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We are often shaped by our experiences in life.
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Some are good, some are bad, and some are just ugly.
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But they all play a part in developing who we are today.
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And oftentimes the most painful ones are the most impactful.
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And on today's episode we're looking at a character whose most painful memory shaped
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who she is today and ultimately helped her play a pivotal role in saving the world.
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And that is the waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe, Katara.
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Hey what's going on guys my name is Nate and you're listening to the Otaku Liberation.
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A show where we help you break the chains that hold you back in your life by connecting
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some biblical principles with themes from your favorite anime.
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And without further ado, let's get right on into it.
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So today's verse that's going with today's episode is Romans chapter 8 verse 28.
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And it says, and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him
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who have been called according to his purpose.
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So it kind of ties into what I said earlier where even the most painful memories or events
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that happen ultimately worked out in the end for those who love God, for those who are
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after his own heart who are following his purpose.
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And if you're listening out there, I'm assuming either you started this journey or you're
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already on that journey.
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So either way, God's got you.
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And this really kind of hits home for Katara and Saka to some extent, but mostly Katara
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because we see the trauma affect her more directly, I should say.
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And it really is pretty much her whole, it's almost her whole personality.
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I mean, if you watch the show, you know, she talks about her mother and all that fun stuff.
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For those of you who don't, don't worry, I got you.
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And so there's really kind of three main points or characteristics of Katara that I want to
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cover in today's episode.
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And the first set of points is resilience and responsibility.
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So the death of Katara and Saka's mother greatly impacted her and it shaped who she is today
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as we see her in the show.
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Because at a young age, Katara had to take over many responsibilities that an adult normally
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do and essentially becoming a pseudo mother figure for honestly the entire group, the
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entire team avatar.
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And this is displayed when Katara tried to keep the group together in super stressful
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times such as when Ava was stolen in the desert.
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And it's funny because even the other characters, even her own brother kind of make fun of her
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for her motherly attitude, even though she's around the same age of all of them.
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But she has to act more mature because she's had to from such a young age.
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And to kind of give a little more backstory on how her mother died, the Fire Nation invaded
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the Southern Water Tribe because they were aware there was another waterbender there.
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And obviously that waterbender was Katara.
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But her mother lied to the Firebender saying that she was a waterbender instead of outing
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Katara out.
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And she did that thinking that she'd just be taking prisoners somewhere, but the Fire
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Nation, they weren't taking prisoners that day.
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And again, ultimately led to her mother getting killed, protecting Katara.
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So that little bit of guilt coupled with the fact that her mother was everything to her
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at the time.
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And then shortly thereafter, their father left to go fight in the war, left Katara and
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Asaka with just a grandmother.
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So Katara already had that kind of nurturing spirit in her to begin with, but her mother's
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death and her father's leaving to go fight the war essentially just kind of accelerated
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that in her.
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And it kind of just paints a whole picture of it.
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Just think about it because God will use our life struggles to prepare for challenges that
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are coming ahead.
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And the way I kind of look at it for Katara is that if her mother didn't die and if her
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father didn't go off to war, she might not have been the person that Aang needed in order
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for him to complete his journey.
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Because I'm going to dive deeper into later on in this episode, because Katara was, I
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guess, a pivotal point in not only keeping the group safe and together, she even literally
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saved Aang.
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She literally saved his life.
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And I just know like for me, it's funny, I was talking to my parents about this the other
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day, just looking back over my life, if I didn't make certain decisions or certain events
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didn't happen, how drastically my life would have changed.
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I'm talking about decisions that led me to meeting my best friend, where if I didn't
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stay behind after my parents moved, I probably wouldn't have never met him.
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And then moving back home, I probably would never have gotten the job that I have now
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and be able to help out around the house that way I am.
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And probably would never went to this church, which started doing 21 Days of Fasting, which
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eventually led me to even starting this podcast.
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So each of these events and choices could have easily changed the direction my life
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was going on.
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And I'm just in awe of how God works all those things out for ultimately for good.
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And again, as tragic and as saddening as it is for Katara to lose her mother, as far as
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I'm sure a lot of people feel the same and they understand her pain.
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But it helps me just kind of think about it in this way, like how different would she
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have been and how different would the show have been if that event didn't shape her
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in such an impactful way.
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So the next aspect of Katara's kind of character is being a healer and a protector.
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So as a waterbender, Katara was able to develop the ability to heal because healing was one
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of the sub bending types for waterbenders.
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And obviously because of that, she became an even greater asset to the team as the resident
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healer and anyone who's played any type of RPG, MMO type thing, you know exactly how
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important a healer is to the group.
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You protect them at all costs.
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There's no... if the healer goes down, the whole group is shortly going down right after.
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And like I said, Aang actually died in Ba Sing Se.
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Like when Zula shot him with the lightning while he was in the Avatar state, that was
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it.
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That was a wrap.
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He was dead.
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And if Katara wasn't there, then the world just would have ended.
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The war would have ended with the Fire Nation winning and the Avatar would have been dead
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forever.
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And if she didn't have the ability to heal, if she wasn't there in that moment at that
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time with her super spirit water, then the show would have been over and that would have
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been a terrible ending.
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But to kind of fully, fully kind of grasp this whole thing because Katara's affinity
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with water, it really highlights her nurturing and caring nature because again, like water,
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she was often the soothing voice of the group, killing the tempers down.
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Like when Aang being the peaceful monk that he is, sometimes he will lose his temper over
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things that were super important to him, such as his friends.
