Stop right now. What were the last words you spoke to your husband? your children? your roommate? your friend? your co-worker? Keep these words in mind.
Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Luke 10:40
When we are preoccupied with earthly things like tasks, rules, duties, and lists, it leads to nothing but disappointment. No one can accomplish the tasks we set forth. No one can meet our standard of perfection. Consequently, we often end up completing the tasks ourselves, which in turn leads to anger, bitterness, and resentment. Sound familiar?
Tell her to help me! Martha demanded. Luke 10:40
Do you realize the boldness in her words? Martha, sister of Mary, child of God, told God what to do!!! As my friend Renee Swope says, “She got bossy with God!”
This is the very first story in the Bible I could really relate to…for I am Martha in so many ways. I know what it is to become irritated, angry, and demanding…to feel totally out of control with my emotions.
Listen to the cry of my heart after one of these outbursts with my children from Chpt. 8, p. 118:
Did I really tell my children that they made my life miserable and that I did not want to be around them ever again? Yes, I did. Mommy of the Year, I am not. Incredulous at how easily I lost control, I began to weep. “How could this have happened? How could I have ever let it get this far?” I knew exactly how. I was tired, exhausted, and running on empty. I had not sat with the Lord on a consistent basis for quite a while. I had not been filling my heart with the things of God.
Is this where you are? Are you depleted? Do you need a strength outside yourself to make it another day as a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend? Listen to Jesus’ words words…
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
Quiet time is NOT about checking off another task on your list. It is about abiding in Christ…experiencing intimate union with God. The God of the Universe LOVES you and desires to spend time with you!! I DON’T WANT YOU TO MISS THAT, SWEET FRIEND. The God of the universe wants to spend time with you!!!
When you commit to that time, when you set time apart to be alone with Him, He will show up. He promises us that when we seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him!!
Commit to some some time with God today…5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes…whatever you desire. As you begin your time with the Lord, invite Him in. Pray a prayer like this prayer of David from Psalm 25:4-5:
Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your Truth and teach me for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long.
Or pray this prayer from Psalm 119:18
Open the eyes of my heart that I may see the wonderful things in your law.
I would LOVE to hear how God blesses your time with Him. Please leave me comments this week and share your experiences. I am praying for God to do big things…to make Himself very real as you reach out to know Him more!!!
Those of you doing the on-line study, will you share your answers to Questions 2, 3, 5, and/or 7. If you chose to do what was asked of you in Question 8, please share how the Lord showed up in your time with Him.
This Week’s Assignment: Read Chapter 9, Prayer, and complete the questions in the study guide located in the back of the book. See you next Wednesday! I will be praying for you.
Let me close with the prayer from the Study Guide:
Lord, please draw me to Your Word daily. Your Word says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Father, as I commit to spend time with You, help me to hear Your voice. I commit my thoughts to You and ask that You would fill me with Your Truth as I seek You each day. Help me to tune out anything that conflicts with the Truth You desire to speak to me. Give me ears to hear and let Your Word dwell in me richly. Give me discernment to understand all You have to say to me. I ask this in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. AMEN
Hidden Joy in a Dark Corner: The Transforming Power of God's Story 
All Things Wise and Wonderful: Applying God's Wisdom in Everyday Life (E-Book)
I just read this section and it was such an AH-HA moment! That could so easily be me and has been!! You are right! I appreciate also your saying-that we are to use the Bible for Quiet Time and no other resources-another way I try to slip it in without really doing it.
Reading this chapter I was brought back in time to a place I haven't revisited in a long while. As I read your words of frustration and how you lashed out at your children, I could place myself there with my daughter. What was hard for me was realizing that even though I've come a long way since she was a toddler, I had to look at my behavior while homeschooling this year. There were days that went smoothly, days that went okay, and days that we just plain wicked on my part. And then there were days that God set aside for us and He lead. I wish there had been more of those. I wish I had allowed Him to give us more of those.
