Kate is a 17-year-old young woman who is planning to become Amish.  She has graciously offered to write some Monday guests posts for my readers and has kindly answered many questions (left as comments), too. This is Kate’s last blog entry for us. It’s been interesting and educational to read about Kate’s journey. I know she’s appreciated the warm comments and encouraging words. Please keep Kate in your prayers as she finishes up high school and prepares to become baptized into the Amish church this summer. She’s a very special young woman!   
 
I want to start out by thanking you for all the emails and comments you’ve given me. They’ve truly blessed me in ways you’ll never know. I do want to make sure I say that all the ‘credit’ or any type of glory goes to God. I don’t want any admiration or anything like that because without God none of this would happen. I am simply following Him where He is leading me and serving Him the only way I know how. Therefore…He gets all the glory 🙂 With that said…here’s my last post I think (not sure but I think I’m out of ideas!).
My spiritual journey to the Amish is, to me, the most important part of the journey. There is no point to living the Amish life without a Biblical foundation. The Amish life is all because of the Bible. They live the way they do because they have the conviction from God’s Word. I never understood people that said they’d like to join the Amish but weren’t Christians or close to God. How? Why? I desire an Amish life because I want to follow my own convictions and please Him. I’ll do this post as more of a spiritual timeline about how I came to the conclusion that the Amish faith was right for me, and the Old Order specifically.
I was raised in a somewhat Christian home. Up until the age of 6 or 7 we, as a family, had gone to church and been taught to love Jesus. In 5th grade I accepted Jesus as my personal savior and became a daughter of the King. After I was saved I began to want to serve Jesus more. For some reason my love of the Amish was increasing. This is when I wrote a letter to the Amish family, which is something way out of my character so I look back and know it was a step led by God.
Once I started going to Amish church services I really began to want to serve my Lord. I saw the Amish doing things different and living differently than anyone I’d ever seen. It was then that I started asking questions about the many why’s bubbling in my head. This was the little start of my convictions that would later develop. So I knew a little bit of why the Amish did what they did but I hadn’t dug deeper into it to find out more.
Ninth grade found some major changes in my life. God had got a hold of my life after a year of not really growing in Him. I asked my Amish “Mom” why the ladies wore a head covering. She led me to 1 Corinthians 11 and I spent weeks studying those verses. After praying about it for a long time God convicted me to begin covering. Soon after that I asked about dresses and being simple. “Mom” directed me to another passage and I began to get convicted about dressing more modestly. This wasn’t totally new to me since I have Baptist cousins who dress in only skirts. God really worked in my heart and I began dressing in skirts and dresses. Can you imagine walking into *public* high school doors wearing a covering and jean skirt? I lost some “friends” and realized those who were truly my friends. I was known as the girl who wore skirts & had the funny bun (there were actually 2 other girls who only wore skirts which was a blessing!). It was *hard*.
I began to stray from those things because I was feeling different. By this time the Lord was really directing me towards the Amish and it was scaring me. I mean it was something I wanted but yet it was so different! I started telling God “no” and started wearing pants and going uncovered again. This is something I regret deeply now but there’s nothing I can do about it now.
What changed me? I can’t exactly say. But eventually I was tired of being unhappy and trying to fit in when I knew it wasn’t right. I re-surrendered my life and future to God. At this point, when I gave my future to Him, I felt utter peace that I hadn’t felt in a long time! It was an amazing feeling. I again began to feel God saying “Kate, I want you to join the Amish church. I am asking you to do this and I know the plans I have for you! Don’t be scared I will give you the strength” and this time I trusted Him.
Ever since that day I have felt unwavering peace about my future and life, when it’s in His hands. I’ve also been completely sure that He wants me among the Amish church. Whenever I begin to question that I immediately get unrest and quickly give the “pen” of my life story back to the Author of life.
This time of waiting has proven to be a blessing as well. While sometimes I find it so hard to wait to become Amish and follow that calling, I have grown so much in my faith during this trial. Even my Mom’s disapproval can be counted as a blessing because I know that if I am faithful to God good will come. I am striving to be content and it’s a battle I fight every day.
Being in the Will of God has made all the difference in my life! I am so excited to live out my convictions with others who also share them, Mom makes it hard to live those out right now but I do try.
I know that this won’t be a perfect, cookie cutter, life but I know that with God I can withstand anything! I am not fooling myself into believing all will be well once I’m Amish because I know I will still have struggles. But I know that if I am following God and His will for my life that I will never be lost.
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about my journey and that you will continue to follow it. My only prayer for the blog is that it will help someone, anyone, on their own personal walk with God. I don’t do it for my own glory but for His! Thanks for being such a wonderful encouragement and thank you, Suzanne, for allowing me this pleasure.
Through Jesus Christ our Savior,
Kate

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