Katie is one of my best friends (and if you’ve been following TCW, she is the one who was completely healed from arthritis in my post The Lost Art of Confession). She is a powerhouse spiritually, is the one who keeps me on track about being vulnerable and asking for the right kind of help when I need it. She is one of my favorite people in the world, because she is exactly who she is, and she loves you (and lovingly pokes fun at you) exactly where you are.
H: Who are you, where are you, and what do you do?
K: Hello! My name is Katie Juranek, from Pasadena, CA and somehow I am involved with four really awesome, life-giving things:
- I am a on pastoral staff at my home church working with Middle Schoolers.
- I own my own photography company to pay off my student loans.
- I am a Graduate student at Fuller Theological Seminary.
- I am fundraising to join the staff of YWAM as a missionary in 2017 where I’ll be in South Africa and Kona, Hawaii for two years!
H: Can you describe an average day of running around doing Katie things?
K: Currently, I am a part of some really awesome things, which makes every day different, i.e. here’s a snapshot of my day two weeks ago:
Started off my morning going through final edits of a wedding I had shot, then I worked at the church to prepare my sermon for Sunday and compiled a really tedious list to prepare for an All Nighter we have coming up. I then met with a potential supporter for lunch which incredibly encouraging. Then I drove with our church staff to a conference focused around the value of living life with the poor in our community to together encourage systematic change called CCDA! Oh, and between plenary sessions I was writing a paper for Finals week! Whew!
But those are events, but that’s not my life…
As often as I can, I drive to this spot by my house that overlooks a beautiful, lush valley – I feel ever so close to God as I stop and am still there. I believe that we can all have those moments of feeling that closeness to God, regardless of where we are; when I’m standing there taking in a beautiful landscape or when I’m sitting with a middle school student hearing about their lives. That closeness means that my average day may be a bit chaotic, but my presence is steady, and that is hopefully what I experience and accomplish on an average day! I would suggest this short read called “Practicing the Presence of God” (free in that link!) which has helped shape my thoughts on being present with people and experiencing God!
H: When you hear the phrase “captivating woman” what comes to mind? Are there things that really stand out to you as those that make women captivating?
K: When I think of the women that I’ve met that are “captivating”, at the core of what I think is most remarkable about them is always who they are captivated by – you know it when you see it – you know when you sit down with someone and they catch you off guard with their presence with you, their intentionality, their love, their encouragement – how they clearly are a reflection of God’s love for you – it just pours out of them!
We could easily think of women that are talented, beautiful, intelligent– but the women that are so captivated by their love for God that it pours out of them in every interaction they have with you and others? That is captivating… I pray that may be said of me.
H: You work with youth and young girls all of the time. I know we’ve talked about the things that are lying ahead for them and wish we could help them understand ahead of time. If you could go back in time to 17 year old Katie, what are a few of the things you’d tell her?
K: Whew… 17 year old Katie… in one year I was about to experience a year of trauma would make me regress and stop trusting people for a long time… I so wish I knew other safe spaces– people, resources like therapy, etc., I so wish I knew how to ask for that help…
For everything I wish I knew, I can see the beautiful ways that God has helped provide spaces for healing in the years since, but having the chance to encourage some thought and discussion:
I just so wish I understood myself more as a 17 year old– I wish understood that pain cycles would trigger me and would leave me stuck in victimization and about the difference between my personality type and others (and the positives to these differences). Just so many things about self-awareness that lacked when I was 17 I wish I could explain to my 17 year old self to, if possible, save me from the painfully long process that it has been. So if anything– I can’t advocate more strongly both for finding a therapist and a mentor – each have their own unique role in your life and finding both has helped give a safe space to grow in my self-awareness!
H: Who are some captivating women you feel like we should be talking about/get to know?
K: A few months ago I got to skype with a woman, who totally inspires me, who uses Instagram as a platform to share stories of education in South Africa and Kenya to spur on systematic change (she now has 38k followers on Instagram, woah!) her name is Rebecca (@stickylittleleaves). I’m also a big fan of Christina Cleveland as she spurs on the conversation about privilege, reconciliation and leadership, which is very near and dear to my heart. Also, her insights into the experience of single, Christian women has been so encouraging (she wrote a Liberation Theology for single people in the Church- amen!). Last, but certainly not least, if you have not heard of Brene Brown– I cannot miss out on an opportunity to speak praises of what she shares as a researcher on vulnerability, it has changed my life, my relationships and my future- go buy her book(s) now! (I would suggest reading “Daring Greatly” and then “Rising Strong”).
H: Do you have a spirit animal?
K: I resonate the most with Leslie Knope with my passion for justice, insane organization and being an incredible gift-giver, combined with the shameless sarcasm of Chandler Bing, which in a dream world would end up with my being a new roommate on an episode of New Girl.
H: Favorite bible verse/story/lesson?
K: The story of Jeremiah has been one that God has brought me back time and time again to- which has served as an encouragement to persevere in faithfulness to what God is calling me to do, even when I have been misunderstood- but is also such a weighty example (jeez God!).
Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet because for 41 years he shared the same message persistently (which in of itself is huge). A couple of things about his story really stick with me: 1) In 1:4-10 it shows that Jeremiah knew his Call, he questioned his experience, but not his call, and that is what kept him going, 2) I also love in 1:5-8 that the basis for overcoming fear is the assurance of God’s constant presence. Those two statements have been a consistent theme of the last four years of my life and I hope that they can be an encouragement to you: God knows you and offers a life that is not based on fear, but on life! If I could wish anything for the middle schoolers I work with, my community, the people I meet in missions, thecaptivatingwoman.com readers, it would be that you hear and truly understand that He extends that offer to you as well!
