By Mallory Mattingly
Stroke survivor and influencer Katherine Wolf’s life testifies to God’s providential plan, even in her early days as a hopeful actress.
“In what feels like a different lifetime, my nickname was the ‘Callback Queen,'” the best-selling author shared on Instagram. “I’d audition, the casting team would love me, and I’d get called back again and again…and then another woman would be hired for the job.”
“Memorably, I was one of two final candidates for a major network drama,” Wolf continued. “The other actress got the role and went on to star in it for multiple seasons, while I modeled adult-sized Cinderella costumes. I refused to define myself by rejection, which I couldn’t control. Instead, I defined myself by the tenacity it took to keep showing up, the humility required to take the gigs that paid a few bills, and the stubborn hope that meaningful work was ahead of me.”
Related: Author Katherine Wolf on Overcoming Stroke: ‘God Withholds No Good Thing’
Thanks to her “stubborn hope,” Wolf persevered through the hardest trial of her life.
“In his delightfully subversive way, God allowed me to flourish in the dead ends — he used rejection to reinforce my self-worth, rather than destroy it,” she wrote. “A few years into my Hollywood adventure, my reality imploded from the impact of a massive stroke, and in the span of a day, I lost my abilities to communicate, to walk, to drive, to eat.”
“Turns out, I was still me,” she declared. “And the realest parts of me remained: tenacity, humility, stubborn hope. My deepest rejection and most disappointed hopes were God’s means to introduce me to my truest self…I beg you to consider what opportunities for resilience might be hidden in your ‘dead end.'”
After her stroke, Wolf went on to write her best-selling book, Hope Heals:
In the book, Wolf documents her journey with her husband, Jay, at her side. She encourages readers to “Find lasting hope in the midst of struggle, embrace the unexpected” and “welcome God’s miracles into your everyday life.”
Wolf could have let the stroke define her entire life; however, she kept hold of her hope and let that propel her into the life God called her to.
“Hope is the living force that propels us through the endless cycle of hurting and healing. And as the cycles progress, the hope evolves and expands and deepens. Over a lifetime, our hope will take as many forms as our hurts do. At the end of all the tumbling, I think our hope will carry us to the place where we don’t need it anymore,” Wolf wrote on social media.
Wolf’s story is a powerful testimony to the hope God gives.
Read Next: Why Jamie Foxx Says God ‘Blessed’ Him With a Stroke
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