.

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I am so excited that you're here today.

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If this is maybe your first time

tuning in, then hi, welcome.

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I am.

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I'm Mari and I hope that this episode

provides you with just some great

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advice and some really practical

steps and tools for you to, , live

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a Christ centered life and really

start slaying your Catholic girl life.

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Speaker 2: Hey, I'm your host, Mari

Wagner, and you're listening to the ever

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be podcast where faith meets lifestyle.

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I'm so excited you're here, whether you're

a new listener or a longtime follower,

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I know there's something here for you.

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Pull up a chair and listen in for

insightful real life conversations

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and actionable steps on how to claim

the full life God created you for.

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If you're a woman desiring to live

a Christ centered life in today's

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modern world, then this is for you.

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Welcome to Ever Be.

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mari-wagner_1_05-15-2024_093228: If you

have been following along for a while

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this might sound a little bit familiar.

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Um, so in January of this year, 2024,

I gave a breakout session talk at

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the SEEK conference and it was called

how to slay the Catholic girl life.

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Um, and I won't be giving

the full spiel today.

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It won't be the full talk, but a segment

of the talk where these 10 practical

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steps that I shared on how to really

live out your faith in the everyday life.

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I think this is one of the top.

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Ask questions that I get.

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And one of the things I love talking

about the most because it's the most

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fundamental part of your lifestyle.

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Like if you truly are living a Christ

centered life, and if your faith is

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truly the root in the center of your life

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Then your life needs to reflect that

and your actions need to reflect that.

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And so hopefully, um, if you feel like

you're in a place where like you're

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stuck and you want to, you know, get

back on track on living your faith,

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or maybe this is totally new to you.

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And you're like, I think that I

want to do this, but I have no

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idea what it looks like to actually

own my faith and live my faith.

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I hope that this will be a helpful episode

or a good boost of encouragement for you.

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mari-wagner_2_05-15-2024_093646: So

before we dive into the practicals,

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I want to give you some context

as to how I got here in my life.

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And if you want to hear the full testimony

story, go back into one of the first

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episodes, I think it's episode two.

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Um, but really there was a time

in my life where I wasn't living

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super Christ centered -ly.

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Um, but my heart, my personality

has always been, , passionate and

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joyful and just having this zeal for

life, this excitement for life and

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always desiring to live a full life..

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And when I started to feel the Lord

really tug on my heart, like, Hey,

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I didn't make you to live this way.

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I made you for more.

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I made you to live truly in

a Christ centered way and to

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glorify me through your life.

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And not even that, but I made

you to live an amazing full life.

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When I started feeling all that in my

heart, my biggest fear was that if I

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like fully dedicated my life to God and

fully like leaned into living my faith

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as like the center of my life that I

would lose that zeal for life that I

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would lose that passion and that joy and

that excitement that I wouldn't be This

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like fun mari anymore , and i'm here to

tell you that none of that was true That

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actually i've never been more joyful.

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Uh, my life has never been

more fun fun, more adventurous,

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more exciting, and more full.

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, the Lord doesn't, , lack in his promises.

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He follows through and he means it when

he says that he wants a full life for you.

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He says it in John 10, 10, I came so that

they might have life and life abundant.

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And he means that for you, um, in

your life, he wants you to have the

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most amazing abundant life ever.

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And our world tries to get us to

believe the lie that if we live a

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worldly life, that's where we're

going to find fulfillment and freedom.

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And like, maximize our life

and have the most success.

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And that's a lie, you guys, like

that's, that's truly a flat out lie.

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And it's a tactic that the evil one

does to tempt us to, uh, paint a

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picture that is false because he is

full of false promises, but that's not

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the truth that the Lord has for you.

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And that's not the truth, um,

that the Lord speaks up when he

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speaks of an abundant life for you.

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So.

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These practical steps, this advice

that I'm going to share with you today

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is something that I wish that I would

have learned way earlier than I did.

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And that I just love sharing because.

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It changed my life and

I hope it changes yours.

