Episode 37 - Gay Kittrell

Wife, mother, grandmother, art teacher, artist, Sunday school teacher, jail ministry---Gay wears many hats.   But if you ever speak with her for at least 5 minutes, you will quickly discover what she treasures most:  her deep love for Jesus and sharing Him with others. 

Transcript

Becki 0:10

Hello, I'm Becki Dowd, and this is The Journey to Salvation. Join me as we walk alongside real people and hear the unique journeys that led them to faith in Jesus. Today my guest is Gay Kittrell. Hello, Kay. Hey. How are you doing? I'm doing good, thank you. You don't have to be nervous. I'm not. I've never seen you nervous. I'm not nervous. I really am not.

Gay 0:32

I'm happy to be here.

Becki 0:34

Yes, I'm so glad that uh you agreed to do this. Gay, I guess I've known you since maybe uh you were a high school art teacher. And that's probably where I first heard about you. And unfortunately, I didn't take art. I wish we could go back and I could take art. I wish you could. I would have so enjoyed that. And uh anyway, I I have I have an interest in art now. Uh you're one of my art, you are my art mentor when it comes to my paintings and all things creative like that. And so I do appreciate you and all that you mean to me because of that. But I got to know you a little bit better over the last um, I don't know how many years, 20 years or so, because we went to church together and we were able to be around each other a little bit more then. But just some things that I know about you, and these these probably aren't all the things. Um you're a mother, you're a grandmother, you're an art teacher, you're an artist, you're a Sunday school teacher, you're a prayer warrior, you're a jail ministry team member, and maybe even a leader there. And but most important, you're a believer and a follower of Jesus. So can you share with us your early life and just your journey of what got you to who you are today?

Gay 1:58

I was very blessed in my early life to have Christian parents who um took me to church and who left Jesus in front of me. Um both my uh parents were Sunday school teachers. Um my mother um started the children's programs in our church in um Hughes. I grew up in the church in Hughes and um she started GAs and she started um What is GAs to Curl's Auxiliary? It was a um Bible study and missions um organization where we learned the word of God and where we prayed and um learned about missionaries uh that were on the fields at that time. I remember we always prayed for them if they had a birthday that week. So that was a really special uh time to uh draw near to them. I think that um I, you know, I was blessed to be in Bible school and um we lived in the country, so a lot of times if we had after school and then we had prayer meeting, we had uh a dinner before prayer meeting, and mother would cook with Ms. Raper and we would uh study and play at the church. It was like a second home sometimes. So, you know, my my early life was just uh just blessed. I had a father who was a good disciplinarian because I needed discipline a lot in my early life, hating to say that. But um, you know, I I as I got older, I remember the words that he said. He would always tell me after I would get a spanking, and because he would be the one who spanked me, I could jump the uh switch that mother did. We'd end up laughing. And so when dad got home, he would always find me under the bed, always hid in the same place, not very smart, but after he would uh spank me, uh he would say, This hurts me more than it does you. And uh I don't think I really realized that those would be Jesus' words until I got much older to be an adult. And I thought, you know, that's that's very true of uh my heavenly father.

Becki 4:07

Because he does discipline us.

Gay 4:10

But I was saved when I was 10 years old, and um I remember being very hot-hearted about my friends uh coming to know Jesus uh after that, and um I I guess I grew up uh on through GAs, uh learning our things that we had to learn and saying them before the committee. And you know, I know that looking back, God was hiding his word in my heart during that time in a very significant and a very important uh way, out of the King James Version. So um anyway, um, you know, I graduated and I went to college, and that is the time in my life when I made the mistake to uh stop reading the Word of God and stop attending church.

Becki 4:57

Where did you go to college?

Gay 4:58

Uh well, my first year at college was at Mississippi State College for Women, and my dad told me if I'd go there for two years, I could go anywhere I wanted to go. And so I went to please my dad. And um, so anyway, um, you know, I made that made that crucial mistake. I just got lazy and uh I was living under uh an assumption which I thought was good. It's one of those words, it sounds good, but it's not in the Bible. And so I was being encouraged those um high school years to grow up and be independent. And, you know, that didn't carry with it um the belief in Jesus. It carries with it uh to do, you know, what I want to do and make a lot out of my life. And uh so I traveled that path um in college. Um I stayed two years at MSCW, then I went to the Memphis College of Art and graduated from there. So um by that time I had married and I'd married an unbeliever. And um he was drafted, and we went to Germany to live. And um while we were in Germany, I had a daughter, Heather, and um uh that was a real real blessing, you know, from God in my uh marriage. Uh but unfortunately about two and a half years later, as we came home, um we divorced. And so that was grievous um in big ways. Um I uh had two years of depression and not clin clinical depression I know now, but never diagnosed. I don't think my mother knew what was wrong. I sure didn't know what was wrong, really didn't care. I just slept a lot, and um but I just need to say that I had friends in church because um my dad would say to me when I came home, I came home to my home, he said, if you come home, you have to go to church, which was very wise of my dad, because in and of my own independent spirit, I don't know that I would have done that, particularly um having the depression that I had. And so um I would go every Sunday and the people there loved me and they put their arms around me and they would say, Um, I'm so sorry. And I all I could hear in my mind is you're so sorry. You know, it it's a very uh hurtful and deceiving place to be when you're in a depression.

