Katie Ganshert, Author at Katie Ganshert

The Christy Awards!

Posted on June 24, 2013June 24, 2013 by Katie Ganshert

Hello from St. Louis!

Tonight, I’ll be hanging out with authors, editors, and agents at the Christy Awards Banquet.

My debut novel, Wildflowers from Winter, is a finalist in the contemporary romance category, alongside Kristin Heitzmann and Irene Hannon.

If you’d like to follow along online, you can! Just click on this link for more details.

Wildflowers from Winter was also a Christian Retailing’s Best finalist. I about choked on my coffee when I saw my name tagging along after Karen Kingsbury and Dee Henderson. Still makes me chuckle, in fact. Winners will be announced at the International Christian Retail Show tomorrow morning. I won’t be able to make it, though, since I’ll be on the road, headed back to my two boys.

I’m beyond humbled and honored to be nominated for both of these awards. Truly.

If you want to check out pictures, I’ll be posting them on my Facebook page!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ~James 1:17

Friday Favorite: A Letter to the North American Church

Posted on June 21, 2013June 20, 2013 by Katie Ganshert

This post from Ann Voskamp. That is my favorite from the week.

Her beautiful words and this beautiful truth and those beautiful pictures.

Yes, this….

“You don’t wait until you have more before you give to God – you give now so you get to become more in God. The children are all smiling and singing and there’s all this light coming like dappled deliverance through the leaves.”

And this…

“It’s not having much that makes you rich — it’s the giving much that makes you rich. Give and you are the rich.”

And this…

“I am standing in Africa and there’s a whole Esther Generation and it is us who want hard and holy things because we want more than hollow lives. There’s a whole Esther Generation and it is us who want our children to know the More Life, a life more than self-focus and cell phones, more than iPhones, iTunes, iPads and iLove, who want them to know the More Life of loving the least, the lonely and the lost and tasting the joy of God.”

Let’s Talk: What is your favorite from the week?

What’s Your “This”?

Posted on June 17, 2013June 17, 2013 by Katie Ganshert

Do you believe in God’s goodness?

It’s a question I’ve had to ask myself lately.

In my head, yes. Of course I believe God is good.

But sometimes my heart isn’t as readily agreeable as my head.

I think sometimes, I fall into the trap of gauging God’s goodness based on the circumstances of the moment.

He heals a sick loved one.

He restores a marriage.

He blesses someone with a child.

He gives us the dream we’ve been chasing.

And God. Is. Good!

But what about when the loved one dies or the marriage ends or the child doesn’t come or we never catch the dream?

Do we still declare Him good then?

What happens when that thing we’ve been praying and praying and praying for with the kind of prayers that give us callused knees and hoarse voices and dried-up tear ducts…what happens when God says no to that prayer?

I can hear Him whisper “Will you believe that I am good even if I don’t give you this?”

Whatever this is, this thing we grasp to our chest with knuckles as white as bone.

It’s a scary thought, isn’t it?

Ready for a truth moment–one that might wallop you as much as it’s been walloping me?

Perhaps the level of fear this particular question induces says much about the heart of our worship.

Are we worshiping God?

Or are we worshiping what God might give us?

It’s like that book by Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

All the whos in Whoville are Christmas-crazy.

They love the presents and the food and the decorations and the goodies.

But then the Grinch steal everything.

And what happens?