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But you have to know that to actually

like be in the heart space and in

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the head space to start living out

these 10 practicals, cause I have

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10 practical steps for you today.

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So you can't say that you've

never heard Any practical steps

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on how to live your faith.

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Okay.

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You're going to get them all here today.

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, but to actually, like I said, be in the

head space and the heart space to dive

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into this, you need to come from a posture

of like putting Jesus first in your life.

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And the reality is that it's a lot

simpler and you can start a lot smaller

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than you think, , putting Jesus first in

your life looks like giving him a daily.

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Yes.

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And I think when we hear the statement,

put Jesus first, we mistake the essence of

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what it means, um, in our everyday life.

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Because a lot of times we think of

it as like, wow, look at this person.

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Like they're going to go be a missionary.

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Like they're They're really putting

Jesus first in their life, you know,

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or these people, you know, this person

went to the seminary and decided to

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become a priest, like he's really

putting Jesus first in his life.

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And those are good and beautiful callings.

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And if you feel those on your heart,

totally, totally pursue those.

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but a lot of us are going to have much

more day to day opportunities to say

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yes to the Lord and to put him first.

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And it's a lot simpler

than those big callings.

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And actually when we say yes to all

these little callings, it helps build

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up our faith and our stamina in a

way to be able to say yes to him

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when he calls us to bigger things.

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So giving Jesus your yes, a daily yes,

putting him in first can look like putting

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him first over your school or your work.

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This means that Sunday mass

is an obligation, right?

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You don't miss mass because, you

have a ton of work, , that you

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didn't get done over the weekend,

or you have a test that you didn't

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study for that happens on Monday, or

there's, you know, sports obligations.

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If you have kids in sports

or, you're traveling, you do.

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Everything you possibly can to get

to Sunday mass every single week

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because the Lord has set aside that

day and that one hour of the week

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for us to worship and love him.

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And the least we can do

is give him that time.

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So that is an example of

putting Jesus first over your

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calendar, your work, your school.

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Maybe it looks also like giving him

some more time during your week.

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Maybe there's like a small group you can

join in your local parish or your school.

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Maybe there's a Bible study, um,

or a group of married people that

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you can make a marriage group with

and, meet either once a month or

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once a week to read a marriage book

together or pray scripture together

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or build each other up in the faith.

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So besides just going to the bare

minimum of once a week mass on Sundays.

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Also cutting out time during your

week to form yourself in the faith

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and to spend time with the Lord.

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Cause like we've learned in the past in my

episode, everything you need to know about

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prayer, we know that your relationship

with Jesus stems from your prayer life.

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So it was actually taking time to pray and

to give time to the Lord during the week.

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Giving Jesus a daily yes, putting

him first also looks like putting

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him first over your relationships.

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So this means seeking friendships,

uh, relationships, people around

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you that are going to build you up

in the faith and not tear you down.

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Um, it's so true.

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I don't know if you've heard this

thing before, but it's so true.

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You become like the five people

you spend the most time with.

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Um, and so think about that.

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Who are the people that I

spend the most time with?

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Who are the people that I allow

to have influence in my life?

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Are they people that have the same

values and faith and morals as me?

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Are they people that are striving

to live Christ centered lives?

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Are they people who are,

desiring to know and love Jesus

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and serve him in their life?

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Or not?, this doesn't mean

that every single person in

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your life has to be a believer.

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You can absolutely have friendships

with people that aren't Christians, but

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those five core people in your life,

I encourage you to find the people

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that are on the same walk of faith as

you and to encourage you and push you.

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And especially in your dating

relationships, your romantic

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relationships, um, if you are in a

season of dating where you are praying

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for your vocation and trying to find

the one, keep this in mind, keep the

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Lord first, in your life over these

relationships, seek out a man or a woman

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who is devoted to their faith, who is

practicing in their faith, who will help

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build you up in your faith and help you

raise a family of little saints one day.

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And then lastly, I think this

might be the hardest one.

