In Philippians chapter 1 verse 14, Paul shared how his imprisonment provided confidence to many brothers of the faith and even encouraged them to be bold in speaking the gospel message. Paul’s faithfulness to the gospel message inspired many to do the same.
His story transcended towns, provinces, countries, continents and even generations, as many of us today continue to be inspired by his story. However, amidst the complex, sacrificial and supernatural nature of Paul’s life, he simply believed, obeyed, lived and told. Living N Telling is a mini series that seeks to share the lives of believers who have placed their hope in the one who loves them the most.
Individuals, who remain steadfast in co-labouring with God in establishing his kingdom here on earth. As children of God, we come from different spheres of life, but we all share one vision and hope and serve an amazing God. Our lives may not be as grandeur as Paul’s; but, it’s just as necessary in encouraging current and future generations everywhere to walk with Christ and abide in him until he returns.
In this edition of Living N Telling, I share with you the story of a missionary, entrepreneur and women’s Life Coach, Mrs Kimberly Garth.
Kimberly’s life speaks to the simplicity of the gospel message and how critical discipleship is to the growth and sustenance of one’s faith journey.
I found her story to be truly refreshing and I hope you do too. Kimberly Garth, formerly Perrotte, is from the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
Her early years consisted of many playful times with other members of her neighbourhood as she reminisced on what she believed was a really good childhood.
So, why Christ? Kimberly, like many individuals in the Caribbean, attended church with her grandmother in her early years. However, her grandmother passed away when she was nine (9) and this prompted her to switch churches. Her mother sent her and her brother to a Christian Brethren church where she repeatedly heard clear presentations of the gospel message. She got saved at eleven (11) years old.
Kimberly shared that she was inconsistent in her faith, especially throughout her teen years. She confessed to not being faithful in being a doer of the Word; but, this changed at the start of her university tenure. She sighted two reasons for this change; her interactions with Cru-Trinidad and Tobago and her mother’s cousin who was a pastor. Kimberly’s involvement with Cru-Trinidad and Tobago arose out of the guilt of needing to be a part of a Christian movement to fulfil her duty as a professed believer. Furthermore, her grandfather, who had returned from living in Canada, got saved and was zealous for the salvation of his family members.
This resulted in the salvation of her mother and the water baptism of Kimberly, who was reluctant to do so in the earlier stages of her faith journey. As stated earlier, Kimberly was very inconsistent in living out her faith in her earlier years. Though she was saved at a young age, she believed that being a Christian was pretty boring.
She expressed that through her involvement with Cru she began to truly understand what it meant to be a follower of Christ. As a freshman, she was committed to going to only Bible studies and she was very hesitant to attend weekly meetings at first. She even confessed to being relieved at times when her discipler wasn’t able to show up. However, her investment in Cru grew exponentially when she attended a hike with their members. They exceeded her expectations as her preconceived notion of all Christians being boring and super spiritual proved untrue.
After this hike, she became greatly involved with Cru to the point where she was asked in her sophomore year by the campus director to consider becoming a missionary with Cru. The woman who delayed her full commitment to Christ on the premise that serious commitment was reserved for older Christians, was now giving the best of her youthfulness in service to God and had great joy while doing it.
She accepted the offer to join the Cru staff, thinking she would only do so for two years but two years became two decades as she is still an active member of the Cru-Trinidad and Tobago community. However, It was a difficult decision at first.
From a very young age, she was successful with entrepreneurship.
As a holder of a B.Sc degree in Computer Science from the University of the West Indies, Kimberly sacrificed the opportunity to go corporate and earn decent salaries in order to commit to a life where she had to challenge persons to invest financially in her ministry with Cru.
This is very difficult in the Caribbean and oftentimes met with opposition even from some members of the church community.
However, what she gained was invaluable. As a Cru missionary, She was a part of a system of discipleship where she learned and later imparted lessons about purity, relationships money and other facets of life.
She spoke to how this system enabled her to form relationships where the impact of one person wasn’t limited to just Bible studies but infiltrated every facet of one's life.
The lessons she learned while serving as a Cru missionary inspired her to start her own business, Petals Bloom Media, which seeks to help women navigate various situations in their personal life and journeys with Christ. Kimberly yearns for believers to understand the importance of discipleship and tap into the riches of it. She believes that too many Christians are living out their faith in their own strength.
She believes that this contributes to many having challenges in their faith. Christianity should affect all areas of our lives but many struggles to accept this. However, having someone who is showing and teaching us how to walk faithfully will help us with challenges in our walk. Kimberly desires for Christians to help each other in this way. I agree with Kimberly as there are many ways we need to become mature as believers.
Self-denial is essential to the growth of ones faith but its hard. Having another believer investing their time, talents and treasures in an effort to propel another to maturity makes the Christian journey so much easier. In fact, we fulfill our mandates as co-labourers with Christ when we do this for each other. Kimberly has greatly benefited from discipleship, but she admits that there are many more who needs discipleship.
Bearing this in mind, she remains steadfast in the discipleship of many women around the world through Petals Bloom Media.
Like a great fruit tree, Kimberly’s life will continue to nurture the lives of many. Like an alluring petal, her life’s work will continue to bloom for the glory of God.
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