23. Turning to God’s Light with Kate Lee
Does your world feel heavy and dark? We live in a world of commotion and noise, and sometimes we just need a reminder that there is more light than we think. We just have to turn to the Lord and see his light in the everyday moments.
“You are meant to feel God’s love, so allow yourself to feel joy— Kate Lee
Today’s guest, Artist Kate Lee understands how it feels to be in that darkness. She created a painting called, “Through His Light” that came from a place of recognizing that there was more light from Christ all around her. Today, Kathryn and Kate discuss God's light, and Kate shares three lessons she learned through the process of creating the painting.
Links:
See Kate's painting, "Through His Light" here!
We have to consciously look for the positives in our lives and we will start to see God's light in those moments.
Sometimes in order to see the light, we have to look back and see that there was a gradual increase of light as we reflect.
Look for ways to have "everyday light" in your life including scripture study, turning to loved ones, and prayer.
Accepting God's light takes action and accountability.
Small & Simple Challenge
Take the time to ask the question, "how can I let more of God's light into my life?" and consider what your answer is. Give yourself grace in all aspects of your life to see God's hand more fully.
Transcript +
Kathryn Davis 0:00
Does your world feel heavy and dark? We live in a world of commotion and noise. And sometimes we just need a little reminder that there is more light than we can even imagine.
Hi, and welcome to magnify an LDS Living podcast where we cheer inspire and embolden each other. As women and followers of Christ, we have to use our influence to make a difference in the world. I'm your host, Kathryn Davis, a mom, a seminary teacher, and a grilling enthusiast who loves God. Today's guest is artist Kate Lee, and she understands how it feels to be in that darkness, she created a painting called through his light that came from a place of recognizing that there was more light from Christ all around her. And today, Kate is going to share three lessons she learned through the process of creating that painting. But before we talked to her about her painting, it has become a tradition on magnify podcast to do a couple of rapid fire questions to get to know our guests a little bit better. And Kate, I have three questions for you. You ready?
Kate Lee 1:09
I'm ready. I'm ready.
Kathryn Davis 1:10
You are a fantastic artist and have some amazing paintings that you create of Christ. You mostly work with watercolor as your main medium. But what is another medium you really love? Or would want to use or improve on?
Kate Lee 1:25
Oh my goodness, I love love pencil and charcoal. That's like something I'd love to get into it. Because you get nitty and gritty and dirty and like stains your fingers and like I love sounds dumb, but I love love that like I crave that. So I love watercolor so much. And that is a very close second.
Kathryn Davis 1:45
So do you do that a lot?
Kate Lee 1:46
Not as much as I'd like to I do it. But because I'm so busy with the projects with Deseret Book, I don't get to do it as much as I would like to. So one of these days, I'm going to have two studios, one for my watercolor... That's unrealistic, but one for my watercolors, and one for my charcoals and pencils. So I can just get messy in there and clean in this one because it's very different. You know, so...
Kathryn Davis 2:07
Okay, I also know that you are an avid biker, and that you have invited me to come along with you sometime. But that is a little scary to me. Yes. Because you're kind of the Queen at it. So I want to know, what is your favorite trail that you've ever biked? And what is the trail that you really, really want to do?
Kate Lee 2:30
My favorite trail. First of all, Kathryn, one of these days, I'm gonna get you to go with me, because you'll love it. But my favorite trail all time favorite is called spinal tap. You can shuttle it, it's all downhill. So you can either get it shuttled, or it's 10 miles of uphill and then like 16 miles of downhill, but absolutely worth it. It is. It's a black line. It's chunky, it's long. It's just like, it's like you're on the verge of death. But it's so fun. The whole entire so much.
Kathryn Davis 3:01
I don't know if it sounds fine that to be on the verge of death the entire time.
Kate Lee 3:06
One wrong move, and you could be seriously injured or die. But it's so worth it.
Kathryn Davis 3:10
Oh, my word. Here is another question that I have for you that I've actually wondered about for a long time. A lot of your paintings are focused on the Savior. And so I want to know, when you paint the Savior, where does your inspiration come from? How do you see him? What inspires you?
