Katie's Challenge

There's a girl I admire very much. Her name is Katie Davis. I've mentioned her book, "Kisses from Katie" on my blog, and it is one that we've recommended on the website. I admire her because she is truly a disciple of Christ. Her passion is to follow Jesus. He led her to Uganda as a teenager then asked her to stay there to live, to eventually adopt 13 girls and to start a ministry that reaches hundreds of other children in Uganda. I want to share with you some from the introduction to her book to challenge and encourage you in this new year and then share thoughts from my heart after that. You may want to grab a cup of coffee and read my blog in a couple sessions since it will be longer this time!! Above all my prayer is always that you will be encouraged to seek Jesus more each day--He is who we all need more that anything else! Okay, lets listen to Katie's words:

I never meant to be a mother. I mean, I guess I did; not right now, though, Not before I was married. Not when I was nineteen. Not to so, so many little people. Thankfully, God's plans do not seem to be affected much by my own.

I never meant to live in Uganda, a dot on the map in East Africa, on the opposite side of the planet from my family and all that is comfortable and familiar. Thankfully, God's plans also happen to be much better than my own.

You see, Jesus wrecked my life. For as long as I could remember, I had everything this world says is important. in high school, I was class president, homecoming queen, top of my class. I dated cute boys and wore cute shoe and drove a cute soports car. I had wonderful, supportive parents who so desired my success that they would have paid for me to go to college anywhere my heart desired. BUT I loved Jesus.

And the fact that I loved Jesus was beginning to interfere with the plans I once had for my life and certainly with the plans others had for me. My heart had been apprehended by a great love, a love that compelled me to live differently. I had grown up in a Christian home, gone to church, and learned about Jesus all my life. Around the age of twelve or thirteen, I began to delve into the truths of Scripture. As I read and learned more and more of what Jesus said, I liked the lifestyle I saw around me less and less. I began to realize that God wanted more from me, and I wanted more OF HIM. He began to grow in me a desire to live intentionally, and different from anyone I had ever known.

Slowly but surely I began to realize the truth: I had loved and admired and worshiped Jesus without doing what He said. This recognition didn't happen overnight; in fact I believe it was happening in my heart long before I even knew it. It was happening as I explored the possibility of overseas volunteer work, it was happening as I took my first three-week trip to Uganda, it was happening as I fell in love with a beautiful country full of gracious, joyful people and immense poverty and squalor that begged me to do more. It was happening in so many ways, and I couldn't deny it. I wanted to actually DO what Jesus said to do.

So I quit my life.

Originally, my quitting was to be temporary, lasting just one year before I went to college and returned to normal, American teenager life. But after that year, which I spent in Uganda, returning to "normal" wasn't possible. I had seen what Life was about and I could not pretend I didn't know. So I quit my life again, and for good this time. I quit college; I quit cute designer clothes and my little yellow convertible; I quit my boyfriend. I no longer have all the things the world says are important. I do not have a retirement fund; I do not even have electricity some days. But I have everything I know is important. I have a joy and a peace that are unimaginable and can come only from a place better than this earth. I cannot fathom being happier. Jesus wrecked my life, shattered it to pieces, and put it back together more beautifully.

During the first few months I lived in Uganda, in fall of 2007, I wrote, "sometimes working in a Third World country makes me feel like I am emptying the ocean with an eyedropper." Today, it often still feels that way. I have learned to be okay with this felling because I have learned that I will not change the world. Jesus will do that. I can, however, change the world for one person . I can change the world for fourteen little girls and for four hundred schoolchildren and for a sick and dying grandmother and for a malnourished, neglected, abuse five-year-old. And if one person sees the love of Christ in me, it is worth every minute. In fact it is worth spending my life for.

People often ask if I think my life is dangerous, if I am afraid. I am much more afraid of remaining comfortable. Matthew 10:28 tells us not to fear things that can destroy the body but things that can destroy the soul. I am surrounded by things that can destroy the body. I interact almost daily with people who have deadly diseases, and many time I am the only person who can help them. I live in a country with one of the world's longest-running wars taking place just a few hours away. Uncertainty is everywhere. But I am living in the midst of the uncertainty and risk, amid things that can and do bring physical destruction, because I am running from things that can destroy my soul: complacency, comfort, and ignorance. I am much more terrified of living a comfortable life in a self-serving society and failing to follow Jesus than I am of any illness or tragedy.

Jesus called His followers to be a lot of things, but I have yet to find where He warned us to be safe. We are not called to be safe, we are simply promised that when we are in danger, God is right there with us. And there is not better place to be than in His hands.

