Welcome to Week One of our Bible Study! I am excited this day has finally arrived. If you are visiting from my Encouragement for Today devotion, we are so glad you stopped by. We would love to have you join us for our newest study. For more information on the study and to sign up, visit my last post by clicking here.
I have been praying for our time together and have prayed over our subscription list. Oh how I wish we could all meet! We have over 9000 women signed up for our on-line studies, women from all over the United States and the world! What an amazing group of women God has gathered here in HIS name! My heart is so full at the thought of what God is going to do over the next few weeks. Please know how grateful I am to have you join me. I know there are many wonderful Bible teachers and studies available on the Internet. Thank you for choosing to spend time here with us. I am trusting God to do a mighty work in and through our time together!!
Instructions.
This study runs for three weeks. Each week includes a video lesson, a reading assignment, a prayer and homework questions. Each video will be about 15 minutes.
Each week’s lesson will be up all week so that you can do it on your own time. Please stop by throughout the week to leave a comment and read the comments left by women participating in the study with you. Remember if you want to receive the homework in your inbox, you’ll need to subscribe to my web site. To subscribe, visit the top right side of my blog and look for “Subscribe to Updates.” By subscribing, you’ll receive each week’s lesson in your inbox. If you want to see the video, you will have to visit my web site directly. To get to the web site from your e-mail, click on the title of the post. It will take you directly there.
Let’s begin, sweet friends! Below find my first message from God’s heart to my heart to yours.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, as I begin this study, open my eyes and my heart not only to understand this tale of two sisters but also to bring me into a deeper understanding of the woman You created me to be. God, I know how often I fail to give You first priority. I allow the busyness in my life to push You aside. Yet, I also know how I long for peace and rest. I want to hear Your voice and feel Your Presence, but I can’t amidst the hustle and bustle of everyday life. As I open my Bible to study these stories, please reveal the places in my heart that keep me from hearing You speak. Tender my heart to uncover the root of my busyness. Reveal the places in my heart that are entangled with the things of this world and free them so that I can grow deeper in my relationship with You. Give me a heart to serve like Martha, balanced with a heart to worship like Mary. Please help me to truly know how wide and high and deep and long is Your love. Help me to live out that love in all my relationships. Fill me so full that I am overflowing with Your love and Your presence. I love You, Lord, and thank You in advance for all You will do in my life as I open Your Word and study.
Reading
Luke 10:38-42
Homework
1. Deuteronomy 6:5 says to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” What does it look like to love God
…with all your heart?
…with all your soul?
…with all your mind?
….with all your strength?
2. Do you spend time with Jesus in His Word? If so, how often? If you don’t spend time in God’s Word each day, what keeps you from doing so?
3. Which sister do you relate to the most and why
4. Reread Luke 10:38-42. Share at least two things you learn about each sister from this passage?
5. Describe their relationship with Jesus.
6. Martha wanted Jesus to tell Mary to help her serve their guests. Write Martha’s words in Luke 10:40 below.
a. In what ways are Martha’s feelings natural and somewhat understandable?
b. What do her words say about her personality and her heart?
7. What were Jesus’words to Martha? If you had been Martha, how would Jesus’ words have made you feel?
8. In your life, with what are you busying yourself that keeps you from sitting at the feet of Jesus?
9. Do you struggle with anxiety and worry on a consistent basis?
a. If not, what do you do to keep from struggling with anxiety?
b. If yes, what causes your anxiety? How do you deal with it?
c. If you struggle with anxiety, does it spill over into your everyday life? If so, share ways it manifests itself (sleeplessness, moodiness, temper flares, impatience, headaches, stomach aches, etc).
10. Read Proverbs 3:5-6 and Philippians 4:6-7.
a. How do these passages speak to anxiety and worry?
b. If you follow the commands in these passages, what is God’s promised result?
11. Martha opened her home to Jesus, her Messiah and a man she greatly loved and respected. She wanted everything to be just right and wanted everyone to feel welcome and at home. Standing alone, these were admirable traits. But when they became a distraction in her relationships, they were not. Jesus loved Martha and through His response to her questions, helped Martha understand this. Please understand that Jesus was not telling Martha to be like Mary. He created Martha and loved her exactly the way He created her. Jesus words expressed concerned with her choices. She allowed her gift of hospitality to become a duty and a distraction. What happened to take Martha’s serving to a level that displeased Jesus?
12. Jesus said, “Only one thing is needed” and “Mary has chosen what is better.”
a. What did Jesus mean when He said only one thing is needed?
b. Why is it the “better” way?
c. Read Psalm 46:10 and Psalm 62:1. According to the psalmist, why do we need to spend time alone with God?
d. Applying the biblical truths we have learned today, what do you need to change in your life to choose this better way? Write a prayer of commitment to give up or change at least one thing to follow Jesus’ command to Martha to choose what is better.
13. Sweet friend, Jesus LONGS to spend time with you. Read Zephaniah 3:17. What does it say? How does this make you feel? Remember these words as you take time to sit at the feet of Jesus.
14. Mary’s story invites us to sit at the feet of Jesus. This week take time each day to sit quietly with Jesus. If it is your first time to commit to quiet time, take just a few minutes, maybe five, and read from God’s Word something fresh and new. Maybe begin in the Psalms or read from the book of John. If you are a woman who has walked for a time with the Lord, I encourage you to go deeper still in your time with God. Lengthen the time you spend in the Word or extend your prayer time.
If You Want to Go Deeper
15. Read Psalm 63:1 and Psalm 42:1-2. List the verbs used to describe the author’s feelings for God. Do you feel this way about God? What creates these kind of feelings within us?
16. Read Luke 18:18-25. What did the rich young ruler ask Jesus? What did Jesus answer in verse 20?
a. The rich young ruler replied that he had obeyed all those commandments since he was a small child. Jesus replied and told him there was one thing he had not done. What did Jesus tell him?
b. What was the rich man’s response?
c. Why did Jesus ask this of him? How does Jesus answer speak to you personally about your treasures and what you value and how it all ties back to sitting at the feet of Jesus?
Concluding Thoughts
As you sit with Jesus, open your heart completely and let Him fill you with all the fullness He has to offer. Pray this sweet prayer written by my friend Bobbie Wolgemuth, taken from her Bible Study for Moms, God’s Wisdom for a Mother’s Heart.
Your Word, Lord, is the bread of life, it’s the light to my path, and it’s my instruction from Your Spirit. Yet I don’t always make time to open my Bible and listen for what You want to say to me through a specific passage. Please make me hungry for Your Word, so hungry that I don’t want to miss a day! I ask this in Jesus’ name. AMEN. (p. 19)
To learn more about the Study and Bobbie’s Mother’s Bible, click here.. And if you would like to meet Bobbie and hear her powerful testimony she shared during my visit to her house a few months ago, click here.
Nurture your heart this week. I will be praying for you…for God to show up in very real and personal ways as you sit at His feet. Please stop by throughout the week and share your thoughts on your homework, your intentional quiet time, and what God is speaking to your heart. I can’t wait to hear what God is doing!
Blessings,
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My beautiful friend…
I cannot thank you enough for your transparency, wisdom, obedience and your deep love of the Lord. Knowing what your relationship with Lauren looks like today brings hope alive in ALL of us. There were a couple of lightbulb moments for me from your video. You said when we react out of emotion, we are empty inside. And the symptoms of needing more time with God are: being weary, exhausted, impatient and temper-filled. I am going to use that as my barometer… because I can literally feel all of those emotions start to heat up in me… and if left unchecked, it can turn to a boiling mess (I give the death stare… that’s my version of yelling)! Now when I feel it coming on, I know to take a step back away from this frantic world and add in another quiet time in addition to my regular morning QT- even if it’s just a few minutes to hit the reset button and spend time at Jesus’ feet.
Abba, Thank You for this study. Thank You for our “small” group of thousands. Thank You for breathing new life into us through Wendy’s wisdom. You sent rain from heaven! Thank You that the word You sent through Wendy will accomplish Your purpose and we will prosper. We live in a world where the pace is crazy, but only a few things are really needed and we want to choose the better. Whisper Your words of wisdom to each of us so we can live out what we learn on day-to-day levels. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Amen Noelle
I like your barometer idea. I will use that too.
Me too! A perfect reminder for me because in my life the barometer changes in our weather I have much pain in my body.
And all God’s Bible Study girls say AMEN!!! So exited to have you, Noelle, and your beautiful heart for prayer joining us for this study.
Love you,
Wendy
How eloquently said! Your love of the Lord along with Wendy’s inspire me. I’ve had all of these symptoms for weeks now. I too need to add some “real” quiet time throughout the day and not just in the morning. The the Lord for this Bible study, I’m excited about it. Love you and Wendy!
Thank you so much Wendy for sharing with us all. We are encouraged. I am digging into the study. There is nothing I need and desire more than to sit at the feet of Jesus. I desire to to seek Him, be thirsty for HIm, long for Him, pant for Him and behold His face as is expressed in the Psalms you shared with us. Thank you and may God bless you abundantly Wendy for this bible study. Please keep me in prayer for this. Thank you:)
Thank you Noelle, I say Amen to that!
