Today my friend and fellow debut author, Katie Ganshert, shares a quote with us. Katie will be joining me, Dani Pettrey and Olivia Newport for an a-ma-zing launch party on May 15th! Mark your calendars & plan to join us.
“Even if we do everything right, things are still going to go wrong.” –Evan Price from Wildflowers from Winter by Katie Ganshert
In certain areas of my life, I’m a perfectionist.
And when things go wrong, I might find myself wondering where I dropped the ball.
But here’s the thing.
Life is messy.
Bad things happen.
We can spend our time trying to figure out why.
We can be like Job’s friends. Sitting around, debating whether that bad thing was our fault, or the result of a broken world or some sort of punishment.
But the simple truth is, we don’t know.
We’re not meant to know.
We’re meant to learn from our mistakes, if a mistake was made. We’re meant to grow. To give grace and keep going. To find beauty in the midst of the mess.
In Your Words: When have you found beauty in the midst of mess?
What’s Wildflowers in Winter about? Bethany Quinn was happy to leave her small town ten years ago to create a new, successful life. But when tragedies strike at home, she is forced to return and face the pain of her childhood. Out of options, Bethany tries to find a place where love and faith make sense again.
Katie Ganshert was born and raised in the Midwest, where she writes stories about finding faith and falling in love. When she’s not busy plotting her next novel, she enjoys watching movies with her husband, playing make-believe with her wild-child of a son, and chatting with her girlfriends over bagels. She and her husband are in the process of adopting from the Congo. You can find her online at her blog and on Facebook.
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Thanks, Beth, for giving us an insight into Katie’s debut novel! Beauty in the midst of messes can always be found, but sometimes we’re not in a state of mind to look for it. Or too sad to see it. Or to angry to believe it. But it’s always there. God specializes in bringing beauty from ashes. Katie, I’m so excited for your upcoming debut!
Donna, that’s the struggle: finding the beauty in the mess. Getting past the sadness or the anger and seeing the beauty.
Great insights.
I’m excited too! 😉
You’re right – it’s always there. It’s just a matter of being intentional and looking for it.
I have to agree with Donna. Beauty can always be found, the question is are we willing to see it. Sometimes I can say yes, sometimes, I’m stubborn and want to wallow in self-pity or anger and see nothing good, even when He’s doing everything to show it to me.
I’m still a progress. 🙂
And thank God that he loves us all through the process, Jess!
🙂
Oh, me too, sister. I’ve been known to wallow in self-pity a time or two. It’s really not a fun place to be, is it? So why, at times, do I prolong my stay?
I guess a turn of thought might be that good things happen to bad people, which is how we get saved.
I’ll never forget British missionary Dr. Helen Roseveare surviving unspeakable horrors in the then Congo sharing that God asked her, “Can you thank me for trusting you with this experience, even if you never understand the reason why?” She learned to . . . Wow!
Wow is right, Dee.
Always love when you join the conversation …
That is 100% inspiring. What an amazing woman.
Hi Katie! You get around, Girl!! It’s been so much fun sharing in “the process of publishing” with you. (Thinking of the contract-signing photo now.) And now you ladies have the Launching Party! Wish I lived closer. Online sharing is wonderful, but face-to-face in these cases would be so much better!!
As I pondered your question about finding beauty in the midst of mess, I thought of a chapter in one of the books I’m reading, a remake of the classic Dale Carnegie book, for the digital age. It’s all about giving people grace after they have messed up, saying we are to remember their finer hours and treat them like “that” person. If we would give ourselves the same Grace, I have a feeling we would find more beauty in the midst of our failings and messes.
On a lighter note: “Beauty in the midst of mess” is my grandkids playing with their mama’s Cabbage Patch dolls, tiny outfits strewn around the room, clothes hamper “cars” and worn and wobbly cardboard box taking up the remaining space. (One of the dolls hanging upside down from the dogs cage, her foot jammed between the bars, my sweet-natured dog looking on from inside.) I, too, have perfectionist tendencies, Katie, so it was a lesson I had to relearn, this enjoying beauty in the midst of mess. (And it makes the visits so much more relaxing for my daughter that I have!)
I love your two approaches to this question, Patti:
The “Dale Carnegie” approach & the “grandmother” approach — and both are so, so wise.
Hi Patti! I wish you lived closer too! We would have lotsa fun. 🙂 Love the picture you create of your precious grandkids!
Thanks for sharing, Katie and Beth. It’s always fun to get to know authors a bit more through their thoughts and their books. I look forward to reading Wildflowers from Winter.
Finding beauty in the mess is so hard sometimes. And then I think of the cross. And the third morning when He came from that tomb.
Great to meet you, Kathy. And thanks to Beth for introducing her to us!
I’m laughing because I almost sent you that quote last week while you were struggling with something. It’s on p. 96 of your book. Just never got around to taunting you with your own words, so I’m glad you did that for yourself.
LOL, Olivia!! I know exactly what “something” you are talking about. I need to take a page out of my characters’ books more often!
We write what we know, Katie and Olivia, we write what we know.
:O)
And sometimes we write what we are learning.
Great post, Katie 🙂 Love the quote and laughed at Olivia’s comment. So thankful God’s in control of it all and able to bring beauty from ashes.
I’ve messed up more times than I care to remember. What I do like to reflect on is how the Lord has used those goofs of mine to bring about positive changes in me. Grace is a wonderful thing.
Grace is a wonderful thing indeed — and I am so thankful God lavishes it on us!