About

 
 Welcome!!
 
 Welcome to this blog so different
 So unusual it seems…
 For a gift I have been given
 Not to keep- but share and bless
  
 I love writing, write a lot I 
 Poetry from me just flows
 I’m inspired often by reading
 Reading Scriptures- His great Word
  
 I’m inspired also by reading
 Authors who with God walk close
 And by listening to sermons
 Of those who proclaim God’s Word
  
 I’m inspired also by trials
 And the challenges I face
 For in Christ I find my refuge
 And my strength I find in Him
  
 And this gift I’ve hidden often 
 Many journals filled with poems
 But reminded I was often:
 Gifts are given to be shared
  
 ***
 
 I myself to God have given 
 And my gifts I gave to Him
 Use me Lord just as You please
 Do with me Lord as You will
  
 In this blog I want to show you
 Of God's love and goodness, grace
 It exists for God’s great glory
 I decrease- and Christ increases

– Yekaterina Gorelova… but I go by Kate or Katya (Катя)!

How I Became a Believer:

As a child, during an Evangelical gathering I came forward to “be saved” during an invitation. I firmly believed that that meant I was saved, and I believed I became a born-again Christian. I was baptized in 6th grade- because I was taught baptism is the first step of obedience after salvation. But I was lost. I was not saved. Nothing changed except that now I had a very firm belief that I was truly a Christian. Actually, so strongly did I believe that I was a Christian, that I would have been offended if someone told I was not a Christian! But my faith was not in Christ, it was in my “experience”. My faith was not in Christ, but in my belief.

At the end of 8th grade, we were sharing our “salvation testimonies” with others in a middle school church group I was in. When it was about to be my turn, my spiritual eyes were opened and I realized I was not saved, but I did not want to be embarrassed. So I told everyone my “salvation story” while I was a child in Ukraine.  But at that moment I knew that that was a lie. I knew that if I died that day I would be going to hell.

Later that same day, in the middle of a service, without anyone knowing this, I cried out to God silently in my heart to forgive me and save me. I knew at that moment I was a saved believer and oh the joy that filled my soul! God in His grace and mercy saved me at that moment, though I came to Him not because I wanted Him or loved Him, but only because I did not want to go to hell.  I was still too embarrassed to tell others that I was just saved and that the testimony that I previously shared with others was false.

God in His mercy, dealt with me for the entire year to be baptized again. My pride kept getting in my way. I was too embarrassed to be baptized again. Finally, after a year of struggling I surrendered and was baptized as a public testimony that I was now a follower of Christ.

The Sin of Pride in my life that I was blind to for many years:

My pride almost prevented me from being truly born again. My pride, prevented me from obeying God for about a year and prevented me from being baptized earlier. God has been so gracious in dealing with me and my prideful heart, and yet I was often so very blind to my own pride and the harm that it caused.

When God said He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, He made no exceptions for me. And it took me a long time to figure this out. I am so thankful that He has been so very gracious and patient with me, even as He worked to make me realize my sin of pride. 

 Set Free
  
 I was born captive to self-centered life
 A prisoner of pride, and motives selfish 
 I sought for pleasure, and my way in life
 I was a prisoner to self, to pride
  
 I was a captive to self-centered life
 I was not free and therefore was not happy
 I was so miserable, in bondage, and not free
 I thirsted to be freed- but found no answer
  
 In misery I was so very long
 I thought my problem were all other things
 The circumstances, people who me troubled
 But my real problem was inside of me
  
 Christ came for people who are just like me
 Who’re captives to their sin, imprisoned are
 Who’re miserable and do not know way out
 Christ is the truth, the way, the life; He frees!
  
 And whom He frees- indeed they will be free
 Free from the bondage, free from being captives
 Christ is my life, I joy now have and peace!
 And now I love, even those whom I hated!
  
 I was born captive to self-centered life
 I am now free! I’m saved! I am redeemed!
 I am a child of God, but still I’m waiting
 For all my body, flesh to be redeemed
  
 That day is coming when I will no longer
 Still struggle with so many many sins
 But I am free- no longer I’m enslaved
 My flesh- I must not let in me to reign
  
 And I am free to walk not in the flesh
 But to walk always in the Spirit now
 And I must daily my own will deny
 Deny myself and daily follow Christ
  
 Come unto Him- who’re weary, heavy laden
 Who are in bondage and imprisoned are
 And He will give you rest for which you’re searching
 He will you save, redeem and make His Own
  
 Come unto Him- not only to be saved
 From hell, from wrath of God upon all sin
 But to be freed from bondage, be set free
 Free to Him worship and to be His child
  
 Christ came for people who are just like me
 Who’re weary of their sin, are heavy laden
 He came to save us from self-centered lives
 So we will self-deny and follow Christ!

Why Name a Blog “I Must Decrease”?

  • When I entertained the thought of starting a blog, the only name that kept coming to my head as the name I should name this blog is “I Must Decrease”, because CHRIST MUST Increase. But I struggled with that name for quite a bit, for again, my pride got in my way. It is one thing to be contrite before God, but to name a blog “I Must Decrease”, public, for all to see… that’s another story! To have to say, “Oh yea, my blog’s web page is ImustDecrease.net” -that would be quite a blow to my ego every time I have to say this! But then I realized it will also be a great opportunity, an opportunity to exalt Christ. Because I really DO need to decrease. And the more I decrease, the more Christ in my life will increase and be exalted!
  • Naming this blog I Must Decrease is just another opportunity for me to humble myself and remind myself, that when I decrease, the riches that I have in Christ will be more evident. It’s just another reminder for me that I must decrease, deny myself daily, take up my cross, and joyfully follow Christ!
  • The name I Must Decrease is also there to remind me, that I was not given the gift of writing to exalt myself or impress people or to seek honor for myself, but to bring glory to God’s Name and to exalt Christ- and only Him!
  • Christ must increase in my life, and I must learn to wear His robe of Righteousness each moment. I Must Decrease- not look at my own self righteousness or goodness. I must only look at Christ and His perfect righteousness that He gave me.

Fun Facts about me:

  • My name is Yekaterina Gorelova, but I go by Kate or Катя (Katya)
  • I was born in Ukraine and came to Jacksonville, FL with my family when I was almost 9 years old.
  • I speak Russian and English- not Ukrainian
  • I never went to Kindergarten, 2nd or 3rd grade (I went to first grade in Ukraine when I was 8 years old, and when we moved to U.S. I was placed in 4th grade according to my age). I’m so thankful for that😉
  • I am from a big family- I am the third oldest of 9 children
  • I love to write poetry… mostly in English, but I also write occasionally in Russian
  • I love walks at the beach and seeing sunrises/sunsets!
  • I worked as an ICU nurse at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville for almost 10 years