My name is Kate and I don’t want to be like the foolish servant in Matthew 25:14-46 who hid his talent until his master returned.  When I get to the end of my life I don’t want any regrets, I want say “I left it all on the field.”  For no one reaches the end of their life and says “I wish I’d have played it safer”.  I desire to shake-up and encourage others to do the same.  To keep their eyes on the prize – Which is Jesus, His fullness in us. We will live for an eternity yet for only a brief period will we have this earthly body in which to show our devotion to him.  He withheld nothing from us.  Our only gift we can give Him is to do the same.

 I have always had two passions.  The first is to know my creator and to please Him.  The second is a love for animals, especially horses.  As a kid I could sit for hours soaking in the country side and observing the animals.  I would talk to God sharing my deepest thoughts and emotions, both my fears and my dreams.  I some how knew I could ask him for anything and He would give it to me.   It didn’t always happen over night but He always gave me everything I asked or desired.

In my childhood He began teaching me about the power we have been given through His Son, Jesus.  As far back as I can remember I have always had to push through feelings of worry, fear and depression.   Around age 9 I began being visited by a much stronger oppressive feeling.  It would come into my room in the night.  I called it “the bad feelings”.  As hard as I tried I couldn’t shake it. Night after night I cried myself to sleep asking God to help me.  On day at church camp I over heard a counselor telling two other girls how the devil can affect us.  She told them we can rebuke him in the name of Jesus.  I knew this was the Lord communicating to me the answer to my prayers.  When I went home “the bad feeling” once again came into my room, so I said out loud “In the name of Jesus, satan, I command you to leave me alone” instantly it left.  I never felt that particular oppressive feeling again.

Like many, as I grew up I pursued my own desires and as a result depression, fear and worry where my constant companions.  In college and during my early years of my career, my experiences with the Lord continued but He took a back seat in my life.  In 1999 shortly after our son was born I was praying for him.  Like most parents I wanted the best for him and did not want him to follow in my foot steps and make the same mistakes I had.  I knew it would do no good just telling him, I had to become what I wanted him to become.  So I began to make a conscious effort to stop bowing down to anything other than Jesus.   My husband also began to do the same.  I’m very thankful he said “yes” to the Lord. Had he not, my spiritual growth would have been greatly hindered.  Mine and Glen’s relationship with the Lord continued to grow but we seemed to enter a period of time some refer to as the desert or dark night of the soul.  It would last 10 years.

During this time I struggled with having peace that I was saved.  I was plagued with guilt because try as I might I could not live the way I knew I should.  I felt if I truly loved Jesus I wouldn’t struggle so much.  I knew I was called to lead others out of darkness, to see the sick healed both physically and emotionally.  Yet I couldn’t get free myself.  It sounds crazy; I had known the Lord for a long time yet had not begun to understand His grace.

I had also tried for years to control an addiction to alcohol. As I cried out to Him, He began to speak to my heart He said “whether you drink or not has no affect on your salvation or my love for you.”  I knew the answer to my freedom was in believing in the power of just one drop of His shed blood.   Faith rose in me.  I repented and prayed against the spirit of addiction.   In the past the desire to drink had been like a soaring tower that seemed impossible to climb over but the next night, Mother’s Day 2006, it was the size of a small wall that I had only to choose to step over. There were a few small battles but each night it became easier until I notice weeks, and then months had gone by with no desire to drink.  As the revelation of his mercy and grace began to grow inside me so did my love for him.  It was His love that drew me to Him and caused me to want to withhold nothing from Him.  As I experienced his love in greater measure my trust in Him also grew.  He began to teach me to focus on the kingdom of God that He placed inside of us and not on the external realm.  Matthew 13:44 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field.”  We have life and power in our born again spirit through faith in Jesus.  Inside is everything we need to overcome the enemy in this earthly realm.  Through Jesus we have been given power over diseases, our thoughts and emotions and even authority to speak to the land and wind.  We have a weapon that is stronger than anything Satan has, it is truth spoken in love.  Love is the greatest weapon and above it there is no other.

I pray that one day we, the body of Christ, will reflect the exact image of our bridegroom and soon returning king, Jesus.