For as long as I can remember, one of my favorite Bible verses has been Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." I used to believe it meant that if I did what the Lord asked of me, followed His commandments, and was a "good girl," He would grant all my desires and make my dreams come trus. Today, this is still one of my favorite passages of Scripture, but I have learned to interpret it in a totally different way. It is not about God making MY dreams come true but about God changing my dreams into HIS dreams for my life.

Today I am living the desires of my heart and I cannot imagine being happier; I cannot imagine living any other life that the one that unfolds before me day by day. But believe me, I am by not means living MY plan. I thought that I wanted to go to college with my high school boyfriend, get married, have a successful career and children, settle into a nice house down the road from my parents, and live happily every after. Today I am a single woman raising a houseful of girls and trying to teach others the love of Jesus in a land that is a far cry from my hometown and my culture. This is not a life that I dreamed up on my own or even knew I desired. I am watching God work, and as I "delight myself in the Lord" by doing what he asks of me and by saying yes to the needs He places in front of me, He is CHANGING the desires for my heart and aligning them with the desires of His. As I go with Him to the hard places, He changes them into the most joyful places I could imagine.

WOW! Katie's words challenge me every time I read them. The Lord doesn't call us all to Africa, but He does call us to obedience. Like Katie, God continues to change the desires of my heart and to align them more with His. That is my prayer and desire to have a heart like His. As Katie shared, I want the dreams that I have for my life to be HIs dreams for my life. One of those dreams was to grow old with my husband, Ty. That wasn't part of God's plan for my life and yet I know because I trust Him with all my heart that His plan is always the best. It's not easy, but it's always best. Katie doesn't have an easy life by any means but she has a blessed, joy-filled life. So do I--and like Katie it's not the life I envisioned. As she said--she quit life as most of us know it. She gave up so much but gained so much more as she was obedient to go and do what God called her to do. What I have found over and over again is that when the Lord asks me to do something that seems impossible and takes me completely out of my comfort zone is when I grow the most and see Him working in my life. Katie shared this is her journal:

"Remember, God will never give you more than you can handle."

People repeat this frequently; I heard it when I was growing up and I hear it now. It is meant to be a source of encouragement, and it would be if I believed it were true.

But I don't.

I believe that God totally, absolutely, intentionally gives us more that we can handle. Because this is when we surrender to Him and He takes over, proving Himself by doing the impossible in our lives.

I have learned to accept it, even ask for it, this "more than I can handle." Because in these times, God shows Himself victorious. He reminds me that all of this life requires more of Him and less of me. God does give us more than we can handle. Not maliciously, but intentionally, in love, that His glory may be displayed, that we may have no doubt of who is in control, that people may see His grace and faithfulness shining through our lives.

And as I surrender these situations to Him, watch Him take over and do the impossible, I am filled with joy and peace-so much more than I can handle.

He has taken over in many situations in my life and done the impossible...when my daughter Marshay died one week before her due date, when Ty was in intensive care and I didn't know if he would live, when Ty was diagnosed with cancer and then went to be with Jesus and I was left to face life without him. In all of those times, I saw God do the impossible as I leaned on Him and His promises. He is forever faithful and I am forever thankful. In fact this morning as I was having coffee with my Savior, I was overwhelmed with gratitude. The tears came as I thanked my Lord for His joy and peace--so much more than I can handle and way beyond my understanding.

I challenge you in this new year to treasure Jesus. Seek Him above all else because only He can meet the deepest needs of your heart. Don't just tack Him on to your busy life, but make Him your life. I wasted many years focused more on the world and the things of the world  than on getting to know my Savior. I didn't understand then that in order to really get to know Jesus I would have to read His Word (his love letter to me) seeking to grow in my relationship with Him. That's different than reading out of duty or to cross "devotions" off of my list. It's desiring to know Him and making that a priority. He has shown me that He wasn't my priority for many, many years. I was so desperate for peace and contentment but I was searching for that in relationships with others and more and more "stuff". Each one of us know where our treasure really is by examining how we spend our time and what our minds are focused on. I can promise you that more of anything (clothes, vacations, money, jewelry, sports, cars,homes) will ever bring you peace, joy, and contentment. They may make you happy for awhile but then you'll just need more of something else. Only Jesus can meet every need and  give you a peace, joy and contentment that never changes even with all the ups and downs of life. You don't need "more" when you have Him. He is enough! He is amazing--He loves each of us so much! Katie said it so well: "I am filled with joy and peace-so much more than I can handle."

Psalm: 9:10 "Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord have never forsaken those who seek you."

As I was finishing up, the Lord brought the hymn, "The Solid Rock" to my mind. I found the following video by Avalon. I love all the beautiful pictures of God's creation on it as well as the Bible verses. The most exciting part for me was seeing Ty's favorite verses written at the end of the song: Proverbs 3: 5,6. Bask in the love of our Savior as you listen.