About Kathryn

My Story

Coach · Author · Podcast Host

I know what it's like to know what's true, yet struggle to believe it for yourself and actually live from it. This is the story of how that changed.

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My Story

I know what it's like to know what's true, yet struggle to believe it for yourself and actually live from it.

I knew what the Bible said about who I was in Christ. I knew God loved me. I knew I was chosen, accepted, forgiven, and valuable to Him. But knowing those things and truly believing them about me were two very different things.

For years, there was a gap between the truth I knew and the way I actually lived. I struggled with low self-esteem and a lack of confidence. I questioned myself constantly. I cared far too much about what other people thought of me. I struggled to trust God when I couldn't see how things were going to work out, and fear had far more influence over my life than I realized.

The confusing part was that I loved Jesus. I read my Bible. I prayed. I knew the right answers. So why was I still living like a woman who wasn't deeply loved, fully accepted, and secure in who God said she was?

Over time, God began showing me that I didn't just need to know more truth. I needed the truth I already knew to reach the places inside of me that still believed something completely different.

Fear.

Anxiety.

Overthinking.

Perfectionism.

People-pleasing.

Low self-esteem.

Self-doubt.

Hiding.

Those things weren't my identity. But they had become patterns in my life because of what I believed underneath them.

And that realization changed the direction of my life.

“

For most of my life, I lived trapped inside my own head, believing I was too much, not enough, and somehow safer unseen.

Where Those Beliefs Began

Those beliefs started long before I knew they were beliefs.

I grew up in a hard environment and experienced a lot of trauma. As a little girl, I didn't know how to separate what was happening around me from what I believed it meant about me.

So I came to conclusions.

Something must be wrong with me. I'm too much. I'm not enough. I need to be good. I need to keep people happy. I need to make sure I don't cause problems. It's safer not to draw too much attention to myself.

No one had to sit me down and teach me those things. They were beliefs I formed from what I experienced, and eventually they felt like facts.

As I got older, those beliefs followed me. They showed up in how I saw myself, how I related to other people, how much I worried about what others thought of me, how I handled rejection, and how difficult it was for me to feel confident in who I was.

I could look capable on the outside while having an entirely different conversation going on inside.

What if I mess this up? What if they don't like me? What did I do wrong? What if I'm not good enough? What if I fail?

I didn't realize how much of my life was being shaped by beliefs I had never stopped to question.

The Gap Between Knowing and Living

I knew who God said I was. I just wasn't living like I believed Him.

This was one of the hardest things for me to understand because my faith was real. I loved God, and I believed the Bible was true.

I could read about my identity in Christ and agree with it. I could tell another woman that she was loved by God, chosen, valuable, and created for a reason, and completely mean it. But when it came to believing those same things about myself, something didn't connect.

I still felt less than. I still struggled with confidence. I still looked to other people for reassurance and approval. I still overthought conversations and questioned myself. I still struggled to trust God when circumstances didn't look the way I thought they should.

For a long time, I thought the answer was to try harder. Pray more. Read more Scripture. Stop worrying. Be more confident. Trust God more.

But trying harder to change my behavior wasn't changing what I believed underneath it.

God began showing me that I could consciously believe one thing while another belief was still influencing how I responded. I could know, "God is with me," while living from, "I have to figure everything out myself." I could know, "I am accepted in Christ," while living from, "I need these people to approve of me."

That helped me understand something that now shapes so much of the work I do.

Behavior doesn't come out of nowhere. There is something underneath it.

What Began to Change

God started showing me what was underneath the patterns I kept trying to change.

My healing didn't happen all at once. God began showing me places where fear, old wounds, lies, and beliefs were influencing the way I thought and responded.

Instead of only asking, "How do I stop doing this?" I began learning to ask different questions. What am I believing right now? Why does this affect me so deeply? What am I afraid of? What am I trying to protect myself from? Is what I'm believing actually true?

That changed the way I understood renewing my mind.

Romans 12:2 wasn't simply telling me to think nicer thoughts. God wanted to transform me by renewing the way I thought. That meant learning to recognize thoughts and beliefs that didn't agree with His truth and allowing Him into the places where those beliefs had taken root.

There were things I needed to bring to Jesus and heal. There were lies I needed to stop agreeing with. There were thoughts I needed to take captive. There were times I needed to obey God while I was still afraid. And there were patterns I had practiced for years that I had to learn how to respond to differently.

Little by little, the truth I had known for years began becoming truth I actually lived from.

“

Healing isn't about becoming someone new. It's about remembering who you were before the world told you who to be.

Kathryn May

Journaling + Writing

A blank page became one of the places God did some of His deepest work in me.

Journaling has been a huge part of my life for years, but it became especially important in my healing and mind renewal journey because writing helped me see what was actually happening inside of me.

Thoughts can move pretty fast when they're bouncing around in your head. Put them on paper and suddenly you can see them.