I am one of those people who do really good for a long time with my time in the mornings with God, and then I allow things to creep in and steal those mornings away. The past several weeks have found me in my quiet time with God, and in my journal writing. I long to write… to share that time with God as I place my thoughts on paper, and my prayer is that I become more faithful with it. My prayer is that my quiet times with God only grow stronger and last longer.
After meeting you this past weekend, Wendy, Sweet Sister, I have a hard time seeing you through the picture you painted in your book. Obviously you were there at one time in your life, but girl! I can't see you there now. As I described you to my roomie and later when I got home and described you to my husband, I told them both… She's so gentle. That's what I felt sitting there with you, talking with you.
Gentleness… and that is an amazing quality of the Spirit. It's one I lack 90% of the time. But you, it radiated from you and touched me. I needed that.
As I skimmed through my book tonight, I became very sad because this study is coming to an end. I don't want it to! and if you could see me now, you would see a very sulky look on my face and my foot raised in the air ready to strike the floor because I'm pouting.LOL
P.S. I'm hoping in the next couple of days to post the pictures from SS. Yours and mine together will be on there. It's hard trying to get all that I've gleaned from the conference to come together in my head enough to put it on paper. I did begin to blog about it the other day… it's going to take me a couple posts to say it all.
It has been quite a hectic week and its only Tuesday, things at work seem to have been causing me to come home and allow the office fustrations to spill over into my home life. I have been snappy with my children and its been some hot weather in New York City and I live in a home with no A/C so I am hot irratiable and close to the edge. Then I read your words today Wendy and found God is Speaking to me through your online bible study which I am so Happy to be apart of. God truly is moving in my life and to think I almost missed it due to words of co-workers and office gossip that I should not particpate in. God and I are going to have some quality time right after this post..after all the children are asleep. God Bless
With God's Love
Jess B. from NYC
Q5 said "what do you think Jesus meant when He said 'only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better.'". Ouch. For some reason, I immediately thought of the verse that man does not live on bread alone, but on the Word of God… When I spend time abiding in His Word, letting it seep into my heart, being filled with that river of His Living Water, my days reflect Him, and His Peace. Yet even though I know this truth, I still fall back into my busyness and my self-centered focus. Thank you for this chapter,Wendy, reminding me to how critical it is to put Him first before my looming deadlines and daily pressures.
I, too, have been in seasons when I am deep into the Word and savor my daily quiet time with Him and then there are those seasons when I just spin my wheels with all my running around. Those are the days when I fall asleep exhausted and my spirit feels downcast, strained and empty. On page 125, you described it so accurately when you wrote "My symptoms…. were the hunger pangs of a parched and undernourished heart" How true. Yet you reminded us that the answer for that is found only in the strength and power of God's Word. Amen and amen.
These scriptures are the ones He has been been giving me in my quiet time to dwell on in the midst of my hectic schedule:
"..God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.." Ps 73:26
"the Lord is my portion therefore I will wait for Him" Lamentations 3:24
"Do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" Isaiah 41:10 (a favorite of many of us)
Thank you so much Wendy for your encouragement through your writing and this online study. I so appreciate you and the ladies who share here.
Hi, Wendy! Oh Wendy…I gobbled up this chapter in one sitting! LOVED it! You are singing my song, girlfriend!
First, let me say thank you for being honest about how difficult motherhood can be at times. I so relate to what you shared and admit that some words from my mouth have grieved my heart. I pray God has erased them by His grace. Thank you for your encouragement.
Quiet time is a treasure to me. Such a treasure! Yes, there have been many times where I got off track, but the Lord has given me that thirst, hunger and passion for His Word. Because of Him it is what I crave. By His grace. And His Word is life!
As my husband said recently after a miracle from the Carpenter Himself "Whenever we ask God for a graeter portion of Himself, He always meets us in ways we can't imagine".
Just as you said, there is no explanation (like the wall of angels surrounding your house)…He gets the glory indeed.
