An invitation for every woman who feels she isn't godly enough... isn’t loving enough … isn’t doing enough…
The life of a woman today isn't really all that different from that of Mary and Martha in the New Testament. Like Mary, you long to sit at the Lord's feet...but the daily demands of a busy world just won't leave you alone. Like Martha, you love Jesus and really want to serve him...yet you struggle with weariness, resentment, and feelings of inadequacy.
Then comes Jesus, right into the midst of your busy Mary/Martha life-and he extends the same invitation he issued long ago to the two sisters of Bethany. Tenderly he invites you to choose "the better part"-a joyful life of "living-room" intimacy with him that flows naturally into "kitchen service" for him.
How can you make that choice? With a 12-week companion Bible study, Weaver shows how all of us - Marys and Marthas alike - can draw closer to our Lord, deepening our devotion, strengthening our service, and doing both with less stress and greater joy.
Also available in Spanish, Chinese and Korean.
Back-Story
I’d actually planned on writing a different book, but no matter how hard I tried it just wouldn’t come. A six-month sabbatical from writing turned into six years of intense writer’s block. Along with that came an intense crucible time in my own personal life. Through a falling-out with some very dear friends, and the removal of man’s approval, God began showing me ugly places in my heart where my flesh had asserted her authority over His. Core issues from my childhood and fault lines in my psyche that left me vulnerable to Satan’s attacks.
Everything finally culminated during a frustrating time in our church building program. It’s then God whispered to my heart, “You’ve got a Martha spirit, Joanna. You’re a good girl wanting to do good things, but you are running ahead of me. You are doing this in your own strength and as a result your work is cloaked in your flesh … and your flesh ain’t that pretty!”
It was a hard truth to hear, but I’ve learned that God only reveals so He can heal. All I have to do is agree with the diagnosis and Dr. Jesus will bring the cure! Having a Mary Spirit: Allowing God to Change Us from the Inside Out was birthed out of those difficult six years, and outlines how we can partner with God in the transformation we need.
Looking back, I wouldn’t trade that dark night of my soul for anything in the world. While, like Paul, I have not attained all that I want to be or should be. Yet, thank God, I am no longer what I was. Isn’t it amazing how God takes the very things the enemy means for our destruction and uses them for our construction … the all-important process of making you and I less like us and more like Jesus!
