Category: Faith

Dead Ends

Posted on 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

Live Messy

Posted on 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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God and Symbolism

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

As a writer, I love me some good symbolism. I love writing it and I love reading it. And I love that we worship a God who created it.

Because when Jesus died on the cross, the veil was torn.

We hear that a lot. It’s become this cliche thing. Yada, yada, yada, Jesus died on the cross. Yada, yada, yada, the veil was torn. Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it before.

But the veil was torn, people. Torn. Which has to be, 100%, the coolest symbol in the history of all symbols.

Because that veil was an incredibly thick curtain that barred the entrance into the Holy of Holies – a very special room in the tabernacle where God’s presence dwelt. A room that only the high priest could enter. Once a year, after meticulous preparation, to shed blood for the atonement of sin.

Everyday people like you and me? They couldn’t set foot into the Holy of Holies. They could not be in the presence of a holy God and live (Exodus 33:20). Which is why God established the old covenant. We needed a priest to be our middle man. And God needed blood to make us clean.

Until Jesus came. God in the flesh. He took the weight of our sin upon His shoulders and died on the cross. He shed His own blood, once and for all. The ultimate sacrifice. Our ultimate priest.

And the veil was torn wide open.

A new covenant was established.

The covenant of Jesus Christ.

A covenant that rips apart the barrier.

A covenant that gives everyday people like you and me open access to a holy God.

Talk about some amazing, amazing symbolism.

Let’s Talk: What symbolism have you come across lately? Or tell me about the coolest symbolism you’ve ever read in a book. Peace Like a River is filled with awesome symbolism!removetweetmeme