Kathy Cleveland 

Kathy Cleveland

Just a Mess with a Message

Speaker, Author, Mentor

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I am truly just a former "hot mess" that loves Jesus, a wretched sinner ever thankful to be saved by God's amazing Grace, trying to share His message of hope with anyone who will listen!

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I was raised in a Christian environment, sometimes, in many a broken home. While living in Owensboro, Kentucky, at the age of 11 years old, I surrendered my heart and life to Christ and accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. When visiting or living with my grandparents, I was in church every time the doors were open. It was a great church, but there was just a lot of pretense. I learned very early to act right and look right, but on the inside I was really struggling.

 

Our God stories are all similar, with different roads taken, wrought with twists, turns, tragedies and triumphs we would’ve never chosen or ordained, and yet through it all there is a sovereign God, full of Grace.

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When you learn to find the beauty in the middle of the brokenness, it’s like seeing that one single wildflower, growing in the midst of where a bomb has gone off. There are pieces of shrapnel everywhere - a life strewn about and you don’t know where that flower came from... but there it is blooming, sometimes thriving, in the midst of a black hole of destruction. It doesn’t make sense, and yet when you look through the lens of His grace, it begins to free you. It begins to liberate your soul to know that the God who created that flower also enveloped you with his love in the middle of that big black hole.

 

I used to feel that I was beyond God’s grace. After wallowing in that pit of deception for way too long, the Lord reached down and through His word, grabbed a hold of my fickle heart, convincing me through His Spirit that there was a way out. I learned that death brings life… death to my wants, my desires, my selfishness, my deceitful and desperately wicked heart. My Father God showed me that His grace truly was sufficient, that nothing I did was unforgivable, and that He had a plan for my life far beyond any I could dream up or imagine. But I had to come to Him and I had to repent and I had to believe and, by His Grace alone - I did just that! That was in April of 2008 and once again, I was given another beginning, a new walk with the Lord that I can only describe as just full of life-giving mercy and grace.

 

Getting rooted and grounded in God’s word and His Love was what I needed. Beth Moore calls it “soaking in God’s presence and His love, by focusing on falling in love with Him and His Word.” His word is life-giving, and I was a walking, bleeding, hurting person, feeling once again emotionally dead and in need of so much. The Lord forgave me. He showed me though every trial that He was there and He had never left me... That has been tremendous for me. I literally crawled back to Him, but He took me with open arms, and I am so thankful. One specific verse that helped me was “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.” John 14:15 - When I daily surrender to His lordship and His love, I have victory and will live to obey Him. When I walk in the Spirit, I do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh! Amen!

 

I'm so grateful that He is working within me to conform me into His image - I'm sure it keeps Him busy as I can be quite stubborn! 

 

I currently live in Anderson, SC and in February 2014, God blessed me beyond measure with an amazing, wonderful, handsome, loving, God-honoring husband. Gary (PeeWee) Cleveland shows me every day what a grace-filled life, surrendered to the Lord looks like in a marriage and I am one VERY blessed girl!! Most importantly, he loves God more than me and He loves me like Christ loves the church. We are still newlyweds, still learning and growing.... seeking to serve, know and love our Savior more each day! Our newest adventure includes fostering children through the SC Department of Social Services. We long to see families restored and children safe, loved and secure in the shelter of a gospel-centered home. We have had the pleasure of fostering 7 children in the last 6 years, adopting 5 beautiful children ranging in age from 7 to 22. Please pray for us as we continue this journey.

 

My aspirations are to bring honor, glory and praise to Jesus no matter where I am, whether writing, speaking, serving, walking, grocery shopping, sitting at the bedside of a dying loved one (or stranger) or sharing Jesus with the homeless, the prostitute, the drunk, the polished, the proud, or the poor. Grace can be seen in every triumphs in every tragedy if only we are looking through the right lens.

 

Given the opportunity, I will prayerfully come share with your women friends how God's grace has transformed this wretch into a warrior! I'm ever thankful for any opportunity to share the story of this life God has sovereignly allowed. I pray each day finds you closer to the deep love of God, a love for His word and the grace to obey Him in every way! 

 

By His Grace alone,

Kathy Cleveland