And it makes me think about, you know, like I keep thinking in my mind, like, I cannot wait to say like, welcome to episode 100 of this podcast. I know that it’s like so far down the road, but it makes me excited just thinking about the future and trying to imagine the content that we’re going to be able to put out in this podcast. There’s just so much like my brain wants to explode and I know Sterling’s does as well, like so much good stuff that we want to put into this and into our coaching program and all of it. And I just think to myself, I can’t wait to get to that point of saying welcome to episode 100 and then looking back and being like, Oh, I remember when we were just on episode 10 and then seeing all that lies in between that and all the growth and figuring things out and learning about all of this stuff and, and growing as a person that is putting content into this world.

And I don’t know, super exciting stuff. And it really leads me into the, the theme of this episode today, which is made for greatness. That’s our theme today. I cannot wait to talk about it because this is truly one of my most favorite things to talk about is the whole concept of being made for greatness. And where does this quote come from? It basically, it comes from a quote by Pope Benedict the 16th shortly after he became Pope. He was speaking at a, a large Catholic youth gathering in Germany. And this quote came out of that, that message that he was giving to these young people. And the whole quote is this, the world offers you comfort, but you are not made for comfort. You are made for greatness. Oh, it’s so it’s so good. The world offers you comfort, but you are not made for comfort.

You are made for greatness. And I know that both Sterling and I like, we love this quote so much. We wanted to make this quote made for greatness, obviously that, that theme for everything that we are doing, because we want to help Catholic moms, especially recognize that we are all made for greatness. This quote for me has been one that I have put on stationary on cards. I have made posters with it. Like this quote literally is okay in my classroom. It takes up like the whole section of my classroom. And I’ve had it up for several years. It’s just, it’s my go-to quote. I think about this quote literally every single day. And yeah, I had to be honest though, like when I first heard this quote, like who doesn’t love it, like who doesn’t want to be reminded every single day that they’re made for greatness.

I don’t know if somebody doesn’t want to be that, like, that’s sad to me, but like I love that whole concept of like realizing that God has made me and he’s made me for greatness. That’s the part that I love. But it hasn’t been really until the last three years that I’ve started to embrace the entire quote and embracing the whole quote is a little bit more challenging because when we get to the heart of it, basically what Pope Benedict is trying to tell us is this, the world world offers or offers us comfort, but we’re not made for comfort. We’re made for greatness. And really like what that means is that if you want to step into a life of greatness, you have to be willing to walk through discomfort, not just a little bit of discomfort, but the big, like the bigger, the greatness, the bigger the discomfort.

And for many years, I like to just think about like, Oh, I just want the greatness part. But over the last few years, and even over the last few months, the whole understanding of stepping in, leaning in walking through discomfort to really experience the life of greatness that God wants to give to me. And I, this is like, this is this quota taken on a whole new meaning. And I don’t think it’s ironic or just a coincidence that this is the name that we’ve chosen for our company, because every single day, Sterling and Kara and I are stepping out of our comfort zone to bring this content to Catholics moms and it’s hot, comfortable. It’s a hard, it’s, it’s uncomfortable, it’s scary, it’s terrifying. And yet here we are doing it and hopefully has we’re doing this. We’re inspiring others to do, to do similar things to step into, to greatness in the, in the ways of God calling them too.

So I just wanted to say this so today, like, what am I going to be talking about? I wouldn’t be talking about something that we don’t ever really talk about, and that is discomfort. So for me in this podcast, I’m just going to share a couple examples from my own life of when I’ve felt really uncomfortable. Now I can look back when I first started in youth ministry years ago. And I remember being young in my early twenties and really struggling those first few years. And it was very uncomfortable and very difficult. And then as time went on, I got better. And then I became, you know, I did that for 20 years. I became a veteran youth minister and I felt a lot more confident and, and good in the work that I was doing. And then I, I ended up leaving that job after 20 years and taking a little bit of a break.

And then I found myself in a new position at the Catholic high school that I teach at right now and do campus ministry at. And although the work is somewhat similar in the fact that I am, I’m still doing ministry with high school students, the job in and of itself is actually significantly different from what I was doing in youth ministry. And when I started at Bishop Kelly, I remember being so overwhelmed with this sense of total discomfort, every single day, feeling incredibly uncomfortable, like not having any idea what I was doing, trying to figure it out a whole new job position. And it was crazy. I remember there was a day days where I just thought I can’t do this. I’m terrible at this. I can’t figure it out. I’m making mistakes. I’m never going to get better. And he just had this feeling of constantly being in discomfort and so much so that I remember there was like, even those moments where I almost quit because it was, it was so hard for me and so uncomfortable and I’m really grateful.