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And again, back when they lost Appa in the desert, Aang was ready to end lives and Katara
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was the main one trying to make sure everyone stuck together.
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Everyone was wasn't being as angry against each other and and just helping everyone stay
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focused.
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But also like water, Katara could be just as violent and unforgiving, especially when
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it comes to those who she cares about.
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One of the greatest examples that stick out in my mind is when Prince Zuko tried to join
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the group after everything that he's done to them for the past two and a half seasons
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almost.
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And especially after his betrayal in Bossing Say, Katara was not having it.
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She threatened to, you know, to unalive this man if he even showed a glimpse of his old
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self while they were with the group.
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And she had the same type of ferocity when it came to confronting her mother's killer
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years after the fact.
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And it just goes to show that sometimes even the nicest, most caring people can be the
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most dangerous if they're pushed to that extent.
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And is to say, hey, being a healer and protector doesn't mean you're a goody goody and being
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meek doesn't mean you're weak.
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So in but all this kind of comes together in Katara understanding her own ability as
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a waterbender and how it affects those around her.
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So when it comes to understanding the gifts God has given us is the crucial in understanding
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your purpose in life.
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Like exactly being a part of the whole design, right?
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God gives us these gifts and it's up to us to one discover and then understand and then
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grow those gifts.
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So how can we use them to help others and how can they be improved?
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So the last kind of key points or character points I want to cover for Katara is when
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it comes to becoming a master and a mentor.
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So Katara masters are waterbending long before Aang does mostly due to her ambition and determination
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alongside with Aang's aloofness when it came to actually training.
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I think I covered a little bit of that in Aang's episode.
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This leads her to becoming Aang's second waterbending teacher and helping him master the element.
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And so it kind of comes back to the whole understanding your gifts.
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Once we have an understanding of our gifts and how to apply them, teaching others creates
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an opportunity for lasting growth in ourselves and in them.
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So then this goes even further when in the legend of Korra, Katara becomes Korra's waterbending
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teacher just like how she was for Aang all those years before, passing down her gift
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and knowledge to the next generation.
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And it goes to show you that sometimes God's purpose for our lives isn't really seen during
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our lifetime, but is fulfilled through future generations.
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And sometimes that's not the easiest thing to understand and to, I guess, really accept
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for some people, because oftentimes you think our purpose in our life is meant to be fulfilled
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in our lives.
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I mean, we put in all this hard work, we're laying the foundation, we're laying the groundwork,
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and we want to reap the rewards of it now.
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I mean, because we put in the time, we put in the energy, we put in the effort, but we
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feel like we should receive that, right?
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And sometimes that's just not in God's plan.
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And I know it kind of took me some time to kind of realize that because I don't know
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where this is going to go.
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I have hopes, I have dreams that this is going to blow up and it's going to be something
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that lasts several generations, but that doesn't mean it's going to start during mine.
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You know, I think my job right now is just to focus on laying down the groundwork for
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something great, whether I get it there or somebody comes along way after me and they
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just hear these episodes and they get inspired to start their own thing.
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And maybe that thing is what helps change the world.
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I don't know.
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But I know, again, when it comes to understanding your purpose or finding your purpose, it comes
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down to just being obedient and doing what you need to do.
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Take those steps and just kind of figure it out along the way.
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And I mean, it's pretty much that.
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You can have whatever strategy, whatever mindset you want to have for it.
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But ultimately it comes to just starting and just figuring out as you go.
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Because again, when the guys, when the whole team from Avatar started this journey, you
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know, again, so you got a 15, 14 and a 12 year old traveling the world trying to end
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a war that's been going on for the last 100 years.
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They didn't know what they were doing.
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They didn't even know where really to begin.
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They had this idea that, hey, we're going to go to the Northern Water tribe so Aang
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can learn water bending from a water mending master.
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They didn't know that Katara was going to be his water mending master by the end of
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the series.
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And they weren't even sure that he's going to even master all the elements before the
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end of the series, which he didn't.
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He didn't.
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But that didn't stop them from going after their purpose because they knew it was something
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they had to do.
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Katara probably wasn't sure of what her role was going to be in all of this, but she just
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knew that she needed to help Aang get there and kind of find out what her role was.
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One of the most important ones in the series.
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Like I said, if she wasn't there in bossing, say the series would have ended right there.
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So you never know where your journey is going to take you, when you're going to be used
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to your fullest potential or how God's going to use you and when.
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So as frustrating as it can be sometimes, as unsure as you can feel sometimes, just
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know that it is all going to be worth it in the end, whether that's a urine or somewhere
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down the road.
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You just know that in the end, the work that you're putting down now, the effort you're
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putting in, the skills you're learning, the business you're building, the families you're
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building, the relationships you're forging, they're all going to be worth it no matter
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what.
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So all going to be worth it.
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So just take that to heart and understand that it's okay and God's got you.
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So if you like what you heard today, you want to take a deeper look into today's episode,
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head on over to theotopi-ration.net where you're going to find a blog article that covers
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today's episode in a little more detail.
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You may also find a link to our YouTube channel where I cover some bonus topics outside of
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the podcast and come back next week because we're going to take a look at someone who
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was considered the team strategist, inventor, de facto leader, and of course the funny guy
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and that is Qatar's brother, Saka.
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And always remember you are the main character of your story, your story, and that story
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doesn't end until he says so.
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Alright guys, be blessed.
