Hiya! My name is Cathy Ramirez and let me start off by saying I can not believe that this thing called The World Race is happening to me. I feel inadequate, ill-prepared and pretty much freaked out. But, you know what? I think that’s precisely the place the Lord needs me to be at this point in the journey. Understanding how impossible this feels but knowing that only a God as big as He is has paved the way is pretty awesome.
Ok, so I’m 32 and live in sunny (aka hot, humid, muggy, makes my hair frizz out like Diana Ross) Saint Petersburg, Florida. I moved here 12 years ago from the Florida Keys. I went to high school in the Keys but was born in NYC. Maybe I should have said that in the right order and not backwards? NYC, Florida Keys, and now Saint Petersburg. Ok. Better.
I grew up going to a Catholic church with my grandmother.
There really was never an emphasis on a relationship with God. But, I knew He was always there and knew He saw my every move. Right and wrong. Needless to say, once I was old enough to start choosing what I wanted out of life I said good bye to church. I got married right after high school at 18 and divorced at 21. Right before I got divorced I started attending a church called Calvary Chapel. For about a year I resisted His gentle call on my life but at some point I accepted Jesus into my heart. (I’m sure I’ll share my testimony in depth later on somewhere on this blog.)
There really was never an emphasis on a relationship with God. But, I knew He was always there and knew He saw my every move. Right and wrong. Needless to say, once I was old enough to start choosing what I wanted out of life I said good bye to church. I got married right after high school at 18 and divorced at 21. Right before I got divorced I started attending a church called Calvary Chapel. For about a year I resisted His gentle call on my life but at some point I accepted Jesus into my heart. (I’m sure I’ll share my testimony in depth later on somewhere on this blog.)So I’ve been a believer now for about 11 years and boy has it been a ride. The Lord healed me of depression. He allowed me to completely walk away from Him for a year and realize how much I did need Him. I traveled on my first mission’s trip to Nicaragua about 3 years ago. And, now THIS. With every day that passes and as I get more intimately acquainted with Him I realize just how big He truly is. It’s like thinking of space. You think the earth is pretty big. But then you think of the solar system. And then you think of how many other solar systems there are. Well at some point you just figure it’s so darned big that you can’t really wrap your head around it. Well, that’s how I feel about our Lord. He’s bigger, greater, more loving, more patient and more awesome than I can ever imagine or put into words.
If I could sum up who I am in a few words it’s just this…I’m a daughter of the King. I am loved more than I ever deserve to be and I hope that with each day the Lord allows me to remain here I become a stronger reflection of who He is. I don’t want to be Cathy because she is full of faults and imperfections. I want to be like Jesus.
“You say – But God can never have called me to this, I am too unworthy, it can’t mean me. It does mean you, and the weaker and feebler you are, the better. The one who has something to trust in is the last one to come anywhere near saying – ‘I will serve the Lord.” ~ Oswald Chambers