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It takes a daily yes to put Jesus

first over yourself in your life.

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And the reason why I think this

is hard is because I think we're

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so used to trusting in ourselves.

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We're so used to being self

reliant and feeling like we

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need to provide for ourselves.

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Like we need to make it

happen for ourselves.

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Like we are the only

ones that we can trust.

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And that's just not, you know, Not

how the Lord wants us to live because

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doing that means that we're trusting

ourselves over trusting the all

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powerful, all loving, omnipotent God of

the universe, creator of the universe.

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And when you say it that way, it

sounds a little bit crazy, right?

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Like how could I trust myself, a sinful,

broken human being over the most perfect,

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most loving, most good Father, creator

of the entire world and universe ever.

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Like that makes no sense.

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However, it's hard.

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It is hard to put your full trust

in the Lord, especially because

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the way he works in our life is

sometimes, in such intangible ways

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and we don't see the physical fruits

immediately, but I encourage you.

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To put your trust in the Lord,

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and to trust in his promise of a full

life and sort of start to let go, start

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to unravel these tightly gripped hands

that you have on your plan for your life.

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Trust me, this is coming from someone who

Who likes to plan every inch of her life.

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I have learned over and over again,

that tightly grasping onto our plan

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actually just slows down the process

of getting to the best version of

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yourself and the best version of your

life that the Lord has in store for you.

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So surrender your life.

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Put Jesus first over yourself, his

plan over your desires and start

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unraveling that grip that you

have on your plan for your life.

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So how do we actually lean

into this abundant life?

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How do we actually put this

surrender, this Christ centered

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living lifestyle into practice?

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Let's get into the 10 practicals

that are going to help us do that.

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Number one, build a daily prayer life.

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This is going to sound like

I'm beating a dead horse.

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And the thing is, is I will never stop

talking about it because time and time

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again, this just happened to me like

a few weeks ago again, where the past

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few months have been super busy and my

prayer life has been totally out of whack

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and not been prioritized in my life.

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And then finally I spent a week of

daily prayer of the sacraments of

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adoration and, it just felt like I

had so much more clarity and so much

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more peace and so much more energy

enjoying my life that I was like, huh.

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Yeah, I knew this.

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Giving my time to the Lord

and surrendering my life

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to him actually works.

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So build a daily prayer life.

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Perfectionism doesn't get you

very far in the spiritual life.

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Just checking the boxes, just doing

things for the sake of doing them.

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I think this is something we

fall into a lot as Catholics.

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Like check the box.

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If I went to Sunday mass, check the box.

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Check the box.

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If I went to confession, you know, like

these things don't actually, um, build

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up our relationship with God and our

spiritual life as much as they could.

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Don't get me wrong.

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You'll still receive sacramental

grace from all these things, but

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if you are desiring a true living

relationship, intimate relationship

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with Jesus, just checking the

boxes, isn't going to get you there.

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a daily prayer life, a committed prayer

life is what's going to get you there.

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So my recommendation is truly

at least 15 minutes a day.

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And that's the bare minimum.

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I mean, I recommend 30 minutes a day.

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That's my honest number

one recommendation.

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If you can work up to 60 minutes a day

and maybe do a holy hour in your adoration

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chapel in your parish, or just in the

church at your parish, , or just in

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a little prayer corner in your house.

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I highly, highly recommend that you do so.

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I, I promise you it will change your life.

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Number two, seek the sacraments.

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You guys, this is like math.

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I say it every time, just

like one plus one equals two.

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And that is the answer.

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Every time when we seek out the

sacraments in our life, when we

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frequently seek out the sacraments, we

just are filled with supernatural grace.

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It makes your soul stronger.

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It makes your faith stronger and it

makes the spiritual life just that

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much easier and that much sweeter.

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I love, love, love St.

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Faustina and I've been

reading her diary for years.

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It's a really, really big book.

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So it takes a while to get

through, but one of the things

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she says in there, so, so St.

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Faustina was a mystic and Jesus would

appear to her and give her these messages.