Amen
Noelle, you amaze me sister. Your gift of words and the way you explain things gets me every time! Then of course there are your powerful prayers. so much said with just a few Spirit led words. Often all I can say is Amen and amen again!
<3 Heather
I have been waiting so patiently for today. I just know you will touch soooo many women through this study. I for one need to quiet my own anxious heart. Love you Wendy!
Veronica, we have been doing studies together for a long time, and I am so thankful you are back to join us for another one!! I pray God uses this to refresh you after a difficult few months. 🙂
Blessings to you,
Wendy
Oh Wendy, thank you for sharing that story once again…I know God will use it! He worked thru it powerfully last fall in my life when you spoke on the Unglued conference call. I’m thankful God led me to follow your advice and I’ll echo your words He will transform us when we abide with Him. So looking forward to this study and all God has to say and do!! Praying for all who He leads here…asking Him to tender our hearts, open our ears and transform our lives. Thank you for leading us Wendy! Love you!
Thank you for praying for our study and for the women, Jill. I love having you be a part of another study.
Blessings,
Wendy
Thank you Wendy for sharing some of your testimony. I have been a ‘Martha’ for most of my life, always busy and trying to meet all the needs of my family. That was the way I was brought up in England in the sixties, and being the only daughter with three brothers. When I married I moved many times with my husband’s job, Even to Cleveland Ohio and Boston. Then back to England after
having two sons. I then travelled to Japan when the boys were three months old and Mark was two.
Eventually I had a total breakdown and it was only then that I realised I had neglected my own needs and even though I had been brought up in a Christian home I didn’t have a relationship with Jesus or God as my Father. It was only then that I began my journey of ‘Healing’ There were two Psalms that I treasured ‘ Be still and know that I am God’ Psalm 46 v 10 and I was given Psalm 91
by a Christian friend. I needed to spend time alone with God and I was fortunate to find a place called the Bield in Scotland where I can spend a week in silence. For the first time in my life I have started to become a ‘Mary’.. There is a course in Scotland called ‘ Sitting at the Feet of Jesus’ so I was delighted when I saw your Bible Study on line. I am so grateful to you for this particular Study
Bless you and thank you . Maria xxxx
Maria, what a blessing to have a friend from England….really from so many places! And I think it is wonderful that you found a special place to go and spend a week in silence. Wow!!! I know my family would laugh if I told them I was going to do that…telling me it would be impossible for me to be quiet for one day, let alone a week!! You will have to share more about it with us through the three weeks.
So excited to have you!
Blessings,
Wendy
Maria I would love to know more about your place too and all God has shown you there.
Wendy~
Um. Wow. I identified with so much of that video and your description of yourself as a young mom that it made me cry. That is exactly how I am. I react SO much out of emotion and It’s like you said, I am empty inside because I don’t spend time with the Lord like I should, even though I want to, and I know it will help I just don’t. I am super excited to start this study and look forward to starting my homework tonight. Thanks girl.
Beth, I love that God brought you here to address what you are struggling with. He is such a good and faithful God to meet us right where we are and provide what we need. I am excited to have you and cannot wait to see what God does in your heart in and through our time together.
Blessings,
Wendy
Well, I have officially completed my homwork. Yay!! I have spent some moments in a quiet time with the Lord the last two mornings before I have left for work. Good girl Bethie!! Gold star! ;D Hopefully I will be able with the Lord’s help, maintain and improve our quiet time together.
I know my track record. I can get fired up about something and then after a month my fire turns to a fizzle. I know one of the things I need to pray about is keeping that routine of sitting at His feet. It’s something I have wanted to make a habit out of for a long time.
I need to run my race and keep pushin’ on.
Looking forward to next week’s lesson!
Beth, I’m right there with you when you spoke of being on fire then fizzle out. That is a habit I hope to break. I do this with other projects, ministries, and fun activities.
Isn’t it annoying Tracy?!?! I’m so glad I am not the only one that struggles with this. Prayers for you friend!
I totally agree with you Beth and Tracy. I struggle with my fire fizzling out. I am so tired of that and am ready to break that habit. I have waited for this study so it will help me become closer to God and have that quiet time and just sit. Way to many times I get so caught up in the busyness of life that I don’t sit at His feet. This first study was so good and has opened my eyes. I pray that God will lead us all and help us all in our struggles and learn to sit at Jesus’ feet daily.
I can’t believe the timing of this on line study and your honest words in the video about your parenting. I am having such a difficult time with my 12 year old son just now and all I seem to do is yell and scream at him, removing privileges etc but getting nowhere. I was seriously at the end of my tether this morning when I watched your video. I broke down in tears as I realised that I need to hand the whole thing over to God and pray through every moment of my day as I try to love and discipline my son. I do feel that he hates me and I feel so terrible about the way he probably can’t see God in me. Please pray for me. Thank you.
Lord I lift up Hazel to You. Here we are getting ready to celebrate as a Nation Mother’s Day and there are times we feel so inadequate. Lord remind all of us that You are a resting place for the difficult days. Just saying the Name Jesus can bring about a calming in my soul I ask this for Hazel as well. It is not easy to bring up a child in the way he should go Lord and just typing this makes me smile. I just know You look down on us with the same thought! Put Your wings around Hazel give her refuge as You cover her with Your feathers. You watch everything in her life Father and I am so thankful you led her to this study when she needs it the most. Father give her 12 year old son the eyes to see and a heart that tenders toward changes in his mom that will come because You hear our prayers. I am so thankful for the Mighty God we serve who knows just what to do. In Jesus Name I pray for Hazel Amen. Psalm 91:4
Wendy, thank you so much for this study on Mary and Martha. I identify with Martha but I long to be like Mary. I am praying that the Lord will help me to put Him first in my life and be my one and only. That is what He desires and what my heart longs for. God bless you.
I was plan on being Mary after I get done being Martha…lol. But I’m getting better the older I get. The Martha responsibilities become less important.
That is so cute. I didn’t realize it but I guess that was what I was doing too.
Barbara, God will be faithful to give you the desires of your heart when they align with His…and desiring a Mary heart..an abiding heart..is definitely His Will!!
Blessings,
Wendy
I have been exhausted and have been working on several different areas and my light bulb moment was when you mentioned that a heart can be undernourished because it is not using the Holy Spirit or resting in the Holy Spirit. Yes, I pray for others and witness to others but how often do we turn off “the world” and take what is considered selfish time for ourselves to refill with the Holy Spirits “Love” that God has planned for us and is ready to give us? Especially in a world of constant “notifications.” Does anyone remember the days when we didn’t have a phone with us in the car? Thank you Wendy. I look forward to next week. God Bless all the women and I pray that all of glean our own ligh bulb moments prepared for us by the Holy Spirit.
Lisa, yes, I do remember those times…times where when we weren’t home, we did not know who called or even care who called. Now we are connected 24/7. It is so hard to turn the social media world off. We have to make a concerted effort, and it is hard. But when we do, it is such a refreshing gift to our heart and soul.
So excited to have you!! I pray for lots of “light bulb” moments too.
Blessings,
wendy
Lisa it’s funny you mentioned getting unplugged and what did we do before cell phone. Yesterday I went to the grocery store and got down to aisles before i remembered I left my phone at home. I thought oh well and I actually enjoyed myself more then i have in a long time. I may leave it at home more often. Or I may just turn it down to “no sounds or alarms only” as I pick our grandson up from school. Thanks I feel lighter already.
As I read Bobbies prayer out loud, I realized that I had written almost the exact same thing in my prayer of commitment in question #12! It made me smile to know God was already confirming my decision to attend and participate in this study : ) Thank you Lord : )
Love how God works, Heather! Thanks for sharing!
A few weeks ago, God led me to start a local Bible study group called At the Feet of Jesus. I created a web site for it too http://www.atthefeetofjesus.com and am in the process of posting the studies from each week. It’s amazing that we only have a couple weeks and this starts, so I referred my ladies to this. I just watched the first video and I am in tears. I consider myself very close to Jesus, but I know my character has a long way to go. My kids test my patience and they show me I don’t have a ton of self control. So you hit the nail on the head. I look forward to working on the questions and what is to come over the next couple weeks!
Don’t you love how God works. He is preparing the way for your wonderful study that is about to begin!! He amazes me. And thank you for sharing our study with your women. I pray God does a great work in each of your hearts to prepare you for where He will take you through At the Feet of Jesus!
Blessings,
Wendy
Being a mother of 5 year old twins and a one soon to be two year old son always has me at my breaking points at times. I have been noticing alot lately that I am very irritable and harsh towards them and they ar e way to young to even really understand what is going on. I have carried alot of guilt from the way that I handle them and hearing your testimony showed me not only am I not the only mother who explodes but I have a need that can only be filled by god and his word and that will guide me to change for the better.I love how you made mention of the retreat that you went on and the prayer you wrote and as soon as you returned home within a 24 hr period you were back screaming and acting out of emotion.That is something that I do and the fact that God spoke to you at your low point and told you that time with him and his word will help you touched my soul.Thank you for the blessed message for this week it was well needed!!
My goodness Cymon two five year olds and a two year old I would have gone way past breaking point. I am in awe that you have stopped to take the time to participate in this study and I know God will give you blessings for seeking Him during this busy time of your life. Happy Mother’s Day to you!