Becki 7:35

So Do you think some of that depression was because of the fact that you were not, you know, walking with the Lord at that time?

Gay 7:43

I think it was that, and also I had not come to the point where I had the repentant heart.

unknown 7:48

Yeah.

Gay 7:49

And um, you know, just I think I was just kind of numb and I really wasn't trying to figure it out, although I knew I needed to repent. And I knew that during the time that I had uh been married, that he was he was with me because I kept thinking about the Lord was with you. Oh yes, that Jesus was there, he was he was speaking, you know, to my heart. And um, but anyway, let me just say this. Um I had a friend there that invited me to a prayer group. It was four people. I was the fourth one. Her name was Ginger, and she was so wonderful and um sweet, and I think I know it was Jesus that got me there, it wasn't me. And so I started going. I mean, I never prayed out loud, but I was there in the group that did, and you know, I know that she was praying for me, and um uh, you know, God worked in my life there. He really did. I slowly came out of depression and um I went back to get certified as an art teacher. And I'd always said, I'm not ever gonna be a teacher. I never wanted to be a teacher on a B. I wanted to be a textile designer. And so that was my undergraduate major. But God, it was one of those butt-cide moments, took me back and um I became a teacher. And by God's will, I got a job here in Wynne. And I found a church home here in Wynn and a Sunday school class and a teacher, Ms. Minton, who prayed for me. I know she did. And uh, you know, God just was was changing, was changing my life. And um, you know, I do want to say that, you know, during that time I did remember that I needed a repentant spirit and I wanted his change. And I think that is the the great thing, you know, about God is that um he gives us repentance just like he gives us many other gifts. And um we need to remember that uh repentance is obedience and obedience is loving God. Eventually you remarried. Yes. Got a I have a wonderful husband, Bob, who is now 96. We have a great and he looks great.

Becki 10:03

He does. He gets around pretty good and yeah, he's fun to be around.

Gay 10:08

Yes, that was such a blessing.

Becki 10:10

Yeah. And he's an uh he's an art, he was an art teacher too.

Gay 10:16

No, no, he was a typing teacher.

Becki 10:18

Okay, but he is a he was an But he was an artist.

Gay 10:21

He was the prom artist.

Becki 10:24

Okay. Um so did anything else happen during those years that like I know that you are very involved in missions now.

Gay 10:34

Well, um when I came to Wynn, I think I was about two and a half years in Ms. Minton's class, and um there was an opportunity to teach children in the second grade. And so God started moving my heart about being a teacher, which is, you know, where he'd call me in the school system, and I was loving my art classes and loving teaching the students in the public school. Um, I was also um wanting at that point in time to be able to teach um in my church because I felt like that's what God was speaking uh to my heart. And so I got to be um a second grade teacher with Gino. And so she really impacted my life as a wonderful woman of God and you know, helped me uh a lot uh to find um joy, you know, in teaching the second graders. And it wasn't long before that, as my daughter grew up, that uh she went to um the youth. And about a year after that I followed her, and I got to teach seventh and eighth grade girls for I don't even know how many years, a long, long time. And uh th that's where I began to make mission trips was with the youth. And we made home mission trips to Florida, we went to uh Punkka City, Oklahoma to do Bible school, and we went out to um San Francisco to help build a Korean church. And at that time we had um uh I guess you'd call it musical, musicals that the youth were doing, and we took those with us and you know enjoyed uh serving the Lord that way. So that was my first uh adventures and mission was uh when I was at the um church and was working with the youth.

Becki 12:24

And since then you've been to uh I know you've been to Vietnam on a mission trip a few times. Been there five times, I think. Five times.

