Stories of Faith
STORIES OF FAITH: A LIFE OF DEVOTION TO THE LORD
Kallin Smith lives her life everyday serving God in multiple ways
Special to FBC Jenks
September 13th, 2023
When Kallin Smith graduated from nursing school in May 2016, she had been attending the same church since she was in youth group.
She grew up loving her church and created so many lasting memories, it would take a novel to tell them all. However, upon entering her post-college, young-professional years, she knew she was going to have to make one of the toughest decisions of her life.
“Once I graduated, the church I had been attending didn’t have anything for people who were single and just out of college,” Kallin said. “I prayed and cried about it a lot. I wrestled with the decision to step away from what felt like was family to me. I even talked to my pastor about it. I made the decision to step away and search for a place with a strong community and a Bible teaching-led church for people in my stage of life.”
It was around that same time that Cody Brumley was starting the Young Professionals class at First Baptist Church Jenks. Kallin already had a friendship with Kristina Ray (now Wright), who attended FBC Jenks, and Kristina had told Kallin about the new class that was starting.
“It was absolutely the Lord’s timing to answer that prayer I had in searching for the right church,” Kallin said.
Going into the search for a new church home, Kallin told herself she wanted to wait a year before she made her final decision. Throughout that year, she visited other churches as well, but every Sunday she didn’t have a place planned to visit, she would always attend Jenks First Baptist.
“My heart’s desire, on those Sundays, was always to go back to FBC Jenks,” Kallin said.
“One of my prayers was to find a church that had a multi-generational aspect to it. None of my grandparents are still living, but I had several women from the church, a couple which were old enough to be my grandparents, who were willing to spend time with me and invest in my life. I officially joined FBC Jenks November 2, 2017. It is one of the best decisions I have ever made. The way the Lord has used the church and the people in the church in my life has been so instrumental in my faith.”
When Cody started the Young Professionals class, he wanted to create an environment where people would feel comfortable sharing about what was going on in their lives and what they had learned in their quiet times with the Lord.
“I had never had that kind of accountability in my life,” Kallin said. “We were encouraged to share what the Lord was teaching us. It was also encouraging to hear what other people were learning as well. It made me want to read scripture more.”
Kallin serves in the youth at FBC Jenks with the seventh and eighth-grade girls. She has been serving in that role since 2018.
“Having the challenge and accountability of being a teacher is good, but also getting to see the Lord save lives and grow their faith is amazing,” Kallin said. “It is cool to see them mature in their faith and learn more about scripture. When I was that age, I was walking with so much doubt. I know how much it meant to me to have someone to talk to. I have tried to share that portion of my story in case some of them are going through something similar.”
Kallin was born into a Christian family with parents who loved the Lord and instilled that into their children. She is the fourth of five children in her family. Her oldest sibling is Jason, then there is Kari, Kristin and her younger brother is Jesse. She was saved at a young age and as she grew, her faith grew with her. It was during her middle school years she began to question her faith.
“My confidence in my salvation was not there during that time,” Kallin said. “I had a lot of doubt.
My youth pastor really helped me and walked me through my doubts and fears and took me back to scripture. It was at Falls Creek I went forward to talk with my small group leader about my struggles. That night we wrestled through some theology, and it really brought me back to peace in my salvation. Ultimately, I am thankful for seasons of doubt in my life because it strengthened my faith in the end.”
Even though her faith is strong and unwavering, Kallin still deals with the constant attacks from Satan trying to pull us away from the Lord.
“Satan attacks through discouragement, fear, distractions, etc.,” Kallin said.
A difficult time for Kallin was in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic first hit the globe. Kallin is a pediatric nurse and due to working on a respiratory floor at Saint Francis Hospital, she felt like she couldn’t spend time with her family.
“My little brother was diagnosed with a heart condition during that time, so I didn’t feel like it was safe to be around my family,” Kallin said. “It was the first time in my life I truly felt isolated. God used the church to help fight that for me. There were numerous people from the church who reached out to me via text or Zoom to check on me. There were so many times from 2020 I felt so alone, but God kept meeting that moment and reminded me He was still there.”
There are several passages from the Bible that Kallin likes to turn to when she is going through a tough time.
The first is Isaiah 55:8-9, which reads, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
The second is Lamentations 3:21-23, which reads, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
“Both of those chapters, Isaiah 55 and Lamentations 3, are so amazing,” Kallin said. “It is a great reminder that His ways are not my ways, His timing is not my timing, and I can trust Him in everything. Remembering the Lord’s mercies and my sin and my doubt and how He is faithful even when it doesn’t make sense to me.”
Kallin always knew she wanted to work in the medical field. Her mother and older sister, Kari, are both nurses. When she was five years old, she told her mom she wanted to be a doctor. As she got older, she quickly realized she did not want that level of responsibility or attend that many years of school. When she was on a mission trip in Panama, there was a medical group there and she got to see firsthand all the different areas of what they do with people overseas.
Medical missions is a field she would like to pursue in the future.
“That is something I often think and pray about,” Kallin said. “If God provides that opportunity. That would be neat.”
When she was entering nursing school, she knew she didn’t want to work with adult patients. She chose pediatrics because she has always had a love for children.
“I prayed through nursing school that if the Lord wanted me to go into something other than pediatrics that He would show me,” Kallin said. “I love children, so I knew that was where I was supposed to be.”
Kallin uses her position as a pediatric nurse to bring glory to the Lord.
“Every day, I pray that my eyes would see His work around me,” Kallin said. “I have seen the Lord answer that prayer through difficult times families go through. I pray with families walking through those hard times and I pray for healing over those patients. I have seen the Lord answer prayers and move in ways I never expected.”
