Friends, this blog once served as a place where I got to share stories of how I saw Jesus around me. It’s been seven years since I got home from the World Race, and since then I’ve seen Jesus in so many ways they would never all fit into a single blog post. But as I looked back and reflected recently, I thought it was time for an update.
I imagine reading these entries decades down the road and praising God for His authorship and providence in my life. There were some big moments from the past seven years that I had to include for my future self to look back on.
Four chapters, spanning seven years are outlined below.
Chapter 1 | the big decision
It’s 2015 and I’m sitting on the floor of the beautiful bedroom that I’ve been calling home since the fall. It’s early March and since getting home from the World Race six months ago, life has been a slow and steady burn of reintegrating into life in America along with a wild rush of newness, starting my first job, and celebrating being newly engaged. I’m flipping through the pages of my Bible and feeling restless.
A big decision is hanging in the air and in this moment, it feels like the biggest choice of my life.
My fiancé, PJ, has a job opportunity in front of him and if we take it, it means leaving behind the little town of Elon, the place where we met, full of people who we love fiercely. The new job is in a town I’ve barely heard of. Beaufort, North Carolina. My only association is that ironically, the same friend who inspired me to follow in her footsteps and go on the World Race happened to grow up there, so I’ve heard her mention it a few times. And I know it’s by the beach.
I’d never been there, at least until a few days ago.
72 hours earlier PJ and I journeyed to the coast for an informal interview. We met an amazing group of people from Beaufort who had been praying for years that God would bring Young Life to their county. Starting Young Life on the Crystal Coast and serving as their first Area Director was the potential job my husband-to-be had sitting right in front of him. It was clear he was an incredible match for the position and that he was up for the challenge. But there was one problem….me!
I had set out on our four-hour road trip to the coast feeling excited, but the moment we entered this strange little beach town it was as if a dark cloud came over me and settled there. The people were so kind. The views were breathtaking. But all I could see was how far away it was. So very far from our loved ones. We had to cross two bridges to get there (one, at the time, an old school draw bridge) and I just couldn’t imagine leaving everything we loved behind to call this literal remote island our new home.
The interview weekend was the first time poor PJ saw me sob. The thought of change was too much for me and I ugly cried in his lap the first night we were there. The next morning, my eyes were so swollen from crying I had to wear sunglasses to the mix-and-mingle barbecue so people hopefully wouldn’t notice my puffy eyelids.
That was just 72 hours before I found myself sitting on the floor of my room, staring at my Bible. PJ and I had only a few days to decide if we wanted to move forward or not, and PJ was so gracious to tell me that he wanted to prioritize my feelings above his. He was excited about the job, but not at the cost of me feeling miserable. The weight of the decision to move or not was on me.
I knew I needed prayer and having just got gotten home from the Race I knew a lot of praying people. So I logged onto Facebook and penned a vague, but desperate message to the World Race Alumni group.
Still, desperately needing advice, I called my mentor from college, sweet Meg. She answered the phone and gave me some great things to ponder as I recounted the whole weekend to her, my crying episode, and all the pros and cons. She’s a pastor’s wife so when she ended our call with the suggestion to “read my Bible” I’m pretty sure I laughed and maybe even rolled my eyes. Her advice was of course, incredibly wise. I needed answers and she pointed me straight to the source. I remember her clearly saying this: “God speaks through his word. What have you been reading in scripture lately? What are you supposed to be reading next? Ask God to speak to you through his word. Take your cue from the Word.”
I hung up the phone and stared at my Bible.
What I actually was supposed to be reading next was very specific. Our church was doing one of those “Read the Bible in a Year” challenges and up next on my list was Exodus 40. So I opened it up and began to read.
The Israelites, now free from Egypt, are with the Lord in the desert and the chapter ends with these words:
“In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and the fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during their travels.”
It felt as if the words jumped off the page and that’s when I felt the Lord speak.
It wasn’t audible, but it was clear as day. I wrote these words in my journal on March 6th.
