Walk the Walk

Answering the call of God: Christy Bloom's Journey from Personal Trials to Spiritual Triumphs

• Tina Perry

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When the ground beneath Christy Bloom's world shifted with the end of her first marriage, she unearthed a deeper connection to her faith and discovered that adversity could be the bedrock of transformation and purpose. Our latest conversation with Christy is a moving narrative that intertwines the tumultuous strands of personal trials with the unyielding thread of spiritual growth. As she opens up about the complexities of family life, the delight of her pets and backyard chickens, and the profound influence of artistry on her faith journey, we get an intimate look at how she has woven her God-given talents into a tapestry of service.

This episode is a heartfelt exploration of Christy's path, from uncovering the hidden beauty of invisible blacklight chalk artistry to using her graphic design skills to serve communities a world away. Join us as we recount the remarkable chain of events leading to a decade-long ministry, a creative partnership with Operation Christmas Child, and the cross-continental collaboration with Pastor Justin Banda to bring change to the church and orphans in Kasungu, Malawi. Witness the power of community and the ripple effects of kindness as we share stories of faith in action and the enduring mission to make a tangible difference in one of the world's poorest nations.

Tina:

Hello and welcome to Walk the Walk. Today we have a very unique lady joining us. She has always answered the call of God, and not just once but several times, and I know many of us have had that experience where we hear God's voice but we're just not really sure what it is God has wanted us to do. But I think this guest today was very understood the call of God and has followed what he's wanted her to do, and I would like for you to help me. Welcome, Christy Bloom. Christy welcome, thank you.

Christy:

Tina, it's good to be here.

Tina:

Well, I'm glad, you're glad to be here, and so we're going to go ahead and get right on into this. So, Christy, tell me a little bit about yourself, like, are you married? Do you have kids? Just fill us in a little bit on that.

Christy:

Yeah, I'm married. My husband's name is Rick and we have a family business and it's a print shop and we have four kids, nine grandchildren. Oh wow, we have two dogs, we have a little rescue pit boxer mix and an Aussie doodle and 20 chickens, 20 backyard chickens.

Tina:

So I also have an Aussie doodle. How old is your doodle?

Christy:

Actually she's only five months old. I got her right before Christmas. She was a Christmas gift for my husband.

Tina:

I love our Aussie. She's a little crazy. I don't know if yours is. We call her Jazzy and she fits that name quite nicely.

Christy:

Yeah, that probably would fit mine too.

Tina:

Somebody. When I first brought her here, a neighbor said oh my gosh, tina, probably about when she's two years old she'll calm down. And I thought, yeah, whatever.

Tina:

So I'm looking forward to that two year old mark.

Christy:

Me too, because we have quite a few bursts of energy throughout the day and I probably could live without those.

Tina:

Yeah well, Jazzy's a lot of fun. Sometimes just watching her it's like what is she thinking, but she's put a lot of youth back into our life, I think.

Christy:

Yeah yeah, I understand completely.

Tina:

So, Christy, tell me a little bit about your relationship with Jesus.

Christy:

Well, I grew up in the church. I grew up in the Methodist church. I probably I really did not have a personal close relationship with Jesus until I had a crisis in my life and that was after 20 years of marriage to my high school sweetheart. The marriage broke up. I was pretty much blindsided. It was a difficult thing to get over because he was my high school sweetheart and a good friend and the fact that I had grown up in the church believing that marriage was forever. That was a really hard thing for me to come to terms with and why God didn't answer my prayer of restoration of the marriage. But in that I can say that I was closer to the Lord than ever during that period of time, searching for answers and getting close to him and searching through the scriptures. I probably was in the Word more during that time than any other time in my life and listening to praise and worship music and just filling my heart with the things of the Lord, and it was healing for me.

Christy:

There was a scripture that I clung to. It's James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy. My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete and not lacking anything. And for me that scripture was very healing because I I was searching for a reason why this was happening and for me it gave me somewhat of an answer that it really was for my, that he was turning it into a good thing, that this bad thing would make me grow, would make me grow in him and would serve a purpose. And I was bound and determined to make it serve a purpose.

Tina:

You know. So it makes me think a little bit about Job, and I don't mean to interrupt you, but it makes me think about Job. The bottom line is what the devil means. For evil God turns to good.

Christy:

Yeah, exactly.

Tina:

I don't think you might have been going through it. I interrupted you, go ahead and finish. No, I was really finished. And so, yeah, and you know we hear that all the time People say why God, why would you do this to me? And we never know why we're in it, why we're in the valley. But when we come up and out, sometimes it's like, oh, looking back. But unfortunately the looking back is you've got to get there first to be able to look back.

