Women Who Inspire: Michelle Gott, a writer after the heart of Jesus

Growing up in the mountains of Colorado has always been something that I cherish. The quaint little town where everyone knew everyone was home to many who experienced a different life. I met this week’s Women Who Inspire when we were in grade school in Leadville. It has been a true blessing to become reacquainted with her and share our love for Jesus and writing. It is an honor to introduce her as a new member of the Christian Women Living team. Meet Michelle Gott, a writer after the heart of Jesus.

Cyndi Kay: Please give us a brief introduction and life history.
Michelle Gott: Hi. My name is Michelle Gott. I am 54 years old and I live in Colorado Springs, CO. I am the mother of four grown children, 3 daughters and a son, and ten precious grandbabies. I love my two older brothers deeply, and even though my oldest brother’s wife is not my sister by blood, she is now my chosen sister. I am deeply committed to my parents in these latter years. I am so blessed that they are still both living, and we grow closer every season in our lives. I have had relational difficulties with two divorces and a long-term relationship that failed. I now have a wonderful and godly gentleman in my life and I’m very excited to see what the Lord intends for our future. I share his passion, as well as my parent’s love for prisoners and ex-offenders; and Peter and I are blessed to have begun a prison ministry that is helping the incarcerated and parolees to know themselves and reset with families, to know and walk with Jesus, and to make positive steps toward a productive future. I am self-employed, although the face of that looks quite different on this side of COVID-19 than it did before the onset. I am a Colorado native and grew up in the mountains, from Twin Lakes to Leadville to Buena Vista then Pagosa Springs. I have been in Colorado Springs now for 12 years, but I traveled nationwide for 15 years for business. Due to COVID especially now but also many things the Lord has been refurbishing in my heart, my current state of being has changed dramatically. I am one of His Flip-It projects and I sense a Grand Reopening is about to be telecast.

CK: Please share your testimony and journey with Christ — from the time you accepted Christ, to how you started in ministry.
MG: I have known of Jesus since I was a little girl. I asked Him into my heart when I was at a backyard Bible school. Every time I went to camp or a special speaker came to talk, I rededicated my life to Him again. I couldn’t grasp that salvation was a one-time decision. I also didn’t grasp that sanctification would take a lifetime. I have been marinating in Jesus, then, for fifty years. The longer it has been, the more tender we are becoming together.

I grew up anorexic and marginalized. I was smart but made stupid choices, not being honest with myself and others or caring about outcomes. I married young mostly out of rebellion. I didn’t know what love was. Neither of us did. It was a volatile relationship that ended in a nasty lifelong divorce, but it birthed four of the most wonderful children I will ever have the pleasure of knowing. My second marriage was an escape and I navigated through it just as poorly as the first one. I escaped in drug dependency and self-loathing. I morphed into a 3rd serious and long-term relationship and numbed myself with alcohol, business, and people-pleasing, and I hid behind excuses and whatever made anyone happy with me. I was alone much of the time and so it was easy to just say what others wanted to hear and to change my flavor based upon who I was around. I now realize what a fraud I was. During the latter years though some very amazing little people came along, and my grandchildren have rocked my world.

However, about three years ago, while traveling all the time for business, Jesus really started working in my heart. I was falling more in love with Him through the two churches I attended when I could, and He began traveling with me in the form of praise and worship and sermon podcasts. Initially, Pastor Steven Furtick with Elevation Church, went on every trip with me; now, I listen to sermons by many pastors/speakers throughout most days. I have become what I used to make fun of! You grow to love what you spend time with though and for me that is Jesus.

I found myself in a very desperate situation about 2 years ago. I was professional and had successful businesses and many acquaintances, but I was very alone and lonely and a complete failure at being real, a fake. I lived for my children and my grandchildren and friends and family but selfishly on my terms and I forecast just what I wanted others to believe and see. I had been covering also for someone for a long period of time and all the liability and responsibility was on my shoulders. My internal empire was about to crumble but I only faced that late at nights when I was all by myself, when the only one to see me was who I could no longer avoid. Jesus.

March 10, 2019, found me on the way to my business, and another job in a different state, and at a dead-end street. My relationships were crashing; I wanted an escape, but I could think of no way that was possible or realistic because of the load I bore and all who I would let down. I was contemplating suicide and how I would even manage that when He met me in my motel room. As I was deciding if I had the guts to end it all, He spoke, calling me His cherished daughter who He would set free. He said many things that morning, but I mostly remember, ‘I will rescue you from your deep pit and set you on a high place with a new song on your lips. But you must trust Me. Be obedient. And let go.’

