Revelashionship: Learning to Know God, Not Just About Him, with Cathy Garland

In this episode of Living Testimonies, I sit down with Cathy Garland for a deeply meaningful and encouraging conversation about what it truly means to know God on a personal level. Rather than viewing faith as routine, obligation, or information, Cathy shares her heart for what she calls revelationship — a way of walking with God that is rooted in revelation, intimacy, and genuine relationship.

Throughout the conversation, Cathy reflects on her faith journey, the ways God shapes our understanding of Him over time, and how deeply knowing His character changes the way we navigate every season of life. Her perspective offers a refreshing reminder that God does not desire distance or performance, but closeness, connection, and trust.

This episode speaks to anyone who has ever felt stuck in routine faith, longed for deeper spiritual intimacy, or wrestled with understanding God’s presence in everyday life. Cathy’s wisdom, honesty, and love for the Lord make this a conversation that encourages the heart and strengthens hope.

Whether you are in a season of growth, waiting, or rediscovery, this episode will gently point you back to the truth that God desires to be known — personally, faithfully, and deeply.

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Links to Connect with Cathy Garland:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

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Transcript

Israel Caminero 0:05

Before we jump into today's episode, I just want to take a moment to thank all of you who've been listening, sharing, and supporting the Living Testimonies Podcast. Your love, your prayers, and your encouragement truly keep this ministry moving forward. If you haven't already, make sure you like, share, and subscribe so you don't miss any of the powerful stories God is using to touch lives. And if the podcast has blessed you, I want to encourage you this year to share it with just one person who might need hope or encouragement. You never know how God could use that simple step to change a life. My goal for 2026 is simple: to reach hearts in places we haven't reached yet. New communities, new listeners, and people who desperately need to hear that God is still moving. With your help and with every share, we can grow this ministry far beyond what any of us could imagine. Before we begin, I want to speak a quick blessing over you, which is found in Philippians chapter 4, verse 7. May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. I pray this episode brings you hope, strength, and a fresh reminder of God's faithfulness. Now with hearts open and expectations high, let's step into today's story. Welcome to Living Testimonies. I'm your host, Israel Caminero, and I hope everyone listening is blessed and doing well from wherever you might be tuning in from today. If you've ever wondered whether it's possible to truly know God, not just know about him, this conversation is for you. Today I'm joined by Cathy Culver Garland, a writer, follower of Jesus, and the voice behind Graceful Music. Kathy, thank you for being here. I truly appreciate you taking the time to share with us. Can you briefly introduce yourself to the audience?

Cathy Garland 2:12

Sure. I'm uh Cathy and uh co-author of the book Revelationship, Transformative Intimacy with Christ, and another one called The Known Devotional, and uh my blog, Graceful Musings. All those have come out of when I went through a long period of suffering and really learned who God is and proved to myself over and over and over again that he was going to be faithful to me. So when my first husband divorced me, when I lost my first child in miscarriage, when the man I loved, whom I later married, broke up with me for the third time and dated another woman he thought was his woman of his dreams, when I broke my neck in a car accident, when I lost my second child in a miscarriage, when I waited 10 years for the birth of my son. I mean, I can just go on. It was the revelation of the God who makes and keeps his promises that kept hope alive in me. It was the God who sticks closer than a brother to the brokenhearted that kept me from breaking apart. And it was the God who declares his truth over me, Jehovah Nisi, about who I am and who I'll be at the end of my life and whose I belong to, right? That kept me from believing lies that my circumstances seem to declare. So it was knowing and being known by God that made me thrive, no matter what I faced. And so those things that I share with others is to say, hey, when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, these are the signposts to get you through.

Israel Caminero 3:58

Amen. Before she shares her testimony, I'd like to open up in prayer and say, Father God, we thank you for this moment, and for every person listening, no matter where they are and what they're carrying today, we invite your presence into this conversation. Holy Spirit, lead every word spoken and soften every heart's listening. For those who feel unseen, remind them that you see them. For those who are weary, bring peace, and for those searching for you, reveal yourself in a personal way. May this conversation bring encouragement, truth, and hope, and ultimately point everything back to you. In Jesus' name, amen. So, Kathy, let's go back to the beginning of your story. What was faith like for you growing up and how were you first introduced to God?