Gay 12:33

And have you been anywhere else overseas? My first uh mission trip was to Russia, which was um uh a very um unplanned thing. Uh the Lord has a way of um breaking your heart. And um I grew up during the Cold War and I was very fearful of the Russian people because that was always looming over us when we were young, when we were growing up. And so there was an opportunity to go uh do a women's conference, and um God called me to that, not one time but two times. I went twice. And um all I can say is God is faithful. When he calls you to something, he goes before you and he he does it, he does it all. And uh so I just um you know thought that was interesting because um I didn't want to I didn't want to go the second time by myself. I just didn't I didn't want to go by myself. But I remember that Sunday night um we were singing the song with uh the chorus that if none goes with me, I still will fall. And that's when he he got me. And I said, Yes, Lord, I think you just spoke. And and that was um that was it. And so as I was leaving, I turned around and Mary Helen Winkler said, Do you do you want me to go to Russia with you? And I said, Oh yes. And I asked Karen Weaver, I said, Karen, you want to go to Russia? And she wants to go to Russia too. So, you know, it's it's how God does things in his own way. And so I've experienced that many times, you know, in my in my life. He didn't do it the same way in Ecuador, you know, but he does it in his own way. And uh through those times you've learned to hear the voice of God.

Becki 14:20

Yeah. I forgot you went to Ecuador.

Gay 14:24

Went to Mexico.

Becki 14:25

Yeah.

Gay 14:25

Yeah, I went to Ecuador. Yeah.

Becki 14:27

I forgot about those trips. So you might have already answered this question, but what has been the biggest trial you have faced in your life and how did you get through that?

Gay 14:40

Well, I pretty much have uh answered that. The biggest trial in my life was uh getting out of depression.

Becki 14:46

Yeah.

Gay 14:47

Um, and I realize now that it was oppression before it was depression. And maybe there was an exit during the time that the oppression was there, but I didn't take that exit, I didn't turn back to God, you know, and that is a very uh important thing for us to realize is that he's there waiting for us to um come back to him. And um I just would say, you know, my biggest uh joy in that was that I had parents uh who would take me back in and guide me, and also that I would uh have friends that would want to include me and pray for me. That's changed my life greatly.

Becki 15:29

You know, and I think too that um sometimes when we are believers and we're not walking with the Lord, that does cause friction in our life. And I've and I feel like that's probably the worst place you can be, kind of on that fence with one foot in the world and one foot in the word. That's true. And it does cause a lot of friction. And that sounds like similar to what maybe you were going through because you were a believer at that time, yet you were not walking closely with the Lord.

Gay 15:57

That's true. God truly saved me when I was 10 years old, and he has killed me, you know, uh to now, and I'm getting ready to change ages again. So, you know, that's uh that's okay. So, you know, he's faithful. My God is faithful. There's nobody who's faithful like him. I, you know, I'm overwhelmed when I am um embraced, embracing people who worship a Buddha or other gods, you know, and and I can say like Buddha has to be moved down the street by people to the place where he's going to sit and be worshipped. And my God's not like that. My God walks with me every day. He's the living Lord, not a stone or a rock, not a um a mem a memory like that or some kind of figure of the imagination, but uh the savior, the Lord and King who gave his life for me.

Becki 16:51

So you have always had that since I've known you, you've always had just an encouraging and positive attitude. So tell me what is the source of that attitude you have, because I know a lot of people you're that way to everyone. I don't I don't know that there's probably anyone that you're not that way to, whether you know them or you don't know them.

Gay 17:14

That's sweet of you to say that. That's the way I want to be. Um, the source of my attitude is the God inside of me, the Holy Spirit. Apart from him, I can do nothing. I wouldn't be joyful, I wouldn't be happy, and I wouldn't care if you were. And so, um, you know, praise the Lord for his faithfulness. You know, um there's nothing like knowing the living God. Um the word of God, which he hid in my heart as a child. I know more scriptures maybe from my childhood than I do from my adulthood, which has been much longer, but I had much better mind when I was a child. Um and prayer. Um I think that um we have to make time for the word of God and for prayer. And if we want to do that, the Holy Spirit will help us do that. You know, we don't have to do that independently on our own. We just have to be willing. And if we will ask, it will happen. Uh time is a very hard thing to manage. And so uh through my life, uh the time elements of Bible study and of prayer, you know, have have adjusted and readjusted, you know, uh by the work of God. But I think that those things have to be intentional. We have to want them intentionally, and uh we have to be uh serious about our lives because um sin blocks our intake. It blocks our desire to want to do that. And so, you know, we just need to be very intentional with the things that we know about God. And I think that, you know, in doing that we become more obedient and um we can show him that we love him more and um care about him, you know, when he's the first thing on our our lips. If we haven't been prayerful or if we haven't been in the word, then we don't probably have maybe a lot to talk about.