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And one of the messages that she wrote

down that Jesus spoke to her was that

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he has so much grace and mercy to

give and wants to pour it out upon us.

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But a lot of times he can't because we

don't ask for it or we're not open to it.

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We're not open to receiving it.

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And we're not even putting ourselves

in a position to receive it, or

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we're not even realizing our need

for it and asking God for it.

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So seek the sacraments.

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You guys put yourself in a position

where you can receive his grace,

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where you can receive his mercy,

where you recognize your littleness

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and your need for the Lord.

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Try to attend mass during the week.

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If you can maybe pick one more day

or two more days during the week when

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you can go to mass or pick one day

a week Where you can sign up to do a

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holy hour in adoration at your parish.

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A lot of the times parishes are

looking for people to sign up for

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a weekly hour for adoration so

that they can keep Jesus exposed.

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So do that, or go back to confession.

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If you haven't gone back in a while,

, the sacraments are just an avenue

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of grace that we need in our lives.

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Number three, set

boundaries to root out sin.

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Okay.

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So it is not realistic for

us to think that we are never

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going to sin again, right?

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It's in our human nature, but we can set

boundaries in our life to help us root out

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sinfulness and to help us seek holiness.

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And this is going to look

different for every person because

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we all fall in different ways.

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We all have different temptations.

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, and it's going to look different

depending on your stage of life, right?

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Whether you're in college or

you're in the working world,

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you're newly married, you're a mom.

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, things are going to look very different.

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So just know your heart, know

where your temptation lies and Be

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proactive and set up boundaries in

your life to help you root out sin.

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So for example, if you're a college

student and you know that you are

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surrounded by party culture all the

time, maybe set a boundary of how

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many drinks you're going to have so

that you can make sure that you're

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drinking in moderation and you're not

actually falling into drunkenness.

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Maybe you are in a relationship and

chastity is really hard and you know this,

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, set up boundaries in your relationship

where you don't hang out in each other's

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rooms, or you don't hang out when you

don't have other roommates or friends

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over at the house, or you have a curfew,

you don't hang out past maybe 10 p.

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m.

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or something like that.

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Or if you do, you have to

be out in a public space.

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, setting up these boundaries

in your life are going to help

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you to strive for holiness.

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Actually live the life that

the Lord has in store for you.

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That's going to bring you so much more

joy and peace and purpose in your life.

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Or maybe you're married or you're

a mom and, your way to de stress

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is screens, but you find yourself

really stuck in scrolling or turning

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to, Netflix or YouTube or whatever

it is to keep you busy, to have

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noise in the background to distract

yourself, to escape from the stress

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that you have during during the day.

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Maybe it's time to set

boundaries around that.

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Maybe you have a passcode on your

phone that only your husband knows.

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, and you only have one hour of phone

time a day or social media time a day,

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: 00:16:15

or maybe you have a cutoff time where

after 8 PM there's no more screen

298

: 00:16:20

so that you can give your body and

your mind a break before you actually

299

: 00:16:23

wind down and go to bed and and

you give yourself space for prayer.

300

: 00:16:27

for reading, um, or just

unwinding and caring for yourself.

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: 00:16:31

Number four, form your mind and soul.

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: 00:16:33

It's important you guys to actually

know why we believe what we believe,

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: 00:16:38

why we practice what we do in our faith.

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: 00:16:41

And I think this is also a common

shortcoming in the Catholic faith,

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: 00:16:46

where a lot of us go to Sunday school

through grade school, and then we kind

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: 00:16:49

of drop off the face of the earth when

it comes to catechesis in our life

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: 00:16:54

and forming ourselves in our faith.

308

: 00:16:56

And then we get to be adults.

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: 00:16:58

And a lot of us are like.

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: 00:16:59

Why do we do this as Catholics?

311

: 00:17:01

Why do we believe this?

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: 00:17:03

Why do we do what we do?

