Theresa Ambat

Many people who know me would typically describe me as a very creative, self-starting person who loves to take on tons of projects and formulate new ideas. It makes sense. When I was a kid I took much joy in drawing comic books about dreams I had, writing songs on my toy guitar, starting silly clubs for my friends to join, and selling candy and handmade bracelets to kids in my neighborhood.

Songwriting in particular was a significant means of self-expression and later on became a profound catalyst for my relationship with God and the Church. What first started as an American-Idol dream as a teen eventually became a charism that the Lord wanted me to share to bring myself and others closer to His longing heart.

But these days, I feel the Lord is inviting me to discover who I am underneath the surface of my creative reputation.

Much of my identity in the last 26 years has been built around the narrative that “I'm a creative."

I live a life that some would consider to be "the dream": I left my office job in the summer of 2024, not having any sort of plan for what life would look like--I just wanted to have more time to make stuff. Today I get to run Saint Sprites, a Catholic e-commerce store I launched in 2023. My other projects include brand, wedding, and music photography, an occasional audio editing gig, running social media for various clients, and writing and recording my music on the side.

This is the kind of life I could have only dreamed of even three years ago. The creative entrepreneurial life is becoming a reality for me and I love it, yet I'm not necessarily jumping around and celebrating "finally making it." It's all a gift from the Lord. I didn't get here by my own ambition, He gave it to me.

A bit ago I sat on my office floor and gazed at everything in the room: film cameras, business books, guitars and synthesizers, prints, etc. I sat and thought, “Who am I, underneath all of this? There must be something deeper from which my love for creating comes forth.”

It's hard not to feel like you don't know who you are anymore when you enter a season of detachment. But sometimes detachment simply means integration.

The Lord is expanding my view of myself. Creativity is a significant part of my story, but it is not all of it. There's actually great freedom in knowing that. He's filling the gaps of my heart, and these days it is as if I wake up each day and God invites me to get to know this person, myself, who He has known my whole life. And it is absolutely beautiful.