Hello!
My name is Katie Walker. I'm a twenty-something not far from being a thirty-something. That little fact, in the last year, has stirred up quite a bit of emotion in me. It's stirred up fear, excitement, disappointment, curiosity, etc. If I'm honest, though, the negative emotions have outweighed the positive ones. If I get real with myself, the disappointment and fear are rooted in comparison - I haven't yet achieved what they have, you have, she has. It can take awhile to quiet those thoughts and focus on the more productive thoughts. I keep reminding myself that your purpose isn't my purpose. Your journey isn't my journey. We weren't made exactly the same and we each are parts of a body; thank God we are not all the same limb or organ. That would be very unproductive and very boring. We are different because we are part of a team. When you stop and think about all the layers - it's utterly fantastic and makes me giddy! Think of all of the needs in the world, the gifts we each have, the callings laid on us, each different temperament and personality, and the list goes on. What a messy web! Messy, yet on purpose and divinely appointed, in my opinion. That's what this blog is dedicated to - people and purpose. I'm in love with both. Purpose on a "big scale", purpose in the small things, and purpose in ways you wouldn't have recognized it. I don't know why - but I'm just obsessed with purpose and I feel strongly compelled to write about it. I've put it off, been paralyzed by fear, and made a list of reasons of why I shouldn't or am not good enough but that hasn't dimmed the calling or desire to write this.
Since childhood, I knew I wanted to be a helper. I wanted a career that served someone else, someone hurting. Through my own journey, I quickly became passionate about wanting to serve populations dealing with mental and emotional trauma or pain, people who felt alone and afraid. In my last semester of college, however, I discovered a field I had never heard of - occupational therapy. It's very diverse and can look different in it's many different settings, but it incorporates mental health while also serving physical, tangible needs as well. I fell in love because it gave me a way to honor and serve so many different people groups with so many diverse needs. I graduated, applied, and was quickly rejected. OT school, it seems, is very competitive and my lax attitude in college didn't cut it. I've spent the last years repairing the damage I'd done to my GPA. Let me tell you, it's easier and cheaper to just do it right the first time. Let me also tell you, the years since graduating college sometimes feel incredibly POINTLESS and like a delay in life finally starting - but that is so wrong. All along, God has been answering my prayers. My prayer for years has been that he would equip me with the tools I needed to be of service. I imagine a toolbelt, strung around my waist, and with each year, each different title I've held, place I've lived, or skill I've learned - he is filling my tool belt and answering my prayer that I might be useful, equipped. When I moved home from Japan in early 2016, I quickly took a job at Early Childhood Intervention. That was exactly what I'd hoped for - it gave me plenty of exposure to occupational therapy + other disciplines of therapy and early intervention.
What I didn't foresee was that as a case manager I would get to see my community through a very special lens: I get to see it as a functioning body. It is made up of so many different types, so many skill sets, and so many intertwined purposes. That motivated me to start this blog - A Heart For. The people who are using their 8am-5pm, their families, their vacations, their prayers, or their spare time to be hands, feet, hearts, etc. - the body. And if my little community is a beautiful body of intertwined purpose - so is the whole wide world, I'm betting. We all have opportunities each day to use our job, our prayers, our creative talents, our skill sets, etc to serve a purpose. You already are, even on days you don't feel like it. Be encouraged!
Have you heard that new song on the radio, Dream Small? It came at just the right time for me. I have been having miniature panic attacks / twenty-something life crises : "Oh my gosh, I'm never going to be an occupational therapist, never going to get back to Moldova, and never going to be able to help these kids transition from orphanages to real world so that they are not 100% vulnerable to human trafficking. My life means nothing!" My loved ones keep me sane when I get too panicked that I'm never going to get there. They've also helped me to see that even if we do have a specific dream or calling that we haven't arrived at yet, our days on the way to that calling are just as much of an opportunity to learn, serve, live, and love well. If your calling is in your hometown, on the other side of the world, in your home, down the street, as a leader, as a servant in the background, glamorous, not so glamorous - please read this blog and be encouraged that your life absolutely has meaning. I love how we all intertwine.
