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“If God can create His proudest creation from mud, what can He do with the mud in our lives?”
Have you ever felt disqualified by your origin story? Or perhaps driven to prove that you’re better than your past? In today’s episode, Mary Marantz shares how God has helped her navigate the broken pieces of her story and to approach it with compassion rather than judgment or bitterness, resentment or regret.
We dive into her memoir, Dirt: Growing Strong Roots in What Makes the Broken Beautiful, but also her newest book, Slow Growth Equals Strong Roots: Finding Grace, Freedom and Purpose in an Over-Achieving World. No matter what your story has been, God wants to redeem it for your good and His glory. There is so much good stuff in this episode. I hope you’ll share it with a friend.
Important Takeaways from Show
- In making peace with our pasts, we take the muddy, the hard, the broken, and the beautiful and ask God to help us see it through the lens of grace.
- We can stop holding our present prisoner to the things we think we must do in order to count.
- Generational chains can break without the severing of ties as we honor the roots, strengthen them, and grow new fruit.
- The things you thought were shattered are mere reflections of light, love, and beauty.
- Achieving can start to feel like oxygen, it is something we feel like we need in order to survive.
- If we try to rush the process that God is taking us through, we only produce shallow roots that easily break-the slower growth equals the strongest roots.
- Significance is not about us; it is simply taking the gifts God has given us to serve and love others.
- We often think, “if I don’t work for it, I don’t deserve it,” but God’s love says “let it be easy, let it be light”
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Links from Show
Dirt: Growing Strong Roots in What Makes the Broken Beautiful
Mary’s Newest Book: Slow Growth Equals Strong Roots: Finding Grace, Freedom and Purpose in an Over-Achieving World
Justin Kendrick – “The Spirit-Led Life”
Joanna’s New Book: Embracing Trust: The Art of Letting Go and Holding On to a Forever-Faithful God
[Disclosure: I make a small commission from affiliate links used in this post.]