Cathy Garland 4:45

I grew up in the church. So, as far as I am concerned, there was never a moment that I was without the presence of God. And I grew up a daughter of a pastor who lived a very authentic life, a very large family. All of us are serving God, loving God, never fell away, never became those pastors' kids that you hear about. We were very much a part of the church, loving God, loving people. My grandmother was one of those great intercessors and prophetesses. She heard from God on a regular basis. I used to tease her that he kept her alive just to have someone to talk to at night. And she's passed on now, but it's this long legacy of being exposed to the presence of God, being exposed, encountering his presence, being changed by his presence. And uh, you know, because my parents who got saved in the hippie movement, by the way, because they came through what they came from, they came from these, you know, mainline sort of uh materialistic world, and then they become hippies and get saved and spirit-filled through the Jesus movement, they had authentic lives. Nothing was off the table. Everything was something worth discussing, and they weren't afraid to answer tough questions because I brought them.

Israel Caminero 6:12

So as a young lady, how did you view God back then? Was he distant, close?

Cathy Garland 6:19

Very loving, very close. Um, again, you know, I could always sense his presence. Obviously, there were times I sensed it more, like during worship or something like that. But I did have a sense that because I grew up in the church and you sort of imbibe this feeling that God loves the whole world and he has the whole world in his hands, right? And you do kind of wonder does God love me in particular? That sort of peculiar one-on-one relationship. And so I didn't doubt that until I became a teenager. When I was about 13, I really looked around the church and I wasn't pleased with some of the hypocrisy, obviously, that I had seen growing up, potentially, and some of the abuses that were happening within the church walls. My dad was an associate pastor, but there were others, you know, who were also in the leadership team, and there was some abuse that happened. And so I began to doubt whether or not this God of Christianity was the God for me. And so I brought that to my parents. I said, I'm not sure. This is it. I'm not sure that this is real, I'm not sure that this is for me. And so instead of panicking, which I think most parents would panic when they hear that, my dad, who's also a theologian, said, All right, let's go to the library. And we checked out books on every every religion, every major religion, many of the minor religions. And I studied them diligently. And eventually I came to the realization that Christ was who he said he was, and that he wanted a relationship with me. So I deconstructed for about a year, and from that point on, I began to reconstruct a living faith, not based on traditions made of men or things that I grew up with. And it's just been a process ever since.

Israel Caminero 8:11

So you're talking about the difference between knowing about God and true and truly knowing Him. That's right. When did you first realize there was more than surface-level faith after you went to the library with your father?