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: 00:17:04

And you guys, it's so important, not

just to be able to defend our faith,

314

: 00:17:08

the beauty of our faith, the richness

of our faith, but also to increase our

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: 00:17:12

own faith and have confidence in why we

live out our faith the way that we do.

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: 00:17:17

And to learn where it's come from

and to learn that Jesus Christ is

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: 00:17:20

the true founder of our church.

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: 00:17:22

Our church Is the fullness of truth.

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: 00:17:25

, and the more that you can learn about

the richness of our teachings and

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: 00:17:29

the tradition that comes from, the

thousands of years that our, our

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: 00:17:33

faith has been passed on, or from the

tradition of scripture, it's going

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: 00:17:37

to build up your faith so much more.

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: 00:17:38

And that knowledge in your faith

is going to strengthen your soul.

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: 00:17:43

Number five, , find community.

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: 00:17:45

I can't stress how important this is.

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: 00:17:48

Even Jesus did not do his walk alone.

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: 00:17:50

Okay.

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: 00:17:51

He had 12 guys that he invited into close

friendship, close community that he prayed

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: 00:17:56

with and walked with and did mission with.

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: 00:17:59

, and we are called.

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: 00:18:00

to have the same type of community.

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: 00:18:02

We need people in our life who are

on the same path, who are going

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: 00:18:05

to build us up, who are going to

encourage us, who are going to pick

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: 00:18:08

us up when we're down, who we can

pour into and evangelize to as well.

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: 00:18:14

, so find community, whether this is a

Bible study at your parish, or maybe it's

336

: 00:18:18

one or two more friends that you know,

share the Christian or Catholic faith

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: 00:18:22

with you that you can meet up for coffee

with once a week or every other week or

338

: 00:18:25

once a month, or, you know, people that.

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: 00:18:29

Believe what you believe that have

the desire to live the way that

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: 00:18:33

the Lord is calling you to live, to

live a Christ centered life, find

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: 00:18:37

those people and stick with them.

342

: 00:18:39

And it is okay to distance yourself

from the people who aren't doing

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: 00:18:43

that for you or who are actually

drawing you away from your faith

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: 00:18:46

and drawing you away from the Lord.

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: 00:18:49

And this goes for social media to you

guys, unfollow accounts that you feel

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: 00:18:52

like are drawing you away from your faith.

347

: 00:18:55

, we consume so much and just like we

become the five people that we spend

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: 00:19:00

the most time with, we also are so

impacted by the things that we consume.

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: 00:19:03

And we'll talk about that in a little bit.

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: 00:19:05

, but.

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: 00:19:05

In social media, there is an avenue

to find faith filled community as well.

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: 00:19:11

, so there are amazing, amazing Catholic

content creators on Instagram that are

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: 00:19:15

showing an example of a faith filled

life of how to grow in your relationship

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: 00:19:20

with Christ, how to respond to our

culture in a Catholic worldview, how

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: 00:19:26

to practically live as a Catholic and

Christian witness in your life to others.

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: 00:19:31

So find those people.

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: 00:19:32

Find those people online and

follow them and get rid of the

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: 00:19:35

people that you feel like are not

drawing you closer to the Lord.

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: 00:19:39

Now I will say this with a caveat.

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: 00:19:41

, if the Lord is calling you to invest

in people who are not in the faith,

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: 00:19:45

that is good and beautiful too.

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: 00:19:47

I want you to hear me when I say

like, I'm not telling you to live in a

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: 00:19:51

bubble of Catholic or Christian people.

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: 00:19:54

Like the Lord was where the sick were.

365

: 00:19:56

The Lord was where the prostitutes

were, where the sinners were, where the

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: 00:19:59

Pharisees, where the tax collectors were.

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: 00:20:01

He spent time with the people who didn't

know him and didn't know their faith.

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: 00:20:06

And it is important to share

our faith with those people.

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: 00:20:09

However, if we don't already have

a foundational community around us,

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: 00:20:14

that's going to strengthen us and

pour into us so that then we can.

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: 00:20:17

pour out to those around us.

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: 00:20:20

That's, that's what I'm talking about.

