S3 Episode #14- Kat Armstrong
THE ONE WITH KAT ARMSTRONG
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.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Jesus once traveled through Samaria, a broken place everyone knew to avoid. There he stopped in Shechem, where evil had gained such a foothold of power that it eventually reigned. Yet that 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: Where Jesus Changes Your Story discusses the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, who was in an “in-between place” struggling because of her previous relationships and cast aside because of them, showing we can make peace with our past, how to find hope in the present, and step confidently into our future.
“Hope, real hope, is certainty that a loving God will come from outside our circumstances and enter into our messy reality and be with us through it all as he works everything out for good,” says Armstrong.
"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."
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2 Biblical Women
Genesis 34— Dinah
1 John 4— The Woman at the Well
There is a huge amount of time and space between these stories, but they both happened in the same geographic place.
When you go through grief, the whole world keeps going but you feel like you slow down and stop. It is an in-between space. It won’t always feel so tender and raw.
Geographical parts of the Biblical narrative become symbols. Jesus goes to a place called Sychar. This is the same place where Dinah was abused all those years ago. This is significant.
Jesus revisits places in our lives that are wounded or in need of healing and He brings His presence, which we know heals people.
Dinah- Genesis 34
Dinah has a tragic story of abuse
Living in a place named Shechem and she is raped by a man named Shechem
Shechem’s dad owned everything
Dinah is Jacob’s daughter with Leah
Jacob sells Dinah to Shechem and her brothers negotiate the marriage, then they kill the gentiles to avenge their sister
In this story, you never hear Dinah’s voice
The Woman at the Well- 1 John 4
100’s of years later, Jesus goes to Sychar (which used to be Schechem).
The Bible tells us that Jesus “had to go to Schechem”... but we know that Jesus never HAD to do anything. There was a divine purpose behind each of His actions.
Jesus has the longest conversation in the New Testament with the woman at the well.
Jesus brings up her places of trauma, offers her healing through His presence, and offers her theological truth
She becomes the first evangelist in the New Testament and her whole city gets saved when she shares her story.
COnnections between dinah & The Woman At the Well
Connected by an in between place: Samaria was a place where no one wanted to be, and yet Jesus goes there.
Jesus brings His presence to a very broken place. In doing so, He reminds us He comes to us in our in-between places. He will go anywhere with us!
Chart taken from Kat’s Reading Guide for The In-Between Place. For more, check out her website.
Jesus redeems our in-between places
Jesus reaches through time and reminds us that we are seen. We are not forgotten. We are redeemed.
What our heart aches for in Dinah’s story, Jesus fulfills with the woman at the well.
Jesus knew that going to that city would upend the history of how women had been treated there. He was putting an end to it.
When we are in an in-between place, Jesus comes to us. You are not too far gone to redeem.
Dinah’s voice was silenced, but that is not what Jesus intends for His daughters.
Tips for those in an in-between place
Think about mind, body, and soul-- seek wise counsel and professional help. Take advantage of every opportunity. You are worthy of all the help that is available.
Make peace with your past -- become comfortable with your back story, talk to Jesus about it
Find hope in your present -- Jesus says the woman at the well that He is the Living Water. There is no depletion to His presence. He is always available to us.
Move confidently into your future -- The woman didn’t pause and get her life together, she immediately went out and told people about Jesus
The Tenderness of God
Jesus tenderly approaches the woman-- he is seated
The word count He gives this woman shows how much worth and value He places on women
His questions are piercing, yet tender
Jesus ends up staying in this place for 3 days. He was all about moving on when it was time to go, but he chooses to stay
Jesus is so near, and so kind and so incredibly gentle.
In-between places are oftentimes when we feel like we have to “power through”, but we can feel free to ask Jesus questions. Jesus loves to talk with us, teach us, and use us for His glory.
Kat’s Life Message
To help women be all in for Jesus. To teach the Bible in a way that creates curious Bible students-- people who want to go back and reread the passage on their own.
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