Becki 19:32

Well, there's so many distractions too in our lives today that it's easy to put those things above him every day. So what do you see? You've been in church a long time. What do you see? Uh how do you see the hearts of people different that are in church today that maybe is different than it was years ago?

Gay 19:57

Um, I maybe because I'm an adult and looking at it uh through uh eyes that are older and looking back over all of the years that I've lived, I feel like that we have um a middle-aged generation right now that is a powerful generation. I believe that they love God and that they love other people and that they want to help their friends and serve their friends, and that they have a vision that's bigger than that, that they have um a world vision um where they don't just look at uh what's going on in in our community, although they do that and they serve well there, uh, but they have hearts for uh people who are unlovable, and they have hearts for people from other nations. And so, you know, um I see that happening in my lifetime, and it's certainly something that I prayed for, and maybe in particular over this uh generation that I'm speaking about, because it was my daughter's generation. And so I've been praying for that group for a very long, long time. And so it's a blessing to me, you know, to live in a time where I see prayers answered.

Becki 21:15

Yeah, because sometimes we don't always uh talk about those things. We always talk about the the negative things that we see. So thank you for sharing something that's encouraging and positive.

Gay 21:26

And and I see parents taking children. They want their children to understand it so they take them to behold it. And that's something they will hold on to for a lifetime when they go and see and see God working amongst the nations. And of course they can see that here in our own community because God's been faithful to bring the nations to us. So, you know, we have opportunities right here at home to serve the nations.

Becki 21:52

So you recently went to on a mission trip to the Middle East area, which we won't say the name of the country. How was that trip? Because you've been to a lot of different areas. How was that uh meeting those people there and just seeing the culture there? How was that?

Gay 22:11

It was wonderful. And it's not something everybody can't imagine because those people there are no different from us. They're just like us. They need the Lord in their lives. They need Jesus as their savior. Um sometimes they don't know that's what they need until they hear. And sometimes when they hear, it might take them a little while to embrace him. But um, it was a wonderful trip. It was a safe trip. We felt uh just um particularly like God was with us and moving us through that time. We got to serve as a medical uh clinic, and while they were waiting, we got to share three circles with uh the people who were waiting, and I saw three people come to know Jesus during the two days that we did that. Um we also, oh, and what I found out while I was really talking to almost all of the women that I talked to was that um we were amongst some refugees and that they don't really have any hope. And and that broke my heart, you know, uh, and uh peace is hard to find in their in their lives. And so, you know, those are their circumstances or circumstances that I haven't lived, but their feelings about them were certainly things that I could maybe understand, you know, and um encourage them with scripture.

Becki 23:42

So most of those that you came in contact with were had a Muslim background. Yes, that right? How was their uh acceptance of you sharing Jesus with them?

Gay 23:54

I didn't have anyone at the uh clinic say no they didn't want to hear. I had a great experience. We had teams that did home visits and many salvations in the home visits. We did uh I worked with my son-in-law Todd, and we did the Bible schools and uh got to stay the second week, unfortunately. I had a because you got sick. Yeah, not that you had to stay there, but I did. I did, and so I got to stay there, so I got to teach I got to be with him while he was teaching teachers. And of course I have a very you know sweet spot in my heart for those those teachers, and I still stay in touch with two of them.

Becki 24:36

Two of the teachers of the state. Two of the teachers that are there. Yeah.

Gay 24:39

Yeah, we're online together.

Becki 24:41

Yeah, well that was I know that was a neat experience for you because that was probably way different than any other trip that you've ever made based on the places that you've been before.

Gay 24:50

We were serving with friends who live there and um they just have, you know, uh the biggest heart uh for uh seeing people come to know Jesus that I have perhaps ever seen and ever known. And it was a real joy to serve with them. Uh I love them dearly and I pray for them every day. Yeah.

Becki 25:13

So do they serve the uh the people that live there or are they mainly serving the refugees that are refugees.

unknown 25:20

Okay.

Gay 25:21

And there are lots of disciples that serve with them. I don't want you to think that they serve by themselves, but you know, they're very faithful to uh help uh believers become disciples, and then out of those uh D groups and those discipleship trainings and things, leaders uh raise up and you know they come, they do their part at the church, and we were served by many wonderful disciples while we were there.

Becki 25:46

So, Gay, what else would you like to share with us today?

