Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption [Hardcover]

Katie J. Davis (Author), Beth Clark (Contributor)

Book Description

Release date: October 4, 2011

What would cause an eighteen-year-old old senior class president and homecoming queen from Nashville, Tennessee, to 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. Katie Davis left over Christmas break her senior year for a short mission trip to Uganda and her life was turned completely inside out. She found herself so moved by the people and children of Uganda that she knew her calling was to return and care for them. She has given up a relatively comfortable life—at a young age—to care for the less fortunate of this world. She was so moved by the need she witnessed, she’s centered her life around meeting that need. Katie, a charismatic and articulate young woman, is in the process of adopting thirteen children in Uganda, and she completely trusts God for daily provision for her and her family.

Despite the rough conditions in which Katie lives, she has found a life of service to God to be one of great joy. Katie’s children bring constant delight and help her help others by welcoming whoever comes to their door. As the challenges grow, so does Katie’s faith and her certainty that what she’s doing in Uganda, one person at a time, will have far-reaching rewards. It isn’t the life she planned, but it is the life she loves.

To further her reach into the needs of Ugandans, Katie established Amazima Ministries. The ministry matches orphaned children with sponors worldwide. Each sponsor’s $300/year provides schooling, school supplies, three hot meals a day, minor medical care, and spiritual encouragement. Katie expected to have forty children in the program; she had signed up 150 by January 2008; today it sponsors over 400. Another aspect of the ministry is a feeding program created for the displaced Karamojong people—Uganda’s poorest citizens. The program feeds lunch to over 1,200 children Monday-Friday and sends them home with a plate of food; it also offers basic medical care, Bible study, and general health training.

Katie Davis is more than fascinating, she’s inspiring, as she has wholeheartedly answered the call to serve.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“When you think of what one young woman can accomplish by simply being open to God’s call no matter the cost, you begin to ask questions like, Am I really open to God’s will for my life? Through Katie’s life, we’re reminded how God can use ordinary people to do extraordinary things for Him. We simply need to be willing to be used." (Rich Stearns, President of World Vision US, Author of The Hole in Our Gospel)

"Scripture is filled with remarkable stories of children being used by God to accomplish His purposes here on earth. Kisses from Katie is another wonderful reminder that ‘big’ things for the kingdom do not come from age or experience, but as an overflow of a deeper love within. I highly encourage you to read this captivating account of obedience to God’s call, and I challenge you to consider what you are doing to ‘care for the least of these.’” (Dr. Wess Stafford, President and CEO, Compassion International)

"I was blown away when I first heard of Katie's incredible story. I'm excited many others will now have the opportunity to be inspired and challenged by it." (Scott Harrison, Founder/CEO of charity: water)

“With reckless abandon, Katie Davis followed her heart to care for orphans living in extreme poverty in Uganda. Her stories captivate the reader to take action, join her work, and make the world a better place for children—one by one.” (Senator William H. Frist, MD)

“Katie Davis has the story that makes radio talk show hosts stop in their tracks and say with deep disbelief, ‘No, she didn't.’ But, yes, she did! At the age of nineteen, Katie Davis left the upper-middle-class life to move to Uganda, start a nonprofit organization, and begin the adoption process for thirteen daughters who needed a mother. Now she is the young dynamo of the gospel, bringing love and joy not just to her children but to an entire village and region. She is an inspiration and a testament to what God will do when one is willing to be used.” (Hugh Hewitt, host of The Hugh Hewitt Radio Show)

“I was profoundly moved, challenged, and convicted as I read Kisses from Katie, and I came away wanting to know Jesus the way that Katie does. This is an honest and compelling account of one young woman's journey of obedience to a Jesus who loves the whole world, especially the forgotten and the marginalized. Jesus was the most revolutionary and subversive man who ever lived. Following Him should lead us to be graciously radical in His name.” (Mike Erre, author of Why the Bible Matters and The Jesus of Suburbia)

