Katie Ganshert, Author at Katie Ganshert

Dead Ends

Posted on November 9, 2011November 12, 2011 by Katie Ganshert

Here’s a lesson I’m learning about God.

Sometimes, as we travel this journey called life, He prompts us to go a certain direction. Perhaps through Scripture or a sermon or prayer or a yearning or a heaviness that sits inside our chest.

So we set out on the road with high hopes and expectations.

But sometimes, for whatever reason, we find ourselves at a dead end. And most often, it’s painful and confusing. Yet if we open our eyes and surrender our plans, we’ll discover a new path.

A path we never would have considered had we not gone down that first road.

I’m learning more and more every day that we don’t worship a God of dead ends.

Let’s Talk: Have you ever gone a certain way with your life, hoping for something, but God gave you something else instead?

*picture by tatooedfolkremovetweetmeme

My Writing Process

Posted on November 4, 2011November 12, 2011 by Katie Ganshert

This question is from Ms. Wendy Paine Miller. And okay, I didn’t get it under two minutes, like I wanted. But I talked as fast as I could!

For all you pantsers out there, get ready to cringe.

For you readers out there who have no idea what the words plotter or pantser mean, allow me to explain.

I’m a plotter. I plot out my story before I sit down to write the rough draft.

There are others out there who call themselves pantsers. They don’t plot before they sit down to write the rough draft. They wing it. Or, they write by the seat of their pants. And somehow they do not suffer from ulcers. It’s completely baffling.

If you have a question you’d like me to answer via vlog, please send them my way (either in the comments section or in an email). If you missed my previous vlogs and want to take a look, you can find them on my youtube channel.

Let’s Talk: What’s your writing process like? For you nonwriting readers, what kind of writer do you think you’d be?removetweetmeme

Live Messy

Posted on November 2, 2011November 12, 2011 by Katie Ganshert

Do you ever feel like God’s calling us to live messy? At least a lot messier than we are?

I don’t mean neglecting the laundry or tossing the vacuum. I mean stepping outside the orderly. Stepping outside the safe. Stepping outside the bubble-wrapped. I mean rolling up our sleeves and getting dirty.

Sometimes I get the feeling that my life’s too tidy. Too neat. Too sanitized.

I go the easy way because the hard’s too much work.

But you know what?

We don’t experience God in the easy. There’s no growth to be had in the simple.

We experience God when things are so hard and so out-of-our-control and so untidy that all we can do is throw up our hands and trust that He will show up in the midst of the chaos.

A couple Sundays ago, my pastor said something that spoke so powerfully to my heart. To my husband’s too. He said, “If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, then get in over your heads.”

Too often, I put off the promptings of the Spirit until I have everything organized and figured out and straightened up.

Too often, I ignore the impulses of the Spirit because it feels too messy. Too complicated. Too out of my control. Too over my head.

But maybe that’s the point.

Maybe, when we step outside the safe lines that make up our lives, we see His grace and His power and His provision in a way we never would had we stuck with the status quo.

Maybe in those risky, uncertain moments, His glory shines the brightest.

Let’s Talk: Tell me about a time you got messy and risked for God.

*Picture by aidan1923

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