Gay 25:49

Oh, I might be able to like to talk just a minute about words, and we should always wake up every morning and and say to our Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. And I do believe that as um believers, we don't take enough opportunity to um have spiritual conversation, to talk about praise and thanksgiving with each other, to uh share what we are um studying at church, to share what the sermon was about, to share what we had in our quiet time uh that morning, to share maybe some good news that someone uh told us to share, some good news about someone who believed. But we spend our time uh talking about um lots of things that don't really matter to the kingdom of God when there are people nearby listening who could just hear about him and how wonderful he is, if we would just um meet each other and greet each other and have uh spiritual conversation. I believe that's um a scriptural thing. I believe that as um as children of God we need to stop maybe and slow down and think about Him more often. And David would call that meditate. Um and I just feel like that we need to watch we need to watch uh what we do when we use our mouths a lot and um particularly maybe even in our homes. Our children need to hear us talking about um Jesus and not just hear about Jesus at the church or in their Sunday school classes. Um because I know that as a child, you know, I did hear a lot about Jesus' church at church, but I also heard a lot about Jesus at home and watched my parents uh serve him. My dad was a farmer, you know, watched him help people and serve him. And um, you know, I just really I learned about Jesus uh from my parents. And so we can guard our homes by what we say, and we can guard our friendships that way, and we can also make a difference in his world if we're talking, if we're talking about him and speaking about him.

Becki 28:17

That sort of reminded me of uh I'm studying Joshua right now, and in Joshua 1, uh this is right before Joshua leads the Israelites into the promised land, and uh God tells him to be uh strong and courageous. Only be strong and courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law, which Moses, my servant, command you do not turn from the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. The book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. You shall meditate it on meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do all according to the all that is written in it. So that's sort of what you just said. You just really it's something we need to meditate and talk about and be in the middle of every day.

Gay 29:08

He also tells him in that scripture that wherever he places his foot, he will give it to you.

Becki 29:14

Yes.

Gay 29:14

And so we need to believe that. So when we are there, we're on our feet most of the time. You know, we need to realize that that is our opportunity to be bold and courageous.

Becki 29:24

Yeah.

Gay 29:25

And um, you know, that's um, you know, that's our uh joy uh to do that, and our hope is that um it makes a difference and we know it will because um it's part of the word of God. You know, it's what he tells us, it's what he tells us to do. Also, I think that we need to watch the words that we use. As I've been older, I've been aware that retirement is not in the Bible.

Becki 29:51

No, it's not.

Gay 29:52

And I used that a lot. I've also noted that there are other words that sound good that maybe aren't there. Tolerate is not in the Bible. Tolerate has no love in it. And you know, I mean, they're just there are bunches of words that are not Bible words that we we can we can choose to live by that are maybe good, maybe good, you know, but diabolically they're like independence was for me. They take us away from the godly things, and we just think that we're doing good instead of um you know, walking in the words of God where uh where there's love and you know, um a commitment to him.

Becki 30:32

So, gay, do you have a favorite Bible verse? Or one that you lean into? I know that you quoted, I think you quoted the end of Psalm 19.

Gay 30:43

I have I have uh different favorite Bible verses every day. Uh I really, I really, I really do. I know the first verse that I ever learned was God is love. And I still know that one. You know, so you know that I get a hug from that one every time I think about it. You know, a lot of people say, Oh, you're old, you should have a longer verse than that, but I don't really have a desire to have a longer verse. That one says it than that. Yeah. Psalms 37, 3 through 7. Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Trust in him and he will do it. And so, yes, I I remembered, I remembered the uh delight yourself also in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. That's what I memorized as a child, but God added to me, um, dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness, because that's what the also uh refers to, and unfortunately also has been cut out of very many translations of the Bible, to where we think that, you know, we can just do it without uh, you know, yeah, without the the verse that it refers to. So I think that it's you know really a beautiful verse and it's something that makes my heart happy. It's something I can, you know, remember that David said, and uh I want to be a woman, you know, that has a heart like his, one that's repentant, one that's a heart uh that God will love. I'm so thankful uh that God chose me. I I cannot tell you how much that uh means to me. I weep over that uh because I'm just a sinner saved by faith and a work in progress, you know, and I hope that I have still some good years uh left to uh serve him and uh maybe make another mission trip. You know, it would be an amazing thing to be able to do that at 78. But it's uh it's a hope I have, you know, in him. And so, you know, I'm just grateful for that. I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful for all my friends in the Lord, and I'm grateful for opportunities to um speak about him every day.

Becki 33:10

Thank you for joining us today. New episodes release every Wednesday, so be sure to subscribe and get notified when a new episode is available. You can listen on the Journey to Salvation website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. So, where are you on your journey to salvation?