Long Lost Katya

I bought this necklace as a gift to myself, as a reminder, and as a message with a meaning behind it that I’d like to share more of. Ever since I was adopted from Ukraine at four years old, people referred to me as Kati and my Ukrainian name was Americanized to this shortened form of Katarina.

Taking this common name as my own was normalized for me. People only knew me as Kati and for the longest time that’s all I had familiarized myself with. I was unsure of what my birth family would’ve called me until I reunited with them a little over a year ago and heard them call me “Katya”. All these years, these people far off wondered about their “long lost Katya”.

Given the circumstances of my story, my birth family had lost me before they even realized it. I believe that God continually intervened even in a time when I was clueless and defenseless. I was adopted into a family that came to realize that I was God’s beloved before becoming their child. I’ve come to a view of God that isn’t the way much of the world understands God as. I came to believe for myself that God already knew me by name before I was conceived and He calls me His own and I believe the purpose He has for me is my greatest destiny that no mankind and nothing in this life could ever take away from me.

I believe that God’s ways are higher than mine and the depth He has brought to my soul is far greater than any family could give me and far more abundant than anything I could ever gain for myself. I’ve come to learn that when life events happened in such a way that we expect or in ways that don’t make sense, regardless of this my life was never my own but was bought with a price that allowed me to see my worth that was never lost but that I found in Christ who I believe to be the Source of blessings in disguise and the redeemer of broken hearts in broken situations.

My purpose is not to fit my own agenda but to align myself with God’s Will and Gods Truth. My worth was never lost but has always been seen in the sight of God, regardless of how any other person sees it. This is the story behind my name Katya and this is what it means to me. Although many people have known me as Kati, this necklace helps me hold onto what was never truly lost, a name that remains precious to me and is equally as important. I desire to further appreciate and embrace my birth name, Katya.