What this blog will look like:
A series of interviews with beautiful people I've met that have "a heart for" something and are doing something about it. It will also serve to be a way to connect with or learn more about a cause or need you had questions about. If I can help connect you to a community/support group, let me know. If you have a story you want to share, send me a message :)
Ta ta for now,
hope you enjoy,
Katie
My name is Katie Walker. I'm a twenty-something not far from being a thirty-something. That little fact, in the last year, has stirred up quite a bit of emotion in me. It's stirred up fear, excitement, disappointment, curiosity, etc. If I'm honest, though, the negative emotions have outweighed the positive ones. If I get real with myself, the disappointment and fear are rooted in comparison - I haven't yet achieved what they have, you have, she has. It can take awhile to quiet those thoughts and focus on the more productive thoughts. I keep reminding myself that your purpose isn't my purpose. Your journey isn't my journey. We weren't made exactly the same and we each are parts of a body; thank God we are not all the same limb or organ. That would be very unproductive and very boring. We are different because we are part of a team. When you stop and think about all the layers - it's utterly fantastic and makes me giddy! Think of all of the needs in the world, the gifts we each have, the callings laid on us, each different temperament and personality, and the list goes on. What a messy web! Messy, yet on purpose and divinely appointed, in my opinion. That's what this blog is dedicated to - people and purpose. I'm in love with both. Purpose on a "big scale", purpose in the small things, and purpose in ways you wouldn't have recognized it. I don't know why - but I'm just obsessed with purpose and I feel strongly compelled to write about it. I've put it off, been paralyzed by fear, and made a list of reasons of why I shouldn't or am not good enough but that hasn't dimmed the calling or desire to write this.
Since childhood, I knew I wanted to be a helper. I wanted a career that served someone else, someone hurting. Through my own journey, I quickly became passionate about wanting to serve populations dealing with mental and emotional trauma or pain, people who felt alone and afraid. In my last semester of college, however, I discovered a field I had never heard of - occupational therapy. It's very diverse and can look different in it's many different settings, but it incorporates mental health while also serving physical, tangible needs as well. I fell in love because it gave me a way to honor and serve so many different people groups with so many diverse needs. I graduated, applied, and was quickly rejected. OT school, it seems, is very competitive and my lax attitude in college didn't cut it. I've spent the last years repairing the damage I'd done to my GPA. Let me tell you, it's easier and cheaper to just do it right the first time. Let me also tell you, the years since graduating college sometimes feel incredibly POINTLESS and like a delay in life finally starting - but that is so wrong. All along, God has been answering my prayers. My prayer for years has been that he would equip me with the tools I needed to be of service. I imagine a toolbelt, strung around my waist, and with each year, each different title I've held, place I've lived, or skill I've learned - he is filling my tool belt and answering my prayer that I might be useful, equipped. When I moved home from Japan in early 2016, I quickly took a job at Early Childhood Intervention. That was exactly what I'd hoped for - it gave me plenty of exposure to occupational therapy + other disciplines of therapy and early intervention.
What I didn't foresee was that as a case manager I would get to see my community through a very special lens: I get to see it as a functioning body. It is made up of so many different types, so many skill sets, and so many intertwined purposes. That motivated me to start this blog - A Heart For. The people who are using their 8am-5pm, their families, their vacations, their prayers, or their spare time to be hands, feet, hearts, etc. - the body. And if my little community is a beautiful body of intertwined purpose - so is the whole wide world, I'm betting. We all have opportunities each day to use our job, our prayers, our creative talents, our skill sets, etc to serve a purpose. You already are, even on days you don't feel like it. Be encouraged!
Have you heard that new song on the radio, Dream Small? It came at just the right time for me. I have been having miniature panic attacks / twenty-something life crises : "Oh my gosh, I'm never going to be an occupational therapist, never going to get back to Moldova, and never going to be able to help these kids transition from orphanages to real world so that they are not 100% vulnerable to human trafficking. My life means nothing!" My loved ones keep me sane when I get too panicked that I'm never going to get there. They've also helped me to see that even if we do have a specific dream or calling that we haven't arrived at yet, our days on the way to that calling are just as much of an opportunity to learn, serve, live, and love well. If your calling is in your hometown, on the other side of the world, in your home, down the street, as a leader, as a servant in the background, glamorous, not so glamorous - please read this blog and be encouraged that your life absolutely has meaning. I love how we all intertwine.
What this blog will look like:
A series of interviews with beautiful people I've met that have "a heart for" something and are doing something about it. It will also serve to be a way to connect with or learn more about a cause or need you had questions about. If I can help connect you to a community/support group, let me know. If you have a story you want to share, send me a message :)
Ta ta for now,
hope you enjoy,
Katie
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