Kate Lee 3:11
Mostly it comes from, I would say conversation with people, different conversations, like when people are sharing... when I'm at timeout for women and people like the sweet women are telling me their experiences. I see in images, you know, so like when somebody's telling me a story. It's like a movie in my head. Yeah, a lot of the time they're sharing these really tender experiences with me. And I just come from those experiences they share with me. Or another huge way is that when I'm reading my scriptures, like this year, we're studying the New Testament, and I've been watching the chosen right along with it, you know, and it is just by like reading the scriptures. And there's like a couple of words together. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, I totally want to paint those two words and what it would represent, you know, and so it's really scripture and in conversation are the two biggest inspirations.
Kathryn Davis 3:33
So has the way you've painted the Savior changed over the years?
Kate Lee 4:25
Yes. Oh, yeah. I wanted to be cartoonist. So I used to draw him as a cartoon, right. And then I got home primarily and that shifted from cartooning to I wanted to try Ultra-realism, which I'm not good at, but I did I tried to do all the details, you know, and then that shifted to this minimalistic style and it just kind of, I don't even know how to describe it just kind of flowed into what it is, you know? Obviously cartooning is just funny and silly but the ultra realistic for me it wasn't very personal, but I hope that makes sense. But with this this minimalist style for me, it became very personal because it became the Savior and how my relationship was with the Savior. And that's what I want people to feel when they see the paintings of Christ. I want them to be able to feel their relationship with the Savior. So I hope that's what comes out.
Kathryn Davis 5:15
Kate. I love that. And I think that's why I love your art. And that is one of the reasons that I want to talk a little bit about your painting "Through His Light" is just this beautiful painting. I love the color blue, how blue is on the outsides, and it's just this young girl who is kneeling in front of the Savior. And they both have their hands out. And he is giving her light and there's light that comes up from the center of them. That is one of my favorite paintings. Since you have the Savior and one that you've done. Can you tell me the story behind that?
Kate Lee 5:51
Of course, it actually is my very favorite painting of all of them, just because it really is my story. It was born out of distress, it was born out of this really dark moment, you know? Back in 2016, that whole year was just filled with depression. And that's something that I struggle with anyways, depression, but that year was one of the heaviest heaviest years of depression that I had ever experienced, like ever in my life. Like, I felt like I was trying to find ways to find who I was and find a purpose and find a place. But then I felt like any effort that I was giving it, I was doing it wrong. Like I wasn't doing anything, right, you know. And I felt like God was mad at me. And Christ was disappointed with me. And like, I just felt like, I just didn't have a place you know. And I felt like as time went on, because I wasn't doing these things right, that depression just got really, really, really, really heavy. And by mid December of that year, there's a morning I sent my boys school, Mike went off to work. And I just couldn't do it anymore. I was so done being, I'm gonna get emotional, but I was so done being a failure. And I remember I was just at the top of our stairs. And I just started to sob like, I was just bawling. And I remember feeling like I was broken. I had no aim, no direction, you know, and, and I felt forgotten. And I remember pleading with God, can you be with me do you not see that I'm suffering? Do you not see that this has been a full year of this, and you're not with me? And I remember asking him to just be with me right now? And I waited to feel that, and I didn't feel anything. And I remember being almost like, of course, he's not going to come to me course I'm not worthy of that. So of course, he's not going to be in this moment with me, I don't know how long I laid there just like I cried so much that I couldn't cry anymore, you know. And then it was probably... I don't even though like an hour or two before the boys were supposed to get home from school. And I remember I told myself, you need to get up Kate, like you need to get up, you need to keep going. And specifically saying to myself, your family is going to be home and they need you. So you need to get up, I didn't really want to get up like it felt safer to lay on the floor and just stay there and kind of give up on things. But I knew I needed to get up. Because I didn't want my boys to see me that way. I didn't want