Kisses from Katie

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Kisses from Katie, by Katie Davis is the most outstanding, inspiring book that I have read so far this year.  Here is an introduction from Good Reads:

What would cause an eighteen-year-old old senior class president and homecoming queen from Nashville, Tennessee, to disobey and disappoint her parents by forgoing college, break her little brother’s heart, lose all but a handful of her friends (because the rest of them think she has gone off the deep end), and break up with the love of her life, all so she could move to Uganda, where she knew only one person but didn’t know any of the language? A passion to make a difference.

And from the back cover:

Sometimes I want to spend hours talking with my best friends about boys and fashion and school and life.  I want to go to the gym.  I want my hair to look nice:  I want to be allowed to wear jeans.  I want to be a normal young woman living in America, sometimes.

But I want other things more.  All the time.  I want to be spiritually and emotionally filled every day.  I want to be loved and cuddled by a hundred children and never go a day without laughing.  I want to wake up to a rooster's crow and open my eyes to see lush green trees that seem to pulse with life against a peircing blue sky and the rusty red soil of Uganda.  I want to be challenged endlessly.  I want to be taught by those I teach, and I want to share God's love with people who otherwise might not know it.  I want to work so hard that I end every day filthy and too tired to move.  I want to make some kind of difference, no matter how small, and I want to follow the calling God has placed on my heart.  I want to give my live away, to serve the Lord with each breath.  At the end of the day, no matter how hard, I want to be right here in Uganda. 

--Katie Davis

It was easy for me to understand the desire that Katie Davis has to do good and to make a difference in this world.  I have similar desires.   But reading about Katie's total commitment to her mission in Uganda has totally impressed me.  I can understand giving up a year or two to serve those less fortunate, but Katie has changed her entire life.  In her words, she has quit her life, at least her previous life.  At the time she wrote the book (it was published in 2011) she was twenty-two years old and had legally adopted fourteen children, eleven of whom she was homeschooling.  She often has extra people staying in her home who are in need of help.  Poverty.  Aids.  Cancer.  Illiteracy.   Katie has faced and currently bravely faces these challenges and many others on a daily basis.  She is devoting her life to helping others, and to teaching them about Jesus Christ.   This young lady is a true example of love and charity and compassion.  Her story is inspiring.  I recommend it to everyone.

With the help of family and friends here in the US, Katie has founded Amazima Ministries to help support her work in Uganda.  You can follow Katie's continuing story on her regularly updated blog at http://www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/.    You can find information on how to help support her work and the people of Uganda by visiting http://www.amazima.org/history.html