Tina:

Oh, yeah, and it's really challenging when we go through those times to think there's going to be something good from this, but right now it doesn't feel very good.

Christy:

Yeah, and I think the thing was, I knew that God did not approve of divorce. I knew that down in my heart, I knew that to my very core. But and I guess that's what made it so difficult was that you know, Lord, I know you don't approve of this, so why don't you fix it? So that was, that was difficult.

Tina:

Yeah, very difficult, I'm sure. So you have had several ministries and I would like for you to just kind of and some in the past and some that you are currently involved with Can you kind of give us your little timeline of ministries that God has called you to.

Christy:

Sure, I've always liked art, when I was little. I mean, I can't think of any time during my life when I wasn't engaged in some kind of artwork. I love to draw and paint and, and my parents are both school teachers and they encouraged that, and I had lessons and different things along the way and I really felt, like you know, god gave me this talent for a reason and I couldn't let it not be used for his glory, and that has been the way I felt my entire life that that this was his and I needed to use it for him. And so my profession is actually a graphic designer and and an artist or painter. I've got a bachelor of fine arts degree from Miami University and I am. I do the graphic design work for the, the print shop, our family print shop, so that works out well. My husband and I like to help with different things that come up that involve printing.

Christy:

But when the divorce happened, I am in my search and searching for answers. I was looking for a way to share my faith and share what was going on, and I found on the Internet one day, invisible black light chalk and it just I was like it. I was just taken back by it. I thought this sounds really interesting and mysterious. So there happened to be a seminar in Michigan, and so I drove up to Michigan for this one week seminar, and I remember, driving across Michigan, I was by myself and thinking, lord, where in the world are you taking me? You know, what have? What have I signed up for? Well, I I got to the seminar and I remember one of the things that we had to do. We had to draw Jesus. And I thought, oh, I can't do this. I'm terrible with people. I cannot draw people. And so I got in the corner of the room, took my easel to the corner of the room, away from everybody, because I didn't want them to see what I was doing, and I started drawing, and when I got finished, I was amazed at what God had done, because there was Jesus on my on my paper, and I thought, oh Lord, this is an answer, this you want me to do this. I know this is confirmation, because I had never been able to do that.

Christy:

And so I started this invisible blacklight chalk ministry and I did this for about 10 years. I traveled around to different churches and venues and and did this invisible blacklight chalk drawing and what it is. You draw in front of people to music or preaching and then at the end it's in the complete. I mean it's in a dark auditorium or room and at the end I turn on black lights and turn off the white light hood that's over it and a hidden image of Jesus appears that I have done previously. That's hidden in the chalk Wow, so the blacklight exposes that hidden drawing. That sounds awesome. This was the drawing has to be done ahead of time in my basement, in the dark, and there were many times in the dark, alone in the basement, listening to praise and worship music. That was just so healing for me. I just felt so close to the Lord. I I loved drawing. I love drawing, and to couple that and do something that I really love for the Lord just brings me such a joy. And so from there I did that about 10 years and then it got to be a lot. I mean, I remember one Christmas I did tin chalk drawings during the season and it was a lot, and that was toward the end and I was starting to get tired and so I took a break from it.

Christy:

And in my graphic design work I work on a newspaper. Every month, an article came across my desk for Operation Christmas Child and at that time I didn't know what it was. There was no phone number with the article and no photo, and I was reading about it and I thought well, people are going to want to know about this and I've got to find a phone number. So I tracked down the area coordinator for our region and I found a nice photo to use. And the coordinator called me back a while later and ask me if I would like to join the area team, because operation Christmas child is divided up into regions and we all have teams and we all have different, different roles in this, in this team, and she wanted to know if I would like to be the area media coordinator. And I thought this is right up my alley, sure you know, as a graphic designer and and I can write newspaper articles and and do print for the team, and so that worked out really well and I've been I'm still involved in operation Christmas child. I've been involved for 10 years.

Christy:

And Then, through that, I was on Facebook one day and I noticed this photograph With Samaritan's purse cartons hanging from the rafters of a church in Malawi. The roof did not. There was no roof, they were using these cardboard cartons as roofing material. Wow, yeah, and I. These cardboard cartons were familiar to me because they're the the cartons that the actual shoeboxes get put in to be shipped. So I knew exactly what they were, and so I started chatting with the pastor that had posted this photograph and come to find out that they they had no roof on this church. They had built this church by hand, making bricks by hand out of mud.