He has done all of that, and so much more, in eighteen months. It – this trusting Him, being obedient (hearing His voice alone) and letting go – has cost everything, businesses, possessions, finances; even the relationships with my daughters that I have held most dear. But for every loss, I have gained tenfold His overwhelming presence in every moment of my day. Everything else was emptied out, and yet, He has filled me to overflowing with Him, His grace, provision, mercy, love, and above all else, His faithfulness. See, I will never again question if He will do as He promises because I got to experience Him firsthand keep His Word. Every syllable He uttered; He is keeping to this cherished daughter.

CK: What led you to choosing your profession?
MG: Due to the Lord changing my heart and passion, the profession I have known for many years is changing. COVID has aided in that process as well. I am uncertain what the future looks like, but I am excited to keep reading my story to see how the Lord writes each new chapter. I pray I have opportunity to share with others what Jesus has done for me that He wishes to do for them too and I really hope I have many more opportunities to write for Him.

CK: When did you first become interested in writing?
MG: I am one of those ‘starving artists’ who had to make a living and therefore my writing has always had to ride in the backseat. I have written for as long as I can remember. It has saved me many dollars I might have spent on therapy sessions! I wrote poetry and short stories as a child and completed a novel during my first marriage. I continued to write for fun and therapy with dreams of someday being able to have the Lord use it for more than just a hobby.

CK: Tell us about a time that God directly answered a prayer.
MG: The Lord has answered so many prayers of mine that I didn’t realize at the time. But, by far, the most significant, is meeting me and speaking to me in that motel room. He saved my life; He changed the course of my life forever. He has truly set me free, placed me on solid ground with a new song and passion on the tip of my tongue. Everything that hindered me, the load I bore, what I was hiding behind, the false reality, He upended all of it and replaced it with Himself. Yes, it has been costly, and sometimes I don’t understand all of it; I mourn some of the losses, and there are no words for them, but He reminds me that He is the God Who sees me. He knows my story, my situation; He knows what I yearn after, and maybe someday, He will return what had to be taken in order for me to hear His voice and His alone.

I am so very grateful that even in the loneliness and loss He provides. My son and I have grown closer than ever and I believe the Lord uses him for encouragement on difficult days. In addition, the Lord is doing such a powerful work in and through and between Peter and me. It is powerful to have Jesus be the sculptor of this relationship, and to desire His guidance above any choice I could imagine, is foreign to me, but again, a direct answer to prayer.

CK: How do you think the social distancing protocols will change our social behavior and mentalities in the near future and beyond (after the laws and official restrictions are lifted?
MG: I think what Satan intended for evil the Lord is reworking for our good and His glory. The isolation has been very difficult, and that is even coming from a single person who spends a lot of time alone already. But I believe the Lord is homeschooling all of us and He is taking us back to Basics so we can see ourselves again through His eyes, and internally meet Him face to face, and no longer look at ourselves solely through the filter of others’ ideals and examples but through that of our own editing and our own creativity. I believe that Social Media has held us in its grasp for so long that we can no longer see who God created us to be but rather what the world wants us to pretend to be. I hope it is a new day!

CK: Do you have a blog that our readers can follow?
MG: No, I do not but I sure wish I did! If I knew where to seek or start I certainly would; I am challenged by electronics and have technical difficulties knowing where to start or begin but I hope to learn that someday soon. Social media has been my platform mainly. I am currently finishing a novel however and I’m not sure what to do with it, but I am praying the Lord will open a doorway for it to be published.

CK: Can you recall a time when you know that God was the only way you had a provision through a certain situation?
MG: Yes, through these past many months, He truly is the only way I’ve had
provision. Provision comes in many forms and not always like we envision it to
be. Some days it has been as simple as His comfort when all else has left the room. Jesus has given me provision in my renewed relationship with my
parents and in this growing relationship with a godly man in my life. Most
days, though, the provision appears in the form of His forgiveness, and the
removal of the permanent tattoos of apathy and hopelessness that once
covered my life, and instead, fashioning a tapestry of redemption and purpose.

CK: Tell us about a time you had a measurable impact on someone through your personal ministry or through your organized ministry.
MG: We are seeing lives transformed if not on a daily basis than certainly a weekly one with Connections Prison Ministry. We are reaching out to the incarcerated on a different level now post-COVID than pre-COVID. Prior to the virus, many were able to go inside the prisons here in Colorado and bring God’s Word and encourage and love on the prisoners, just be Jesus to them. It’s trickier now as they don’t allow anyone from the outside to go in due to restrictions and fear of spreading which is understandable. We are visiting them now through letters and phone calls, devotionals, and encouragement, as much as possible.

