GIVEAWAY: Kisses From Katie Book Review

It was a risky prayer, but I felt like it was the one that God was telling me to pray.  Break my heart for what breaks Yours.

Few books have left me undone like this one.  Radical by David Platt came close, but Kisses From Katie by Katie Davis is so much more personal, that is sucked me in and then left me shattered in a million pieces after the last page.

My prayer had been answered:  God broke my heart.

Now my prayer is that He will put it back together but only if it is going to resemble His.

What kind of courage consumes a high school girl to quit everything she has ever known to go live among a people group that doesn't even speak the same language?  She quit her family.  She quit her hopes of college and a career.  She quit her boyfriend and dreams of marriage.  She quit her social status, sports car, and designer shoes.  She quit her stocked fridge and cozy home.

What made her quit?  It can only be the compelling love of Christ.  And I am ashamed to say that she seems to have a better grasp of it than I do.

Katie Davis travelled to Uganda, fell in love with the people and heard God's call.  She was to love them.  Her love would take on many forms, from digging out jiggers that had burrowed into children's feet to feeding those children, to telling them how precious they are in God's sight. 

Her love, which in simplicity was Christ's love, would be enough. 

I don't know about you, but I wrestle with the fact that I can never do enough.  I can mentor one person, but there are countless others that need love poured into them.  I can buy one goat for a family in need, but then I think of all the other families that could use the provision of a goat.  I can pack one shoebox, but then I think there might be a child left without a shoebox.  I just want to help everyone.

I think that is where Satan wants us.  He wants us to fall into the despair that Christ's love is never enough.  He wants us to think that pouring into just one life will never make a difference because there are countless others who need help. 

This is where the book has helped me tremendously.  Katie wrestled with the same thoughts and God whispered to her that one is enough.  She says "He assured me that He would hold the others while they wait for someone to come along and give them their milk and their medicine.  He doesn't ask me to take them all but to stop for just one, because, as I do it for one of 'the least of these' I do it for Him. I felt deep in my spirit that He was teaching me to care for the one person in front of me.  Stop for the little boy with white hair and scabs covering his body; stop for the baby girl with feces covering her dress, so weak that she can't hold up her head.  Stop and love the ones right in front of me and trust Him with the rest.  He whispered that it would be okay and that I didn't have to be angry, I could smile because one less baby was hungry, and that was good enough for that day."

We don't have to wrestle with the statistics anymore, because in God's eyes, the one person we touch with His love is a life changed for His glory. 

The question that consumes me now is am I willing to stop for one?  Was this not the preferred method of Jesus as He walked the earth...stopping for the woman who touched his cloak...stopping for the man who had been lowered through the roof...stopping for Nicodemus...stopping for the blind man.  Jesus stopped for the one.

I won't disclose the amazing God-stories that Katie tells, but I will say that she was obedient to the point of adopting fourteen little girls who needed someone to call Mommy.  She is only 22 and is raising more than four times the amount of children I have.

Such conviction.  Such passion.  Such obedience.  Such faith.

At one point in the book, I could hold it in no longer.  Katie describes her experiences in coming to know the people of Masese, a slum community.  Originally cattle farmers, these people have been stripped of their land and have no means in which to provide for themselves.  Things that we "good" Christians would frown upon have become their livelihood.

I started bawling on page 188.  Beatrice was introduced as a mother of three children who would leave her children at home asleep as she rushed into the night to sell her body simply so that she could put some food on the table for them the next day.

I know now that without grace, I am that person.  I am Beatrice, with three children and no trade and no husband and I must go do what I abhor in order to ensure that my children live for just one more day.

The blood of Jesus on my life is enough to leave me undone when I have eyes to see all around.

Other moms in Masese brew alcohol and then feed it to their children when food is gone in order to take away their hunger pains.  Without grace, I am that mom who keeps her children drunk just to take away a measure of their pain.

Katie saw the need.  She knows she doesn't have enough food for all, but she came up with a plan for honorable work.  She taught the ladies how to make beaded necklaces out of recycled paper.  The women sit in circles and laugh and learn about Jesus and go home knowing they did work that didn't strip away their souls.  Katie ships the necklaces to the states where people may order them through her ministry, Amazima, which means truth.

I look around and I see.  I see that we as Americans are consumed with materialism and self gratification and it leaves no room to see others.  I see that we know the Bible, but we pick and choose the parts that we want to hear and put to practice.  I see, but I am still undone as to what to do. 

Right now, I will ask Jesus to give me grace to stop for one.  I will buy a necklace, knowing that one lady was given a chance to not steal away into the night.

Here is the giveaway part!  I am giving away a necklace made by a lady in Masese.  It is simple.  It is beautiful.  It reminds me that I can't save everyone, but I can be willing to stop for the one.

The necklace comes in this adorable burlap bag and will be shipped to you if you aren't local.  Giveaway ends Saturday, January 28th at 5 p.m. central time.  All you have to do is leave a comment.  In the meantime, I hope you will buy the book and savor in God's goodness!