Tina:

That sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Christy:

Yeah, and. And he said that they they didn't have money to finish the church, they didn't have money to put the roof on, so they were using the cardboard boxes so they could get out of the weather, the sun, the rain. So one night I woke up in the middle of the night and I felt that the Lord was telling me you got to put a roof on that church. So I woke my husband up, said we've got to put a roof on this church, and he was kind of groggy but he said, yeah, okay. So the next day I got in touch with the pastor and well before that I had gotten some advice from From a friend who had missions in Uganda and she was saying you've got to really be careful, because if he has a lot of money coming, going from the bank to the store to get this stuff, you know it's dangerous. And but I knew them.

Christy:

The pastor was friends with the pastor, friends with someone that we had met in Orlando at an operation Christmas child conference, and he was able to confirm that he was who he said he was. And then come to find out that this, the pastor that needed the roof, was actually on the Malawi OCC team. He was a discipleship coordinator for operation Christmas child and he was in charge of Coordinating the teachers that teach and disciple the children who receive shoeboxes. So we sent the money and I told him I wanted to know what was going on and to send pictures, that we wanted to see what was going on.

Christy:

While he not only sent pictures, he sent videos. He sent videos when he went into the store to buy what he called iron sheets, which is actually corrugated tin that we use on barns and such. But he photographed and videotaped the whole thing, including when they were putting it on the church Church. And we have a website that video is posted on. That original video is posted on. So if anyone's interested they can go to JJ P -Malawi. org and I'll include that in the post description.

Christy:

And we've got a video archive and you can go there and you can see that video, along with many others of different things that are happening in Malawi. But the Lord Brought us there and now we are working with Pastor Justin Banda in Malawi trying to take care of the many orphans that are in that country or in Kasungu, Malawi actually that town, Kasungu.

Tina:

You might need to send me the spellings on those. I don't know if my my podcast will be able to decipher those words, but that is in African correct. Pardon me in Africa Correct.

Christy:

Yes, Malawi, Africa. Malawi is a country and it is the third poorest country in the world.

Tina:

Wow, yeah, I'm going to. I'm going to ask you two questions. The first question is and you may have heard this from other people why don't you stay in the United States? There are many people that need help here. Why do you feel God has taken you out of the United States?

Christy:

I think I don't know exactly why God took us out of the the United States. I don't know what his reasoning is for it. I know that there are a lot of social programs in the United States, and the the poorest of the poor here in the United States are nothing compared to what is going on in some of the other countries in the world. I do know that God called us to Malawi, that God called us to Malawi. I was called, my husband was called, and I wasn't called to help anyone in the United States at this time. And I'm not saying that eventually I won't be. You know that I might be, but at this time this is where God is leading me. I think you have to follow God's leading.

Tina:

So that's my leads me into my next question. There are probably some listeners that are saying I don't know if it's God's voice or my own head voice, so I just ignore it, or I'll keep asking for a sign or a fleece, or I just want I'm not so sure that's what you really want me to do. So now, God, do this and do that. You know, we've heard that before in the Bible, where people well, a fleece has been sent out, people will ignore that, thinking it's their own head voice. How do you, how do you decipher that?

Christy:

it is. That is tricky, I agree, and I have wrestled with that during my life, but I think you have to be praying about the situation and asking for God's leading. I think he also brings a piece about it.

Tina:

You need to make sure the scripture aligns with whatever he's asking you to do, and I think and I want to say something to the scripture part If you don't know God's word, that part's going to be really challenging.

Tina:

If you don't know what God's word says, how will you know? You know, and that's why I'm a big encourager of reading our Bible from front to Genesis to Revelation, and that way, at least, you know what scripture says Exactly. So, yeah, so with your most current now, I don't know if we were done with all the ministries. There's your chalk ministry, then the ministry that you're doing in Africa. Are there any other ministries that you would like to talk about?

Christy:

So then, yeah, he's moved me from one thing to the other. I, you know. One of the other things I want to say about God's leading is that when you start, when you take a step toward whatever you feel that God is leading you to do, doors start opening and it becomes. You know, we are in awe because we couldn't possibly do what he has done on our own Right, and that's confirmation too. You know, that is confirmation. You've got to take a step, you've got to take that first step and then, if the doors continue to open, there's your answer you keep moving forward.

Tina:

Yeah, and I think a lot of people misunderstand the idea or don't really understand God's children, are everywhere in the you know, not just in the United States all over the world. So why would we not want to help God's children, no matter where they are? Now tell me, how does that program, how do you, how do they get funded? Or how do you get the funding to be able to help those people there?

