Kisses for Katie.

Just finished this book, Kisses from Katie, and it was simply delightful and so very inspiring!  I have been reading as much as ever, but just haven't read too many things that I thought would be blog worthy.  However, this book changed things! It truly made me question how deep my love is for the Lord. It made me wonder about the plans He has for my life and if I really come to Him with open hands.  And ultimately, it made me yearn for more.  

I want to meet her.  

I want to be her friend.

I want to travel to Uganda.  

I want to live there.  

I want to adopt 13 children.  

I want to meet hers.  

I want to laugh with those children and love them till my heart bursts.  

I want to fill a need.

I want to be uncomfortable.

I want to serve the Lord.

I want...

The list could go on - I am sure you get the point.  There are so many things that I want, but ultimately, what I really want is the intimacy she has with Christ.  I want to come to Him with open hands and I want to hear His voice amidst all the noise and chaos in my life.  

So the book.  Goodreads blurb..."What would cause an eighteen-year-old old senior class president and homecoming queen from Nashville, Tennessee, to disobey and disappoint her parents by forgoing college, break her little brother’s heart, lose all but a handful of her friends, and break up with the love of her life, all so she could move to Uganda? A passion to make a difference. Katie Davis left over Christmas break her senior year for a short mission trip to Uganda and her life was turned completely inside out. She found herself so moved, so broken by the people and the children of Uganda that she knew her calling was to return and care for them.  Katie, a charismatic and articulate young woman, has gone on to adopt 13 children during her time in Uganda.

To further her reach into the needs of Ugandans, Katie established Amazima Ministries. The ministry matches orphaned children with sponsors worldwide. Each sponsor's $300/year provides schooling, school supplies, three hot meals a day, minor medical care, and spiritual encouragement. Katie expected to have forty children in the program; she had signed up 150 by January 2008; today it sponsors over 400. Another aspect of the ministry is a feeding program created for the displaced Karamojong people—Uganda's poorest citizens.  Kisses from Katie invites readers on a journey of radical love down the red dirt roads of Uganda. You'll laugh and cry with Katie as she follows Jesus into the impossible and finds joy and beauty beneath the dust. Katie and her children delight in saying yes to the people God places in front of them and challenges readers to do the same, changing the world one person at a time."

So after reading the book...what did I do?  I googled her of course, and this is what I found.

I found her blog - check it out, and I found all sorts of videos!

Some of my favorite parts in the book...

"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 any eyedropper."  Today, it often still feels that way, I have learned to be okay with this feeling 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 grills and for four hundred schoolchildren and for a sick and dying grandmother or for a malnourished, neglected, abused 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."

It sure is worth it isn't it??

"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 times 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 ring 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."

This is so very true isn't it...one my biggest fears is apathy and complacency.

"Peter is the rock on which God built His church.  But first, Peter was probably the worst disciple ever.  I am Peter.  Jesus tells Peter that he (Peter) will deny Him 3 times; Peter says, "No! I love you, I could never deny you, Lord."  yet we all know that Peter does in fact deny Jesus three times.  I know in my heart and my soul and the core of my being that I love the Lord, that I would do anything for Him, go to the ends of the earth for Him, but how often do I forget to give the glory to His name  how often do  take compliments without giving Him the credit?  Do I, like Peter, deny Jesus the glory that is His? (p. 38)".  

I, too, am so guilty of this.  I am so quick to take credit for things...for my own achievements, for my own successes, and in reality, it is all God's...He should be getting the credit.  But I, too, am so quick to deny Him the glory that is His.

"Not long after I arrived in the States, I poured out my heart about feeling like a stranger in my native land in my journal, and I came to a better understanding of why I felt I didn't belong there...I have often wondered since reentering the United States why I feel such great culture shock.  How can I feel such a disconnect with the place I was born, raised, and for eighteen years called home?  How can I feel that my real home is a place in which I have spent just over a yer?  I have blamed it on many things.

American extravagance.  The grocery store that almost sends me into panic mode due to the sheer quantity and variety of foods.  People who build million-dollar homes.  The lack of understanding and a lack of thanksgiving on the part of all of us.  The ease with which we receive medical care.  The amount of stuff that just clutters our lives.

All these things make it difficult to readjust, yet.  But what has been the biggest shock to my system, the huge disconnect, is that I have stepped out of my reliance on God to meet my needs.  I "miss" Jesus.  He hasn't disappeared, of course, but I feel so far from Him because my life is actually functioning without him.  By "functioning," I mean that if I am sick, I go to the drugstore or to the doctor.  If I am hungry, I go to the grocery store.  If I need to go somewhere, I get in my car.  When I need some advice or guidance, I call my mom or go pop on my roommate's bed.  If I want to feel happy, I get Brad, my little brother, or someone else to make me laugh.

I keep forgetting to ask God first to heal me, to fill me, to guide me, to rejoice with me.  I have to set aside "time to pray" in the morning and at night instead of being in constant communication with Him.  In Uganda, because I was so physically "poor," I was completely dependent on God and spiritually as wealthy as ever."  (p. 121-122)

It's so true isn't it...have you ever experienced a time when you were so physically poor that you completely relied on God?  Or a time when you were so physically rich that you found yourself simply functioning without Him? How do we keep ourselves from falling into that rut of comfort  and from believing the lies that we can function just fine without Him?