Yes, don’t lose hope!! Being a mom is SO VERY HARD. But it is a calling and God promises to equip those He calls in Hebrews!! So part of our equipping is to BE STILL before Him for our daily filling of His Peace, Presence, Wisdom and Knowledge…and so much more!!
Thankful you are with us for this study.
Blessings,
Wendy
I wrote the following as my initial thought as Wendy read Luke 10:38-41: “Martha, Martha” stood out to me. I like to think the reason Jesus says her name twice He is addressing the Martha who belongs to herself, and the Martha who is who God wants her to be. I looked up how many people were called by their names twice, it happens seven times in the Bible (Abraham, Jacob, Moses,Samuel,Martha, Simon and Saul).
We are all created in God’s Image; I thought about woman taken from the rib of Adam reflects the human side of our creation. We have a choice in which we will become. God calls me “Yanna, Yanna” when I need instructions, and to get my attention sometimes two sided me needs to listen and become one in Him.
So thankful for Wendy and her contrite, broken, and healed heart testimony she shared with us today. I imagine God saying “Wendy, Wendy” and Wendy listened, learned, and shared. I too am yearning to listen and learn to become the Yanna God wants me to be.
Now to move on the the questions! 🙂
Yanna, love this fresh insight. Thank you!
W
What an amazing thought! I never thought about us being 2 sided, but that makes sense.
Yes, we are faced with choices all day long; whether we will surrender to Jesus or go our own way.
When we become one with Him, we have the peace He so desperately longs to give us.
I too, remembered the mother I was raising my boys as an angry mom. Now I see the same characteristics in my older son. I pray healing for him before he marries and starts his family.
Thank you for sharing your insight.
I loved the insight on this comment. I identify with Martha more than I like to admit. For me, I think He sometimes needs to call Elaine, Elaine because I am so distracted and not paying attention!
This is the first I have used an online bible study and I am being challenged and encouraged by Wendy and all the comments. I pray that we all might be all that God would have us to be!
I think sometimes, because Satan wants to have us, we get discouraged and distracted by the things we find we want to fix. I like to think more toward the Yanna God wants me to be and look forward to the change that is coming, the one He loves, the hope that is in Him. So I become more encouraged by what God is doing in my life and focus on the person that belongs to God. So when He says Yanna, Yanna I listen for hope, refinement, and a challenge to turn from the distractions Satan may be trying to lure me with. So stay encourged! We are alll capable of being God’s delight and knowing what is better. Him. Think on the positive, Yes, LORD, I am listening.
I have always considered myself a Martha. Type A personality, love to clean house and “organize” my life and anyone else’s (not a good lesson in friendship 101). I even clean houses because it’s fun for extra money. I have always felt a bit sorry for Martha that Jesus fussed at her. Wasn’t she serving all those people, working to feed thousands (well maybe just a few but this is Martha’s heart, I know i am a Martha). I wanted to be a Mary, but God made me a Martha. I always longed to be more like the Mary’s around me that I knew. Sweet, gentle sisters they are, instead of bossy like me. I wanted Jesus to appreciate me too. I never understood, until…One day I had spent the day in a Bible study at my kitchen table and looking at a clock realized it had been all day and family would be coming home any moment. I hurried over to the kitchen sink and began multi-tasking throwing dishes in the dishwasher with one hand, starting supper with the other planning in my mind how fast I could make up beds and get chores done I had neglected. I spoke out loud ‘If Jesus was sitting over there at my table my house would be a disaster and I would never get anything done!” Then with love I said “I am a Mary”. Thank You Jesus. I would rather be at the feet of Jesus than….Now I have a vintage sampler over my sink that reads “Housework is a Bummer”.
Thank you for condensing the story you e-mailed me. I know it took you some time, but you did a great job!! I know it will speak to many Marthas and be an encouragement!
Blessings,
Wendy
Thanks Wendy. It only took some time because I am a woman of few words. Was Martha a woman of few words… I think not. Or she would have told Mary please help. hee hee
I meant to say I am NOT a woman of few words!
Yanna, just throwing this out there…have you thought about starting a blog? You have so many wonderful insights. I too am a woman of many words, so blogging provides a wonderful outlet to get them all out there.
<3 Heather
GOD bless you Wendy. I am indeed glad to be here. I am newly married and been trying for 5 months to get pregnant but it has not happened yet. Two days ago I fell into a bad depression and I cried for close to 5 hours none stop. Then I realised something is missing even though I claim to know God I am still anxious and worried…but I thank God for today I am retracting my steps back to my source. Thank you wendy and proverbs 3.
I also have been impatient, rude, angry and it started affecting my relationship with my husband.
Like Wendy said when you experience all these emotions then you know your are heading the wrong direction. I had to speak to my husband and apologise and hope that this bible study would help me find my way back.
Nuzor, we will talk next week about how God does some of His greatest work in our wait times. I know He will do that for you as your wait for His answer about having a baby. I am so thankful He has brought you here to journey through His Word with us.
Blessings,
Wendy
Take heart sister. As Wendy said, rest in Him during this time of waiting. It took my husband and I a year to get pregnant the first time. Sadly we lost our first little one through miscarriage; however, God has been faithful to hear our prayers and a year later I became pregnant with our sweet little Stacy who is now almost 5mths.
Lord, sometimes the desire we have to become mommies burns so brightly, it scorches our tender hearts. Especially when we discover month after month that our desire has gone unsated. Lord, help Nuzor to draw nearer to Your heart during this time of waiting. Amen.
WOW! My story is pretty spot on with yours about how I used to parent my oldest child, except I was stuck in the Romans 7 Loop a lot longer. It took me longer the come to the end of “me” to wholeheartedly seek the Lord until he was in his teens. LOVE LOVE LOVE that you shared your story here today!!
I wrote about my revelation after it happened on my blog…http://whoisleadinge.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/talk-about-hitting-home/
Thanks for posting this and the link to your blog. It blessed me!! I admire how you humbly went to your son and asked for forgiveness. I need to do the same! God Bless You!!
Janet – That was one of the hardest things I have ever done – I was shaking (and crying) the whole time as I read what I had written to him. Hearing my own confession out loud left a huge impact on me and I pray God will give you the words and the courage to step out in faith wherever He is leading you.
Thank you Ellen, you are a blessing!!!
Wow! Thank you for sharing the link to your story about you and Chance. The humility you exhibited in apologizing to your son and committing to try to do better and staying close to the Lord to help you with this is such a great example for us all!! He is a handsome young man btw!!
Blessings to you,
Wendy
This study is already blessing me. Seems as though I have become more Martha and less Mary in recent years, probably in an attempt to control stressful situations. I look forward to my commitment to spend time at Jesus’ feet.
Unfortunately, I identify more with Martha than Mary but if Jesus liked to REST at her house, she couldn’t have been that bad 🙂 I feel I parent and live my life personally out of fear. It seems to infiltrate everything I do. I long to transform at the feet of Jesus. Blessings
Marie I had never thought about the words Jesus liked to REST at her house. Good thing or this would have really hit a Martha nerve. I spent most of my adult life beating myself up for being a Martha when I wanted to please Jesus and be more like a Mary. Earlier I posted a little story about my Mary moment and am so thankful I can read the passage without guilt anymore, and with a new understanding it is who I am in Christ that He finds to be a resting place. I have a brother that wisely shared with me fear is false evidence appearing real, maybe this little ditty will stick in your mind and help you through your day.
Amen to your words! I have never thought of that. If Jesus liked to stay at Martha’s house, He must have felt very welcome and peaceful there.
And I want to remind you…God does not give a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind!! So I pray as you move forward and spend time in His Word, He will break this stronghold of fear in your parenting and help you parent standing in Christ confidence!!
Blessings,
Wendy
I actually enjoy being a “Martha”. I love to serve and have people over. I love taking care of my home and my children. God made me that way. I feel these are even some of my spiritual gifts. But I do often long to have a deeper, more real relationship with Christ. I long to go into the Holy of Holies and love God and listen to Him, allow Him to fill my soul to overflowing, and worship Him. I just went to a ladies day where I literally nailed some baggage to a wooden cross. I’m feeling light and renewed. This study came at a perfect time to help me in my journey to a lifetime of growing closer to Jesus.
Thank you! And I’ve even invited some ladies to join me this next few weeks.
Kim I love your first sentence, it describes me to a T. I posted a story earlier about my Martha to Mary moment. You are right on path to a journey of growing closer to Jesus. Let’s have a Mary heart and a Proverbs 31 Martha together. 🙂
Kim, I agree about being a Martha…I enjoy serving and hosting events. Hospitality is a spiritual gift. We just need to be sure it does not become greater in our lives than the One who gave the gift!!
I am exited to study the Word with you. And thanks for inviting friends to join us!