Mike to see me that way. And so with everything inside of me that I could find whatever mental physical strength I got up, and I remember just praying really hard to just Can you just help me make it to bed time, like just helped me make it through? You know, just a hard day. And then I just kind of went into survival mode. And I kept going. And then it was a couple of months after that experience that I was sitting in Relief Society. And I was just like, still, like, I was sitting there with my head down and just wanting to give up. When but suddenly, this image of Christ sitting with this girl just came into my mind. And I was just like, oh my gosh, like this is so beautiful. That's a beautiful image. I would love for that to be me. You know, I think I need Christ. Why isn't this me? and I reached in my church bag and I grabbed my journal. And I grabbed my pencil. And I started to draw this image because it was really tender. And I wanted to remember it, you know. And so I started to draw it. And that moment when I started to draw up this image, that is when the Spirit helped me to understand. I feel like that's when my heart started to open to Christ because that is what helped me to understand that I had Christ right? He was right there with me. And he was waiting for me to turn to him. He was waiting for me to give him this load. He would take it for me if I would give it to him. But you know, I needed to give it to him. That hope and that piece that I've been wanting forever what felt like forever it felt like it's right here like this sketch. This is that light that I want You know, so I went home and I went into my studio. And I drew it out. And I painted it. And it just was this moment that I wish everybody could have been in my studio with me. But it was this moment of oh my gosh, I can feel Christ with me right now. I can feel him, telling me and teaching me that I'm known that I'm loved that, that everything that I've been going through is understood, you know, that I haven't been fighting this battle alone. You know, it just was this great moment of learning who Christ is and that he's with me. And it's just something that was such a powerful, beautiful moment. And so that's why I love this painting so much.
Kathryn Davis 10:41
I wonder, Kate, if there were more moments of light along the way that could have been hard to recognize, yeah. And tell that moment sitting in Relief Society, and you talk about that day laying at the top of your stairs. And I think that moment when you got up, I think that is a moment where you were receiving light. Yeah. And receiving strength to get up. And I think sometimes we fail to see those moments of light. Yeah. Why do you think that is? Why do we sometimes fail to see those?
Kate Lee 11:16
I mean, I really think for myself, and maybe this is everyone, but I really feel like for myself, it's like, because we're so convinced on the negative, like we've told ourselves over and over, I'm not enough, like, I'm not good enough. And we're so focused on that, that any of that light that came or is coming our way, you know, it's hard to understand that God and Christ really want to be a part of our lives, right? You know, it's because we're focused on the negative, right, and we're not allowing that light. And we're like, blocking it, because we're like, God can't possibly love me. Like, doesn't he know what a failure I am? Doesn't he know what a bad mom I am? Doesn't he know, you know, all of these negative, negative, negative, you know, but in those moments, we're failing to see all of the good that God sees in us.
Kathryn Davis 12:01
Yeah. And I wonder sometimes I think we think in some moments that the light has to be like a light switch, right? This dramatic, on and off, right. And Elder Bednar talks a lot about that. He talks about like those light switch moments, but those are rare. Yeah. And he compares more of our experiences with the Holy Ghost and with understanding and feel God's love of like a sunrise. But it's, it's a gradual. So it sounds like that moment in relief society was more of a light switch moment for you. But was there a gradual increase that maybe was harder to see in the moment?
Kate Lee 12:38
Well, I think so. And I think even in that moment in Relief Society, I would say that that was not even a light switch moment. I think that that was like a gradual trust me moment, like, here's a little bit, I need you to trust me. And then we're gonna go to that light switch moment together. I've looked back on 2016 a lot, because it was such a pivotal year of growth for me. As I've looked back on the year, I'm like, Oh, there's the light, and there's a little bit of light, and there's a light, you know, interesting. Yeah. And it led to that moment in Relief Society, which was just here's a little opening of light, you know, and then since then, it has been moments that have led to bigger light switch moments.