However, to the guys that have been released, which more are being released now than any other time due to the virus, we have been able to be very active and the help beneficial. It is a tremulous time. Due to COVID, housing is limited. These guys are being released, many with no place to go and no provisions. We are able to help with provisions for them, clothing and necessities, housing and employment opportunities, bus tokens for transportation. In addition, we have begun a cell phone program to provide a cell phone and one-month of service so they can be in contact with family members and support groups as well as meet their requirements with parole and probation officers and employers. Not everyone qualifies, and some don’t desire a different path, but for those who actively participate in making positive steps toward a better future, we are available to them and able to help as finances and support allow.

CK: What inspires you?
MG: People inspire me. What they are traveling through; where they have come from; what the Lord is doing in and through them or what they are missing by not allowing Jesus to be in their lives; what I can learn from their choices and mistakes and victories; what I can use to help someone else in similar situations; what Jesus is doing in my own life that is beneath the surface. Jesus inspires me most of all. That He would love me!

CK: How do you unwind after a busy day?
MG: I like to write if I am alone or read but I mainly look forward to spending some time with or talking with my man or with family members or encouraging friends in need.

CK: Best piece of advice you’ve ever received.
MG: Be still, cease striving, and know that I am God (Ps 46:10).

CK: What do you do when life feels overwhelming?
MG: I wrestle. I cry. I try to figure it all out. I exhaust myself with all of the possibilities, all the scenarios. And then in the midst of all of that, when I finally wear myself out and realize I have only one place to turn, then He speaks and He reminds me Who He is, who I am and Who has had it in control all along.

CK: What positive changes have you seen at work, church, or home because of this virus?
MG: I believe people are more aware of the Lord than ever before. I think this time has been unprecedented in the fact that He has infiltrated more homes and invaded more lives. I also think that all of this anger and rioting and protesting is a magnet the enemy is deftly attempting to use to thwart what the Lord had begun when the virus first visited our country. Jesus will reign victorious but we also have to make choices and the enemy wants so badly to cloud the waters so we can’t see or hear the truth.

CK: How do you see the world in general looking after the pandemic is over? What do you think our “new normal” will look like as a society?
MG: In my humble opinion I don’t foresee anything ever being ‘normal’ again. I don’t foresee us returning to any sense of the normalcy we knew before. And I don’t know that the Lord will allow us to have a new normal. I think His heart for His children is that we would rely upon Him, look to Him, need Him for answers. I think we will find Him when we seek Him, but it will have to be with all our heart not just a piece of it when it’s convenient. I think apart from Him we can do no thing whether corporately or singularly. I think we have attempted all along to be self-sufficient, but He is pursuing His children and calling those of us who wish to seek Him alone to go deeper into a more personal space with Him. I do not know that this pandemic threat will be lifted, not for a bit. Or I think it will be followed with other threats. This has weakened our nation. Those who know Jesus, to be weak so He can be strong is so good, but for those who believe solely in their own strength, I think this creates fear and anger and it becomes just an explosive powder keg.

But even more importantly, I think we are missing the real issue. We have a pandemic already on our hands and have had for quite some time. It is many ‘social’ issues that already distance us: human trafficking, abortion, pornography, drugs, and addictions. We have been social distanced for a long time but have ceased knowing it because social platforms and modern technology keep us together while driving us far apart. The last 6-months, in my opinion, have just been a cover-up for so many other much deeper, toxic and fatal diseases that are stealing our children, robbing all of us, and, yes, even threatening to kill us off one by one.

CK: Is there anything else you would like to say?
MG: I am so very grateful that Jesus has chosen to give this daughter another chance. I’m so thankful He didn’t give up on me. He should have as I wasted so much time and really created a lot of stumbling blocks for others who looked up to me. My desire, after all the wasted years, is to go only where He sends and to stay only as long as He allows and to consult Him alone for decisions that are beyond my pay grade to make. For these reasons, it is my honor to commit myself to helping others who need Him, some who don’t even know of their overwhelming need for Him. Connections Prison Ministry, the ministry I have the unique opportunity to assist with, is doing just that. Had things turned slightly to the right or the left, I could have been where some of these people have found themselves; I was really not a lot different with poor choices I have made in my past. Our mission statement is ‘from prison to praise’ (Ps 142:7) and we are in the business of helping rescue, praying for redemption, and watching the Lord restore (the years the locust have eaten – Joel 2:25).

I would like to thank Michelle for her honest and raw interview that is sure to touch lives. Michelle is currently featured in this month’s “Just Bee” challenge. You can see her content here on www.christianwomenliving.com.