Kisses from Katie

Kisses from Katie by Katie J. Davis. Published by Simon and Schuster, Inc.

Being a Christian, I always feel compelled to read more works by authors who themselves are Christians. I am not fond of theological works, although I probably should be. I am a fiction reader, more or less, and thinking one who can pull off a great work of fiction with sharing the message of God, to be one of the greatest things on Earth. What a way to use their talent to glorify God!

Saying that, I realize, that this is more of a memoir or along the lines of an autobiography of Davis' decisions and what that has lead her to accomplish in her life. I have been reading more memoirs of late, finding that a good memoir is just as good or better than fiction. Finding the right memoir that speaks to oneself, is the trouble. Sure, many people can and have wrote about what they think is important or what special circumstance they have gone through, but few can tell it in a way that draws the reader in; a way that makes the reader want to know more about the situation. Davis does this for me and oh, so much more!

Davis is a young adult woman who finds herself submitting to God's call on her life. Although it isn't something that most can or will do, Davis feels this pull more than anything and with her love of God so strong, dives right into what she was meant to do. She packs up after graduating high school and leaves for the desolate country of Uganda.


WOW! Right there this blows me away. An 18-year old girl who has had a relatively "easy" life living in the United States, gives it all up, to go help the children and people who live in the poor African country. What a testimony right there. Davis goes on to explain how she started her missionary work as a teacher and how at a very young age, adopted her first daughter.

Her story goes on to show the importance of loving and having family, other than having materialistic items. Something we all know, but oh so often, don't live it. Davis' story continues on how she started her own organization to help the people more and has now adopted 14 daughters.  Her struggles with showing love to her daughters, who sadly don't understand true love, to her problems on how to take care of the many people who come to her for very basic needs, is a miracle. Plain and simply, it shows how God can and will use a willing individual for His greater good.

While reading the book, I did find myself jealous of Davis, which is crazy in itself. Would I really want to live where there were no running water or electricity? To live where I was the only person of white skin? To battle the bugs and illnesses that run rampant? The simple answer is no. But to fully and willingly sacrifice as much as she has done for God, yes. But the most AWESOME thing in this book happened when I was thinking such selfish thoughts...God spoke to me through Davis' writing.

It was like He knew I what I was thinking and BAM! Davis would write something that spoke to my heart, that I would nearly break down and cry.
One of those passages is " God reminded me how beautiful we all are to Him, after all, we were created in His own image, and He looks at me, at you, in all our sweat and dirt and brokenness and says, " I choose you. You are beautiful."
Or this passage that made me remember how very much loved I am by Him - "Thank You that when I feel old and used up and broken and no more exciting than a cardboard box, You whisper that You love and value you me, and that in Your eyes, I am shiny and new."

I have had not heard of Davis before reading the synopsis of the book on netgalley.com. I necessarily didn't even mean to click on the title to read it, but there again, the power of God. What a truly remarkable story that is still in the works! Davis should be proud of not only her pure love of God, but of writing an exceptional well-told story.

And hopefully, anyone who reads this book can walk away knowing that it doesn't take someone serving in a foreign land to serve God and do His will. Davis sums it up all nicely in this passage from the book, "I am just an ordinary person. An ordinary person serving an extraordinary God."

I give this a 5 star rating.