The In-Between Place Blog Tour: Author Interview + Giveaway

 

 

Welcome to the Blog Tour for The In-Between Place by Kat Armstrong, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

Title: The In-Between Place
Author: Kat Armstrong
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: January 5, 2021
Genre: Christian Life/Spiritual Growth

Jesus’ journey to the woman at the well in Samaria offers insights and hope for women today to make peace with the past, find hope in the present, and step into the future. 

God wants us to move toward the goodness He has planned for us. But what do we do when challenges stop our forward momentum? What’s the next step when we fall into a pit of despair with the determination knocked right out of us? 

On his way from Judea to Galilee, Jesus traveled through Samaria, a broken place everyone knew to avoid. In Samaria he stopped in Shechem, where evil had gained such a foothold of power that it eventually reigned. Yet the place once condemned as somewhere no one wanted to visit—let alone hang out in for a while—was the location of one Samaritan woman’s most hope-filled encounter with the Savior. 

The In-Between Place offers deeply important insights to anyone who feels stuck and can’t see a way forward. It is for the person who feels that if she looks left, her face will be scraped by an immovable boulder, and if she looks right, she’ll see nothing but hard to handle. It’s for the person who feels lost and is not sure she is worth the effort to be found, for the person who feels overlooked and unfulfilled. Because sometimes Jesus saves our greatest spiritual breakthroughs for our in-between places.

PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookDepository | IndieBound | Christianbook | BookBub

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Kat Armstrong has been emboldening women to be all-in for Jesus for twenty years as a speaker, Bible teacher, author, and podcast host. As cofounder of The Polished Network, a nonprofit connecting and gathering professional women to navigate career and explore faith, her mission is to create holy curiosity.

Kat holds a master of Christian education from Dallas Theological Seminary. She and her husband, Aaron, have been married for eighteen years, and live in Dallas, Texas, with their son, Caleb. They attend Dallas Bible Church, where Aaron serves as the lead pastor. 

CONNECT WITH KAT: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

 Hi Kat! Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and giving my readers the chance to get to know you and your new book- The In-Between Place  a little bit better! I like to start these interviews the same way with something fun to break the ice: can you share 5 random facts about yourself that we will NOT find in your bio?

 

Thank you so much for having me on the blog today!

1.      I am inordinately particular about my pens. Although we have so many digital resources at our fingertips, I still prefer paper and pen, and so I’ve come to love certain brands, like the G2. Finding a good pen is a whole love language for me.

2.      I could watch an episode of The West Wing every night and be a happy woman. And I would go so far as to say that understanding me is understanding why my favorite episode is “The Women of Qumar.”

3.      I was able to pay for seminary by selling skin care in a network marketing company. More than 15 years later, I’m still brand loyal to the skin care.

4.      My 8-year-old son, Caleb, is the kindest human I’ve ever met, and I’m learning so much from him.

5.      I might be married to the most supportive man on planet earth, and his support is the reason I am flourishing.

While your first book came out only two years ago, you are no stranger to teaching women Biblical truths. You have spent twenty years as a speaker, Bible teacher, podcast host, and the cofounder of the Polished Network. When did you first realize that working to empower women was something that God had called you to do?

My friend Kari encouraged me, against my better judgment, to be the chaplain of our Christian sorority my junior year in college at A&M University. Kari asked me to run for office, which I never would have done without her years of investment in me. I think my exact response to Kari’s suggestion that I succeed her as chaplain was, “Are you nuts?” She likely doesn’t remember persuading me to run for the office, but I remember. She said something to the effect, “It’s time to pass on what you’ve learned. Like a cup overflowing, just let the Spirit spill over into somebody else’s life.” If asked why I love teaching the Bible, the answer would be because of the time I spent serving as chaplain of Sigma Phi Lambda.

Did you know when you started as a speaker and a Bible teacher that you would eventually write books, or when did that realization come about?

 

I had no idea and no aspiration to write books. Bible studies, yes. But not books. After my father tragically passed a few years ago, I sensed an urgency to steward the Bible messages I’d been teaching. My friend Sharon was the first person to tell me I should be writing books. Shout out to Sharon Miller.

What inspired you to want to write this newest book?

This book was born when Ronnie (my Holy Land tour guide) said, “We are standing in modern-day Samaria. You’ll remember, it’s the setting for the story of the woman at the well. And now we’ll hear from Rev. Dr. Jackie Roese about Dinah’s story from Genesis 34.” One casual transition statement from our Israel tour guide, Ronnie, about the Holy Land site visit for the day to our Bible teacher, Rev. Dr. Jackie Roese, reoriented the way I read the Samaritan woman’s conversation with Jesus in John 4. How did I not see it sooner? Both women’s stories have Samaria as their setting, and I think there is divine purpose in the places and spaces God revisits in the Scriptures. I believe God redeems broken places into sacred spaces. I have this wild, audacious dream that people will read The In-Between Place and be filled with hope that Jesus is in our messy middle places.

I feel like this is a book that so many women need—myself included… especially after this year that in many ways seems to have put our lives on hold. What do you hope readers will take away from the book?

 

I, like the rest of you, know what it is like to watch the president of the United States give a daily press briefing about COVID-19, the global pandemic impacting our whole world, and wonder how we will face tomorrow. It feels like an in-between place. How are we supposed to plan for the future when we don’t know what the next day will bring? If you’re not in one now, you likely just came out of one, or at some point you’ll be in the middle of what feels like nowhere. And you’ll ask questions like these:

How did I end up here?

Why can’t I seem to move on?

Why do I feel stuck, and how do I change?

Is this as good as it gets?

How do I make the most of this sucky season?

Seems to me, in our in-between places—in between jobs, in between kids, in between our hopes and dreams and the cruelty of real life, in between sickness and health, in between confusion and clarity, in between divorce and remarriage, in between the ICU and death, in between the cross and the new heaven and new earth—hopelessness often pitches a tent. When we feel overlooked and forgotten, when we can’t find answers, when we don’t understand how we got here, when life doesn’t make sense, when we don’t know who we are anymore, when the best we can do is turn off the lights, crawl into bed, and hope we don’t wake up tomorrow, that’s when we need Jesus to redeem our in-between places. And I’m convinced he can. He has. And he will do it again. This time, for you. I am praying my readers are filled with HOPE.

Thank you again for taking the time to answer these questions. Before you go, are there any other projects you are currently working on that you can share? 

 

As the cofounder of The Polished Network, we are planning a full year of online and in-person events, and I’d love to invite everyone to join us to talk about the intersection of faith and work.

I’m also applying to doctorate of ministry programs to study the New Testament. I’m really excited to continue to learn more about Jesus.

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(1) winner will receive a print copy of The In-Between Place and No More Holding Back!

Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway began at midnight February 22, 2021 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on March 1, 2021. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE

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Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

 

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