Category: Faith

Living Free

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

In one of my novels, there’s this character. This beautiful beautiful character. A woman so striking other women envy her. Other women want to be her.

But her insides tell a different story. Because inside, she is broken. Not just kind of broken either. She is utterly and completely broken. Bound by the world. A slave to her beauty. To her figure. To the way men respond to her.

It consumes her.

She is not free.

And sadly, so many of us are the same.

We live in a country where slavery is illegal, yet so many of us are slaves.

To food. To sex. To approval. To work. To money. To alcohol.

The list goes on.

But in the midst of bondage, there is a key.

It comes from 2 Corinthians. A couple verses that I absolutely love:

I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Sometimes, the things that bind us feel impossible to escape. Sometimes, we find ourselves saying, “I can’t get over this.”

And we put so much emotion, so much emphasis, behind that word.

Can’t.

The truth is, we can’t. Not on our own. And Satan relishes in our weakness.

But maybe….

Maybe, Christ allows these thorns so we might turn to Him in a way we haven’t before.

Maybe, He wants us to learn that when temptation curls its sinewy fingers around our souls, the only way to escape is to hit our knees and cry out to the one who CAN.

Maybe, He wants to use our great weaknesses to magnify His great strength.

I’ve learned that true and lasting freedom comes through letting Him, and Him alone, be our master. Not work or sex or food or whatever else this world shoves in our face.

My prayer today, is that chains would be broken. That people would find freedom. Life-changing, heart-dancing, joy-inducing freedom in the only one who can give it. Jesus Christ.

Let’s Talk: Do you have that kind of freedom? Have you ever been a slave to something?

*Photo by Le Seigle Antoineremovetweetmeme

When Things Go Wrong

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

God calls you to do something. Through prayer. Through scripture. Through the words of other believers. Through the Holy Spirit inside you. You sense His calling. His direction. You know what He wants you to do.

So you make a plan. You write goals. You set forth with purpose and passion. You pray something like, “Lord, if this is your will, please open the doors. Work out the details. Make this thing go smoothly.”

And you’re off.

Excited. Expectant. Maybe a little nervous.

So what happens when you hit a snag?

Never mind the snag. What happens when you hit a giant roadblock?

I just finished this life-changing book called Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. There’s a whole chapter devoted to circumstances and how we often let them dictate our decisions.

We hit that snag or that roadblock and we too quickly conclude that something got lost in translation. Maybe God didn’t want us to do this thing after all. Maybe He’s shutting the door.

But wait a minute.

What about Moses?

God tells him to ask Pharaoh to let his people go. So Moses does. And what happens? Pharaoh refuses, gets angry, and makes things worse for the Israelites. What would have happened if Moses would have assumed he misunderstood God? What if Moses would have turned back? Given up?

He would have missed out on leading the Israelites to freedom. He would have missed out on experiencing God’s deliverance in a huge, miraculous, mind-blowing way.

Here’s the thing.

Sometimes, our current circumstances stink. And oftentimes, we’re all too quick to turn and run. Claw our way out. By our own strength and our own will.

But maybe, God doesn’t want us to.

Maybe, we’re right where we’re supposed to be.

Maybe, in the midst of the hardship and the confusion and the unmet expectations, God wants to show us something we wouldn’t see otherwise.

Maybe, in those weak helpless places, God’s strength is made perfect. And we see, along with a watching world, that He’s still God. And He’s still powerful.

Let’s Talk: How much of an influence do your circumstances have over your choices? When something goes wrong or something gets tough, do you assume you’re off course? Or do you sit still and seek God’s guidance?

*Photo by Jacqueline ter Haar on Flickrremovetweetmeme

The Unexpected

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

Sometimes, the writing journey feels like a never-ending slab of cement. Cold. Hard. Monotonous. You send out queries. Nothing happens. You get a request for a partial or a full. Nothing happens. You write and you write and you write and you wait and you wait and you wait. And you wonder.

What if this is it?

What if this never happens?

What if I stand on this cement for ever and ever?

I know those questions. Because I asked them many times. While I stood on my own personal slab of cement, not-knowing if I’d ever get off. Wondering if anything was happening.

But I also learned something. Not once I got a contract. But before. In the midst of the waiting.

God is working.

Maybe in the way we want Him to work. Maybe not. Either way, He’s working. Until eventually you look down and there, growing up from the cracks, is something unexpected. Something that doesn’t belong. Something you didn’t think you’d see until you hopped off your cement onto the green-covered hills of publication.

Maybe it’s a friend you didn’t think you would make. Or a piece of writing that revealed a truth you didn’t grasp until you wrote it. Or that person at work who asked to read your story and when you let her, it left a mark. Maybe it’s simply finding peace in the midst of the unknown. Or the joy that comes when we let go and trust.

That He’s working. He has a purpose for why you are where you are. He has things He wants to show you. Ways He wants to use you. Things He wants to give you. You just have to be willing to look past your expectations and see them.

Let’s Talk: What unexpected gifts have you found on your journey?removetweetmeme