Kathryn Davis 13:17
And I love how Elder Bednar describes it as a gradual sunrise. And sometimes it's so gradual, and so constant that we don't notice it, right? Yeah. And I think it's taking the time to notice that in our day to day life, noticing those gradual sunrise moments where we are communicating with our Heavenly Father. And so I just wonder, how do you notice the light every day in your life?
Kate Lee 13:46
It is like... every day is different, because there are days that I'm really good at it. And there are days that I am not good at it at all, like where I tend to fall back into the lies, you know, that Satan wants us to believe.
Kathryn Davis 13:58
So what does a good day look like?
Kate Lee 14:00
So on my mirror in my bathroom, I have a dry erase marker and I have written words on that, that are good positive words to focus on. And so on a good day, I look at those words. And then they say competence, self loving is another one. And listening is the third one. And that's giving myself grace. You know, like listening to myself and being confident with who I am in the moment. But anyway, I look at those words, and I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna take those words, and I'm gonna go through my day. It's just like, where are my little successes here in this moment? Where did I succeed here? Yeah, maybe I lost my temper here. But I also was able to turn it and say, I'm so sorry. I love you here. Because just focusing on our little successes is what helps me to feel that light and it takes practice telling your story positive good things because you're a positive good person. And that's who God sees.
Kathryn Davis 14:53
So daily practice of telling yourself who God sees trying to remind yourself of that. How else do you NOTICE God's light in your life.
Kate Lee 15:03
I mean, there's a lot of different things like go through and think of different people in my life that have been there. For example, Kathryn, you have been a person in my life that has really helped me to feel light, and understand, light. You brought positivity into my life. And that has been huge for me, huge for me also in the Scriptures when I take the time to not just read the scriptures, but really listen to the Scriptures. Because there's a lot of beautiful things in there that God and Christ are saying to us personally, you know, and so when I take the time to really listen is when I can feel that light. But I do think every day is different, you know, because sometimes it's like, when I'm painting, I'm like, Oh, I feel this. This is and it not necessarily just a painting Christ, any painting. You know, I'm like, Oh, I feel this, you know, and doing what you love. Yeah, yeah. And just yesterday, I was doing the dishes, which is such a mundane thing, our dishwasher is broken. And it was just this moment, I'm washing. And I just had this moment of peace. I don't know, like, Oh, I know. I'm loved. Quick, little moment. But it was a moment. And it just really lifted my day.
Kathryn Davis 16:10
Right. And it's so easy, I think, sometimes to miss those moments, if we're not looking for them. Yeah, yeah. And to miss God's hand in our life, if we're not looking for them. I actually had a class the last month, they wanted to do this challenge where they want to talk about moments where they've seen God's hand in their life. And we kind of do a tally mark on the board. So they want to get the whole board filled up by the end of the semester, right. And it is been so amazing for me to see all of these like 14 to 18 year olds talk about moments where they've seen God's hand in their life. And I think it would be so easy to miss if they weren't looking for them. In fact, I had one girl who came and said, hey, you know, she wanted to share today, before she shared she said, I totally would have missed this if I hadn't had that in my mind to look for God's hand. And I think that's a practice that maybe we're not very good at.
Kate Lee 17:09
Oh, for sure we're not I think Satan is so loud. He's so interfaces with all of this stuff, right? Like, he's just always telling us like, you are not good. And if we allow him to be he is louder than what God and Christ Right, right. But I think the first step really is blocking or stopping that, like stop telling ourselves, yeah, I'm a failure, stop giving into that stop allowing those lies to like, take up space in our heads, right? I love that your class is doing that, because that's pushing all of the negative out of their minds, and just allowing the light to fill it in and flow it and to get the space so that Satan can get in there. But only the light can be in there.
Kathryn Davis 17:45
It's going to be different for all of us. But I think we have to get into that habit of noticing God's light. And I love how you use sticky notes. Yeah. And so if sticky notes work for you, or if like noticing it, when you're doing the dishes or what you think is a mundane chore. God can be there in the everyday moments.