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: 00:20:23

You need those people

as well in your life.

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: 00:20:26

Okay.

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: 00:20:26

Number six is clean up

the media you consume.

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: 00:20:29

I already started talking about this

in the last one with social media, but

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: 00:20:32

this also goes for the type of music

we listen to, the type of movies we

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: 00:20:36

watch, the type of shows that we watch.

379

: 00:20:38

Um, I know when I first heard someone tell

me this, I had so much resistance to it.

380

: 00:20:41

And I was like, I am not affected

by the things that I watch.

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: 00:20:45

I can watch rated R movies or rated

R scenes and not be affected by them.

382

: 00:20:50

Like, I'm an adult.

383

: 00:20:50

It doesn't matter.

384

: 00:20:51

But the reality is, you guys, our mind,

heart and soul absorbs everything that

385

: 00:20:55

we consume and just like we don't want

to fill our bodies and our like stomachs

386

: 00:21:01

with like trash food, you know, like if

we just ate out at McDonald's and Wendy's

387

: 00:21:04

every day, like, wow, our body would.

388

: 00:21:07

definitely decline in health.

389

: 00:21:10

Same with our soul and

our mind and our heart.

390

: 00:21:12

Like if we just fill it with trash all

the time, we can't kid ourselves and think

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: 00:21:17

that it's not going to be affected by it.

392

: 00:21:19

So fill your media, your social

media feed, the things that you

393

: 00:21:23

watch with things that aren't

trash and that aren't depicting a

394

: 00:21:27

life that is not Christ centered.

395

: 00:21:29

, this is also going to be a kind of

a different point of discernment

396

: 00:21:32

for different people, I think,

because again, we're all tempted

397

: 00:21:35

by different things, um, and have

more temptations one way or another.

398

: 00:21:39

So just keep that in mind.

399

: 00:21:40

, but really I challenge you to take a look

and take an inventory of the things that

400

: 00:21:44

you consume and make decisions about like,

What is actually helping me get to heaven?

401

: 00:21:48

What is actually forming me

to be a Saint and what's not?

402

: 00:21:51

And what should I let go of?

403

: 00:21:52

Number seven, fill your life

with faith filled items.

404

: 00:21:56

Now I might be biased about this because

I own a Catholic lifestyle brand where we

405

: 00:22:00

literally provide faith filled products

for you to have in your life, but the

406

: 00:22:04

reality is, The reason we have this brand

and the reason I believe this so strongly

407

: 00:22:08

is because I know the impact that it has

and the impact that it's had in my life.

408

: 00:22:12

I especially am so drawn to beauty and

I have seen it in my life and in so

409

: 00:22:18

many others, how beauty draws us to God.

410

: 00:22:21

Beauty reflects a deeper reality of the

Lord and, and reaches for something in

411

: 00:22:26

our soul that makes us want the Lord.

412

: 00:22:28

So the more that we surround

ourselves with faith filled beauty

413

: 00:22:31

in our life, the more we desire the

Lord and the things of the faith.

414

: 00:22:36

So invite Jesus into the space that you

live in, into the items that you have in

415

: 00:22:40

your home, whether it's just a beautiful

rosary or a holy water bottle on your

416

: 00:22:44

entryway table or on your nightstand,

or maybe it's a piece of Catholic art

417

: 00:22:48

or faith filled jewelry, apparel or

lifestyle goods, whatever it is, I really

418

: 00:22:52

encourage you to fill your life with

faith filled items and to have those

419

: 00:22:57

daily reminders of your faith and whose

you are and what you are truly rooted in.

420

: 00:23:01

You know where to find those goods.

421

: 00:23:03

Westcoastcatholic.

422

: 00:23:04

co is the number one place that I

will recommend to go find those.

423

: 00:23:08

Number eight, get to know Mary

and lean into her motherhood.

424

: 00:23:12

I love Mary so much you guys and the Lord

has just Always put it on my heart, um,

425

: 00:23:17

to share about his mother and to share

about her love for you and the impact

426

: 00:23:23

and the power that she has in your life.