It just so happened that at that time, at that same time, that’s when I decided to do my life coaching certification. So in the evenings and on the weekends, I was doing all this extra work for my certification. And it was really there that I restarted receiving these tools on how to manage my mind and my thoughts. And I started applying it to the work that I was doing in this new position. And I was able to really recognize how my thoughts were kind of spinning out of control. And so I knew I kind of got to the point where I understood that this discomfort was not going to be long-term it was going to be temporary. And so I kept telling myself, okay, Lorissa, yes, this is uncomfortable now because it’s so new and you’re figuring it out and you’re learning and you’re making mistakes, but wait another, like if you just wait another year or two or three, when you get there, then you will have passed through the discomfort and you will get to the part where you can step into this job feeling a sense that you are, this is where you’re meant to be.

And I, now, I that’s where I’m at, I’m two and a half years into this job. And not that I would say that it’s every day is, is perfect, but that feeling of discomfort is definitely not nearly as strong. Sometimes I still have it, especially if I’m trying something new, but I’m much more in the place where I really feel it I’m making an impact and that I have gifts and talents. And I’m able to show up everyday stepping into the greatness that I desire to be in at this point, because I was willing to stay with it and to S to continue through processing through that discomfort, to get me to where I am now, another area in my life right now, where I’m experiencing quite a bit of discomfort is probably an area that made me a number of, of women that are listening to this podcast can relate to you.

And it’s something I talked about even in my last podcast, but as a lot of you may know, I am on my own journey of weight loss. Right now, I have a goal to lose 50 pounds. And so far am six or seven weeks into this. I’ve lost about 12 pounds, really utilizing these life coaching tools that we’ve been talking about. And I have come to this understanding. I was even talking to my own coach about this just last week, about really how, when we are trying to reach a goal, and we’re trying to do things that are hard, of course, it’s going to be uncomfortable. And I think when it comes to weight loss, it’s just the most perfect example because it’s not easy. And so when we have a plan and we say, okay, these are the foods I want to eat.

And then these are the foods I want to avoid. And then we’re faced with temptations or urges. And when we don’t give into those temptations, we don’t give into those urges. That’s where the discomfort is like, there’s great discomfort there because our, our bodies are, our brain is saying, Oh, you want that cookie? Or you want those chips. And when you’re able to manage mind and, and, and choose to say, no, I don’t want this right now because I want something even better later, you have to process through that, that there’s going to be those moments of discomfort. And it’s going to be like that in anything we do, whether it’s working out and exercising. When we first start out is always uncomfortable. It’s always hard trying to lift weights. If you haven’t lifted weights for a long time, your body is sore. It’s hard.

You know, maybe even going for a run. If you haven’t been running for awhile, like running can be really hard. You feel like you’re going to die after just running a mile. It’s so uncomfortable. And yet your body adjust and you keep doing it and you keep doing it. And you keep stepping into that discomfort. And eventually your body started building up strength and endurance. And then you get to a point where not only is it not uncomfortable anymore, but your body actually starts craving that. Even when it comes to eating healthy, if you do it and nothing, you stick with it and you resist the temptation and you enter into that discomfort, then you get to the point where your body actually starts to realize how good it feels and your body longs for that more and more. It’s so fascinating, but we have to be willing to lean into the discomfort in order to process through it, to get to the goals that we have, which is really that step one more step closer to the greatness that we desire to step into.

The other point that I want to make about discomfort is that we almost have two choices of what type of discomfort we want to experience. For example, if you have a goal like weight loss, for example, and you know that it’s going to, you’re going to experience discomfort. If you go towards that goal, you work towards it. If you resist temptations and you resist the urges and you eat on plan, and you go through the discomfort of all of that, you know that it’s going to be uncomfortable, but if you choose not to do it and just give up and stay where you’re at, then will you start to realize is that is uncomfortable too. There’s a lot of discomfort. And just staying where you’re at, especially if you, if you know that you want to do something to, to improve in an aspect of your life, but when you stay where you’re at, particularly with your, with weight, with weight goals, it’s uncomfortable to, you know, when you overeat and it’s uncomfortable, you feel uncomfortable in your clothes when your clothes feel too tight.