Blessings,
Wendy
Dear Wendy,
I am quite sure God led me here even though I have been traveling with Him for some time. I have always struggled with having a consistent quiet time and I know morning is the best time but I tell you I struggle with that morning thing. I am a teacher at a Christian school and think to myself often that I have devotions at school so I can meet with God later. That is so not enough. I am a Martha too. I am a mom of twin boys who just turned 17 and that journey is an adventure and so often I am talking to God on the run as I deal with them. I know I need to be at His feet, but I will be honest I don’t know how to do the earlier time in the morning. How do you do it? I long to be accountable to God that I will meet Him but oh how I fail. Looking forward to doing the homework. Blessings and thank you
Tammy I don’t know if this will help. I am a morning person by nature so I try to get up about 30 minutes before I would rather set my alarm. After getting dressed as I have my breakfast/hot tea I have my Bible reading time with God then. I make a huge effort the night before to have the kitchen picked up, my clothes picked out, my quiet place at the table set up with Bible,. pen, journal, computer so the next morning I really have the 30min and sometimes a little more. I think God is flexible and if you are not a morning person He stays up all night if this works best. If that’s the case just some God time before you rise. A prayer, a song in your head, a scripture by your bed to read, a scripture with a dry erase marker on your mirror, then you have started your morning with Him first. If you have an Iphone the YouVersion Bible app has great follow along reading plans for the Bible that are not all devotionals to guide you each day. These can be done even llying in bed! I know your heart desires time with Him, He will accomadate. 🙂 Ps 37:4
Yanna,
Thank you for your wonderful advice. I do many of the things you say except getting my things ready to meet with God. I really do have a desire to meet with God in the m orning. I have a very difficult class this year and some days really wear me out. I have found that on the days I began with God my day went so much smoother. I sm very organized, I get my clothes out night before, pack lunches, pick up house, but it never occurred to me to do the same with my quiet spot as well. I am an early to bed person and working on trying to make mornings be more me a bit. I thank you for blessing me I am going to look that verse up when I get home. I would so appreciate prayers that I do make the effort. Knowing someone is praying helps me be a bit more accountable I think.
Thanks Tammy. Afer reading my suggestions I sound like Martha, Wendy’s post sounds like Mary. I have a lot to learn!
I love the idea of a scripture with a dry erase marker on your mirror. I will do that. Awesome idea, thanks for sharing your ideas Yanna!!! 🙂
You are welcome Janet. 🙂
Yanna – You are so right – I use the YouVersion Bible on the Iphone – it is great. I am able to get in my God time on the commuter train on the way to work. I pick a version that is audible and I read along with my Daily Reading Plan. My Current Plan: Restart: Compassion and Justice – 40 days – I never thought of doing it in bed!
Melanie, there is a setting that you can make the background black and the words white less light for bed fellows. 🙂 At our church we just started following along with our preacher’s sermon notes (go to Live on YouVersion then type in your zip code to see what church’s are participating) So very cool. God is so Awesome how He knows technology and uses it better than we do. He is fast getting the Great Commission out.
Thanks Yanna I will do that – that is very cool indeed!!
Tammy, morning is often best, but it is not always possible with certain seasons or schedules. I am an attorney by training and one of the lawyers with whom I worked always closed his door at lunch and used the first part of lunch as quiet time and everyone knew not to disturb him. Other friends I know curl up at night and spend time with the Lord. Some do it during carpool line.
What is important is making the time, sweet friend…not the exact time. Just take baby steps in the beginning, try different times and different places. God will lead you!!
Blessings,
Wendy
Thank you Wendy, today I came to my classroom and had 10 minutes quiet time. It was hard to not do other things, but my day began with God and my mood with my students is much better today. The Lord has laid it on my heart we are taking baby steps and I must be patient.
You are such a blessing.
This reminded me of when I graduated from high school I spent 3 mths living with a family in England. The mom would go to her room everyday at the same time in the afternoon and close her door. I thought she was probably taking a nap! Many years later I re-connected with her on fb and mentioned her “nap” habit, she corrected me explaining it was her time with God. 🙂 She had been doing this for years even when her children were small, they just knew to not bother mom even if they were bleeding. Quiet play time for them Quiet Time at Jesus feet for her.
Hi Tammy
I too struggle with the morning thing. I am so not a morning person! I did really well for about a year, getting up about an hour earlier than I needed to and spending time with God and I really thought I’d cracked it! I loved the time I spent with Him and there is no doubt, it did set me up for the day. Sometimes I would even get irritated when my hour with Him was up and I had to go to work because we hadn’t finished yet! However, when it got to Winter and it was dark in the morning I really struggled. All I wanted to do was turn off the alarm and go back to sleep. Sometimes if I did manage to get up I would actually fall asleep whilst reading my Bible! I hoped that once the mornings got lighter and warmer, I might get back into the old routine, but it just hasn’t happened. I know it’s my own lack of discipline and then I feel guilty. I wish I had some advice for you as I would take it myself! I just wanted to let you know how heartened I am by your comments, as now I know I’m not the only one who struggles in the morning! So many Christians seem to just be able to do it! One tip I can offer is to have a perpetual calendar with a Bible Verse or a Christian quotation on it in the bedroom or the bathroom so that you can read a new page every morning. I read mine while I’m cleaning my teeth! And then throughout the day I have my computer set up at work to ping me reminders which are Bible passages I want to meditate on. These little things help me to touch base with God at various points throughout my day.
Tracey,
It is nice to know there are others who struggle as I do. I have a scripture memory spiral that i have by my bed with the two verses I am working for the month. So I have started my day by saying Good morning Lord and I read and meditate on those verses throughout my day. I have found that right now that is all i can do in the morning and yet I feel at peace. But I also have discovered that around 9 in the evening I am ready to quiet down and I spend about 45 minutes with my Jesus. I journal , I read the Bible and I visit with Him about my day. It has been a peaceful way to close out my day. Right now this is what is working for me. I think God is ok with that. I am going to pray for you and that God will open a time in your day. I think you and I have gotten caught up in the have to times rather than just sitting at His feet when we can. I am visiting with Him all day but I have come to love the closing of the day. I go to bed at peace because all the joys and concerns of the day have been laid at his feet. Maybe this will work for you. I appreciate your blessings to me today.
Another little thing you could do to refresh yourself during the day is to write a Bible verse on a note card or in a little spiral. Take five minutes here and there during your day to focus on that verse. You could choose a new verse each day or hang on to the same verse for a few days and really digest it. Each time you read through the verse, focus on a different word or phrase, you could map the verse by checking out other verses to go with it…
This post has more details on “Verse Mapping,” otherwise, this would be a LOONG comment…
http://heatherbleier.com/2012/06/13/a-day-with-jesus/
I am doing 3 online Bible Studies already with Proverbs 31 Ministries and God led me here today, The day this one starts and had me watch the video and now I signed up.Praying God gives the time and energy to stay caught up with all 4 of them.
I can relate to how you got angry with your kids. I am that women and now I am doing it with my grandchildren. I think of that verse often that says I hate it, I know it is wrong, and yet I do what I hate. Lord help me get the wisdom and knowledge I need from this study to allow You to change me so that I do not react out of anger. Fill me up with Your Spirit so I walk in love daily and not by my emotions. Help me to be a Mary and learn to sit at your feet. Thank You for Wendy and her vulnerability to share with us. God bless you Wendy ♥
Janet, I love that the Lord brought you here as you are seeking His Word through so many avenues. Please know that this study will be up indefinitely so if it gets too much to do all four, you can come back to this one.
And your prayer is PERFECT. That is my prayer too for all of us.
Blessings,
Wendy
Thanks Wendy for letting me know this study will be up indefinitely. I am praying the Lord will give me the time and energy to keep up with it though with everyone else. I know He led me here and I don’t want to miss anything He has planned for me. If He says cut back I will. I praise the Lord for you Wendy for Him bringing me to this blog. You are a blessing!!
Wendy,
I just saw this online study tonight around 9:00. I watched the video, and you truly touched a place in my heart. I am a single mom of a very active 5 year old boy. He is my blessing from God, because of the way he came to be my son. I adopted him, and have been blessed everyday because of it. But I am tired and weary. I find myself yelling at him and screaming and just losing my temper. I have, also, fallen away from my relationship with God. I just don’t seem to have time for Him, and don’t really want to make the time. I have been praying lately that I find something to help me get started back with my quiet time with God. I just didn’t know where to start. Now I do! Thank you for doing this study and for the words you spoke in the video tonight. I want to start the reading and homework tonight, but I know I will stress over getting things ready for work and school tomorrow. I am going to get up and spend time with God. Thank you for saying all we need is our bible. I am excited about starting over, and growing closer to God, and growing closer and being a Godly mother to my son, Zechariah. God Bless, and thank you!
Lisa Anne, God brought you here for a reason. I know your heart and where you are as a mom. Be encouraged God IS ABLE to change your heart and He will as you spend time seeking more of His heart and His fruit in your life. I am excited for what He is gong to do in and through this study for you and your sweet Zechariah.
Sweet Blessings,
Wendy
Hi Wendy. Thank you for your generosity in leading this study. It came at such a perfect time for what God is working on in my heart. Your video was so heartfelt! And above when you discussed that Martha allowed her gift to become a duty and a distraction….Yikes, so convicting for this girl here. Thank you again and I look forward to the days and short weeks ahead.
I have yet to get into the study questions, but I watched the video this AM and read the scripture from Luke. So I’ve been thinking about it on and off thru the day and tonight I’m stopping back with two things –
1) John 4:34 has come to me a couple of times today…Jesus says, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” I think we too are fueled, filled and nourished by doing what God’s created us to do, but if we’re not abiding in Him, sitting at His feet we’re not going to know what that will is…thus we’ll be busy ones just like Martha.
