What Katie Davis Taught Me About Mothering

Katie Davis answered the call to “go” as a missionary, into another country when she was 18 years old. There, Amazima (which means “truth” in Luganda) was born. Today she is 23 years old and is a mother to 13 girls. Read to the end for more details.

As I read through Katie’s book, I learned a lot about myself and my own mothering. She has taught me to stretch myself in ways I never had before; in ways I’d never even considered.

Katie taught me that in order to give what wasn’t within my grasp to give, I needed to pray for it. That’s not my first reaction, typically. My default is to just let go of the idea (aka giving up). Not exactly the way I want to live my life, of course. I’m not talking stuff, but more than the basics of get-through-the-day necessities.

Katie prays fervently for the things she needs as a mother in Uganda. And not just a mother to those living under her roof, but to anyone who comes to her door, or the “one” in front of her in the village, whose eyes are just desperate for love.

The passion she conveys for the people in Uganda wasn’t her own doing. God planted that there. Even she can’t explain it’s tug on her heart. Though she loves her friends and family in the States, she left them to answer God’s call on her life.

What am I leaving behind in order to fill the call God has for me as a mother? Am I willing to let go, with reckless abandon, to answer this call? How could I find passion through day-to-day living?

It got me thinking — what’s holding me back from asking God for more passion for my own children? To fervently seek Him and ask Him to equip me, not just with strength to “get through” the day, but with real passion and a new kind of, deeper love for my children.

There is always room for growth in our lives for loving others.

She also taught me that my mother heart can extend beyond my own home and children. In Uganda, not only is Katie mother to 13 girls living in her home, but throughout the village itself. The people know her as “Mommy” or “Mommy Katie” or even “Auntie Katie”, because they know of her mother heart for people.

She constantly lives her life looking for lessons within her circumstances. When she experiences something, she looks for what God wants her to learn from it.

Seeing her life makes me ashamed I ever complained — and I don’t want to forget and fall back into those places. She takes no credit for the strength ensued to accomplish what God has called her to. She fully acknowledges the Lord’s hand in her life. She simply answered and made herself available.

Am I making myself available? To my children as well as to those in need around me {or even away from me}?

Part of me longs for what she does because of the place it puts her in her relationship with God. She is required to be much more dependent on God, thus deepening her relationship with Him.

Without even needing to be in Uganda, I had already known just how hard it was to depend on God in a place where everything is handed to me. How I can just walk to the fridge and get something out when I’m hungry. I already knew how easily distracted I can become with the Internet, television, and every other hindrance to just being with God. She only confirmed my own struggles when she spoke of her struggles of returning to the States for brief periods of time.

Most of us won’t be moved to action until God unveils our eyes to see the reality.

The Book: Kisses From Katie, a must read for everyone.

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