Cathy Garland 8:27

I think for up to that point, I think I had always known that he was real. I just wasn't sure that this manifestation of him in this church four walls was all the elements that I needed to know. And so I would say, as a deep faith, it didn't really begin until I was about 21 when I came to the place of absolute surrender. So up until that point, I was doing everything that you're supposed to do as a Christian. I was serving in the local body, I was loving God, I was doing devotions, I was pursuing him, um, not for what he gives, but for just who he was. I was thoroughly in love with Jesus. You know, I was a deep Christian. But I also knew that there was something missing. Like I was a lamp that was sometimes plugged in. Like let's say I went away to a camp, right, as a teenager, and the power of God was there, and I would feel plugged in. And then I come home, and after a while, that power just sort of ekes out of you. And all my friends had this. We even talked about it. We were all teenagers, and we were kind of talking about, well, how are we going to keep this going when we get home? We would have that conversation, and of course, they always tell you, do your devotions, read your Bible, do your prayers, blah, blah, blah. As if work was going to be the thing that solidified that in your life, not the Holy Spirit. And so I waited and waited and waited. And it's almost like I missed a memo. I don't know if you ever had that feeling, like I'm here, and I missed a memo somewhere. And that's kind of what I had for a couple of years. And then uh I got married, married, very young. He decided he didn't want to be married, he wanted to be pursuing other women, so he divorced me. So within a few years, I'm divorced, childless. And I mean, again, I did it all right. I crossed on my T's, I dotted on my I's, I didn't date, I actually courted, I didn't have sex before I was married. Like I did all the things that were supposed to land me the American dream, right? The husband, the children, the picket fence, and the chickens. I didn't get that. And so I was about 20 something, and working for a TV studio, and I had gone to some party that they had that I had to be at. I still was holding my little coke, like I wasn't even drinking you know, alcohol or whatever. I'm the goody-goody at the party. And I was driving home and I was like, Really, God, is this it? This is gonna be my life. And there was a storm. I recall it was one of those hurricanes that had come through, and and I it was storming out, and I said to the Lord, I said, Is this it? Can you just take me home? Make one of those trees fall on top of my car and just take me home. And then I heard his voice out of the seat of my car, and he said, If you don't want your life, I do. Now, again, up to this point, I am saved, I believe, I am baptized, I'm tongue-talking, like I know, I believe, I pray, I see him move, I'm walking with him. But he says to me, If you don't want your life, I do. We're gonna have a conversation. So I about rolled into the ditch because it startled me. I pulled over and I said, All this time, I've never been a hundred percent sure which voice was yours, and now I am. And I said, Okay, God, you want my life. What are you gonna give me for it? Now, of course, he didn't speak out loud again. The rest of it was in my mind, but I knew it was his voice, and I could discern his voice from like my own voice or my mom's voice or my dad's voice, or who knows, even my ex-husband's voice was in there somewhere in the jumble. And so I said, We're gonna have a conversation. And I began to to talk to him about it. And he said, I want you to trade me. That's a great word. I want you to trade me this. I think the first thing was my boyfriend. I had a boyfriend at the time, and he wasn't even a Christian. Don't ask me. I don't know. This is one of those bad decisions we're allowed to have every once in a while, right? And so I said, Okay, I'll give him to you. When next, and so he began to ask me for these things to trade me. Now I get trade. There's a Christian word we use called yield, and I I don't understand it. Like if that's a traffic term, I don't get that. But trade, I understand. And so began to trade him these things. And over the next several days, we I he said, Give me this. I say, Absolutely, here it is. I mean, it might take me a day or two, but I said, Absolutely, here it is. And then finally, he drew me to a book by Andrew Murray. It was this small sliver of a hippie book in P Green, you know, that hippie pea green in my grandmother's shelf. And it said, Absolute surrender, the hidden power of being in Christ. And I was like, What? So I opened it up, and it's this Andrew Murray book, and it says, This is what he's asking you. Will you surrender all that you are, all that you ever hope to be? Will you surrender to him? And I was like, Okay, this is what I've been looking for. So that was the night. I surrendered everything, all that I am, the good, the bad, the ugly, all that I'm not, the good, the bad, the ugly, and all that I ever hoped to be, I surrender absolutely. And that that was when I really began to finally have a place to put my roots. Because up until that point, it wasn't that I tried to be shallow, it was just I couldn't find the soil to put the roots down. Because it wasn't church, even though I love church, and it wasn't another person, okay, even though I love people, and it wasn't even the word of God, because the word of God was there, like a deep waters, but I needed a place for my roots, and so that was the thing. It was surrender. I've got to I've gotta walk with him into a place where if he says turn left, I turn left. And if he says turn right, I turn right. And that's where I went.

Israel Caminero 14:31

Amen. So have you been walking that narrow path ever since?

Cathy Garland 14:36

Absolutely, yeah.

Israel Caminero 14:38

Oh well, that's good. Sometimes people get into some hardships and start questioning their faith. So I'm glad that you've been on that path ever since that day.

Cathy Garland 14:48

And I will say I've been through hardships, but an absolute surrender means you've waved the white flag. There's nothing left. So, you know, it's a lot easier, actually, when hardship comes. Yes. Because you're like, what out come hell or high water? Even and there's even this old prayer, and I forget who it was that used to pray it. They said, even if you slay thou, it's an old prayer, like it says, even if thou slayest me, I will yet I will serve you. And so you have to come to that place. Even if you kill me, like even if you make that tree fall on my car and take me home, I'm going to serve you because you deserve it. You're the God of the universe, you created me, you loved me, you carried me, I'm yours. And that that was the the key for me. And it and hard things did come, as I mentioned, you know, and he did carry me through the miscarriages, and he's carried me through breaking my neck and and all the scary things that that entailed. And he has carried me and revealed himself every at every turn as the antidote to whatever lack I had. If I lacked in an area, he was the antidote. When I didn't have a husband, he led me to a cabin. I read Isaiah 54, and he said, I am the Lord Almighty, I am your husband. Okay, all right, I'm gonna take him at that word. And so that means he's gonna provide for me and he's gonna take care of me in a way that maybe my first husband didn't. And I relied upon that. I took him at his word literal instead of allegorical or however people read the Bible. If he says he's my husband, he's my husband.