He met me for my quiet time in a miraculous way:
http://joyinthetruth.blogspot.com/2009/07/table-prepared-for-moi.html
Love you Wendy! We are on vacation at http://www.campofthewoods.org but I had to log in to share and to say THANKS for this awesome chapters!
Off to lunch and then the beach….where I am going to continue your next chapter on Prayer.
Hey, sweet friend!! The last words out of my mouth this morning were "please be careful!!" Hubby, the boys and some of the youth are white water rafting down the Chatooga as I type! And, after my QT, I let it go and gave any worry or concerns to God! Of course, I've been very busy and that keeps me from turning back to the anxious thoughts!
This was a great chapter! It truly makes you think about your word choices. And, I loved Renee's comment about getting bossy with God!!
Enjoy this beautiful day!
Hugs!
Susna
From Janelle: I am definitely a Martha. My brain is full of never-ending "To Do" lists. I find it hard because I hear Satan's lies that those things are more important than "selfishly" taking my time with God. Though I've studied this before, it is sinking into my thick skull that making God my first priority will put the rest of life in proper perspective.
Creating quiet time for me is going to be at night after my girls have gone to bed and before I spend time with my hubby since he is in school and both of us work full time. So far I am not 100% successful, but it is happening more often and I am finding my attitude changing to a godly attitude. This journey with you has been my answer to 8b. It gives me deadlines and helps movtivate me when I am thinking in the flesh. I am also learning a lot about myself and what I need to do to avoid temptation and/or resist the devil's attacks as I realize where my weaknesses are.
I'm also a Martha. Busy could be my middle name, and I tell myself I will study or pray or spend time tomarrow. Then tomarrow becomes another day. This study has cause me to take a look at myself. The last several weeks I get up and spend time with God, and I can tell it so much in the way I feel, or how much better my day goes. I've always prayed off and on all day while I was doing something. now I have been giving quiet time to him, and he has been moving so much in my life. Thank you for sharing your prayers for your family.. I got a notebook and I've been writing nothing but prayers for my family. Instead of worrying about them, I'm going to use the word to fight the devil.
Thank You
First, I appreciated and really related to your devotion of "I Choose Not to be Offended" and to your blog of "You Hurt My Feelings."
Question 2 shows me that I am definately a Martha.
Question 3 – if Jesus had rebuked me as he did Martha, I probably would have gone into reactionary mode and gotten on the defensive. I realize that I need not be this way and can relax and let it all up to Him. I relate back to my notes from this chapter and to the above devotion and blog on operating in reactionary mode…reacting to circumstances around me based on emotions, or how you feel at the moment. The time I spend with God will determine my level of peace and contentment.
Martha and Mary had a choice or a consequence just as I do. Mary models what I so desire. Choice…make myself available to Jeus and all these things shall be added unto me(Matt. 6:33). Consequences…anxiety, stress, bitterness, perfectionism, worry.
Question 4 – These verses promise me that God will guide me and give me peace.
Question 5 – Mary chose that which is better – I believe that is "spiritual nourishment."
I struggle with the barriers to my quiet time of busyness and relying on how I feel at the moment. I am so NOT a morning person. I need to ask myself where does the time at the feet of Jesus come into my daily activities?
I do have a prayer journal, but do not consistently write in it. I believe that my busyness, whether I feel like it or not, and perfectionism play a part in this. I so desire to do this authentically and continually.
I relate and continue to memorize Prov. 3:5&6, Matt. 6:25-33., Phil. 4:6&7 I like Psalm 119:18 to use before quiet time.
Pray that I will not use quiet time with a check mark to just check off another task on my list, but experience God on an intimate basis.
Hey there , yes I'm a year late hehe. But I'm going to to do the newest one on Melissa Taylor's blog at the end of may,hope saying that is ok, any way I read the part where you told your son he made your life miserable, I broke down and I haven't even started the study yet. But it brought back a time where I was so broken I told my son I wish he had never been born. I felt so bad the instant I said it. Because his was a very touchy pregnancy. I knew then I wasn't mommy material and needed Gods love to make it. I will restate that in the upcoming study, but I just had to say something.