2) To pray for all of us…Heavenly Father, thank you for who You are and the way You work. Thank you for the group of women You’ve gathered here – all with different stories and from different places but with a desire to know You more. Meet each one of us where we are and prepare us for what You have to say…open our ears to hear You and prepare our minds and hearts for what You have to say. As we make plans to dig into Your Word, we know it’s useful for teaching and correcting Lord…may we receive and apply ALL that You have to say. Father we also know that satan wants to keep us busy, distracted and frustrated so that we’re not sitting at your feet so help us stand firm in Your mighty power Lord. I ask that You help each one of us put on your armor. I trust that You will be faithful once again and use this study in powerful ways! I pray a special blessing for Wendy as she teaches, shares her heart, her struggles and points us to You. In Jesus precious and powerful name, Amen
Love your post Jill. What a blessing it was to my heart to read your prayer for all of us. Thank you so much. I so agree that satan wants to make us so busy, that we will not have time to spend with the Lord. I am in agreement with you that the Lord help us all to put on the armor so we can do battle and not be defeated by the evil one. And yes Lord special blessings on Wendy as she leads us in this study. What a blessing she is to us. Thanks again Jill 🙂
You know…I like to think of myself as a Mary…but I’d probably be lying to myself. I’m much more of a Martha. I’ve grown up with this rapidly evolving social media and barely remember what it was once like not to feel tethered to my cell phone or computer. Everything and everyone seems to expect an instantaneous response. Instead of pausing to pray and say, “God is this something you want me to do?” We…I, have a tendency to go just blaze forward. Sometimes it’s not a bad thing, I have a gift of service and a natural desire to jump in, take charge, and get things accomplished. However, if I’m not careful, I may actually be stealing someone else’s opportunity to use the gifts God has given them!
Praying that by digging into this study, I will allow God to recapture my heart, refocus my mind, and refresh my spirit. And I pray the same for you!
Hi Heather,
I studied Martha long time ago and gave a study to our group about her.
I was in that place you are too and then I learned that it was alright to be like Martha only if the taks we do is given by Jesus and fed from being at His feet.
Cause later on in the bible when Mary oils Jesus feet and there was a celebration over Lazarus in their house we read that Marta was serving again and Jesus agreed!
Only after first learning to be at His feet first!
So now I pray over what is asked before I say yes or no.
I dont quit my task until He says so
And every year arround summer time I try to evaluate with God if what He asks me to do is still what He wants me to do.
And wit question 12 I wrote to ban my phone more too!!
Working on this week’s lesson right now and I did the same thing for #12. I actually stopped and deleted a few distracting Apps {games mostly}. I’m committing that each time I reach for my phone…which is ALL THE TIME…I’ll use that time for something more productive, like reading one of the YouVersion reading plans. I’m actually reaching through the Chronological Bible Plan, but I put it on hold so I could focus on this study…that being said we’re in Week Two and I’m still finishing up Week One! {Ugh} Oh well, I’m taking my time with these questions. There’s no point in spending time with God if I’m just going to blaze through the questions without really taking them in and spending that time with Him.
I just watched the video and I was so blessed. I feel like I am exactly in that place of weariness and I know its because I have been taking sips of water, when I need to drink from the fountain. I am a mom of two little ones and I struggle with my role as a mom and I struggle with anger. I realized how much of my temper comes out because of a lack of consistency in the Word. I am very excited to wake up tomorrow and spend time with the Lord! I’m very much looking forward to these next three weeks. Thanks Wendy!
So thankful the Lord brought you here at just the right time for you!! He is so faithful.
Blessings,
Wendy
Wow…I love what you said there Jenny, “I have been taking sips of water, when I need to drink from the fountain.” That just punched me right in the heart and I mean that in a good way. Words I needed to see!
<3 Heather
Thank you Wendy; I’m so glad I found your study! This lesson was definitely for me. I relate to Martha. I get upset when things don’t go my way, and then God always finds a way to show me what’s really important: seeking Him!
Hi Wendy,
Well, I just know that I am a Martha! My schedule Monday to Friday is always like this – wake up 4.30am, read the bible and pray with my husband till 5am, bath and get ready for work and leave my house 5.30am. Usually I get to work a bit early so I either watch films, facebook, read novels or sleep (as much as I like to say I read my bible and pray, I don’t). I usually have a few devotionals and bible study (Encouragement Cafe) that I go through during my day at work and do my assignments, but it is usually interrupted by either people or work. I get home around 7pm or 8pm and I want to do is feed my husband and go to bed. My saturday and sunday is usually rest day and I find myself busy doing one thing or the other till it is time to go to bed again. I really miss those days when I used to have personal talks with God and I search the bible for insights and my notebook is filled with revelation from God but I just can’t find the time to do it. I feel guilty about it and I think that is why I sign up for so many online devotionals but I know until I find time to sit by myself and communicate with God everyday, I will never get my anxious spirit quiet. Need some practical advise here! What do you think I can do?
And I forgot – it is my birthday today! will appreciate your prayers
Oh my goodness… HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLAYINKA! You have such a beautiful, transparent spirit and you are always rich with wisdom. You speak the truth over our lives and I am so grateful for the gift of you!
This morning I read the Mary/Martha passage out of the NLT. I’ve never used that translation before for these verses. In verse 42, it says “There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it…” That brought me so much encouragement. All this time, I have assumed Mary just had it all together (as opposed to me- who fights being a Martha every moment!) But apparently somewhere down the road, she must not have had it all together. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been seeking in order to have “discovered” the treasure which will not be taken from her!
Abba, on beautiful Olayinka’s birthday, I ask You in Jesus’ Name, to show her the treasure which will never be taken from her. Give her eyes that see and ears that hear Your still, quiet whispers. Direct her steps so she, too, can DISCOVER! Fill her with overwhelming amounts of joy and peace. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!
Thank you so much Noelle, I am so happy and a big AMEN to your prayers.
Happy Birthday Olayinka!!! 🙂 ♥ ♥
Happy belated birthday sister!! I pray it was filled with many unexpected blessings!
<3 Heather
Olay, first and foremost…Happy happy birthday, You have been such a blessing to our on-line studies. Thank you for the beautiful prayers and Scriptures and words of wisdom you have left throughout the studies to encourage and teach women and me.
Second, don’t be hard on yourself. You have a deep faith. God is not a God of guilt. He convicts us when we need to change or move in another direction. I pray that if you are hearing His voice of conviction, that the Holy Spirit will move your heart to obey. And I pray He will use the quiet time you set apart this week to speak into your heart and show you what it is, if anything, He is calling you to change. He promises to direct your steps…so listen for His voice.
Sweet Blessings to you,
Wendy
Thanks Wendy, I will listen. {hugs}
Wendy, your devotion on Proverbs 31 yesterday brought me to your site today. I have been wondering for a while now what is wrong with me and you hit the nail on the head yesterday…my soul needs restoring. I have been neglecting my quiet time with God for a couple of years now and all those things you described in your devotion yesteday is exactly what I am feeling. When I came to your site this morning and I watched your video, it was like you were speaking to me across the table. I could not take my eyes off of you. You were answering all the questions I did not even know that I had…and when you started sharing your relationship with your daughter…I could not believe it…it was as if I was sharing with a good friend who was sharing back with me over a cup of coffe. You are to me are like the woman in your Bible Study….I could not believe that the wonderful woman I was watching would have ever been that way with her child because that is just the way I have been with my children…and my husband….My respect and admiration grew for you that very moment. Your words actually gave me such hope. What I see in front of me on that video is a wonderful, humble, sweet, Christ-filled Woman – just what I want to be – and from what you are saying I can be that. Not in my own strength, but with God all things are possible. I’ve been wondering where God has been lately, I just have not “felt” Him, you know? But now I know He has been here all along, and He led me straight to you…which makes me know how much He does still love me and cares about my well-being. Thank you, thank you, thank you….I am looking so forward to this study and beginning a wonderful transformation on the inside which I know will affect every part of my life….I can hardly wait…..God Bless You, Wendy, my precious sister in Christ!!
Kathy,
I heard Wendy share this story last fall and can relate to your words and now I’m praying you will follow her example! I want to share a quick thought…the other day a friend shared from Susie Larson’s book “Your Beautiful Purpose” – when you see something you admire in someone else it’s often because God’s given you the potential for the same. Satan would love for you to be jealous or envious, but God longs for you to pray for that individual and then ask Him for a portion of the same for yourself. (My paraphrase) His supply is limitless, but we must do our part and spend time with Him, seek His will and ask.
Kathy, He can do the same work in you…take one step at a time, keep feeding your soul and be prepared for transformation to take place! Looking forward to hearing about what He will do and praising Him in advance! Blessings to you!
Thank you, Jill!
Yes thank you Jill for sharing that book title and author and the advice on what to pray for change!!! I am starting right now!! God Bless You!!