Israel Caminero 16:31

That's right. So you shared a little bit about your hardships. Can you share some of the hardship you had and how your faith was deeply challenged during that season?

Cathy Garland 16:43

Yeah, so when I was divorced, as I mentioned, you know, having done it all as good as could possibly be done, and finding yourself divorced, childless, and not what I expected, right? Not the plan. I felt decommissioned because also in my circles, a divorced woman may not have a scarlet letter A, but she's probably not gonna be in ministry. Okay. That was the sort of thought at the time, because I'm a little older now. And so I was the first of many, I think, to be divorced over time of my friends. I was very young. I think I was 20 something. That's very young to be divorced. And so I stayed diligent in my devotions, but I didn't feel anything. So a lot of times people are like, How did you keep on going if you didn't feel anything? Well, that's discipline. You just keep doing it, knowing that he is there and he is gonna meet you. And months and months and months into being for the very first time on my own, divorced, etc., I went to a a camp, just kind of substituted for someone at the church. I wasn't planning on going, but they were like, hey, so-and-so is sick, we pitch in. I was on stack. I was like, sure. So I went there, I wasn't really looking forward to it, obviously. And um they did this worship, you know, it was a great worship, it was fine, but I didn't feel anything. You know, at this kind of time, any of your listeners have ever been through a divorce like this, it's kind of like PTSD, you're like in this bubble, you don't really feel everything, you're just kind of like shock, you know, it's shock. And I was still in shock, to be honest, and I was just surviving, I wasn't thriving, but I was staying diligent, and then I go to this camp, the worship ends, still not feeling nothing. And I turn around and to grab my Bible and my book off the chair and uh turn around, sit down. And the speaker had just hopped up on the stage, and he said, The Holy Spirit wants to talk to you, and he points at me that stand up. Wow, I hate those kind of moments, right? You know, it's just like, please, no, not me, pick somebody else. But I stood up and he started um saying things that only I had ever whispered to the Holy Spirit. I don't think I'd even written them in my journal. And he just read my mail, as they say, and he affirmed to me all those things that I and he recommissioned me. The Holy Spirit recommissioned me through him. And after that, I was like, okay, so it really doesn't matter, Lord, that you know, the husband that I thought was gonna minister with me, he's an evangelist. If he had, you know, stayed, I think, with the Lord, he would have been a great evangelist. He everywhere he went, people got saved, but it's gonna look different. Minister is gonna look different. And I said, All right, I'm here for it. So for me, all these experiences, whether it's the divorce or the miscarriages or the broken neck or waiting, you know, waiting for a child, I in each of those, what sustained me wasn't my resolve. Like some people say, Oh, you're so strong. Nope. It's not tidy theology, it's revelational encounters with God, the one who sees me and speaks truth into my circumstances, keeps his promises. And and those are what I call revelationship, learning to know God, how he reveals himself, not like you said, not knowing about God, but actually knowing God. And that way of walking with him carried me through all that heartbreak. And it reshaped my identity when I needed it. Because instead of divorced, childless, rejected, right? He says, chosen, beloved, you're mine. Those are important things for me to hear.

Israel Caminero 20:42

Amen. Amen. So revelationship. You just explained a little bit about that. Can you explain what it means to my audience?

Cathy Garland 20:53

Yeah. So revelationship is a real word. Look it up, it's in the urban dictionary. It's not in Merriam-Webster, but it's an urban dictionary. And it means the way that we reveal ourselves as we deepen a relationship. Even in marriage, this happens, right? You think you know somebody, then you just get married, then you really start to know somebody, right? And some of that is negative, but some of that is really, really wonderful. And so, revelationship, the book is all the ways that God is revealing himself as he pursues us for relationship. So revelationship. We learn that he reveals himself in community, and we reveals himself, you know, worship and in the four walls of church. But what we forget, and we're not really taught, is that he also reveals himself in suffering. He reveals himself as he sticks closer than the brother to the brokenhearted. He reveals himself when we are wrestling with him. That's a fun reason. Revelation, you know, going through a wrestling moment with God. He reveals himself in nature. I know a lot of men in particular never feel God's presence in the four walls of any building. But if you put them out on a deer stand for eight hours, they will experience God. And quite frankly, if I did too, that much quiet, I probably would too. But hey, that's where they experience God. Why? Because he is the creator and you can experience him in creation. If you look at all the greats in the Bible as well as you know, in church history, all of them had experiences with God outside, which I always think is kind of funny. Like even Paul, right? He gets knocked off his donkey onto his butt and his whole life has changed because he encounters God. Where? On the road to Damascus, outside. So God reveals himself in all these different ways, but as a church, one of the mistakes we've made is not teaching people where God is revealing himself in their stories. And so they think, well, God isn't in my story. And then I start to talk to them and they realize He's been there all along. And I'm like, yes, He has. And that's an important revelation right there. The God who walks with us and wants to have this relationship with us. So that's why we wrote Revelationship, uh, to help people see where God is revealing Himself already.