Kate Lee 18:06
For sure. And he wants to be in the everyday moments, right? He's our father, he wants to be a part of all those moments, even the laundry or cleaning the bathroom. He's interested in our lives. So he wants to be there with us.
Kathryn Davis 18:18
Because sometimes don't you think that's hard to believe, is that he wants to be there in those moments? Yeah, yeah, it is. Why would he want to?
Kate Lee 18:24
I mean, at least for me, I always thought, Well, God is God. Like he's better things to worry about. He doesn't need to, like he doesn't care about the little things that I'm doing. Or I'm so insignificant in the world of so many people, you know, but we're individuals to him. And he sees that, and we need to know that.
Kathryn Davis 18:40
Yeah. And I want to kind of talk a little bit about how you came to know that. Okay, the three lessons that you've learned from painting "Through His Light"? Yes, one of the first lessons that you learned is, how to trust Christ. What do you mean by that? Like, what lessons have you learned about trusting him?
Kate Lee 18:58
I think that it is just a willingness to be open to Christ. So I love this scripture in Matthew 11, verse 29, when Christ invites us to come unto him, and I will give you rest such as one of my very favorites and that is one that can be really hard to not accept, because we can feel so you know, insignificant compared to the world. But that's when we need to trust like that's when humility comes into play. And we need to set aside those insecurities and those unbeliefs that we have about ourselves right and Christ when He says come unto me and I will give you rest. He means it.
Kathryn Davis 19:34
I want to know when you say you've learned to turn to Christ and He will give you rest. What does rest look like for you?
Kate Lee 19:39
Rest? I would love for it to be snuggled in a warm bed was a really cozy blanket with nice cozy jammies, you know, like, I'd love that to be the rest. But I think the rest comes in knowing that Christ is with you, even in those really hard, dark, heavy days, that you can walk forward with Christ and that is the rest because it's comforting to know you have somebody with you. And whether it's a hard moment whether it's a great moment, whether it's a mess, like you made a mistake moment, you know, Christ is never going to turn His back on you, he's gonna be right there with you to to carry you and hold you up and walk you through it. And for me that is rest.
Kathryn Davis 20:19
Rest is knowing that he'll be with us. So I think of you on the top of your stairs and finding rest to get up and keep going.
Kate Lee 20:29
Even though it's hard. And you're right, there are times we don't recognize it, but he's with us. And I don't think I could have gotten up off of those stairs without Christ being right there with me, even though I didn't recognize him being with me, he was with me.
Kathryn Davis 20:44
Before you were saying that you didn't trust that you were worthy to give your burdens to Christ? What do you mean by that?
Kate Lee 20:53
So I didn't grow up with a lot of self confidence. You know, I just didn't believe in myself, I really felt very less than everybody else. And I didn't feel worthy of people's time, or attention or any of that, you know, so with Christ, I just didn't trust that I was worthy of giving him anything of me. Like, why would he care about me, because I'm not that important, you know, so I am not going to try and turn somebody and this is what I believed, I'm not going to turn to Christ, because he's not interested in me. He's not going to take these burdens from me, because I'm not important enough, you know, so I'm just going to hold on to them. And I'm just going to stuff them down deep. And I kind of felt like I was holding on to all of these mistakes, and heartbreaks and disappointments and everything, like just these wounds, and they were weighing me down. And so it wasn't giving any of that to Christ. It wasn't turning to him, like, can you take some of these for me?
Kathryn Davis 21:48
Because you felt unworthy of...?
Kate Lee 21:50
Of anything. I mean, like I said, I just didn't feel like he was in it for me that I was alone in this. And no matter what people would say to me, or tell me like in young women's or whatever. I didn't believe that that was something that was for me individually, that I just kind of am skipped in the atonement.
Kathryn Davis 22:09
And I think a lot of people feel that way, Kate. I think a lot of people feel like, Oh, that is for so and so because they can make a difference. Or they are this or that or that. Right. Right. And that it's not for me, right? Because I'm not worthy, or I'm not good enough. Right? And those are lies. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. How do you overcome that? What changed for you?
