Cacy Jo Harmon: Inspiring Our Youth

I recently had the honor of interviewing a young lady that has been an inspiration to many women young and old. She is entertaining, loving and a lover of all things Jesus. Watching her grow up in her walk with Jesus has been such an inspiration and I am thrilled to read her book. On behalf of Christian Women Living Magazine, I would like you to meet Cacy Jo Harmon, the young lady full of woman wisdom.

Cyndi Kay: If you would, can you give us little bit of a basic background on yourself? Family? Children? Career? Hobbies? Where you are from?
Cacy Jo: I was born into an amazing family in a household with both my parents, who have been married for 31 years this year, and 2 older brothers. I grew up in the local church in my hometown of Stilwell, OK and have thankfully never looked back from following Jesus. I am currently an unclaimed blessing which is a prettier way of saying I am single as a pringle. But don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying this season of singleness while happily awaiting the season of being a wife! I work as a Business Financial Collections Trainer and love every minute of it. My hobbies right now in quarantine are driving with my windows down jammin’ out or taking long walks through Target 😉 But I love any time spent with friends, reading, writing/journaling, doing all of the above in a cozy coffee shop, listening to music and a good movie at the movie theater!

CK: Can you give us a summary on your journey with Christ — from the time you accepted Christ, to how you started in ministry.
CJ: My journey with Christ can be summarized by a mixture of discovery, encounter, and experience. I accepted Jesus with the salvation prayer as a really young kid and grew up in the church my entire childhood. At about age 16 the people closest to me that I was raised up by left the church. It left me curious, doubtful, and upset. I have experienced church, I have experienced Christianity, but it wasn’t until I had a true encounter with God in the midst of that when I discovered, experienced, and encountered the Holy Spirit which brought a whole new understanding of Jesus and salvation. It took relational loss and loved ones leaving the church for me to find a personal relationship with Jesus and I am forever grateful that loss brought me into that instead of driving me away.

CK: How long did it take you to write your book?
CJ: My book is actually a combination of personal journal entries over the last one and a half – two years. I became so passionate and curious of hearing God’s voice and struggled with the idea that I needed a position, title, or to be “older” to hear God speak. I remember so clearly as a desperate and hungry teenager the Lord impressed on my heart “Just look for me in everyday situations as if you were having a conversation with me”. And that is exactly what I did. It is a journey and it is a process for sure. The putting together of the actual book took a total of about 6 months mostly because I battled fear of doing it, which is real, but the actual material coming together as the book really only took a couple of days to piece together.

CK: What are some recommendations you would make to self-publishing on Amazon?
CJ: My biggest piece of advice if someone desires to choose to self-publish on Amazon is to do your research, use the incredible resource that YouTube is, and just DO IT. Do it afraid if you have to but just do it. It is a rather easy process to partner with Amazon.

CK: Tell us about a time that God directly answered a prayer.
CJ: I am so passionate about the fact that God cares so intentionally about every detail of our life. I was introduced to an event that was happening specifically for young women preachers. It was a 4 day weekend with food included in a beautiful resort with so much included in the package so needless to say it would cost a pretty penny. So I had prayerfully created a way for people to donate if they would like to. Long story short, I was a week from leaving and I still needed $247 and was praying about it and truly trusting God to provide. I woke up the next day to a donation of this EXACT amount, no joke! Down to the dollar! So if you don’t believe God sees, hears, knows, and moves on hearts on your behalf…… please do! He is in the details about the big and the small!

CK: What inspires you?
CJ: What inspires me the most is the ability to change, transform, grow, and mature. It keeps me hungry for more in every aspect. The fact that I am not who I used to be and nowhere near who I fully want to be yet excites and inspires me every single day.

CK: What are some of the biggest challenges facing younger women and youth — and youth ministries?
CJ: I believe, currently a big challenge that many younger women and youth are facing is what all human beings are facing: the challenge of being understood and seeking understanding. This applied to all walks of life, all types of belief systems, all situations, and all heart positions. Whether you trust in God or wonder if God is trustworthy….. whether you are a successful student or struggling to just make the passing scores…. whether you are in a youth ministry or serving as youth minister/leader……whether you are black, Hispanic, white, whichever race you are…. All of us are wanting to be understood and want to understand. This is both a challenge and a call. I believe this type of challenge, especially for youth and young adults, is actually a call deeper into discovering who God truly is and what his character is really like. Because believe it or not, Gods character is GOOD even when his actions or seemingly lack of actions don’t feel good.

CK: During this tumultuous time, where do you find your peace of mind?
CJ: I truly find my peace in Jesus but that practically looks like shifting my focus from what I see to what I know, even if it is hard to believe it in the moment. I listen to specific worship songs that will shift my mood and mindset, I am intentional to read and watch encouragement through sermons, inspirational messages, and worship videos. The impact of what you watch, hear, and read is REAL. My peace is truly coming from immersing myself in truth through scripture, songs, and sermons and leaning on nothing but Jesus.

CK: Best piece of advice you’ve ever received.
CJ: “In life, you must be like a strong tree. Learn to bend and not break”. This piece of advice was from my mother when I was younger girl. I can truthfully say back then, I would scoff and shrug my shoulders when I heard her say this over and over. But now as a 25 year old young adult, I cling to this almost every day. Life is like a huge wind storm that shifts and changes with each new day. Learning to bend and move with what happens but not breaking is GOLD.

CK: How do unwind after a busy day?
CJ: Unwinding after a busy day looks like blasting worship music in my car as I drive with the windows down to my favorite coffee/tea shop to crack open a journal or book and dive in!

CK: If you could visit with anyone from the Bible who would it be and why?
CJ: Wow! What a question. While I cannot wait to meet Jesus face to face and do nothing but fall down in worship, I would absolutely love to sit down and glean from Paul from the Bible. Everything he writes is dripping with wisdom and the things he has experienced and encountered is unmatched in my opinion.

CK: Is there anything else you would like to say? Take this opportunity to promote your own ministry, project, business or share what God has put on your heart recently.
CJ: The cool thing about a personal relationship with Jesus is that he is speaking, he is moving, and he is so present. Every year around the month of October-November I start praying and worshipping seeking God for a word to root myself in for the upcoming year. This past November I felt like the Lord was giving me the word “altar” based upon the story of Abraham and his son Isaac whom he had been promised by God and waited YEARS for this son. God asked him to sacrifice this son, his only son, whom he had waited for and loved, on the altar. In the end God provided a ram in the bush to sacrifice and the son lived, but this is so impactful to my own life and seeing the way 2020 is playing out, this year on its own is a WHOLE altar ready for my heart and life to be laid out before God in total surrender. What is on my heart for you today is to seek God whole heartedly in the small, in the big, in the details, in the unknown. He is so present. Trust me. I have seen him prove himself personally where my faith was no one else’s but my own. He is ready and willing to prove himself to you, too.

I would like to thank Cacy Jo for taking time to get with me on this interview! If you haven’t read her book “Hearing The Voice Of God: Convos With Cacy”, you can pick it up at Amazon.com