Journaling gave me a place to be real with God about what I was thinking and feeling. I could write down what happened, how I reacted, and what I was telling myself about it. Then I could begin asking questions like, "Why did that bother me so much?" "What am I afraid this means?" "What am I believing about myself right now?" and "What does God say is true?"

It became a practical way for me to take thoughts captive instead of simply trying not to think them.

And eventually, all that writing became something more.

I wrote Behind Enemy Lies from my own story and what God had taught me about the lies we believe, the ways those lies affect our lives, and the freedom that comes when we expose them to truth.

I also created the Healing and Truth Journal because I wanted other women to have a place to do the kind of work that had become so important in my own life. A place to slow down, recognize what they were believing, process what was happening inside of them with Jesus, and intentionally renew their minds with truth.

Those books didn't come from an idea for something I could sell.

They came from something I had lived.

Why This Became Personal

The things I fought so hard to overcome are now some of the things I help other women recognize in themselves.

As God continued healing and changing me, I started recognizing these same patterns in other women.

They were women who loved Jesus and genuinely wanted to follow Him. They were capable, responsible women who carried a lot. They knew Scripture. They prayed. They wanted to grow.

But there was still a gap between some of what they knew was true and how they were actually living.

A woman could know she was loved by God and still be crushed by rejection.

She could know God was trustworthy and still feel like she had to control everything.

She could know her worth came from Christ and still feel like she had to prove herself.

She could know God was calling her to do something and still keep holding back because she was afraid of failing, being judged, or being seen.

I understood that woman because I had been that woman.

And I knew telling her to "just trust God" or "stop worrying" wasn't enough. She needed help recognizing why this had such a hold on her and what she was believing underneath it.

That became a huge part of my heart for helping women.

Why I Do This Work

I want women to experience more than knowing the truth. I want them to live from it.

Today, I help Christian women recognize and break the internal patterns that keep them from moving forward in who God created them to be and what they already know they need or want to do.

That means we don't only focus on the behavior we can see. We look at what's driving it.

What lie have I believed? What fear keeps showing up here? Is an old wound affecting the way I'm responding today? Am I trying to earn something God has already given me? Am I looking to people for something I need to receive from God? Am I believing something about myself that doesn't agree with what He says?

Then we do something with what we find.

We bring those places to Jesus. We renew our minds with truth. We allow Him to heal what needs healing. We learn healthier ways of responding. We practice trusting God. And we take courageous steps forward even when we don't have everything figured out.

Because transformation isn't just knowing more.

It's when what you believe begins to change the way you actually live.

What Freedom Has Looked Like For Me

Freedom didn't turn me into a woman who never feels fear. It changed who gets to make the decisions.

I still have moments when an old thought tries to come back. I still have opportunities to overthink, question myself, reach for control, or worry about what someone else thinks.

The difference is that I recognize those patterns now.

I know how to stop and ask what is happening inside of me. I know how to recognize when fear is talking louder than truth. I know how to bring those places to God instead of automatically letting them determine what I do next.

I've learned that confidence doesn't mean believing I'm capable of handling everything on my own. The confidence I want is God-confidence. I can move forward because I know who He is, I know who I am in Him, and I don't have to know exactly how everything will turn out before I obey Him.

That freedom has changed the way I live, the way I make decisions, the way I show up, the way I trust God, and the way I move forward in what He's put in front of me.

And I want other women to experience that too.

A Little More About Me

I'm Kathryn, and this work is deeply personal to me.

I'm a transformational life coach, author, speaker, and host of the Freed to Lead Podcast. I'm also a wife, a mom, a lifelong journaler, and a woman who is still letting God renew her mind and teach her what it looks like to trust Him in real life.

My story is a huge part of why I care so deeply about this work. I've experienced what happens when lies become beliefs and those beliefs begin shaping your life. I've also experienced what happens when God starts exposing those lies, healing wounded places, and teaching you to live from what He says is true.

I don't help women because I've reached some magical place where I never struggle again. I help women because I've learned that we don't have to remain in bondage to the same thoughts, beliefs, fears, and patterns just because they've been with us for a long time.

There is another way to live.

The Heart Behind It All

You can know what's true and still have places in your life that aren't living from it yet.

That's not a reason to try harder or beat yourself up.

It's an invitation to find out what's going on underneath.

What are you believing? What are you afraid of? What have your experiences taught you about yourself? Where are you trying to protect yourself, prove yourself, control the outcome, or earn what God has already freely given you?

Those are the places I want to help women bring into the light with Jesus.

Because you don't have to spend the rest of your life being led by fear, old wounds, lies, or patterns that don't agree with who you are in Christ.

You can renew your mind. You can heal. You can learn to trust God differently. You can develop healthier patterns. You can obey even when it feels uncomfortable. And you can move forward with greater freedom and God-confidence in who He created you to be and what He's already put in front of you.

That's why I do what I do.

You don't have to keep living from what isn't true.

If any of this sounds like where you are, I'd love to help.

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