On the first day of our month-long retreat, as we traveled along I-40 West in our white 12-passenger van, I purchased a book.
From the moment ‘Kisses from Katie’ first appeared on my iPhone, I felt different.
I mean after all, I had just downloaded a book onto my phone, while traveling along an interstate at 65 mph, with the touch of a button.
I had to pause and marvel with my husband over how very powerful I felt in that single moment of time. Wow. Just wow.
But then I started reading the book (overlooking the fact that this combination generally results in extreme motion sickness for me) and I was super wowed.
This book was going to challenge me and convict me. I loved this book.
I have been following Katie’s blog for several years and always leave inspired, so I was pretty sure this book would not disappoint.
But it was sooo much better than I even expected.
I think I read half of it out loud to my husband (he is such a saint) and finished the entire thing myself that very night.
(This is saying a lot coming from a mom of seven kids that normally can’t keep her eyes open once her tushy hits the bed.)
Duff felt moved to remind me, two days into my mania over this book, that I would never survive in Uganda due to the extreme heat.
I think he was really beginning to worry where I was headed in all my excitement.
Next, I began reading the book aloud to our four oldest kiddos, as they lay on the couch stricken by the latest plague.
All of them were instantly hooked.
This book tells about a young lady’s love for Jesus and how it begins to interfere with the plans she has for her life.
The plans her parents have for her life.
She is compelled to live differently.
God grows a desire in her to live intentionally.
She is convicted that she has loved, admired, and worshipped Jesus without doing what He said to do.
So she quits her life.
She walks away from the ‘American Dream’.
And you know what?
God begins using her in amazing ways.
Her courage and obedience are breathtaking.
Her trust is inspiring.
And what God can do with a willing servant should move all of us to surrender our lives to Him.
I’m always looking for a good book to rid my children of entitlement and set them free from expectations of what a fulfilling life looks like.
Heck, I’m always looking for a good book to rid myself of those things.
This was that book.
Read it yourself.
Read it as a family.
Or watch your kids read it as you prepare dinner….
But this my friends, truly is a must read.
“Jesus wrecked my life, shattered it to pieces, and put it back together more beautifully.”
~Katie Davis