427

: 00:23:25

The bottom line is Mary is your heavenly

mother, and she wants to wrap you up like

428

: 00:23:32

her little baby and protect you and carry

you to the foot of the cross and just

429

: 00:23:38

offer you and your whole life to the Lord

so that he may bless it in abundance.

430

: 00:23:43

And Jesus said this himself in the

hour of his death on the cross.

431

: 00:23:47

He turned to the disciple of John

and said, John, behold your mother.

432

: 00:23:51

And he turned to his mother and

said, mother, behold your son.

433

: 00:23:54

And in this moment, he entrusted

Mary to humanity and entrusted

434

: 00:23:59

humanity to his mother.

435

: 00:24:01

And so there is a very special place in

Mary's heart for you, her child, her son,

436

: 00:24:06

or daughter, , and her mission in her life

It's to intercede for you, is to pray for

437

: 00:24:12

you, to help you know her son more, to

help you lead your life towards her son.

438

: 00:24:18

That's her mission.

439

: 00:24:19

It's not about her.

440

: 00:24:20

It is always, always, always about Jesus.

441

: 00:24:23

And what a gift that this mother is

that we have, because sometimes it

442

: 00:24:28

can be intimidating to go straight

to Jesus, depending on what your

443

: 00:24:31

relationship was like, maybe with your

father and where your relationship is

444

: 00:24:34

at with God, um, it can be intimidating

to go to the father and to bear

445

: 00:24:38

your heart and soul and your sins.

446

: 00:24:39

And, and sometimes we

just need a sweet mom.

447

: 00:24:43

I don't know if you ever had this

experience, but when I was little,

448

: 00:24:46

sometimes I knew that if I really

wanted something that was going to

449

: 00:24:49

be a little bit tough to get, I would

go to my mom and I would ask her to

450

: 00:24:53

talk to my dad for me and sweet talk

him and you know, put in a good word.

451

: 00:24:59

And more often than not.

452

: 00:25:00

Dad can't resist mom, right?

453

: 00:25:04

Like he can't resist mom when she

comes to him and says, sweetie, our

454

: 00:25:08

little girl was asking for this.

455

: 00:25:10

I think that we should, you know,

give her this or blah, blah, blah,

456

: 00:25:13

whatever it is that you're asking for.

457

: 00:25:15

The heart of a mother just

melts the heart of a father.

458

: 00:25:18

So Mary is here for us to intercede

for us to be that liaison in a

459

: 00:25:23

sense when we feel like we need our

prayers to be sweetened to the Lord.

460

: 00:25:28

So this leads me to number nine.

461

: 00:25:30

Pray the rosary again.

462

: 00:25:32

I've said this so many times, but

I've experienced the graces in the

463

: 00:25:35

rosary a hundred fold in my life.

464

: 00:25:38

The piece that it brings is.

465

: 00:25:41

Not really comparable to

a lot of other things.

466

: 00:25:43

And I don't know why it's also like math.

467

: 00:25:46

It's also like one plus one equals two.

468

: 00:25:48

It just works.

469

: 00:25:49

The graces of the rosary are so

effective and are so beautiful.

470

: 00:25:52

And I think that there's so much

stress and anxiety in our culture

471

: 00:25:56

and in our lives, and we need to

combat it and we can combat it

472

: 00:26:01

with the rosary at the very least.

473

: 00:26:03

Um, it takes 15 minutes.

474

: 00:26:05

You guys, I used to think that the

rosary was like, would take forever

475

: 00:26:09

and it doesn't, it takes 15 minutes

of your day, um, to reflect on Jesus's

476

: 00:26:14

life in scripture through these

meditative prayers, these Hail Marys,

477

: 00:26:18

um, and to entrust whatever your

worries are to Jesus through Mary.

478

: 00:26:22

I promise you it'll reduce your stress.

479

: 00:26:23

It'll reduce your anxiety and it'll

just bring more clarity to your life.