Israel Caminero 23:27

Amen. And like you said, a lot of people don't notice that until after the fact. Like you said, they they say, Oh, he was there the whole time. I've said that plenty of times. You know, I've said that plenty of times where I'm like, man, like God was preparing me for this journey, he was there.

Cathy Garland 23:45

Right.

Israel Caminero 23:46

And a lot of people don't get that.

Cathy Garland 23:50

Yeah, and then also it's unfortunate that we don't train people to do this because when suffering comes, because it's going to come, life is harsh, and there are things that are going to happen, even if you've lived an you know idyllic life. So at some point, at some point, you're going to feel some suffering. And when that happens, if you don't know that God is right there in the suffering, you don't know to lean in on him. Instead, you'll lean away from him, accusing the very one who's going to provide you all the support you need as you go through this. That's a problem. We've got to make sure people know that one of the ways that you can experience God is while you're suffering and looking to him to receive all that he gives you in that time. I look back and some of my suffering, and I don't want to go through it again. I'm not stupid. But I do kind of miss the level of intimacy I have with him. In the good times, you have a different kind of intimacy, okay? But in those deep times, man, you are holding on to that life preserver raft.

Israel Caminero 25:00

Yes. What you're saying hits home. It's hitting home right now with me. Because I've had those moments when COVID was around. Yes. There was no distractions whatsoever, really. And what can you do in that time was just worship God, read the Bible. And to be honest with you, I miss that because of all the distractions that happen these days with work, kids, family. All you could do back then was just learn about Jesus and the gospel and everything. They were so refreshing and so intense.

Cathy Garland 25:40

Yeah.

Israel Caminero 25:42

To where that's what you're talking about is this revelationship with Jesus.

Cathy Garland 25:48

Right.

Israel Caminero 25:49

And I miss that.

Cathy Garland 25:51

I I'm with you. And and in all the bings and all the dings and all the calendar events and the soccer and the piano lessons and the whatever else, if you do not forcefully ensure that you have time with God for him to reveal himself, it's very hard for us to hear his voice. People tell me, Are you sure God is still speaking? I'm like, Well, I don't know about you, but my God says he's never changed and he never will change. So if he spoke in the Old Testament, he's speaking now. Because he said he'd never change. And I fully reserve all rights for God to appear in a burning bush if he wants to. Like if he jolly well wants to, he can go ahead and do that if he wants to. So yes, he's speaking because let me ask a question. If you married someone and they never spoke to you, would you think something's odd? You would. Right. Right? A relationship needs to be two-way. So a lot of times people say, Well, talk to me about your prayer life, because prayer that you know, they're they're asking me for prayer, and they maybe we pray for something and they experience a miracle. And they're like, Okay, well, I I'd like to have this kind of prayer and faith too. I'm like, Well, what is what is your prayer life? And there's like, I don't know, what should it be? I mean, I read my Bible and I pray a little bit in the mornings. I'm like, okay, no, I'm talking about how do you hear God? Where do you hear him? Do you hear him when you're washing dishes in the shower? I mean, I know a lot of moms, that's the only time they have time to hear from the Lord. But whatever the case is, like, where are you placing your heart in a quiet space to be able to hear him speaking? And people say, Well, I'm not. I have a friend, she's uh head of an orphanage in Africa, and the children wake up every morning and they tell her about their dreams and how Jesus spoke to them in their dreams and he's speaking to their heart. And at first she was just a little bit taken aback, like, why why why is this so much? And then she realized that it should be normal for God to be speaking to every one of those children. He actually says he's the father of the fatherless. So absolutely, he's right there with them in their midst. It's her that's not normal. She realized that she wasn't normal, she was so busy with all the things that she wasn't hearing from God. It was her, and so she just radically upended her whole life to make sure that she had time to hear from God.