Kate Lee 22:33
For so long, I wasn't allowing any light in at all, I felt like I was a failure. And there was nothing I could do to not be a failure. And so I had convinced myself, I just have to find a way to accept who I am as a failure, you know, but there's nothing more for me, that's just who I am. And then the first time that changed for me was when I visited with my stake president. That's a story I've shared before. But that is when the light switch went on. But it was little moments that led to the change of I'm not a failure, I wasn't sent here to be a failure. I was sent here with purpose, you know, say here to share this, and this and this. And this, you know, and I was just so tired of living my life, feeling like I didn't matter. And I knew that I needed to seek a change. And so meeting with him was that change that I needed so that I could feel Christ and trust Christ and have Christ and understand, you know that His Atonement also applies to me as an individual.
Kathryn Davis 23:34
I think that's the difference learning to trust Him that His atonement is for you. And not just everybody else. I think that's such a powerful lesson, which I think kind of leads into the second lesson that you learned and that I... one of the reasons why I love this painting so much. And it speaks to my heart is that you said you learn to see yourself the way that Christ sees you. Yes. Okay, so trying to learn to see the way that Christ sees you. It implies that something was lacking, right that you weren't seeing yourself the correct way. Right. So what was lacking Kate?
Kate Lee 24:16
Everything. Really everything really everything. I didn't feel like I was succeeding in any part of my life at all. Like nothing like I wasn't a good wife. I wasn't a good mom. I wasn't a good person. I wasn't good at my calling. I wasn't good at like, decisions. I wasn't good at speaking or drawing or like my whole life. Like I just everything. I wasn't good at anything is what I thought.
Kathryn Davis 24:38
So how have you begun to see yourself the way that Christ sees you? What helps you?
Kate Lee 24:43
Like I said earlier, I stopped telling myself the negative. I stopped believing the lies and I started accepting. I mean, I had to be humble and I know that that's like a...
Kathryn Davis 24:55
That's a conscientious choice, right? Yeah. Where you're like, I gotta stop it.
Kate Lee 24:59
Yep, because you know how it feels when when you tell yourself or when somebody else says something negative to you, you just like get lower and lower and lower, or that cloud, that yucky, heavy cloud just pushes down on you, you know. And I was just done feeling that way. And so I stopped. And it was hard, because it was a habit. But I stopped. And I really had to humble myself and I had to, like, get mad at myself. And not just like, you stop it, it was like, full on, give myself a lecture, stop being so mean to yourself, God doesn't want that for you. And you're not meant to live this way. You're meant to feel joy. So allow yourself to feel joy.
Kathryn Davis 25:39
So what would you say to somebody who feels that they aren't enough to help them understand how Christ sees them?
Kate Lee 25:49
I would say that I understand. It's hard, I understand that, it might feel more comfortable to keep yourself in the negative, it might feel like that's a safer place to be. Because it's hard to accept positivity, especially when you're so used to the negativity. But you need to look yourself in the mirror, and you need to see who God sees really who God sees. And you need to allow yourself to feel that. I've said this before, the noise of Satan is always going to be noisy. But the music of Christ is so much better, and so much sweeter. Find scriptures that speak to you, that lifts you that help you to feel loved. Like there's so many, and we can give you a list of them. But one of my favorites is doctrine, covenants 18:10, when he says, Remember, the worth of Souls is great in the sight of God. I love that because that's God talking to us. And he's saying, hey, remember, I love you and your soul is great, who you are has purpose. And those are things that I've had to talk to myself through and remind myself over and over and over. And I think if you are feeling that way, and you're struggling with this, find scriptures that you can repeat to yourself over and over and over until your soul understands the truth. Because you need that you need to know that. And you're not worthless. And God doesn't see you that way. And Christ doesn't see that way. And they never have and they never will, you're just too good. Keep pushing forward.