And there’s a lot of health issues that are really uncomfortable and you don’t have the energy that you want to have. And then you’re faced with other health things that make you uncomfortable and put you in pain and stuff like that. So whether it’s weight loss, or any goal, or any dream that you have on your heart, you know, that when God places a dream on your heart and stream within you and you, you can either make the choice to stay and do nothing or move towards the goal or move towards that dream. And when you move towards the dream, it means stepping out of the boat. I mean, stepping into discomfort and doing things that maybe are new or things that you’re putting yourself out there in ways, and that’s uncomfortable, but it’s also uncomfortable to have a dream strain in your heart day after day after day, and not responding to it, feeling it there, and feeling that longing to want to do something, to step into a new aspect of greatness, but allowing fear and uncertainty and all of those other emotions to, to just hold you there.

It may feel comfortable to some degree, like I’m staying safe in my comfort zone, but there’s even discomfort in that. And so the biggest thing is, is that if we’re going to feel discomfort either way, either just staying where we’re at and feeling uncomfortable because we’re not moving or moving forward and feeling uncomfortable, I’m starting to realize in my own life that I want to move into discomfort. If I know what’s going to lead me to the, to my dreams and to the dreams that God has placed on my heart, to those places of greatness that he’s calling me to, because when I step into that discomfort, that kind of discomfort is leading me to growth and transformation, and to really becoming who I want to become, as opposed to staying where I am at that discomfort just leaves me feeling a great longing for, for wanting more and wanting to become more, but just not doing anything.

So this is the power of this, and this is the power of our choices and our willingness to be like St. Peter, who was in the midst of the storm in the boat. And he had the opportunity to just clean to the boat and stay in the boat where maybe he felt safer, but it was still scary or taking, like taking that step and stepping out of the boat, keeping his eyes focused on Christ and walking on water. Now I have one more example that I want to highlight as we’re talking about greatness, because here we are, as women as mothers. And I think probably most of us can really relate to what I’m about to say. And it has to do with bringing life into this world. I was just listening to a homily by Fr. Ed Meeks just last night. And he was talking about the family and the, the gift of, of the family.

And he was speaking about how extraordinary it is when a man and women come together and obviously God joins in and we become co-creators with God to bring another human soul into existence into this world. And we, as women, as mothers in a very extraordinary way, get to participate in the act of co-creation with our spouse and with God, by not just bringing life into this world, but literally being bearers of life. And it’s so incredibly profound. And if you think about it, is there really anything greater in this world than bringing another human being into existence, being co-creators with God and bringing another human being into this world. This is what Fr. Meeks was talking about. He said, there’s nothing greater that we can create in this world than a human soul, because we can create many things. But none of the things that we create in this world will live for eternity except for another human soul.

Oh my gosh. Sorry. Think about that for a minute. The greatness of being co-creators with God to create a soul that will live for all eternity. There’s nothing greater than that. And yet that is why it’s so hard. It’s so uncomfortable. It’s so there’s so much suffering in that because it’s so great. And it’s so extraordinary. It’s not just, I mean, it’s one thing to carry a life within your womb for nine months and then deliver that child and the, and the suffering and the pain and the discomfort of labor and delivery, and then all the stuff after the postpartum and then raising a child and loving a child throughout their life. It’s so great. And it’s so powerful. And so of course, there’s going to be great discomfort in that. And of course, there’s going to be all the beauty and the joy and the law of as well, beginning through all of that.

There’s always that discomfort because it’s going through that discomfort that leads us to the greatness, even to the greatness of bringing life into existence and into this world, man, it is so incredibly powerful. Now I want to switch gears just a little bit because there’s something that I was thinking about just the other day. And I think it really pertains to us, especially as women, as mothers, as wives, and that’s the whole concept of self care. Now, when I think about self care, I think a lot about, you know, doing the things that make me feel good and things that I enjoy doing, whether it’s taking a bath once a week or going and getting a massage every few months maybe taking some time to read a book or go to lunch with a friend. But when I usually think about self care, I think about the things that are fun.

I think about things that are relaxing, things that make me feel better, or, you know, fill my cup. And I really do think that that is self-care, that’s definitely a form of self care, but I had a real realization not too long ago, that self care often times shows up in choosing to do things that are uncomfortable for us. So some examples of that, again, going back to eating healthy, if we are on a goal to be healthier, to lose weight, obviously that’s a perfect example of staying on our plan and coming up with a plan and staying with it and doing that is such a beautiful form of self-care and self-love of loving ourselves enough that we’re willing to feel uncomfortable, even in those moments and processing through that pain and, and the emotion of it to really, to love ourselves so that we can be healthy and energetic and feel really good.