“A breathtaking journey into the sorrow and beauty of abandon to Jesus Christ. Katie Davis is young, still learning daily how best to serve. Yet her reckless, Peter-like love calls the bluff of a Christianity that refers to Jesus as ‘Lord’ with only partial intent of doing what he says. This is not a book to read if you wish for your comfort, convenience, and control to remain undisturbed. But if you stand willing to act upon belief, here you will encounter the full heartache and joy that await any person who ventures near to God’s heart through adoption and other ways of loving the orphan in distress.” (Jedd Medefind, president, Christian Alliance for Orphans)

"Katie is one of the most courageous and inspiring young women I have ever met. She is a role model of what it looks to follow Jesus in the twenty-first century. Kisses from Katie will be one of those books you cannot put down. It will literally transform everything about you and guide the way for you to take your ordinary life and fashion it into something extraordinary." (Tom Davis, author of Red Letters, Fields of the Fatherless, and Priceless)

“As I read Katie's book, I felt like I was reading Amy Carmichael. As Amy did in her life, Katie shows Jesus to be amazingly wonderful not only in what she writes, but also in how she selflessly cares for the fatherless. If you want to love Jesus more and better understand his love for the least of these, read Kisses from Katie. She is for our generation what Amy was for hers: a hero in fulfilling God's call to care for orphans.” (Dan Cruver, director, Together for Adoption, author of Reclaiming Adoption)

“Katie Davis is an inspiration to me as a wife, mom, and follower of Christ. Her devotion to the Lord and her love for His children challenge me to give sacrificially, serve selflessly, and live out my salvation with radical abandon!” (Heather Platt, adoptive mother and wife of David Platt, author of Radical)

About the Author

Katie J. Davis left home at the age of eighteen for a short missions trip to Uganda. From that experience grew an overwhelming desire to do something more personal, and today she lives in Uganda, where she is the adoptive mother of  fourteen little girls. Katie is originally from Nashville, Tennessee, where her parents and brother live. She has been named Beliefnet's 2011 Most Inspirational Person of the Year.

Beth Clark is a writer and publishing consultant who has ghostwritten four top-ten New York Times bestsellers. She runs a business called Thinkspot Communications in the rolling hills of Franklin, Tennessee.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Howard Books (October 4, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1451612060
• ISBN-13: 978-1451612066
• Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 6.2 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (543 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

142 of 145 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Heart-Breaker and Heart-Healer October 9, 2011

By Carla C. Thomas

Format:Hardcover

It isn't often that a book can grab me in the introduction in a grip so tightly I can scarce put it down; but, this one did. It isn't often I read a book where every word resonated within me like a bell; but, this one did, clanging loudly and forcefully. It isn't often a book makes me re-examine my core beliefs and values; but, this one did, leaving me shaking some moments, laughing at others and crying at still more. It is a book that is oddly hard to put down yet I had to walk away after every chapter to think about it (and grab a few more tissues). It is a book that stays with you and tickles your conscience; one that keeps you up at night asking yourself questions you don't really want to confront.

This is the story of a young woman named Katie Davis who abandoned her Mid southern upbringing just after graduation from high school to travel across the world and become a modern-day American Mother Theresa. She spends her days ministering to the sick, feeding the poor and changing the family tree of almost everyone she comes in contact with. At the tender age of 22, she has adopted 13 young girls and has created a loving home in the face of adversity that most of us cannot even begin to grasp. Her story is so outrageous that is seemed impossible to me before I started reading. Page by page, word by word, Katie had me hooked. She has a way of writing, of telling her story, that feels like two friends having a heart-to-heart. And what a heart that girl has!

I came to believe absolutely what she does to the core: that one individual can change the world, one person at a time. She makes it seem so easy. But Katie believes it so much more strongly than any one person I have ever read about and that is what made this story so inspirational for me. Ultimately, it wasn't only her Christian convictions (which are cement-hard and awe-inspiring); it is her bravely in the face of absolute defeat and diversity. To face daily the struggles that she does (poverty, disease, famine, abuse and endless, endless need), and keep on going make her a hero that any reader could find inspiration from.

But her Christian conviction bothered me. Because this book changed me and I didn't really want to be changed. This is where all Christians should be warned because after reading this book, you cannot remain the same kind of Christian you were before. This is a book about stepping out of your Christian comfort zone and living the religion and while that kind of talk is popular right now all over churches all over the land, this girl did it. This book is powerful and comfortable and so very true.