Israel Caminero 28:25

That's right. You need that quiet time.

Cathy Garland 28:27

Absolutely.

Israel Caminero 28:28

I do it first thing in the morning. I wake up and that's my first go-to because if not, like I said, all these distractions come and then you might forget or not do it.

Cathy Garland 28:38

I do it in the morning after my kids leave. So I get them, we're up at six something in the morning. I get them breakfast, I get them out the door. Most of us moms are working on autopilot first thing in the morning, or else we have to get up at like five, which is not doable for me. And so I kick them out the door, my husband takes them to school. As soon as that door locks, I turn around and I'm like you. I gotta get out my Bible, I get out my worship music, I get out my prayer um journal so that I can journal whatever it is that I'm praying. And I will pray upwards of two hours until I have to get to work and work by work. I work from home. So even throughout the day, thankfully, I have opportunities all day long to do what Paul says, pray unceasingly, you know, washing dishes. I can be either listening to a podcast or praying, especially if I watch the news. I mean, if I watch the news, I've got to go turn it off and then go pray because that news will just disturb my peace and I won't sleep. So I've got to go and pray and turn it all over to God and pray a prayer that releases it to Him to do something about it.

Israel Caminero 29:49

That's right. Yeah, I don't watch the news.

Cathy Garland 29:52

Don't. Yeah, I don't.

Israel Caminero 29:54

So, what would you say to someone who feels stuck in routine faith? Like a step they can take towards deeper intimacy with God.

Cathy Garland 30:02

First thing I would say is go outside. I mean, wait till the snow melts. I don't know where you guys are, but we got tons of snow and ice. Yeah, oh go outside. Yeah, okay. All right. Go outside, go in the middle of the woods where nobody is, take off your shoes, put your feet on the ground, and look at something. I don't care if it's a tree or a sunset or whatever it is, and quiet yourself. Because that's what we're talking about right now. That's the first thing I would do. And being out in nature is the most easiest way to hear from God, I think, because it's so silent. And you'll begin to notice the sounds that you've missed, like the birds and the sounds of the wind and the trees and the crackles and the leaves and the um maybe a little critter somewhere walking or whatever. And you once you start to hear that, then you can start to hear his voice talking to you. And a lot of times he's talking through scripture. So for those people who are also stuck, I would also say pick a scripture verse to meditate upon. You know, whatever that scripture is, take it with you in your mind, maybe, or take your Bible with you or whatever. But I I don't sometimes I just write it on my hand. I know that's kind of silly, but it sticks with me until I wash the dishes. So, you know, I can write it on my hand, look down at it, and then I can contemplate that, think about it, hear what he has to say, and usually has something to say that has something to do with that scripture. Because he's the one who brings it to you, right? I mean, our natural inclination is to not do the holy things. So if God leads us to a scripture verse to think about, you can pretty much guarantee that was you, not you, that was God. It wasn't the devil, it wasn't you, it was God who led you to that scripture.

Israel Caminero 31:51

That's right. And he will speak to you, speak to you through them. So you mentioned your books and your blog. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Cathy Garland 32:02

Yeah, so revelationship, I wrote that with my dad to help people really see where God is revealing himself in their stories. I did a revelationship devotional because people said, you know, I read this so fast, it's not a deep theological tone. They said, I read it so fast, but I need to re-go back through and apply it. So I wrote a devotional that kind of takes them through it. And this is a reset course that people can go through the book with me if they want to, and I can help them. Um, and then I also put out the known devotional just recently, December 1st. And that's that's been a lot of women have written to me about that book. So known is 32 names of God and what they mean for our identity. So when I was growing up in youth group, it was just a popular thing for everybody to say, know who you are in Christ, know who you are in Christ. What does that even mean? So I took 32 of my favorite names of God, Jehovah Rafa, El Roy, you know, all these names. Jehovah Nisi, which I mentioned earlier, the Lord Our Banner. I took those names, and instead of just talking about what they mean, I tell you what they mean and then what you mean because of that name. I make the bridge for people, and I say, walk across this bridge, and then you'll know who you are because of who he is. So if he's Elroy, the God who sees the injustice done to you and to me, and plans to do something about it, then you are seen. I am seen. That's our identity. And any injustice that's done to us, he is seeing it and he plans to do something about it. And so that's an important part of today's cultural problem. All the all the angst, all the mores, all the problems right now are because we have no moorings in who we are. We're looking for all sorts of boxes to tell us who we are. When I grew up, we didn't want to be boxed in. But today's generation, they want 13 boxes to describe them, customized, I guess, to identity. And I'm like, you have no idea who you are, because you have no idea who God says you are. And then in this book, The Known Devotional, I take those 32 names and I tell people, and they go through the scripture, they go through the devotion, they go through mindfulness exercises or journaling or family sort of things they can do together, and it reinforces this is who I am because of who he is.

