If you've ever met Cara Dowdy, you know that she epitomizes the word sweet. Kind, caring and genuine, Cara has a heart for her family and others and loves use her gifts to bless others.
Cara is married to Brenton who is the Associate Pastor of Worship at Beltway Park. They have been married for five years and have a son, Josiah who is a year and a half and are expecting their second child soon. One of their favorite past times as family is playing disc golf together in their free time.
During the day, Cara is a stay at home mom with her son. She also loves getting to volunteer at her former place of work, Pregnancy Resources of Abilene. Cara has been gifted with the spiritual gifts of compassion, service, and
encouragement. She uses these gifts most effectively in her role at PRA once a week, counseling and praying with women who find themselves in crisis pregnancies. Cara's extreme passion for LIFE is also a natural fit for her role at PRA and she feels blessed to be apart of this ministry that stands for the lives of the unborn.
Cara is also passionate about music. She has been gifted with a beautiful voice and a love for worship. It was this gift however, that led Cara to one of her biggest faith steps. In college, she damaged her vocal chords while working at a summer camp. It took years of rehabilitation, searching and ultimately surgery for her to regain her abilities. This became the hardest season of her life because she found that she had placed much of her identity in her musical abilities. Cara recalls literally feeling like she wasn't herself for that season and struggled greatly with fear, anxiety and depression. She had never experienced these things before in her life. Thankfully, this caused her to press deep into the heart of God to find her true identity apart from her musical abilities. She gained so much inner strength during this time! Although she had to completely relearn how to use her voice and it was very weak at first, God gave her many opportunities to face her fears and begin to step out in this area again. There have been rough times, but God has brought so much restoration and Cara is learning to walk in this gifting again with confidence and deep peace.
Today, Cara is able to walk out this freedom she has in Christ by serving on the worship team and singing at various events along side her husband. Growing up, Cara had an idea from the Lord that she would be married to a pastor someday, but had no idea what that would look like played out. She
loves being married to a worship pastor and all the opportunities it affords her to plug in and serve in the worship ministry. God has given her the freedom to sing with confidence and abandon, knowing that He is glorified even in her moments of weakness.
Cara has also learned how to deal with offense when it comes. She says that when feelings of offense do rise up in her heart toward her husband or others, she tries to give the other person the benefit of
the doubt and think of other possible interpretations or intentions. Cara finds that most people do have good intentions, but the downfall comes in poor communication, especially with texting and social media. Cara also tries to remember times when she herself has been misinterpreted and had to deal with others' offenses toward her. She finds giving the benefit of the doubt protects relationships as well as her own mind and focus.
When Cara needs some downtime to relax, she enjoys pouring a glass of wine, turning on worship music and sitting down with a good book. She also really enjoys slipping away to a good coffee shop. Cara also really loves to travel. She never dreamed that she would have had the opportunity to
have traveled to four different countries before she was thirty! She is so thankful that Beltway has made traveling on mission to other countries so affordable. Cara has had unforgettable experiences and eternal heart-changes as a result of these trips.
You will love getting to know Cara so please make sure and say hello when you see her at church!
Cara is married to Brenton who is the Associate Pastor of Worship at Beltway Park. They have been married for five years and have a son, Josiah who is a year and a half and are expecting their second child soon. One of their favorite past times as family is playing disc golf together in their free time.During the day, Cara is a stay at home mom with her son. She also loves getting to volunteer at her former place of work, Pregnancy Resources of Abilene. Cara has been gifted with the spiritual gifts of compassion, service, and
Cara is also passionate about music. She has been gifted with a beautiful voice and a love for worship. It was this gift however, that led Cara to one of her biggest faith steps. In college, she damaged her vocal chords while working at a summer camp. It took years of rehabilitation, searching and ultimately surgery for her to regain her abilities. This became the hardest season of her life because she found that she had placed much of her identity in her musical abilities. Cara recalls literally feeling like she wasn't herself for that season and struggled greatly with fear, anxiety and depression. She had never experienced these things before in her life. Thankfully, this caused her to press deep into the heart of God to find her true identity apart from her musical abilities. She gained so much inner strength during this time! Although she had to completely relearn how to use her voice and it was very weak at first, God gave her many opportunities to face her fears and begin to step out in this area again. There have been rough times, but God has brought so much restoration and Cara is learning to walk in this gifting again with confidence and deep peace.
Today, Cara is able to walk out this freedom she has in Christ by serving on the worship team and singing at various events along side her husband. Growing up, Cara had an idea from the Lord that she would be married to a pastor someday, but had no idea what that would look like played out. Sheloves being married to a worship pastor and all the opportunities it affords her to plug in and serve in the worship ministry. God has given her the freedom to sing with confidence and abandon, knowing that He is glorified even in her moments of weakness.
Cara has also learned how to deal with offense when it comes. She says that when feelings of offense do rise up in her heart toward her husband or others, she tries to give the other person the benefit of the doubt and think of other possible interpretations or intentions. Cara finds that most people do have good intentions, but the downfall comes in poor communication, especially with texting and social media. Cara also tries to remember times when she herself has been misinterpreted and had to deal with others' offenses toward her. She finds giving the benefit of the doubt protects relationships as well as her own mind and focus.
When Cara needs some downtime to relax, she enjoys pouring a glass of wine, turning on worship music and sitting down with a good book. She also really enjoys slipping away to a good coffee shop. Cara also really loves to travel. She never dreamed that she would have had the opportunity to have traveled to four different countries before she was thirty! She is so thankful that Beltway has made traveling on mission to other countries so affordable. Cara has had unforgettable experiences and eternal heart-changes as a result of these trips.
You will love getting to know Cara so please make sure and say hello when you see her at church!
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