Another thing, another example of this is maybe setting our alarm a few minutes early every day to wake up, to give ourselves a little extra time in the morning to maybe say some prayers, have some quiet, peaceful time before the kids get up all of that. And I know it’s, so, I mean, for, for me anyways, I find trying to do that. Like that’s uncomfortable. I want to sleep as long as I can. And some, some of us would say, well, well, yeah, Lorissa but sleeping is a form of self care. And I agree with you on that. But what if we went to bed a little bit earlier, so we could get plenty of sleep and then wake up a little bit earlier. So we have that extra time in the morning to really kick start our day and start off in prayer in quiet time, just giving us, giving ourselves that extra time that is such an act of love, but it is a, a little uncomfortable, especially at first, we have to push through that discomfort of setting our alarm and waking up earlier recently, I made an appointment and I went and had my first mammogram.

And I remember even making the appointment and getting all of that set up and then actually going to that appointment was incredibly uncomfortable. There was so much discomfort in it. And for all of you that have had your mammograms, like, you know exactly what I’m talking about, it’s not comfortable getting a mammogram, and yet it’s such an act of self care and taking care of ourselves. And it’s an act of love for ourselves and for our family, when we’re doing those types of screenings, to make sure that we’re healthy and that we’re taking care of ourselves sometimes even in our own relationships sometimes having those difficult conversations with our spouses, even though we know that those kinds of conversations, honesty, and truthful conversations that need to happen, like those are those important things that are uncomfortable at times. And yet it leads to a greater, a relationship, a greater marriage, the type of marriage that we want to have and doing that is sometimes uncomfortable.

Now, please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that our lives have to be in a constant state of discomfort in order for us to be moving forward. I don’t want to give that impression, but what I want to really challenge all of us to do is to be willing, to lean into discomfort and then to manage our mind and our thoughts around it. When we remind ourselves that this discomfort is normal and it’s part of the process, our brain will start to calm down and it will, that’s when it starts to lean into it. That’s when it starts to understand that it’s just part of the process instead of resisting it, instead of wanting to run from it and hide from it and get away from it. That’s when we start to push into it and experience it and feel it, and then keep moving through it.

When we manage our mind and tell ourselves, okay, this is just part of this process of getting to greatness. And then I’m not going to stay here. I’m not going to be in this forever, but I’m going to learn and I’m going to grow and I’m going to get better and figure this out. That’s how we process through it, really by managing our minds and being aware of it. And this is something that we can help our kids with because one of our kids try something new. Our kids are struggling through something, or they’re feeling that discomfort. We can help them learn how to manage their minds and to keep going and to keep pushing through and keep doing the hard stuff so that they can build up that confidence of getting through it and getting through that discomfort and getting out on the other end, which is really that place of greatness that we all want to be in.

And finally, my sisters in Christ, as I wrap up this podcast, I really want to tie it into what I really believe that Pope Benedict was trying to give to us in this message. Ultimately, I believe that his concept of greatness is really the idea of becoming a Saint in the eyes of God in the eyes of the church. That is what greatness is, is to be a Saint, to become who God has made us to be, which is to be his beloved daughters who are striving for holiness and sainthood. And in order to do that, we have to be willing to, to step out of our comfort zone. And it’s so funny to me, I just find it so ironic sometimes because I pray all the time. Like, God, I just want to be a Saint. I want to love you. And I want to be a Saint.

And then I’ll pray that prayer, like over and over. And then when I find myself in an uncomfortable situation where I feel like God is stretching me, that I ask, I’m like, God, why am I going through this right now? I don’t want to go through this discomfort. But the crazy thing is when we read the lives of the saints, any like there is not a single life of the Saint that you could read about where they didn’t go through extraordinary discomfort in their path to holiness. And that’s what their lives were. That’s what made them saints is that they were willing to step into discomfort and they kept going and they kept their eyes on Christ and they kept falling down and getting back up and doing the hard stuff and making the sacrifices. And they kept going. And that’s, that was their path.

That is the path to sainthood. So we shouldn’t be surprised when we’re striving to grow in holiness. And we encounter discomfort. That is the path. And the saints show us this and living the life that Christ is inviting us to live. It requires being uncomfortable. Just think about it. When we evangelize, we put ourselves out there to tell others about Christ and his love. That can be really uncomfortable at times when we are living out our faith and trying to be witnesses that the hat is uncomfortable. It’s even like sometimes going out to dinner, into a restaurant and you’re with your family and the food comes out and you stop and you pray together in public. I know that even I’ve had moments where I felt a little bit uncomfortable at times even doing that, but this is what we are called to do. And ultimately there’s no greater example of this than Christ himself.

