Hi! I’m Kate Motaung.

Welcome to Heading Home, a place where I share articles and posts about eternity, grief, home, diversity, books, and more as we journey together toward our heavenly home.

I’m an author, editor at Refine Services, and host of the Five Minute Friday writing community.

Click here to learn more about my books, including 2025 ECPA Christian Book Award winner Letters to Grief, Longing for Home: 52 Devotional Reflections on the Hope of Heaven, 101 Prayers for Comfort in Difficult Times, and my memoir,  A Place to Land: A Story of Longing and Belonging.

I grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan before spending ten years living in Cape Town, South Africa. My husband and our three young adult children were all born in South Africa, and now we currently reside in West Michigan.

Feel free to connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, or join my email list to receive the latest articles in your inbox.

I look forward to meeting you!

Books by Kate Motaung

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Letters to Grief | 2025 ECPA Christian Book Award Winner

Letters to Grief is the perfect gift book for someone who has experienced a loss and is going through the grieving process. The faux-leather, award-winning book on grief includes a collection of lyrical letters to grief personified, prayers, Scripture passages, hymn lyrics, uplifting quotes, questions for reflection, and lined pages for journaling.

If you’re looking for a user-friendly, faith-based resource to bring comfort, hope, and encouragement in the midst of grief and loss, this book is for you. 

Longing for Home: 52 Devotional Reflections on the Hope of Heaven

Are you longing for home? Are you homesick for heaven? Do you long for something more than this life? If so, this devotional book is for you. 

Longing for Home is a collection of 52 narrative-driven devotions to help readers lift their eyes from this temporary life and set their minds on things above. If you need some encouragement and a strong dose of hope, pick up a copy to ignite your anticipation of your heavenly home in eternity with God. 

101 Prayers for Comfort in Difficult Times

101 Prayers for Comfort in Difficult Times is a faux-leather gift book that includes Scripture passages at the top of each page, followed by a short prayer based on that passage of Scripture. It’s ideal to use as a gift book for someone going through a challenging circumstance, or as a daily encouragement for yourself when you’re looking for words to pray.

A Place to Land: A Story of Longing and Belonging

A Place to Land is a globe-spanning memoir that wrestles with the question, “Where is my home?” Motaung authentically shares her brokenness over the divorce of her parents, her gnawing grief over her mother’s death, and the joys and sorrows of her cross-cultural life. Whether or not your struggles are similar to Kate’s—divorce, grief, financial uncertainty—you’ll feel her losses and grow through yours.

Journey with Kate across two continents to find the answer to one of life’s great questions: no matter where we go or what we do, this world is not our home.

Influence: Building a Platform that Elevates Jesus (Not Me)

In today’s digital world, speakers and writers are expected to grow their own following–or platform of influence–before gaining access to a microphone or book contract. But as a Christian, is there a way to gather followers and still follow Jesus? Is it possible to both build up your stats and take up your cross? How can you reconcile promoting yourself when you’re called to humble yourself, or elevating your name when you’re commissioned to elevate Christ’s?

In Influence, co-authors Kate Motaung and Shannon Popkin invite readers to to acknowledge the tension, set aside fears, examine hidden motives, and embrace the high calling of serving Christ. By utilizing the practical tools, exercises, and discussion questions provided, you’ll emerge with new confidence, awareness, and decision-making clarity–ready to step out and shine the light of Jesus from the platform God has strategically placed beneath your feet.

Share Your Story: The Transforming Power of Telling Others What God Has Done

Share Your Story is a how-to guide with reflection questions and practical exercises that will walk you through the process of telling others what God has done, in His timing and with the boldness supplied by the Holy Spirit. Questions addressed in the book include: What is my story? Why should I share it? Who should I tell? Where should I share my story? When should I share my story? How do I tell others what God has done in my life?

In this book, you’ll discover how to use the stories and personal testimony you’ve been given as an offering back to the Lord. Whether it’s in the form of private conversation, public testimony, or through writing to a broader audience, there’s always a way to glorify God with the story He has given you.

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