Kathy, your words are an answer to the prayers I prayed as I wrote this Mary and Martha study. I felt like such a failure as a mother and that is just the way Satan wanted me to feel…defeated and hopeless. Such lies, sweet friend, and I believed them. I believed that I was who I was and that was it. But not so with our God. We are His new creation as believers, full of His good gifts. He called you and I to be mothers…mothers to the children He gave us. He equips us through His Word and His Spirit to accomplish that calling on our lives.
He brought you here for a reason. Walk confidently that He will bring transformational change in your life as you walk through this study and His Word. It is living and active, meant to bring great change in our lives.
Thank you for your sweet words of encouragement. Just as the Lord gave me what I saw in Jan, He will do the same for you. Be faithful…do your part…be disciplined…dig in and pray.
Blessings to you,
Wendy
Thank you for this study, Wendy. I can identify with so much of what you said in the video. Loved the part about how being exhausted and short tempered is a symptom of needing more time with God. I am definitely a Martha, but am a Mary wanabee. God has been working on changing that and I pray that this study will help me continue to move in the right direction.
As an aside, The Martha in me was distracted by your kitchen cabinets in the background. I have the same ones!
Thank you. I love that you noticed the cabinets. Don’t you love them!!! I just love being in my kitchen…this i am a Martha. 🙂
I pray God continues to direct your every step as you dig deep into His Word and seek His heart.
Blessings,
Wendy
LOL, totally off topic, but I can’t help but check out Wendy’s kitchen too! I had to simply listen to the video instead of watch because I admire her kitchen and was trying to figure out what could be in the glass dish {ADD is not my friend}.
When Wendy turned the camera around during Christmas, I had do the same thing bc I kept admiring the Christmas decorations! And don’t get me started on Wendy’s cute clothes!
<3 Heather
There were homemade meatballs in the glass pan. Bo’s favorite. I moved them and thought they were out of the picture, but oops! Did not want to rerecord. I try to remove all distractions.
One time I had two bottles of wine in the background for something I recorded for Thomas Nelson. That was a big OOPS!! Did not catch it till after I sent it to them. Thankfully, they still accepted my work. 😉
W
Amen! This study and your intro video to week one arrived in my inbox at the right moment. I am broken… as a parent and child of God. I don’t have any eloquent words to offer at this moment. Heck, my tears wouldn’t even allow me though question one. I am asking for prayers esp this morning as I head to a family counselor with my very strong willed 8 year old boy who desperately needs help dealing with his anger issues. I have confessed that I haven’t been the most patient mom and at times losing my cool. I see myself in much of your video. I pray for God’s healing and that today’s appointment will be a stepping stone to a new and improved relationship between me and Brady, my son. I really appreciate the prayers. God Bless!
Abba, thank You for the mysterious ways You work. You direct each of our steps, and You perfectly directed Jillian to this study and to be in Wendy’s cloud of witnesses. Lord, You are the God of ALL comfort and You comfort us in all of our troubles. You know the depths of Jillian’s heartache raising her 8 year-old Brady. Hem Jillian and Brady in on all sides. Speak Your tender truths to Jillian through her time at Your feet. Show her in practical ways how to wait upon You. Bless her with strength to fly on wings like eagles. Renew her relationship with Brady Lord. As they grow closer to You, may they grow closer to one another. In Jesus’ Name, Amen! xoxo
Praying for you and Brady! Trust that God is at work and praying you will continue to seek Him as walk thru this. Asking God to draw you and Brady closer to Him and closer to one another!
Sweet Jillian, God has heard the cry of your heart with your son. He wants to make a way to lift you out of darkness and into His marvelous Light. His Word will do that and it will equip you to handle what you have to deal with each and every day. His Word is TRUTH and WISDOM and HOPE and JOY and KNOWLEDGE.
Amen to Noelle’s prayer. We will be praying that God will use this study and your counselor to do a mighty work in your heart and in the heart of Brady. GOD IS ABLE, sweet friend. HE IS ABLE. And remember you can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens you.
Please check back with us and share what God is doing and how your counselor is working with you both. Praying your counselor will be guided by the wisdom of God as you meet with him or her.
Blessings,
Wendy
I am so blessed that God has led me right here to this study at this perfect time. The way he brought me here to begin with is amazing and truly His hand at work. For the past few years I have spent about 1-1.5 hours ever morning in my “quiet time” at the beginning of every day before the rest of y household is moving around. But I struggle with truly letting it be time *with* God. There are many reasons I struggle- I get so easily distracted, the Bible is so big- where would I start or how would I choose what to read each day, where do I turn when I first sit down, how do I clear my mind to find the right starting point? I’ve been using devotionals or studies to guide my time, and He has used them to speak to me, but I have also found days that I was simply filling in the blanks and not really taking time to allow myself to truly be with Him or listen to Him. Granted, these studies and devotions have been instrumental in helping me develop the discipline of setting aside that time for God at the beginning of my day, but he has been increasingly laying on my heart that our time together needs to go deeper. That I truly need to learn to sit at His feet, to talk to Him, and more importantly to listen to Him and truly hear what He is speaking to my heart. I need to get to know His Word on a whole new level, beyond the Sunday School stories I’ve known my whole life, but to let His Word come alive in my life, to speak to me every day, and to be filling my heart so that His promises, His truths, His answers are what spill out of my life when the pressure comes. I pray that I can clean out the earthly habits, the worldly responses, the negative thoughts and fears and emotions, and make room in my heart for His good and perfect Word to fill me. I long for God alone to be that which I crave, that in which I indulge, that which overflows from my life, that I may be not only a devoted follower, but an example of His love.
WOW Rachel, I could have been writing this myself, you wrote exactly what I feel. I will pray for you and pray that we both, and all of us in this study, come to know God on a deeper more intimate level and walk in HIS LOVE!
Rachel, God is going to do an amazing work in your life, sweet friend. He promises in Jeremiah that when we seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him. You are seeking Him with all your heart!! He will meet you where you are and take you to deeper places with Him.
I find that choosing stories or characters in the Bible and really digging into them is the best way to be in His Word. Starting at the beginning of the Bible can be so overwhelming. So choosing a book or chapter or story or person makes it much more manageable and exciting to study.
We are so thankful you are here and trust God will fill you and refresh you every time you sit at His feet!!
Blessings,
W
Wendy,
It is amazing to me how I found you and your study and the perfect timing that God has created. I just finished up a Made to Crave bible study with a few women from my church and one of the ladies told us that for the past couple of weeks, she has been reading Proverbs 31 devotions every day which has been wonderful for her. So, I decided to check it out. I decided to start on Wednesday the 8th of May (I was already getting the daily devotion e-mails but not reading them) and sure enough I found your devotion about being tired and needing to rest (this was Tuesday’s devotion). I have been feeling this way for the last several weeks and not sure why…so I was very intrigued by the concept and what you had to say. I joined this bible study (not really knowing what I was getting into). I just finished watching your video today and WOW did God speak to me. Your past relationship with your daughter is happening right now with my almost 9 year old. I scream and yell and since she is just like me she yells too. But, during the fight, I play the “power” card as I am the mother and tell her that she will not talk to me like that. So it ends up in a power struggle that I always win BECAUSE I “am the mother or the elder”. The sad part is that is the only example she sees…yelling, screaming, fighting and anger. I am teaching to her act that way and she has attempted to use the “power card” on her younger sister as well. What in the world am I teaching my kids? This is NOT what a Godly mother should be doing!
What a gift you have bestowed on me with this bible study…I know I am right where I am suppose to be at this moment in time and I thank you for being so honest and open. God is working some amazing miracles right now and you are part of the magic. Thank you.
The best part, I wasn’t looking to get into another bible study. Something you said caught my attention…God works in wonderful Ways.
In His Name,
Michelle
Michelle, God knows just what we need when we need it AND He is faithful to provide it in His perfect timing. I remember when I felt like such a failure as a mother!! But God always honors His Word and redeems what we have messed up when we come to Him and seek healing and restoration. He will be faithful to help you become the mom you long to be. Can’t wait to see how He uses your time with Him in the Word and in this study to give you a great start along this new journey with Him!!
Blessings,
Wendy
God is amazing in howhe uses his people and in his perfect timing. I’ve been feeling out of sorts lately, very anxious in general and just plain confused on some descisions I’ve made. And I finally realized, its because I havn’t been spending anytime with God. I’ve been neglecting my spiritual nourishment and its starting to show. Thank you for blessing us all with your bible study and for reminding us what our first priority should always be. 🙂
I just wanted to stop by and say “thank you” for this Bible study. I too have a 19 year old daughter and we had our struggles as well. I am ashamed of the mom I was at times. And, your honesty touched me and made me feel not so alone. And, I hope to finally understand this Bible story. I have always felt sorry for Martha and totally understand what she was doing and her viewpoint.
But, I am coming to this study at a place in my life where I am “starting over” in my relationship with Jesus. I gave up on religion because I have been deeply hurt by “religious” people close to me. I feel like I am “not a good enough Christian” or even “Christian” at all to them. So, I quit for a long while. I never let go of Jesus’ hand, but I am sorry to say that I have been “dragging” my feet in my walk with Him. I have a lot of hurt and confusion and anger right now. I am a people pleaser and I have a hard time standing up for myself. I have been on shakey ground here for such a long time. I feel completely dry and empty. How can I give to my family what I do not have? I need to immerse myself in this study.
