Katie Ault

Katie Ault shares about how God has been working in her life. One through a missions trip. Another through various life experiences.

Transcript

 Well, hello, friends.

Welcome to the latest episode of the ML Podcast.

We're so glad to have you with us.

Hey, this is Pastor R.W. coming to you from the podcast booth.

If you saw the video from this past Sunday, actually Sunday, May 11th, Mother's Day, it kind of looks like a bathtub or a shower from what I've been told, but it is the podcast booth.

But hey, we're so glad to have you with us.

Listen, the purpose of the ML Podcast is to highlight how people discover, connect, grow, and share through the story of their journey with Jesus.

And so we hope that these stories will provide some encouragement and inspiration to you to live a life, a Christ-centered life.

All right.

So today we have with us on the podcast, Katie Ault.

Everybody give it up for Katie.

Yeah, that's where you can say hello, Katie.

Hello everyone.

How are you doing today, Katie?

I'm doing pretty good.

Katie, if we decided to go ahead and video this, would you be okay with that?

Absolutely not.

Why not, Katie?

It got rained on today.

Pretty hard.

Oh, hey, if it's any consolation, I got rained on when I was running, but my hair doesn't look like yours.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Being a man does that.

Being a man does that.

I don't know if that has to do with anything.

I don't either.

That's okay.

That's all right.

All right, Katie, remind us what grade you're in this year.

 10th grade at good old Shawnee High School.

Indeed.

And I guess it's Clark Shawnee, isn't it?

Yeah.

If you want to be technical.

Yeah.

Well, we should be technical.

Everybody knows Shawnee though.

Okay.

Um, let's see.

So 10th grade, it tells us like one of the greatest things that you're doing right now in your life.

 I'd say being involved in the OSYC Student Leadership team.

Yeah.

That's pretty good.

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

I love being behind the scenes because I've been a part of it, been attending OSYC since I was in sixth grade.

Yeah.

What, four years?

Yeah, ish, four or five.

Yeah, just to be behind the scenes, seeing all like what happens is just like so cool.

Yeah.

And I gained a lot of respect for them, obviously.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, so in case you don't know, the Ohio State Youth Convention happens here at Maiden Lane in November.

Katie is on that student leadership team, and they're the ones that do all the planning for that event, they're the ones that come up with the theme and all sorts of stuff.

So as she said, that newfound respect is from all that work that they've been doing since January.

But you guys are knocking it out of the park. I'm going to have to just say that to you.

Thank you very much.

Yeah.

All right, Katie.

So, tell us a little bit about how you became involved here at Maiden Lane Church.

Yeah, so I've been a part of the church since I was in second grade, so about eight years.

So I didn't really start getting involved until it was about middle school, until I became part of the youth group.

And I just started out small, kind of participating in like camera, kind of that kind of thing.

And then it slowly evolved into going to nursery when we used to have a nursery.

And then it just like spiraled into like volunteering at VBS. 

Yeah

And eventually spiraled into going to South Dakota. 

Okay, yeah, so you went to South Dakota last year and on the mission trip.

Um and I know you've kind of told this to us before like on that recap sunday but remind us like how did that trip impact your life

I think it impacted me in so many ways that it'll take hours to unpack.

Well, we can have as long as you want.

I mean, come on.

But I think the main thing is that I found qualities in me that I thought were like so like guarded and so like embedded in me that can come out.

Okay.

And like being there and the experiences I had kind of made me like dig those out.

Okay.

It's like having more patience for people, having more like leadership, like opportunities to like step up because nobody else would.

Yeah.

And just like overall, like having more empathy for people, and just being humble because if you go to South Dakota if you experience those things like you can see how privileged you are to be in the state you're in.

Sure sure

So yeah so tell us, you mentioned patience i'm just going to pick on that for a minute, so tell them tell us a little bit more like how that got unpacked in you during that trip and like how that's being revealed a little bit more even today.

Yeah.

So being in South Dakota, I beforehand, I'll be honest, I didn't have the best patience.

It was it was pretty hard to me to, you know, have empathy for people and just like go with the flow.

Yeah.

But like being in South Dakota, we were a part of a small group with a whole bunch of kids.

So everybody had to do their part, and we had to kind of deal with the fact that not everything was like clear.

Yeah.

So just having that in mind and kind of just like going with the flow forcefully kind of just like made me like automatically more patient and because the amazing people that I was with like they were worth it to be patient kind of in a way if that makes sense 

Yeah sure sure.