“If the Israelites didn’t get up and move–they never would have reached the Promised Land… They had a destination. And they had a journey. And it required that they GET UP. Lord, help me to see when you are moving.”
An inexplicable peace washed over me. I knew this feeling! I’d been on the edge of an impossible decision before. When I had to commit to diving headfirst into the World Race. And the picture that led me over the edge? It’s a picture of Jesus walking out on the unsteady limb of a tree and holding out his hand; I take it and walk forward, fully believing that wherever Jesus is calling me with him is the safest place I could be no matter how scary it might look from my vantage point.
I had a lot of concerns about moving to Beaufort. One of them specifically being my career. What kind of relevant job opportunities would I be able to find in a tiny tourist town at the beach?
But even with all the unknowns, I felt that I had heard from the Lord.
I closed my Bible.
We were to move to Beaufort.
When PJ came over that night, he had a whole contingency plan prepared. Having just witnessed me sobbing at the thought of moving, he was ready to lay down the job offer and pursue another path. So when he came over that night and found me peacefully sitting on the floor, smiling, he was shocked. “This could only have been Jesus!” he said laughing. We started making plans for the next steps. We would sleep on it, then call everyone the next day and let them know we were ready to move forward.
So much had happened that it totally slipped my mind I had dropped that post on the World Race alumni page asking for prayer. When I finally remembered, I logged on to see if anyone had replied. There was a DM in my inbox from a girl I’d never heard of, never met before. It said exactly this:
“I feel like the Lord said “move” and I don’t know what that means for you. I don’t normally give words like this but I feel like he just says move, whether that be towards something, move something in your heart, I’m not sure. But that’s what I have peace to tell you!”
In that moment, an incredible feeling like no other overwhelmed me.
I’d never been given so specific a prophetic word, and honestly, haven’t since this day, but this one experience I will hang my hat on for the rest of my life.
This random girl had noo context, no clues, no idea what I was going through. And when she asked the Holy Spirit in faith if He had a word she could deliver to me…He said Yes!
And it was the exact same word He had already given me via personal revelation through His Word!!
At this point, I didn’t necessarily need the Lord to tell a stranger to tell me that we were supposed to move. He had already told me Himself. But in his kindness, he did tell me again through this random stranger. He gave me the benefit of double confirmation.
I wrote back to her and explained the whole story. Her reply is copied below.
More than the prophetic word itself, the Lord delivered a sweet answer to a question that I’d been digging at over my 11 months on the Race – “Father, how do we hear from you?” This moment showed me what I think I always knew was true: the Lord speaks to us through his Word AND the Lord speaks to us through His Spirit who is alive in His people. The Word and the Spirit – they are both One! They are both Living! They are both Alive!
This was revolutionary for me.
Chapter 2 | the beaufort chapter
And so, we moved to Beaufort. That little tiny beach town that I once felt so unsure of would eventually become our home, the endearing, cozy, coastal town that nurtured our first six years of marriage.
We would watch God do the impossible. Provision after provision. When the ministry needed startup funds, a $25,000 grant was awarded. When we needed a place to live, a home that had sat empty for 10 years was suddenly flipped and ready to rent. When we needed a place to host ministry, that same house happened to be among the only ones in the entire neighborhood with a two-car garage, and on some nights we would see more than 70 high school kids fill it up wall-to-wall, flowing out into the driveway.
The first ever CCYL office was in a donated old bank space on Bridges Street
When we sometimes questioned if we should be serving somewhere overseas, the Dad of one of our high school kids, who himself grew up in India, would say to me on the sidewalk one night, “I am so glad you are not in India! Our kids need you here!”
One year. Two years. Three years. Four years. Five years. The ministry grew, by God’s grace.
Somewhere along that time God’s grace met me in a gigantic way and took care of all my worries that I wouldn’t be able to find a job in such a remote location. While attending a friend’s wedding in 2015, I approached the wedding videographer and asked him what kind of camera he was using. He told me and then replied:
“Do you know video?? My business partner and I are really looking for some help!”
This single interaction 7 years ago led to me becoming a intern, an employee and eventually, the 100% owner of a video production company that I am wildly passionate about and in disbelief I get to do as work.