It isn't a book you can cast off after you've read it. It isn't one you can put aside and then move on to the next great hero. It is a story that will stay with you and change you and will cause you to look for ways to create the kind of change you see in the book.

And after you've read, what are you going to do about it?

Because the first question I had was 'How is it possible to do what she did?'

Now I am left only with this question, 'How is it possible not to do what she did?'

76 of 81 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, Inspiring Story October 9, 2011

By Renee

Format:Hardcover

She's twenty-two years old, raising fourteen little girls in a dot on a map called Uganda. How did Katie Davis, high school student from Nashville, Tennessee, end up mothering children in East Africa? In her own words . . .

"Jesus wrecked my life. For as long as I could remember, I had everything this world says is important. In high school, I was class president, homecoming queen, top of my class. I dated cute boys and wore cute shoes and drove a cute sports car. I had wonderful, supportive parents who so desired my success that they would have paid for me to go to college anywhere my heart desired. But I loved Jesus.

Slowly but surely I began to realize the truth: I had loved and admired and worshiped Jesus without doing what He said . . . I wanted to actually do what Jesus said to do. So I quit my life. I quit college; I quit cute designer clothes and my little yellow convertible; I quit my boyfriend. I no longer have all the things the world says are important. I do not have a retirement fund; I do not even have electricity some days. But I have everything I know is important. I have a joy and a peace that are unimaginable and can come only from a place better than this earth. I cannot fathom being happier. Jesus wrecked my life, shattered it to pieces, and put it back together more beautifully."

Katie's boldness and compassion truly inspired me. I was amazed to find such wisdom in one so young. The lessons she has learned touched my heart. Soak in her story and let it change you. Then pass it on to every young person you know.

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars warning - this book is dangerous to your comfort zone! October 18, 2011

By Mark Gilroy

Format:Hardcover

We moved to Brentwood, Tennessee, in January 2006. My youngest daughter, Caroline, was a junior in high school. You can imagine how nervous we were as parents on how the move would go for an almost-senior (and for the two other kids still in the house). Within days Caroline met two Katies who welcomed her to Ravenwood High School and made her feel as if she had grown up in their circle of friends. I'm still sighing with relief.

One of the wonderful Katies - Katie Davis - took a different path after graduation to say the least. She is now the unmarried mother of 14 young girls. Is that even possible? Is this one of those stories about youth gone bad?

I need to give a warning to any potential readers at this point. Do not pick up Kisses from Katie if you live a comfortable life and don't want anything or anyone messing up your comfort zone.

Katie's story is a story of youth gone good. It is both heartwarming and heartbreaking - and in reading it you will never be satisfied with a status quo lifestyle again. If you have never felt a gentle nudge from God that you have something beyond yourself to accomplish in this world - or if you have suppressed and ignored the nudge - this book serves as a loud, clanging, blaring wakeup call to hear and embrace your call.

"Kids" can be idealists - and when Caroline told me Katie was going to do a yearlong mission project before attending college, I thought that sounded great - that it would be good for her. Little did I know ... I did know Katie's parents were quite nervous when she said the project would be serving in an orphanage in Uganda. After surveying the situation in Africa carefully, her dad reluctantly gave his permission for her to go - with the condition that she promise to come back and enroll in college and move on with her life. She was true to her word - but even as she attended classes the fall of her return, she was miserable, thinking only of her "girls" back in Uganda.

Katie - high school homecoming queen and student body president and honor student and girlfriend to a handsome, committed, spiritual, star athlete - had every reason to "come home." But her heart was back in Uganda with the motherless children she had fallen in love with. Is it any wonder that the name she has been given by the people of her village is "Mommy." Katie's ongoing adventures in Uganda are amazing and fit the adage that truth is stranger than fiction. In her case, it is not stranger, but more incredible.

My family has been blessed by the Katie who befriended the "new kid" at school. We've been privileged to meet two of her daughters, Patricia and Grace. Most of all we have been inspired to step out of our comfort zone and to look around to see what God is doing in the world that we need to take part in.

I can't recommend Kisses from Katie highly enough for the spiritual blessings you will experience reading this story of relentless love and redemption.