I am so looking forward to this new beginning. I want to hear what God has to say to ME, personally. I need this time to be just Jesus and me, and you are helping me do that. I am excited about this Bible study. It is the first online one I have really participated in.
There is so much wisdom and insight here from you and from the others who are commenting. I am happy to be here. Please pray for me. Thank all of you so much.
Abba, thank You for Julie. When we go on our own ways- no matter what the reason, You literally run to us when You see us coming to You. You pick us up, smother us with hugs and kisses and heaven celebrates. Thank You that this is Julie’s story! Lord, show Yourself to Julie in very real ways. You are Living Water and You want nothing more than to quench her thirsty soul. I ask for exactly that in Jesus’ Name. Heal her wounds. Show her levels of intimacy she never knew existed. In Jesus’ Name, Amen! xoxo
Noelle:
Thank you from my heart for such a beautiful prayer for me. It has encouraged me for days! Thank you and my prayer for you is that God will pour his blessings on you!
Blessings and Hugs!
Praying for you Julie!!
Thank you, Janet! I am truly grateful.
Julie, I join Noelle’s sweet and tender prayer for you. Do you know how excited God is that you are returning to Him. He has been waiting, sweet Julie, for you to come back. He is ready to reveal wonderful new truths and promises to you. He is ready to fill you and teach you!! He is LIVING WATER and will quench your thirsty soul. We are thrilled and honored that He brought you here to begin this new journey.
Blessings,
W
Wendy:
Thank you, once again, for this timely encouragement! I have printed these responses out and I am keeping them in my Bible for “refreshing”. I am thrilled to be here! Please continue to pray for me as I will pray for you.
Blessings and hugs!!
Julie
Wendy…
I have been a long time subscriber to the Proverbs 31 devotional but honestly, rarely actually open and read them. Not because I don;t enjoy them, but simply because I am too busy or truthfully, too distracted to take the time to read them. For some reason (God!) I opened yours yesterday and your invitation drew me into your study. I have recently begun a new at-home part-time job and have not been in Bible study for several months now and am missing it terribly. I happen to have the next 3 weeks off and decided to sign up for your study since my 4 children will be finishing school and out for the summer in a few weeks. I could not believe it when, I watched the video this morning with your message…I, too, am an “angry mother” and have been struggling with this for all 10 years of my oldest daughter’s life, but more than normal this past week. I am seeing the very same things you described in my own children and have been praying for God to transform me and show me the way. I had no idea that you were going to address this VERY issue when I signed up for your study. This is a very real answer to prayer and I am so thankful for finding you and most of all to God for continuing to pour out His grace into my life and pursue me even when I, like Martha, choose to allow distraction to replace my time with Him. I am putting my faith in HIM to transform my spirit with my children and my life, as I, too, very much acknowledge that I cannot do it on my own.
Thank you for your words and your obedience to God in writing this study. God has BIG plans for so many of us!
Aimie, isn’t it wonderful to see God at work in your prayers? We are honored He used this study to answer your prayers. Thank you for being obedient to open the devotion, to read it, to listen to God’s voice and to sign up. He will HONOR and BLESS your obedience. As you spend time in His Word and with Him, His living and active Word will begin a transformational work, and He will amaze you. Can’t wait to see what He teaches you. Be sure to stop back by and share.
Blessings,
W
Oh Wendy, you are so beautiful. Your authenticity and transparency allow us to hear God’s voice of hope and healing. Thank you so much for availing Yourself to God on our behalves, so that we can learn from your teaching. I really loved what you said about Martha in your video. She was gifted in beautiful ways.. but had allowed that giftedness and serving to get in the way of her relationship with Jesus. I find it so easy to do that especially in the midst of our present day society. What struck me today were the parallels this passage has with John 15. Martha so caringly welcomed Jesus into her home.. then immediately left His presence and went about her busyness. Apart from Him (literally), she was busy doing, trying, and striving. She was actually well intentioned and even trying to please Christ… however, those strivings (apart from Him) caused her to be distracted, worried, and upset. She was unable to bear fruit and the joy of Christ was not in her. Contrastingly, Mary stayed WITH Him… and since she remained in His love, she was able to listen and bear fruit… and nothing could take that away from her. I can completely see how this dynamic occurs in my life… and praying that God will continue to teach me about abiding. Thank you again, I’m so excited to be a part of this study!
Sas, I am praising God you feel well enough to join us for this study. Our women will be so blessed by your wisdom and encouragement. Thank you for sharing your comments on abiding…it is the key to a deep, rich intimate relationship with Jesus…one that changes our lives.
Love you,
me
Amen!
Just watched the video and I am officially starting this journey here today with this Bible Study. God knew just what I needed to help me get back to my time with Him in the mornings! But I have been struggling to do that, yesterday I wrote all the questions down on paper and left plenty of space to write my answers. Today I am going to work on some of my homework and I am expecting God to do His part as I do my part! I wanted to thank you for being so transparent with us! This is what we all need!! I am excited and I can’t wait to share what He is doing in me to help someone else!! Thank you for this Bible study it is definately a God-send!!! God bless you! God give us the strength and endurance to complete this study together!!
You are so welcome! We are glad you found us and thank you for praying for strength and endurance for us. It is easy to slack off, even when a study is only 3 weeks. Life gets busy. We can support and encourage each other to press on.
Blessings,
Wendy
Hi Wendy!!!
I have done a few of your studies and they were all great but your video just hit a very sore spot with me. My girls are now 12 and 13 and I have not been the godly mom I should have been or treated them like the precious gift that they really are.
When I think back at the way I talk to them, the tone of my voice, the way I have grabbed them or pushed them into a “time out”, it breaks my heart!!! I feel hopeless like I already ruined them and it’s too late now….no matter how much I apologize or change I crushed their little spirits permanently.
I just wish I could go back to when they were babies and start all over again.
Your study is a much needed awakening for me!!!
Oh Rhonda I can relate with you. It is not too late!!! Your kids are still young and you can change things like Wendy did. I did the same things you did when my boys were young and their father was more abusive. Their spirits were broken. They are both angry men now. My oldest just turned 33 yesterday and he is slowly changing with the Lord’s help and lots of prayer for my boys, my youngest is 30 and because of his anger, his wife moved out. They have two girls 10 and 5 years old. I see him yelling at the girls like his dad and I yelled at him and his brother. That breaks my heart .You CAN stop this with the Lord’s help. I wish would have had these studies when I was raising my kids. I love my boys and they know that now, but I wish like you I could turn the clock back and be a mother who loved them and was gentle with them while they were growing up. I will be in prayer for you Rhonda!! God Bless you for joining this study. God will not let you down, hang on to His promises. He will give you the desire of your heart if you take delight in HIM.
Janet, thank you so much your words of encouragement!!! I will keep your boys and your granddaughters in my prayers also!!. God has been ministering to my heart to not “forget my first love” rev 2:4…I was drifting and He is slowly bringing me back!!! Thank you Jesus…He is so faithful even when I am faithless. I can see that I need to put Him above EVERYTHING else. I get so stressed with working full time and trying to have my house just so…and He is telling me STOP and just sit at My feet like Mary…..
Wendy I pray God blesses you special for all you are doing for HIs kingdom!!!
Sweet friend, I KNOW that place and those feelings. But trust me, you have not ruined them. And, in fact, as they watch you study, pray and commit to change, you will impact their faith more than you would have had you been the “perfect” mom. God is so faithful to redeem those things in which we fail when we ask forgiveness and surrender them to Him. He is going to do a mighty work in your heart!! Share with us how He speaks to you through this!!
Blessings,
Wendy
Wendy,
Wow!! Hearing your testimony about your daughter hit home for me. I also would feel bad after I yelled at the kids for something or reacted with emotion. I pray often for God to make me a better mother and wife. After watching your video, all I could do is yell Thank you Lord for answering my prayers.
I too am a Martha. I worry about the what everyone else needs before my needs. More importantly before my need to spend time with God. I am so excited about this study. I look forward to my quiet time with the Lord. I have been going thru some of the questions, and already He has showed me how to listen. I have been writing down everything that comes to my mind. I know that hearing your testimony that God is going to show me many things about His plan for me.
Thank you, my new friend. May God bless you.
Melissa Lee, you are so welcome. I am excited you are joining us!!
Blessings,
W
Just watched..I am in tears on how God has Brought me to this study. I am very grateful to the Lord. I am looking forward to doing the homework, and having the Lord heal my undernourished Heart!
Wendy,
I am so thankful to you for offering this study, and feel so blessed to be a part of it. It’s my first one, and it’s the perfect topic at the perfect time. I started following your blog about three years ago during a difficult and painful time in my life. Now, I’m back in the same painful circumstance. Though I feel sad, and scared, and most of all anxious, I am pressing into God and am so looking forward to what He’ll reveal to me during this time.
If you could please pray for me, I would be so grateful.
Amy,
I am so sorry that you are going through some painful circumstances. I know all too well how it is to feel sad, scared and anxious. I do know that God will be right there for you all the time. Just lean upon Him. Please know that you will be prayed for.
Yours in Christ’s Love
Linda
Thank you, sweet friend!
Dear Amy, I pray for and with you that God will reveal Himself to you in a new and powerful way today. I always read this letter from God by Sheri Rose Shepherd whenever I am anxious or scared.