Left photo: My first year working full-time shooting weddings! The guy in the middle is who I approached in October 2015, which led to the job.
As the years went on, PJ and I would occasionally stop and ask ourselves, as I think most people naturally ponder, “Are we going to do this forever, Lord?” Every time I prayed over that question, I was reminded of Exodus 40.
“Lord, when you move, we’ll move. But if your presence is still here, we’ll stay.” It felt like God’s presence was still hovering. He was arranging pieces and asking us to be patient and trust Him.
Chapter 3 | the man on the plane
It was February 2020, and I had no idea this was the last trip I would go on before the world completely melted down. We had an amazing, exhausting weekend celebrating my friend’s 30th and by the time I plopped down in my window seat for our flight home, I couldn’t wait to shut my eyes, listen to some music and tune out the world. I was in the very front row of the plane and a man, maybe 15 years older than me, was seated to my right.
Don’t put your earbuds in.
I felt this impression in my spirit. Ughhh. But I literally don’t want to talk to anyone, I thought, I’m tired!
Don’t put your earbuds in.
So I didn’t. The plane was taking off and the man looked in my direction, “What brought you to New York City?” he asked. I explained and returned the question. I found out he had just officiated a wedding for two people who were a part of his college ministry. “Oh!” I thought. I was intrigued.
When I said I was from Beaufort, we quickly discovered that we had actually been in the same room before when we both attended the same FCA banquet! The stories began flowing and the next thing I knew the plane touched down in Raleigh. This man had lived an incredible life. He shared his testimony and how the Lord led him and his wife into ministry decades before. I’ll never forget the story, I’m sure I’m missing some details, but it went something like this:
Early in Mitch’s career, he was a collegiate football coach. After just taking a new job at a big university, he suffered a knee injury. After a surgery and recovery period, he went to the doctor and got cleared to start his new coaching position. But after the appointment, he got a call from an old friend. This friend basically told him he knew of a church that was in need of a pastor and God told this guy to call Mitch. Mitch was the guy for the job. Mitch was intrigued, but couldn’t understand how this would go. He was a man of his word and he was already under contract to take this coaching position. He told the Lord, “God if you really want me to be a Pastor, You’re going to have to get me out of this other job.”
Some days later, Mitch got a call back from his Doctor. “I’m so sorry to tell you this, but your injury is worse than we thought. I can’t clear you to coach”
Mitch was released from his contract, took that first job as a Pastor and has been in full-time ministry ever since.
In awe of his story, I told him all about PJ and I’s journey and how we were seeking discernment about our own calling. I will literally never forget this man’s face and his voice when he looked at me with such confidence and certainty and said, “You tell your husband I said, ‘God will make it clear.’”
And that’s exactly what happened.
Chapter 4 | the cloud lifted
Fast forward 8 months. We had slushed our way through the beginning of the pandemic and PJ was out coaching soccer with the high school guys, scrimmaging one fall evening.
People tell me it’s a good thing I wasn’t there to hear the grotesque sound of his knee snapping the moment he tore his ACL on the field.
Christmastime came and PJ had ACL surgery. It was not easy, but we made it through. It was a cold day in January when I picked PJ up from physical therapy. He looked at me in the car and said, “You know, I really like my PT, Jason. I could see myself doing what he does as a career.”
And so began the journey of getting specific in our prayers and asking the Lord if pursuing physical therapy was the next right step for us.
The answers came in slowly as we sought wisdom from people we trust and wrestled with the Lord in prayer.
Then in a moment one day in May, I felt like I saw the cloud lift. I was in my office when I got a call from our (awesome) landlords. (The same ones who flipped the house with the two-car garage and let us rent it for an awesome rate the previous five years.)
“We’re so sorry to do this, we love you guys….but we’re going to have to put your house on the market” are the words that were waiting for me on the other line.