Christy:

We have several fundraisers throughout the year. We have to keep fundraising. We rely on donations and we also have child sponsorships and you can sponsor a child and communicate with that child through Pastor Justin and the child writes back. But the child sponsorships and the donate actually it provides. What it provides is we have two orphan homes with 20 kids.

Christy:

There's 10 kids in each home and so it provides a secure place where they can stay and live as a family, because each home has a set of parents and they live within that home and they have chores, they go to church and they learn about Jesus. They it provides school uniforms and schooling because there is tuition you have to pay to go to school over there. So it, I think, and oh, and clothing, clothing, and outside of the two orphan homes that we have with the 20 kids, there are 25 additional children that we provide food and clothing for. It's our hope to be able to build more homes so that we can get all 45 kids in homes, because these kids right now are living with family members because that's the way, that's the only option they have. The ones that do not have family members are in the homes.

Tina:

So where are the parents? Are they there as well, or are they missing, or they?

Christy:

various reasons. That they're just. They may have passed away. A lot of them have passed away. The life expectancy isn't as good, as great, as it is in the United States. They may have walked away. A lot of them abandoned their children because they don't have money to take care of them. Things are very tough in Malawi right now. The electric gets shut off periodically, gasoline is hard to get. Food prices are going up, so it's a very, very tough life.

Tina:

So when these kids go to school they're getting an education and then also hearing about the love of Jesus.

Christy:

Yeah, actually, pastor Justin has. Well, the big church that we put the roof on and all of the children attend church and the home is Christ centered. So everything they do centers around Jesus and lives have been changed over in Malawi because of this. You know the villagers look at this and they're like why are these people who don't know us doing this for us? And there have been many conversions and many come to the church. There are now five or six church plants besides the main one in Kasungu that have sprung from this. The church is growing. I mean, he started out under a tree, preaching under a tree, and then he felt the Lord was telling him to build this church and then all of the community members were asking why are you building this so big? Because he only had a handful of people attending. He said God told me to build it this big and now it's full. Wow.

Tina:

That's all. Did you not tell me he has come here to the United States?

Christy:

Yes, he came here this past July. We brought him to the United States and we got to know him better, and he is. He has taught us so much.

Tina:

Wow.

Christy:

He, he, his life is an example of living in the moment for Jesus, every moment.

Tina:

Yeah, what an example. Yeah, you know, I I had. I did a mission trip to Cuba and coming after coming back, I looked back and I thought what was I doing there? To be honest, they should have been coming here to mission, to people, to us. The people were so grateful for what they had and, believe me, it was not much but whatever they had, they praised Jesus, Just like you said. They do that every minute of their day. I don't know if I ever saw one of those people there without a smile on their face.

Tina:

Oh yeah, I looked around and I thought Tina, you and your materialistic world that you live in would struggle so hard living like this. But I, we went to the very remote place, very remote places that we had to get out of our van and walk down a road that had that had potholes that you could fall into in order to get to where these people were living. And then when we got back in there, they had no windows, no doors, they just had a place to live in. And when they came out, when they saw us, the smiles on their faces waving at us and I thought what am I doing here? I have nothing for them. They had everything for me, but that might have been God's purpose.

Christy:

Yeah, it makes you feel kind of inadequate. It sure does. And when he was here we were, you know, just driving through town. You know he was wow, wow, you have so much, you have so much. And then he would say you have given us so much. And I think what he was saying you have given us so much, and what have we given you? And then we would tell him oh you, you have given us I don't know a vision into what Jesus really is like. You have, you have such faith. You have taught us so much about faith and and what is important.

Tina:

Yeah, and I think both sides learn from each other.

Christy:

Yeah, true.

Tina:

It sure is humiliating sometimes when you think about what you I won't say you what I complain about. And then when you go there you're thinking how dare you complain about? These silly things when these people are so grateful and love Jesus to their very core. Love them, yes. So how can we help? How can we help my audience, what they can do to help your ministry?

Christy:

Well, we need sponsors for 14 children. We have 14 children left that need need these sponsors. And you can I know you're going to post the website you can go to the website and see the children that still need sponsors, and sponsorship is $40 a month, and $40 a month provides everything I was talking about the food, the clothing, the shelter, the schooling. It provides all those things and sponsorship is so important. Plus, it gives the children a name and and and someone to cling to that loves them. I mean they could we send the photo, your photo to them, and it just gives them somebody a face to, who is doing this for them through Jesus. We also have a Facebook page which we post videos and photos and things that's going on in Malawi, which is under Jehovah Jireh Project - Malawi.

