A journey of finding, rejecting, and rediscovering my calling

GOD PATIENTLY TEACHES.

(This is a warrior angel character that I made based on the Ephesians 6 passage on the armor of God. I first drew her for a high school art class project, but this version of her I drew at a conference at the beginning of my first year in Twenty-Four Seven.)

God has always been leading me into what He has for me; specifically I want to talk about a purpose. Growing up I loved watching anime and dreamt of becoming a cartoon artist. Constantly, I practiced drawing random cartoons or things that I could see. As I got older, I trained to perfect my skill through classes at a private art studio, various competitions, and a lot of practice. Everywhere I went, godly friends and family spoke life into my dream, encouraging me to never give up. I frequently heard messages on how people shouldn’t bury God-given talents, but use those gifts to glorify and worship Him instead. However, around middle school, things started changing.

Greater talent in others became increasingly evident to me. Their skill intimidated me, and impatience started to turn me away from drawing; I wanted to be at a higher level without the years of experience, practice, and lessons. Slowly, insecurity about my artistic ability grew. After I refused compliments about my artwork, discounted other artists, and lost confidence in my blessing, the amount of time I spent drawing dwindled. Reasoning “there are people better than me, so why should I bother?” I proceeded to make excuses to justify quitting, like “artists don’t get paid well, and I don’t want an impractical job.” I even blamed others for making me stop!

(I made this water-color Jesus portrait for a young adults Christian ministry art competition. I wanted Him to be hidden like parchment stains with the overlaying words having an impact before noticing the subtlety of His face. It says "I am ... [with His different names and descriptions found in the Bible] ... Indescribable.")

This year the girls of Twenty-Four Seven are redoing a book study called So Long Insecurity by Beth Moore. In chapter 7 of her book, Mrs. Moore talks about how insecurity can negatively change us. One passage especially spoke to me after rereading it; this section talked about how insecurity can turn gifted people into competition. After reading that part of the chapter again, I realized that this exact thing happened to me. Instead of celebrating with others God’s greatness and generosity for giving us all special talents, I allowed a spirit of insecurity to convince me that I had no talent and should stop drawing. Now, however, I can crush the enemy under my feet! God has taught me this year about what He wants me to do, how I can use art in ministry, and why being MY best pleases Him more than trying in vain to be THE best. Learning this lesson took longer than necessary, but now I can boldly regain ground and push even further in my drawing without fearing the judgments of others or myself.

I'm kind of new at this ...

GREETINGS, READERS!

Thank you so much for coming to check out my new blog. I am so excited to share my life with you! Hopefully the stories, thoughts, and experiences that I write about will inspire you in your relationships with everyone around you (ie. friends, family, God) or can help you through similar life situations as mine. Every day through the opportunities that God provides, He teaches me new things; it is my desire to share these things with you, in addition to some plain silly incidences, at the beginning of each week through this blog. Since many of you do not know me very well, I decided that I would write my first post as a brief introduction of me, my passions, and the current events in my life.

(Michelle, my oldest sister, just had her wedding in my parents’ fairytale backyard last summer; it was beautiful!

I’m on the far left.)

First of all in northeastern Virginia, my two wonderful parents birthed me, and joined me to their family of four (now five because of me). Last April I finally reached my final year as a teenager and turned 19-years-old. Of the three girls in my family, I am the youngest by far; both of my sisters are older than me by at least 8 years and are happily married. Also, in my totally unprejudiced opinion, I have the cutest pet dog in the whole world, and I love her as my own child. (haha :) ) God designed everyone in my family so brilliantly different, but we certainly love each other and share hearts for Jesus, Disney movies, adventurous outdoor activities, and animals.

(My team, Eklektos, might not be the best at sports, but we killed it at Eco Challenge this year and got our team name engraved on the Eco trophy! Way to go, guys; I love you all!

I’m in the front on the right.)

After graduating from a fantastic small Christian school, Class of 2012 (of which I was 1 out of 22), I moved all the way down to Florida to participate in a leadership school and ministry training program called Twenty-Four Seven Florida. This internship has rocked my world! Because of 24/7 staff and leadership, as well as the support of friends and family, I have grown so much spiritually, mentally, physically, and socially into the woman of God I am meant to be. Designed to provide as many learning and growth opportunities as possible, our crazy schedule typically consists of college classes, outreach, serving in the church, team building activities, workouts, chapels, and much more. However, the year is also splashed with awesome random team-building trips, spiritual retreats, and mission trips. Needless to say, we do a lot.

(My silly mission team got to help out with Camino De Vida’s servolución by painting houses while in Lima, Peru!

I’m in the back, third from the left.)

Because of my heart for missions, the ministry and outreach opportunities through Bayside Community Church and 24/7 are probably the biggest reasons why I applied to the program, so that I can prepare for my future mission work. This year I got blessed with the opportunity to go on my first international mission trip to Peru. My trip there was incredible and filled with great memories from cool experiences and powerful ministry occasions. Not only did my team get to tour Lima and Iquitos, bathe in the Amazon River while star gazing, hold a sloth, go to a fancy buffet with a dance show, and other such fun things, but we also got to pray healing over people, build a bathroom for a small jungle church, do street evangelism, deliver free wheel chairs to needy families, and provide blankets for the people in a colder region. On the morning of the day we returned, we also got to set up a playground commissioned by the first lady of Peru for a poor community there! I will never forget that awesome, life-changing mission trip, but my heart burns for Japan, not Peru.

(I might not have all of the details figured out for my future ministry, but God has everything planned, and He leads me every step of the way!)

For as long as I can remember I have always had an unexplainable passion for the people and country of Japan; God has really put them on my heart. Knowing that all people need to know about the great love of Christ, I desire to bring this truth to the Japanese people. Everything about the country (ie. culture, language, food, music, fashion, tradition, government) I love, but I know being in the 10-40 window means that not many missionaries travel or live there and teach about God’s love. No matter what happens in my future I know I am called to do long-term ministry in Japan.

I really hope that this post has helped you get to know me better. Now that you are up to speed on my life, next week I will talk more about what happens during the coming week and the things that God teaches me.

I’m interested in your feedback! Don’t be intimidated by not knowing me; if there is a something I talked about in this post with which you connect, feel free to start a conversation about it in the comments. Let me know about your family or tell me a crazy story about your siblings. What is your biggest passion in life? Answer in the comments section below!

My name is Catherine, and it is very nice to meet you. :)

Isaiah 52:7 (NIV) – “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.’”