I hung up, absolutely devastated. Absolutely freaking out. WHAT DO YOU MEAN!? This could not be happening. Not only was our house the ministry hub for Young Life, in the perfect location, at a perfect price, but the tiny tourist town of Beaufort is INCREDIBLY low on rental inventory. It’s a small piece of land and there just isn’t much to go around.
I cried and imagined all the worst scenarios that could play out.
We immediately texted our friends and church community. Our new Pastor’s wife called right away and said very calmly in her beautiful Romanian accent, “Katy, don’t worry about this. I just know you don’t need to worry about this. God will work it out.
Well, that’s precisely what happened. Within 48 hours Scott had texted Joey who texted Fred. Fred, it turned out, went to our church and also happened to own multiple restaurants and residential buildings around town. His latest project? Flipping a house on the 400 block TWO RIGHT TURNS around the corner from our home. Two days later we were the first people to tour, our application went to the top of the pile.
The unspoken elephant in the room was the price.
It was significantly higher than what we were used to paying in rent. But we had to get this house!! We couldn’t risk it. So I didn’t say anything about the price. I prayed to Jesus, “God, please just let this man offer to lower the rent without me even having to ask.”
Two weeks later I was on the beach with my friends Joana and Mackenzie, who can attest to this, when I got the call from Fred.
I answered off the distance and they saw me drop to my knees in the sand ECSTATIC when I heard his voice on the other end, “…and I’d like to offer to bring the price down closer to what you guys were paying at your old place…”
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THANK YOU, JESUS.
A few weeks later on June 15th a battalion of high school kids and kids home from college showed up at our house to load objects in their trunks and drive them all around the corner to the new house. We were easily moved in by the end of the day.
Payal, the first girl I ever met at the high school when we moved here, helping us with our first move
This new house marked a new chapter, as the Lord began to transition us slowly into what was next. The ministry had to find its own legs, find new meeting places, find strength in new people. PJ and I soaked up as much time as we could, striving to end well the race we had begun. And praying for the Lord to provide the right people we could pass the baton to.
Exactly one year later, on June 15, 2022, another moving battalion showed up at our house, but this time we would need a 27-foot UHaul as we began the four-hour road trip back toward our first home, PJ’s hometown, Winston Salem.
There were a lot of tears shed for me in those last weeks. Such a special chapter of life coming to a close. But God’s faithfulness and provision did not run dry. We were able to pass our house on to two gals who I met when they were 16 and 17. I was their Young Life leader. We were able to pass the baton of ministry to awesome people we believe in. We were able to specifically pass the baton at the school where we invested so much of our time into the hands of some young adults who we met and discipled when they were teenagers.
I met Charity (left) & Lexi (right) when they were in high school. Today they are Young Life leaders and our landlord let them take over our lease!! The gals still meet on this big comfy couch for Bible study
PJ and I are now in our seventh year of marriage, which feels insane to say, and a brand new chapter lies before us.
I look back at this story, and the lines of God’s hands, the markings of his fingerprints, are easy to see. PJ and I don’t know exactly, specifically, what the next chapter holds, but we do know this: we are inside a Story with a Good Author. God doesn’t change (Hebrews 13:8). He was faithful in all the previous chapters (2 Timothy 2:13), and I fully expect and believe with all my heart that He will be faithful in the chapters to come (Hebrews 12:2).
His Word and His Spirit tell me so.
All glory be to the living Jesus.
All my love,
Katy
The soundtrack to me writing this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jup9bU61mJs
When my World Race besties, Kendra, Hannah, and Taylor came to visit Beaufort! March 2022
Also March of 2022. Got to take PJ to one of my favorite places from the Race…Antigua, Guatemala! It was surreal to return to the first country of my route and re-experience Jesus there seven years later with my husband! This trip marked a season of refreshing, celebration over our story and excitement over what’s to come.
Wonderful to read this, Katy. Thanks for taking the time to catch us up on all God has been doing in your life. I love stories of our desperation and God’s provision. He loves to dance with us as we depend on him!
Can we get in touch in Uganda and we help the very vulnerable children who can not meet education needs
Can we get in touch in Uganda and we help the very vulnerable children who can not meet education needs . Jesus is lord