the desire of my heart.

I began my first book of twenty twelve three days ago. Speaking in flesh terms, I probably should have chose one with less of a punch to my gut (with every paragraph, might I add), but my heart screams that this may be the best book I've ever read my whole life. And trust me, that is a lot of books. Usually I fly through books consisting of three hundred pages in just a single short afternoon, but this one has taken me three days just to read 28 pages. In these three days, I've cried an abnormal (yes, even for me) amount of tears and spent much of the allotted reading time praying. And not just "Hey God, just stopping by to say I love you" kind of prayers, but with-all-that-I-have-and-all-that-I-am prayers that leave me feeling exhausted.

Katie Davis is my age. She's got a passion for loving others the way she desires to be loved, and she gave up her whole life--all the dreams that she and her family had for her since she was born--to move to Uganda and do life with people most of us pretend don't even exist. She lives in the poorest (materially speaking) village in Uganda, has adopted fourteen little girls who were all abandoned by their parents, and she chooses to die daily to her flesh in order to shine her light and offer a glimpse of Christ's love to everyone she meets. She's just an ordinary girl from Nashville, Tennessee who serves and loves an extraordinary God who is using her to do things that he could do all by himself, but loves to see His Creation do what it was created to do.

" Jesus can light up this entire nation, and my flame can be a part of that. I am blown away that my God, who could do all this by himself, would choose to let me be a little part of it."

-Katie Davis

Imagine what would happen to this broken and impoverished world if we simply said those words and believed them to be true with everything inside of us. Imagine what could happen if we all joined forces and shined our light into the darkness, instead of shining it into more light. It's really easy to get wrapped up in our Christian bubbles and pray for people who don't have the same accountability and community as we do, but it's really hard to go ye into all the nations with that same community and show the world just how brightly the light of Christ shines. I, for one, am with Katie on this one--I'm a total mess and my life is constantly being attacked by sin, but Jesus comes to me, meets me where I am, embraces me, and still wants to use me to make his name famous. He comes to my rescue every single time, even though He knows I'm just going to fall flat on my face again probably sooner rather than later, and still sends me out to make disciples. I can't begin to fathom how He, in all His glory and splendor, would love me with an unconditional love. But He does.

I want to love like Jesus. It's as simple and as complex as that. I want to be transformed daily and to never find satisfaction in the things of the world. I was less of me and more of Him. I want to give my life to make His name famous, whether it's working at City Kids Child Development Center loving on three year-olds or moving to a new place I've never known before to share the name of Jesus with people who have never heard of Him. I don't know how my story will unfold yet, I just know that it will be made up of a whole lot of prayer and a whole lot of love. Not just a spoken love, but a love in action. A love that changes things for the better.

It may take me a month to finish this book, because of it's ability to wreck my thoughts and heart, but I can't wait to experience growth in the Lord because of the life she is living and wrote down for all to experience with her. I encourage you to pick up a copy of Kisses from Katie if you desire a read that will push you and challenge you to be more like the version of you that you were created to be. You can also follow her blog here, as well as give to support the incredible ministry that feeds hundreds of children every single day.

"I knew that I was here just to love, and the rest I would figure out in time."

-Katie Davis

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on the law he meditates day and night."

-Psalm 1:1-2