Have you ever read a book so good that when you reached the last page, you flipped the book over to the first page and began reading it again? "Kisses from Katie" by Katie Davis was that kind of good book for me.
It's the true story of an 18 year old girl, a fresh high school graduate, who leaves her comfortable lifestyle in Tennessee to travel to Uganda to live and work in an orphanage. She ends up adopting 14 girls, starting a non-profit organization providing food and education to over 1200 children, and writing her first book...all by the age of 22.
It is not the amazing things Katie has accomplished in her young life that inspire me (although they are inspiring). What is so inspiring to me about the book is Katie's spiritual wisdom and willingness to sacrifice herself for God's kingdom. So much of what she writes, I have experienced myself and can so easily relate to, yet Katie has a way of putting those thoughts and feelings into words. Something I find difficult to do at times.
A person does not have to be young with a call to the mission field to be used of God. One simply must be willing to follow Jesus anywhere, anytime, at any age. One must be willing to say "yes" to whatever He asks, no matter what. In reality, it is the ONLY way to follow Jesus.
Here are a few excerpts from her book:
“It may take place in a foreign land or it may take place in your backyard, but I believe that we were each created to change the world for someone. To serve someone. To love someone the way Christ first loved us, to spread His light. This is the dream, and it is possible.”
"People often ask if I think my life is dangerous, if I am afraid. I am more afraid of remaining comfortable. I am surrounded by things that can destroy the body. I interact almost daily with people who have deadly diseases. I am 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."
"I hadn't realized what a transformation had taken place while I had been in Uganda, the spiritual richness I had experienced in material poverty and the spiritual poverty I felt now in a land of material wealth."
"I want to forsake everything to remain in the center of God's will for my life. I want to give up everything for the sake of the Gospel. I believe with all of my heart that nothing is a sacrifice in light of the promise that one day I will get to live with Him forever. I want to obey. I want to give my life away."
"The life that I live is full and joyful and wonderful, but it is not easy."
“I have learned along my journey that if I really want to follow Jesus, I will go to the hard places. Being a Christ follower means being acquainted with sorrow. We must know sorrow to be able to fully appreciate joy.”
“I realize that the hard places are good because it is there that I gained more wisdom, and though with wisdom comes sorrow, on the other side of sorrow is joy. And a funny thing happens when I realize this: I want to go to the hard place again. Again and again and again.”
"I was in no way qualified, but I was available. I have learned that something happens when one makes herself available to God: He starts moving in ways no one could imagine. God began doing things in me, around me, and through me as I offered myself to Him."
“I am blown away that my God, who could do this all by Himself, would choose to let me be a little part of it.”
"When I imagine God creating each one of us and planting a purpose deep in our hearts, I never imagine that purpose being mediocrity.”
"I am just an ordinary person. An ordinary person serving an extraordinary God."
It's the true story of an 18 year old girl, a fresh high school graduate, who leaves her comfortable lifestyle in Tennessee to travel to Uganda to live and work in an orphanage. She ends up adopting 14 girls, starting a non-profit organization providing food and education to over 1200 children, and writing her first book...all by the age of 22.
It is not the amazing things Katie has accomplished in her young life that inspire me (although they are inspiring). What is so inspiring to me about the book is Katie's spiritual wisdom and willingness to sacrifice herself for God's kingdom. So much of what she writes, I have experienced myself and can so easily relate to, yet Katie has a way of putting those thoughts and feelings into words. Something I find difficult to do at times.
A person does not have to be young with a call to the mission field to be used of God. One simply must be willing to follow Jesus anywhere, anytime, at any age. One must be willing to say "yes" to whatever He asks, no matter what. In reality, it is the ONLY way to follow Jesus.
Here are a few excerpts from her book:
“It may take place in a foreign land or it may take place in your backyard, but I believe that we were each created to change the world for someone. To serve someone. To love someone the way Christ first loved us, to spread His light. This is the dream, and it is possible.”
"People often ask if I think my life is dangerous, if I am afraid. I am more afraid of remaining comfortable. I am surrounded by things that can destroy the body. I interact almost daily with people who have deadly diseases. I am 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."
"I hadn't realized what a transformation had taken place while I had been in Uganda, the spiritual richness I had experienced in material poverty and the spiritual poverty I felt now in a land of material wealth."
"I want to forsake everything to remain in the center of God's will for my life. I want to give up everything for the sake of the Gospel. I believe with all of my heart that nothing is a sacrifice in light of the promise that one day I will get to live with Him forever. I want to obey. I want to give my life away."
"The life that I live is full and joyful and wonderful, but it is not easy."
“I have learned along my journey that if I really want to follow Jesus, I will go to the hard places. Being a Christ follower means being acquainted with sorrow. We must know sorrow to be able to fully appreciate joy.”
“I realize that the hard places are good because it is there that I gained more wisdom, and though with wisdom comes sorrow, on the other side of sorrow is joy. And a funny thing happens when I realize this: I want to go to the hard place again. Again and again and again.”
"I was in no way qualified, but I was available. I have learned that something happens when one makes herself available to God: He starts moving in ways no one could imagine. God began doing things in me, around me, and through me as I offered myself to Him."
“I am blown away that my God, who could do this all by Himself, would choose to let me be a little part of it.”
"When I imagine God creating each one of us and planting a purpose deep in our hearts, I never imagine that purpose being mediocrity.”
"I am just an ordinary person. An ordinary person serving an extraordinary God."
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