Kathryn Davis 27:21
Well, I think that's so important to find those things that connect us to Heavenly Father that we can turn out the noise and focus on how he sees us. That was one of the very first challenges President Nelson gave us as a prophet was have you asked God how he feels about you? Yeah. And to try and live in that every day is hard. But we need to do those things to constantly remind us how he feels about us. Yeah, because Satan is gonna do the opposite.
Kate Lee 27:49
Yeah, seriously. He's relentless. He's never gonna let up on that. So keep pushing back on Satan, right. Like, we fight hard. And we have God on our side. So we can fight hard. You know, even in those hard moments, we can fight hard.
Kathryn Davis 28:03
Well, I love that. And I think that goes right along with that third lesson that you've said, you've learned from this painting, you've shared that you've learned to fully turn to Him and allow Him to illuminate your journey. Mm hmm. Kate, what does it mean for God to illuminate your journey?
Kate Lee 28:20
That word illuminate is such a descriptive word to me, it just means automatic light, I think it's again, in those just everyday moments when we invite God and our Savior in our lives. That is what I think that's illuminating our lives or paths or everyday moments, we talked about the mundane things, right when we include God in those moments, but then we also have the triumph moments. And we also have riding our mountain bike moments and just inviting God to be a part of those moments. That is God illuminating our lives, because we're allowing him to be in every moment of our lives.
Kathryn Davis 28:57
So good. And I actually love that part of the painting where she is kneeling before the Savior and her hands are stretched out and his hands are stretched out. And to me that's like a verb going on there. Like that's action. So tell me about what you're trying to portray there.
Kate Lee 29:15
I love this part. I love that you asked that because this is like one of my favorite things to talk about. Because like you look at the painting, right? And they're sitting together like that, and her hands if you notice this, her hands are above Christ hands, right and Christ are right under hers. He's not holding them up and she's supporting her. He's like, right under her hands, right? And she is looking down at her hands. And she is understanding who she is through the different experiences of her life. Like she's learning who she is as a daughter of God, she's learning her potential. She's learning what she can do. Her purposes all of that stuff. She's learning and the Christ is just there. He's like, I'm here. I'm with you. I get it. He's gonna be there with us like that always. Because we're always going to be learning and he He's like, hey, awesome, you know, I'm here and we're gonna keep going forward.
Kathryn Davis 30:04
It's almost like she has to accept it. Yeah, right. It's almost like she has to accept...
Kate Lee 30:09
Who she is right? Christ is never ever going to force that light on us ever, because that's just not how it works. But as soon as we accept it, as soon as we're willing to allow him in, that's when it's like, it just takes off.
Kathryn Davis 30:23
So Kate, we love to end every episode of magnify with a small and simple challenge, like something that we can do throughout the week, to help us feel more of Christ's love and His light. So before we end today, what is one small and simple way we can let Christ light into our life this week?
Kate Lee 30:43
Okay, so first, I thought about this, because I think I know what I do. But I think that this question, anybody who's listening should take time to reflect on this question. Because I think it's going to be different for everyone. For me, it is something that, you know, I learned to give myself grace in every moment, because that's something I did not do ever until I got older, you know, till 2016, I feel like is when I started to give myself grace. I feel like when I've done that, is when a pressure has come off. When I give myself grace. It's almost like those negative words are afraid of that. And so they just go away, you know, and not completely, but it's lighter. And so I would say give yourself grace, in every moment of your day, because it's okay to be human. And God knows it's okay to be human.
Kathryn Davis 31:37
Right. And it's his grace. Yes, it is. Kate, thank you so much for being here. I love you, my friend.
Kate Lee 31:43
Oh, I love you too. I miss you.
Kathryn Davis 31:47
I am so grateful for my friend Kate that she was able to share some time with us and some thoughts on what it means to let Christ truly illuminate your path. I believe if we can tune into the light and look for God's hand and be intentional about looking for God's hand, we will see his hand in our life and that his light truly can dispel any darkness. Thanks for being here. And hop on over to Instagram at magnify community for more inspiration and conversation. And of course, subscribe and listen to the Magnify podcast wherever you get your shows. Let's meet up again next week.