480

: 00:26:27

So pray the rosary.

481

: 00:26:28

Lastly, surrender your life to Jesus.

482

: 00:26:30

This is number 10, this is the

all encompassing, practical step.

483

: 00:26:34

Um, and it actually takes a moment of

prayer where you go to the Lord, where

484

: 00:26:39

you open your hands in surrender and you

say, Lord, I surrender my life to you.

485

: 00:26:45

I don't want to play God anymore.

486

: 00:26:48

I don't want to be in control of my life.

487

: 00:26:50

I want you to lead.

488

: 00:26:52

I want you to be Lord of my life

and Lord over everything of my life.

489

: 00:26:57

And if you have trouble with this, if

you have something in your heart that

490

: 00:27:00

you're like, I want to, But I just

can't get myself to truly surrender.

491

: 00:27:06

Then pray for that grace, pray for

the grace to desire that surrender.

492

: 00:27:12

That is a prayer that I've

prayed a lot of times in my life.

493

: 00:27:14

When I know the Lord is calling me to

let go of something and I don't want

494

: 00:27:18

to, I'll be like, Lord, give me the

desire to even desire to let go of this.

495

: 00:27:22

Give me the desire to

desire your will over mine.

496

: 00:27:26

And that will soften your heart

and the Lord will hear that prayer.

497

: 00:27:28

Okay, friends, those are my top

10 practical tips on how to live

498

: 00:27:34

a Christ centered life and totally

slay the Catholic girl life.

499

: 00:27:38

I hope they were helpful to you.

500

: 00:27:39

I hope that you got the boost of

encouragement that you needed to keep

501

: 00:27:44

going in your walk of faith and to

maybe restart that conviction and that

502

: 00:27:47

energy and that commitment to Jesus and

the way that he's calling you to live.

503

: 00:27:51

Last thing I want to leave

you with is persevere.

504

: 00:27:53

You guys persevere in

the journey of faith.

505

: 00:27:56

It is not an easy one.

506

: 00:27:57

It is not for the faint of heart.

507

: 00:27:59

, and just start small.

508

: 00:28:00

So these 10 steps, it's a lot, right?

509

: 00:28:02

Work up to the 10 steps.

510

: 00:28:06

Just start with the first five.

511

: 00:28:08

Okay.

512

: 00:28:08

Start with those and start

implementing those into your life.

513

: 00:28:11

And once those become habits, then

increase to the next steps as you feel

514

: 00:28:15

like the Lord is calling you to do.

515

: 00:28:16

But most importantly, persevere.

516

: 00:28:19

Um, sometimes when we get into these

spurts of like a faith high or retreat

517

: 00:28:23

high, things are really easy and then

it crashes and then we get discouraged.

518

: 00:28:28

It's okay.

519

: 00:28:28

There's going to be discouragement.

520

: 00:28:30

There's going to be trials.

521

: 00:28:31

There's going to be difficulty that evil

one likes to make it difficult for us.

522

: 00:28:35

And the Lord tests our faith as well.

523

: 00:28:37

It's not always going to be easy in our

faith is strengthened when we persevere

524

: 00:28:41

through the hard times., so keep going.

525

: 00:28:43

You are doing amazing.

526

: 00:28:44

Just you getting to the end of this

episode shows your heart and your

527

: 00:28:48

desire to know and love the Lord

and live for him and serve the Lord.

528

: 00:28:51

So know that I'm praying for

you, , in your journey of faith.

529

: 00:28:54

And I hope that this was so helpful.

530

: 00:28:56

It was a blessing to you in your life.

531

: 00:28:57

, and if it was, please pass this episode

on, bless another friend in your life,

532

: 00:29:01

share this episode and drop a five star

rating or a review on here, Spotify,

533

: 00:29:07

Apple podcasts, wherever it is that

you're listening today, and know that

534

: 00:29:10

I'm so grateful for each and every

one of you in this amazing community.

535

: 00:29:14

We'll see you next week.