Israel Caminero 34:38

Amen. And I will have links to all that that she just shared on the description of the podcast. If anybody wants to go and show Kathy some love and support her and her ministry, I always try to send my audience over to support the guests that are here sharing their testimony. I'm not saying they all do it, but I put it out there so they can go and check it out and hopefully support you in your mission.

Cathy Garland 35:05

That's wonderful. And they can also connect with me because I love to answer people's hard questions. You know, I remember I said when I was 13, I started to really ask those questions. People will send me emails and they'll say things like, you know, what about Sodom and Gomorrah? Doesn't that reveal this awful wrathful God? How do you make that jive with the Jesus and the New Testament? I love questions like that. Bring it. This is fun for me and delightful and to get to know people and where they're coming from. So they can connect with me at revelationship.net. And I also have resources on there that people can download that aren't books that they have to buy. Like I love to make sure that I'm sharing things. Like I have a Lenten study, I have affirmations instead of instead of worldly affirmations or manifestations or crazy things, looking yourself in the mirror and saying a lie, don't do it. It's worthless, it's not worth your time. Better to know what God says about you and to declare that over yourself because it's truth. And if he said it once, he said it for all time. If it's true, because he said it, it is true, then it's true for you. And that's that's kind of the thing that people have to know about worldly affirmations. Those things may not be true, or they may be half truths or maybe quarter truths or something like that. But better to say what God says because you know it's a hundred percent true, and he plans on doing it. That's the thing.

Israel Caminero 36:37

That's right.

Cathy Garland 36:38

If he says it, he'll do it.

Israel Caminero 36:40

Amen. I love that, and I love your heart to help others speaks wonders. And I will have links to all that on the description of the podcast. Like I said, her website, her books, so you can go and check Kathy out. So now I'd like to ask, which I'm sure you have many, but is there a verse or passage that anchored you through different seasons of your life? Like what's your favorite? I know there's more than one, Kathy. Everyone has them. But one that you can always go back to and read and what that verse is and what it means to you.

Cathy Garland 37:20

So my life chapter would be Isaiah 54. If people want to check that out, they they can. The whole chapter is wonderful, especially if they've gone through a divorce. But the verse that I would say as a kind of a life verse would be Psalm 1611. It says, You will make known to me the path of life, and in your presence there is fullness of joy. And again, when people sometimes hear my story, they say things like, Oh, you're you're strong, you're resilient, or whatever, and try to give me the accolades. I'm like, no, no, no, no, you're you're missing the point. The point is that God meets me and He meets us in the places that we need Him, the places that are breaking us, and we're never abandoned. He's always present, He's always steady on that path of life. Now, there have been times when I have walked in the non-path of life, right? The path of death or the path of bad decisions, like God didn't there too, but on the path of life, he's present, he's steady, he's actively at work. And so you don't have to be strong or resilient for God to move. You just have to be honest, open, and willing to let him reveal himself in your story.

Israel Caminero 38:36

Amen. You know, when you shared that verse, it really made me think about you what you've been talking about, the revelationship. Not just knowing about God, but truly knowing him.

Cathy Garland 38:49

Yes. And that is that knowing, that word there you'll make known to me. You're right. It's not just a knowing, like a like I read a book and now I know a fact, right? Right. It's the kind of knowing that a man and a woman have when they have a covenant relationship. It's an intimacy, is really what we're talking about. Intimacy. So you're right, 100%.