So, and you're not prepared for this question, so I'm just going to ask it.

Like, what lesson from that do you still, like, apply into your life today?

I think, like, just being around people and knowing that, like, their circumstances really, like, is not ideal.

Yeah.

No matter like who you're talking to.

And just, like, just being nice, being kind to them right off the bat.

Yeah.

And not automatically just, like, switching to their energy.

Yeah.

Because it's super easy to do.

Yeah.

And that just, like, that perspective of just being kind first and to continue to be kind and be patient and loving is just a good thing to have.

Well, if it's any consolation, like I noticed you do that on a regular basis in your student ministry.

I mean, this is no surprise.

We get a lot of unruly kids sometimes that come to student ministry stuff, and you're always one that still extends that olive branch, to use that terminology.

Yeah.

You know, to help those people feel like they're welcome.

And not many of our students do that.

So I appreciate the fact that you do that.

So God used that experience to teach you a lot.

But how did he use that to help you understand who he is and what he wants to accomplish through your life?

I think immediately following being at South Dakota, I didn't really realize the impact he had on me and through me.

So I just had the overwhelming realization that he is just a wonderful, perfect God.

And he can change things in me that I never thought could be changed.

That's good.

And that's such a, everybody knows that, but you don't truly know it until you've experienced it.

Yeah, it's one of those things that kind of intuitively is there, but until it travels down to this big old organ in our chest, it makes a difference in our heart.

Right.

Yeah.

That makes sense completely.

I didn't mean to cut you off.

Did I cut you off?

No, you're good. No, you're good.

Okay.

So here we are I know that you're getting ready to go to South Dakota again next month.

Here you are, almost done with your junior year of high school, I mean, sophomore year.

Sorry.

Heading into your junior year.

And, you know, not that you know exactly.

I think you and I were joking around before we hit record.

I'm 49 years old and I don't exactly know where God wants to lead me all the time.

 But where do you feel like God is leading you in your life like right now?

What do you sense him kind of like doing in you?

Yeah.

So just from when we first talked about where God was leading me, I truly don't know.

I don't know what my career path is going to be like.

I don't like I'm just I'm 16. I don't have to know yet.

Yeah.

But there were a few circumstances where I was in that like I applied to CTC Clark Technical.

Yep.

Whatever.

I applied there for forestry and park management.

I applied super late, like, literally a month late and, like, past the deadline.

And the Wednesday we were supposed to go for, like, a field trip for scheduling, I was accepted in.

Okay.

And I was – throughout that whole time, I was praying to God, like, if this is going to happen, then, like, that's just totally you happening because nobody gets accepted like a month past the deadline.

Yeah yeah 

But I did and like that's totally God and I don't know if he wants to lead me in that direction but it was God working. 

Okay.

So i don't know what that means.

The one thing I admire about you Katie is that I know that you're open uh to what God has to lead in your life so I would just encourage you to keep your ear to the Spirit.

Keep asking for Him to guide you and lead you and be your helper, your advocate, and I guarantee He'll show you the way.

So you've been part of the Maiden Lane Church family for about eight years, and you're finishing up high school.

I mean, you've still got a couple of years and stuff like that.

But how can we as Maiden Lane better support you as you continue to discern what God's calling on your life?

I honestly think just being there for the youth, like interacting with them, even if they don't really seem like they love interacting with you.

Like you never know truly what people are going through, especially youth, because you just can't really decipher what their emotions are.

So just like being there, just period, would be like super helpful.

And just keep an open mind, volunteer as much as you can, and just be a part of the youth ministry and the kids ministry.

Yeah.

So, friends, if you did not get what Katie was just saying, she's basically saying this: be a support system for our students because we need it.

Yes.

And so show up, be a prayer partner in their life, be a confidant, be an encourager, do what you can to help them out.

Katie, thanks so much for joining us on the ML podcast today and for sharing your story.

Thank you.

Friends, if you want to know more about Katie, you can drag her aside after some Sunday morning worship and say, hey, tell me more about your story if you know who she is.

If you don't, come see me and I'll point her in her direction because I think it'd be fun to give her a hard time.

100%.

Yeah, absolutely.

I'm all for it.

Anyway, friends, next time on the ML podcast, we will be talking to Ray and Margi Starr a little bit about their story.

And so we look forward to dropping that here in the next couple of weeks.

This is Pastor R.W. saying, see ya.