Christy:

I wanted to mention, too, that we have purchased farm animals and farmland. We own four to five acres I can't remember exactly what it was, but there's enough room that we could potentially put 10 homes on the property, but right now there's a barn and they have goats and sheep and cattle and chickens. So our goal is to make themselves sufficient and to provide vocational training for them. We'd like to put a vocational school over there eventually. So money, we need money to provide all of this.

Tina:

And $40 is what? 10 Starbucks coffees. If we really think about it. It's like, hmm, I waste $40 in one day's time on fast food or things that I don't even need.

Christy:

So yeah me too.

Tina:

I'm hoping that everybody that listens will find it in their heart to be able to help this ministry. You know what I really like about it. You know I've been to big women's conferences where they have hundreds of these pictures and I always wonder, like, are these real people, I mean, and I don't think that they wouldn't be, but I still think that. But with this I feel like there's a smaller group that we really will feel closer to the people that we're helping.

Christy:

Yeah, and I think that's that you hit the nail on the head or the head of the nail or whatever they say. That's what most of our sponsors say. You know that. They know what's going on. They are in communication with Pastor Banda themselves through Facebook or texting or whatever. Pastor Banda loves people and he stays in contact with anyone that wants to reach out and talk to him. He's there. Yeah, he's definitely a people person. So that's the one thing that they do appreciate. They appreciate the contact with the children through the periodic letters and what's going on with the kids and what's going on in Kasungu. We put a water well in recently for the whole community and that was another witness to glorify Jesus. That was another witness because the community was again in awe why anyone would do this.

Tina:

Yeah. So and I think we fail to remember that whenever we provide resources, we may not be there physically digging the hole, we may not be there physically building the building, but, for lack of better words, we get credit for that as a part of that ministry. I think God sees us as without you, that could not happen. You may not have been there to dig the hole, but you were able to provide somebody to dig that hole. So keep that in mind when you're considering doing a ministry like this that I don't know, I hate to say you get credit for it, but you kind of get credit for it.

Christy:

Yeah, yeah. And I've heard people say too I would have loved to have been a missionary. I couldn't for whatever reason, but they've said this allows me to be a part of a mission in another country.

Tina:

Exactly, Christy. This has been awesome. I want to know is there anything that we may have missed that you would like the audience to hear?

Christy:

I really can't think of anything else. I think we've covered it all.

Tina:

Well, I think so too and I'm very appreciative of you coming here and I hope that my listening audience our listening audience is going to be want to get involved. I know times are tough right now and people have budgets and they're just trying to make those budgets meet. Maybe if you can pair up with a couple of other people and come together and three people sponsor one person whatever it doesn't have to come all from one person you can share that expense with somebody else in your family or a good friend.

Christy:

Or a Bible study, or your small group.

Tina:

Exactly as a group, the whole group sponsor. Everything will be welcomed and God will bless anything that we can do, and I know God has blessed you beyond measure and I so appreciate you being here. I just want my listening audience to know that all the information that you will need will be on this podcast and you can also contact me and I can make sure I can get you hooked up with Christy if you have other questions. But I I what I really would hope someday that I get to see is one of your black chalk or chalk paintings. I would love to see one of those. That sounds so intriguing to me as an you're an artist and that's such a blessing, so hopefully you'll send me a picture of one of those sometime. I will do that and I will share the picture with with our audience.

Tina:

Christy, thank you so much. I appreciate your time, I appreciate everything and I so appreciate that you have answered God's call and I know God loves you for doing that very thing and just think there's probably a lot more that he has in store for you and you are one that he will probably come to more freely, because so many of us just kind of shrug it off like that can't be God, he couldn't be asking me. I, I this kind of like a Moses dude I can't do this, I can't do that. And when you say that God says well, okay, maybe you can't, but I'll help somebody, help you.

Tina:

I'll send you an Aaron. But again, thank you so much and to my listening audience, thank you for listening today. I hope you will considering partnering up with this ministry and again, if there are any questions or if there's anything else that you would like to know, you know that you can contact me. Christy, thank you so much for being here.

Christy:

Well, thank you, tina. I I appreciate your allowing me to talk about this and and promote this. I'm hoping that it stirs someone's heart to help.

Tina:

I hope so too and not allowing, but we were blessed by having you. Thank you so much and thank you to my listening audience. Have a great day.