May Guest Interview

I tried to sum up the bio Catalina Navarro Arevalo sent me. But no one will say it better than she does.

So here she is: Within Christian circles I introduce myself as an entrepreneur for the Gospel. If I can ‘give it a go’- I will. With my other friends, I am currently juggling being a wife, a mother, a part-time Social Work and Behavioural Science student, part-time mental health support worker and a follower of my many passions. I embrace failure but fear rejection. I constantly seek to learn and grow, while simultaneously experience mild anxiety when I reflect on how little I actually do know and how much I still need to change. I met my husband at the age of fourteen, married at nineteen, had two children by twenty-six and began the journey of discovering myself in my early thirties. My life is far from the norm, however I’m finding that many aspects of my life are painted with the same strokes as found in the life portrait of many of my peers, my friends, my church family and my podcasting community.

Catalina, thank you so much for chatting virtually with me.

1. Challenge! Tell us of you in 10 words or less.

Mind on overdrive, source of laughter and a listening heart.

2. Where did the idea for the Connected podcast come from?

My friends in Bundaberg had their own podcast, the Aus Table Talk podcast, and on one of their episodes they interviewed a Christian Youtuber, Justin Khoe, who spoke about the power of podcasting to reach people- globally. All Entrepreneur for the Gospel me, heard was ‘souls for the kingdom’! So, I recorded my first 3 episodes on the ‘Voice Memo’ app of my iPhone 6 and launched my podcast a week later. I was heavily impressed by God to share my personal faith journey from a super conservative faith to what I’m strongly convicted is now a balanced faith experience. God wanted my podcast to be a place for Seventh-day Adventist to find community, as we all navigate the daily and weekly challenges that present themselves as we seek to be led by the Holy Spirit and God’s Word rather than church culture or Adventist echo chambers.

3. What drives you?

I know my purpose. As Christians, I believe that when we wake up each day knowing that we have a Divine anointing to serve God and our neighbour, your motivation is the privilege of being a Son or Daughter of the Creator of the Universe. Knowing He created me for an eternal and historical impactful purpose, gives me the passion to live the life I live every day.

4. Some of your recent podcast episode titles include, ‘A Five Star Christian’, ‘Angels like Vegemite’ and ‘Algorithms are of the Devil’. How do you decide on the topics you’ll discuss and where do these fascinating titles come from?

My mind seriously doesn’t stop. I’m endlessly talking with God about what’s on my mind, my heart and what’s weighing me down. Additionally, I’m extremely observant of my surroundings. When I see something random happen around me, when I witness an interaction between people or just sit in silence, I know it was for a Divine purpose and not an insignificant occurrence. So I ask God ‘why did you show me that?”, “why did those people interact like that?” or simply “Hi God…”. I love the way the Holy Spirit works in our lives. In all honesty, He’s my favourite. God is reveals my purpose, Jesus is my example and the Holy Spirit- well, He never leaves me nor forsakes me. He’s forever keeping me company and calling me higher. Sometimes I just smile from the overwhelming gratitude I have for how much the Holy Spirit is willing to help me and guide me. So, once I have one of those moments, where there’s more to an ‘incident’ than human eyes can seen and God shows me what He wanted me to see or learn, I try and summarise the lesson or the counsel in a short statement on my ‘Notes’ app and save with the other 60 podcast ideas God has given me. As for the titles, God has given me a very creative mind so I usually aim for catchy titles that leave people intrigued- or maybe even confused enough, that they’ll go and listen to the episode just to gain clarity.

5. How has starting the podcast influenced your walk with Jesus?

The podcast has really become a place to give value to vulnerability. As my listeners reach out to me with their stories through DMs, I realised that so many people are suffering in silence. So many Christians feel like they’re so isolated battling through their weaknesses, their fears, their temptations and their past. My podcast has really helped me to share the grace of Jesus more than I ever had previously. Because some of us don’t have a safe place at church to share our battles with transparency, many of us, don’t find grace in weekly church attendance or over potluck. Many of us are hiding the truth of our faith journey and walking through the darkness of our fears on our own. The beauty of Jesus’ grace has been magnified in my personal journey as I’ve shared my journey and God working with me through my journey while having the privilege to walk with listeners through their darkness.

6. What is one way you've experience God's everyday grace?

When I wake up to my family. I see His love through my husband and our 2 daughters. They all wake up and choose to do life with me. Well, my daughters don’t have much of a choice, but they do choose to hug me in the morning when they wake up and to beg me to play ‘bull rush’ with their friends at school. They all choose to love me and allow me be part of their day even when I’m tired and not much fun. God chooses to do life with me and love me every day- even when my faith is tired. Through my family, I’m reminded of the love that seals the covenant that God chooses to uphold with me every morning when open my eyes.

7. Last question, what is one question you'll ask God when we get to heaven?

How could you love me so much?

Thank you Catalina for sharing a little about you with us.

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