Israel Caminero 39:10

Now we're going to my back to the past segment of the podcast. Well, my back to the past segment is if you could go back and speak to your younger self early in your faith or when you were going through hardships, what would you tell yourself and why?

Cathy Garland 39:28

It's funny, you'd almost expect me to say, Don't marry that guy, right? I mean, we laugh about it, but you know, maybe in hindsight, right, to look back. But that's not what I would do because why would I trade what I know now and what I have experienced and learned of God? So maybe what I would say to my younger self is to um rest a bit more in who God was. I did kind of drive myself a little bonkers, wanting to know God's will for my life, you know. I say that kind of funny because I think I must have read like dozens of books about what's God's will for your life, how to know God's will for your life, or whatever. Okay, I think I kind of made myself a little nuts. And um, Fuchsia Pickett, I went to a teaching of hers again, 20s, much later in my, you know, and um she said, Would you like to know God's will for your life? And I was like, my arm was like, Yes, yes, hello, me right here. And she said, I'll tell you what it is. She said, You say yes to God every time he asks you something, and no to the devil every time he asks you something, and you'll have done the will of God for your life. And I was like, What? Is that rocket science? And I was like, Okay, this is this is I'm watching, you know, thinking to myself, 14, 15, 16 plus years of searching for this, and this woman just unravels it in a few seconds. Bless her. I loved her, she was wonderful. She's gone on to the Lord. She must have been 100 when I saw her. Um, but you know, best teacher I ever heard, Fuchsia Pickett. Just say yes to God and no to the devil, and you will have done it. And she even said it with that southern accent. So I loved it.

Israel Caminero 41:12

That's a good encouragement that she gave you and a good life that she had. You know, as young as you said she was. Kathy, I just want to say thank you for taking the time to be here and sharing with my audience your testimony and how much God and Jesus mean to you. Before we close, though, do you think you can close us out in prayer?

Cathy Garland 41:36

Absolutely. I'd be happy to do that. Lord Jesus, we are so grateful that you are not a God who stands on a mountaintop and tells us to come up to you like some guru. Instead, you bring heaven down to us. You reveal yourself, you walk alongside us. I always love how when you come to women in the Bible, you're always coming right in the middle of the tents and the dirty diapers and the dishes and everything else that has to happen. Men, you kind of call to the backside of mountains, and I'm sure there's a reason for that. But Lord, the fact that you come is just extraordinary. And if we're going through something like Job and we have lost everything and we hurl our questions to this guy, you might not answer the questions, but you come. That's extraordinary. There's no other God like you, there's no other God who would even come close to that. So, Lord, we're so grateful that by your spirit you have given us Christ in our Christ's righteousness, Christ's mind, that you are transforming us from the inside, that you justified us by his blood, but you are sanctifying us as a process, Lord. And for those who are listening, Lord, who are stuck, Lord, I just ask that you would reveal yourself to them in a dream or a vision or a moment, out on a mountaintop, or as they're driving to work, whatever it is, Lord, you're present with them and let them know that. And then, Father, for those who have been serving God for a long time and are tired and have worn themselves out, even serving you and doing the right things, Lord, that they would rest in you. And for those who feel decommissioned, like they've done something that's unforgivable, or they've done something that makes them pretty sure they're unusable by you. Lord, I ask that you would pour your spirit out into them once more, so they would know that they are actually a vessel shaped just right to present your gospel to ears that will only hear it from them. And we ask for that. In Jesus' name.

Israel Caminero 44:01

Amen. Amen. Kathy, I felt your prayer. Thank you for that prayer. And thank you so much for sharing your testimony and for being willing to open your heart with us today. I truly believe your obedience and transparency are going to bless a lot of people.

Cathy Garland 44:19

Well, I'm glad. Thank you for having me. It was wonderful.

Israel Caminero 44:22

No problem at all. If today's conversation encouraged you in any way, remember this. God desires to be known, not from a distance, but personally. And to everyone listening, thank you for taking the time to be here, for leaning in, and for allowing God to meet you right where you are. Whether you're listening in your car at home or in a quiet moment by yourself, I don't take your time or presence lightly. If this episode blessed you, please consider liking, sharing, and subscribing to Living Testimony. It truly helps these testimonies reach others who may need hope, encouragement, or a reminder that God is still at work. Thank you for listening to Living Testimonies, where your story always points to his glory.