Again, I’ll find myself praying at times and I’ll say to God, like, Lord, help me to love, like you love, like, I want a love with that capacity. And oftentimes when I’m praying this prayer, I’m just imagining, like trying to ask God to fill me up with his love, asking Jesus, to open my heart, to love like him and to make room in my life for him to come and dwell. But so often when I pray that prayer, Jesus helped me to love like you love. I hear him whisper back to me Lorissa, do you really know what you’re asking for? Because if you want to love, like, I love that. I need you to set your eyes upon the crucifix upon my body hanging on the cross, because that is what it looks like when I love. And we all know that that greatest act of love that has been, that is known to mankind was so uncomfortable.

Not only uncomfortable, I mean, not only the greatest discomfort, but the greatest suffering and agony that Jesus had to go through that to show us the greatest form of love, known to mankind. And so of course we are reminded that if we want to love, like Christ loved that it’s going to, it’s going to include suffering. It’s going to include discomfort, but isn’t that how we want to love don’t we want to have the greatest marriages and don’t, we want to be great moms and great wives and great women of God. Then we have to be willing to step into the discomfort of loving to that degree. But also knowing that it didn’t just end with death and that the pain and the discomfort doesn’t just end. There’s always resurrection. And with resurrection, there is life and new life. And Jesus really pointing us to what greatness truly looks like.

So we don’t have to worry and fear that we’re going to stay in discomfort forever or stay in the suffering forever, but we can trust in him, keep our eyes fixed on him and, and know that he’s going to bring us through that discomfort through that suffering. And then he’s going to do something even greater with, and in that process, we are going to become greater because of it. And so my sisters, this is the message today we are made for greatness. We are made for this kind of greatness, the greatness of walking with the saints, the greatness of doing the hard things, the grayness of bringing life into this world and cultivating it. The greatness of stepping out of the boat and walking on water and experiencing miracles. This is the greatness that God is calling us to. I don’t know about you, but I am getting fired up thinking about it.

This is the life like we have one life to live. We can choose to stay in the comfort zone. We can choose to cling to the boat, or we can step out of the boat and walk on water and experience the place where miracles abound over and over again. My sisters in Christ. I just want to leave you with this realization that we are called to greatness. We are made for greatness, and God wants to use us as his instruments to set this world on fire. So my sisters in Christ, this is what I have for you today. I think all of us should go and listen to the songs oceans by Hillsong as some place a day, just get fired up about stepping out of the boat. And with that, my friends, I truly hope you have the most amazing week ahead. And remember mama, you are made for greatness.

So we kind of like have a choice. We can either stay in the boat when it’s stormy and clean to the boat and just hang on and try to just clean to comfort to the comfort and safety of the boat. Or we can be like St. Peter who looked out and saw Christ, walking on water and like step out of the boat and say like, I like, I want to walk to you. Like, I want to step out of the boat, even though it’s scary and terrifying and hard, like I’m willing to do that because I know it is there that miracles will

Occur. It is there that I can walk on water. I can keep my eyes focused on you and you will not leave me. And even if I take my eyes off of you and I start to fall under, I know you’re going to grab me and pull me back up and you’re going to help me continue to take one more step closer to you. One more step into greatness and into the greatness that you’re calling. The two, I’m going to end it with this. My sisters, maybe we need to all go listen to oceans and get fired up. God is calling us to greatness. We’re already living in greatness. We are already living in a place where we’re responding every day. We’re doing the hard things we’re getting up. We’re, you know, turning away from the things that we know are holding us back and we’re willing to step into that discomfort.

And for me, I know I just want to keep stepping. I want to keep taking one more step, one more step. Even if it’s uncomfortable, even if I’m growing, even if, even if it’s hard, I know that God is doing extraordinary things in those moments of discomfort. I know he’s calling us all to greatness. He’s calling us all to be saints. And I hope you’re as fired up as I am right now about embracing discomfort. So with that, my sisters, I hope you have the most amazing week. If you think this podcast is something that might help somebody, you know, or love, please share it. And as always Sterling, I are greatly appreciative of any ratings on the podcast platforms that are out there. So if you have a second and want to leave a rating and a review, we would greatly appreciate it. And with that again just know that you are deeply loved and mama, remember you are made for greatness.