Wait On Me
My Princess,
Wait on Me, My princess. My timing is always perfect. I know you’re anxious about many things, and I see your passion for all the plans I have put in your heart. I know that you long to fly, and I see your enthusiasm. However, just as a vinedresser nurtures the vine and waits patiently for the right moment to harvest the grapes, so too am I working tirelessly to prepare you to bear much fruit.
Don’t run ahead of Me or try to fly before My plans are complete. Your strength will fail you, and your dreams will wither away.
Trust Me that My dreams for you are far greater than you can dream on your own. You will run farther and soar higher if you will patiently wait for the season of My blessing. Draw close to Me now, and I promise that this season of waiting will bring you the sweetest of rewards.
Love,
Your King and Lord of perfect timings
I hope this brings you peace.
Olayinka, thank you for your prayers (I can tell I’m being prayed for) and for the letter, which is such a sweet reminder of something I know to be true yet struggle with. If only I could remember, before the pain, how much pain I cause myself through impatience. I’m praying that He will give us all more patient hearts.
Olayinka, WOW what an awesome prayer, thank you for sharing that. I am copying it and will read it everyday! What truth it holds!!
Amy, praying now for God to meet you in very real and personal ways as you spend time with Him in His Word. May you hear His voice, receive His direction, and receive His peace and comfort. He will be faithful!!
Blessings,
Wendy
Thank you so much for doing this.I ve read your book and you are such a blessing.
Thank you for letting me know you read Hidden Joy. I always love hearing from women who have been touched by the story God has given me. I am excited you are joining us for this study!
Blessings,
W
1. Deuteronomy 6:5 says to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” What does it look like to love God
…with all your heart? A heart that loves God desires to serve, seek, cherish, and this heart is written upon, reflects, pure, treasures God, is undivided, guarded, honest, contrite, humble.
…with all your soul? I used to think my soul was already God’s so why be told to love Him with all of my soul. Then I learned I have a choice and it has to want to belong to Him. So to love Him with all my soul is to choose to love Him. An all-encompassing longing within me that delights in God alone. Singing Praises and Worshiping Him comes from my soul.
…with all your mind? I think this is the hardest. A love that loves with my entire mind learns to re-direct the human aspects of my thoughts and direct them toward God in everything I do. Put Jesus at the front of my thoughts.
….with all your strength? When my heart loves God with all my strength even when I “make my bed in Sheol” (Psalm 139:8) He is there and I know He will never leave me. At the lowest of lows I will not forsake my love and faith in God.
Love these answers, Yanna!! Especially what you said about loving God with all our soul and strength.
W
Thank you Wendy! I am memorizing Psalm 139 and it was fun to actually be able to use His Words in my mind to answer a question. 🙂
So beautiful said and spoke completely to me. I was pondering on the heart , soul, mind and strength and you put words to it that opened my eyes and thought. Thank you so much for the work and heart you put into this question.
Well thanks Lynette, that was a sweet reply to my written out ponderings.
This is my first online bible study and I am so excited about it. I just now watched the video and started my homework. Reading through the comments have inspired me. I have always considered myself a Christian but have been very short tempered and impatient. I too have started quiet times and then slacked off. Please pray for me that QT with Jesus will become a priority for me just as water and food is.
You are welcome, glad to have you here. God sees your heart and will draw you close to Him, like a deer panting for the streams of water. Amen
A lot of times I have felt like a crappy mom. I yell, am impatient, easily annoyed, argue with my hubby, don’t show my kids a good Christian example and then worry at a nail biting pace about how they are going to grow up with that example I have showed them. Am I setting them on the path that they will not stray from when they are older? Surely not I think. And then I commit to change, to think before I speak and that is all the further it gets and surprise!! It doesn’t work.
I really hope to change that. Forever. And truth be told, it makes me feel better that a lot of y’all feel and do the same as me because a lot of times I feel like the only crappy Christian mom out there.
But yay for hope!!
We can only change with God’s help through the power of His Holy Spirit. Beth, I am praying you will believe His promise that you can do ALL things through Him Who strengthens you…especially being a mom. He entrusted us with children, and when we surrender our mothering to Him, He will be faithful to lead and guide us into all truth and equip us to be godly moms. No more “crappy” mom talk!! 🙂
Blessings,
Wendy
Yes ma’am. 😉
Susan, I celebrate that God brought you here for your first on-line study! I join Olayinka in praying for God to draw you close…for Jesus to be as He promises to you, the Bread of Life and Living Water. May He fill you full as you sit at His feet.
Blessings,
W
Thank you for this bible study. I have tried to do bible studies before but I never seem to get around doing them. I am drawn to this one because I am weary, tired, angry, impatient and exasperated. God knows that I need this so He has drawn me into it. I can identify with you about yelling at my children. I have yelled, cussed flung my hands up in the air until I am so spiritually and emotionally drained.
I know I am a Martha because it seems that I am always busy sometimes busy for being busy sake and do not get around to open my Bible. Oh how I want to change. I am also a worrier and it does not seem to change. I need prayers and I would be glad if you would pray for me. Even now there is a situation in my life that wants to get the better of me and I am trying hard no to blow my top. Oh God I want your calmness and peace.
Please pray for my daughter who is overseas studying but is finding it difficult to really find the school fee and has sit out this semester to start back in another two to three months. In the midst of all the challenges of adjusting to school, living overseas, financial difficulties she is talking about getting married so that her intended husband can come to be where she is and assist her financially. I have told her to think through this decision carefully before making a permanent decision in a temporary situation. I have told her that God should be her only source and not man. You can just imagine what I am going through after struggling to make ends meet and sending her to get her 1st degree. Please pray that God would hear my prayers for help, peace, patience while talking with her and to let Him be God and talk sense in her.
I am sorry that this is long but oh how I wish that I had a circle of friends that I could rely on. I so wish to have the hearts of both Martha and Mary. God do what you do best and that is to change me.
God bless you Wendy and all the other ladies that will be here for the next three weeks. We are going to make it.
I just prayed for your heart and your daughter. It really hit home with me when you said you wish you had a circle of friends to rely on. There have been so many times in my life when I felt so alone. I pray that God will show you that He is right beside you. And that he will give you fellowship with other believers to lift you up. I, too have felt weary and exasperated lately. I know God is at work here and I praise Him for His timing and His plan.
Thank you Rachel for your kind words and prayer. I pray that you will see God’s goodness surrounding you every minute of each day. Bless you sister.
AnneMarie, praying for Jehovah Jirah, God our Provider, to provide for your every need right now…physical, spiritual, financial and emotional. Praying You will see Him at work in your midst as you spend time with Him in His Word. Praying your daughter will take your words to heart and listen for God’s voice as she make some important decisions. And I also pray He will bring a few godly women into your life to walk alongside and do life with you. And please know you have friends here too. This is a wonderful community of women who love, care and pray for one another.
Blessings,
Wendy
Thanks for your heartfelt words and prayers Wendy.
AnnMarie your longing for a “circle of friends” touched me as well. I want to encourage you to find a church family if you do not have one. Just visit some local churches and God will place you among your heart’s desire. He knows you! I attend one church on a regular basis, and then go to other church’s Ladies Bible Class that are not even of the same “denomination” that I have been a part of. I love doing that I look to see what the different Ladies Bible classes in our area are studying and if the day and time work for my schedule I go. I h.,ave met lovely ladies of all ages and since we have God and His Son in common I have added to my “circle of friends”. I am smiling just thinking about all of them as we even sit at tables in a circle studying God’s Word.
I am so glad I saw the invitation to this bible study when I did and joined up. It feels great to be one of 9000 seeking the same thing.
Wendy, so far so good on the content and the knowledge gained. This I can see will be the first of many Bible studies for me. Thanks so much for being there for me!
I love reading the comments here on this site – very inspirational.
Thanks all!!
Melanie
So excited you are with us for this study!! I love the comments too. They help me know I am not alone, but they also provide some GREAT wisdom and tender prayers.
Blessings,
W
As I was answering the fourth question about two things we learn about each sister a realization struck me. It was as I was considering what we can learn about Martha. I began by writing the statement “Martha was worried and upset.” It hit me that those words came from Jesus. He knew. Even thought it was Mary sitting at His feet, hanging on His every word, He still saw the anxiety and displeasure in Martha’s heart. As she bustled around, working, feeling unnoticed, unimportant, bearing the burden herself- even then Jesus saw her. Even though she felt she was alone behind the scenes while her sister soaked up the attention, Jesus saw her. He knew her heart was troubled. He saw her frustration. He felt her anxiety. And He cared for her heart. He longed for her to sit and listen too. All too often I feel unnoticed. I long to matter, to be seen. Yet I bustle around trying to earn that attention. How powerful to realize that He sees me even then. And not only does He see, but He longs to be noticed too. He longs for me to stop and sit at his feet to hang on His every word, to admire Him and listen to His voice and hear His teaching. I pray that I can learn to sit and adore Him. To be still and rest in Him. And to know that even when I feel unnoticed, He sees my heart even then.
Oh my goodness Rachel… for as many times as I’ve read this story, I have NEVER taken notice of Jesus’ compassion on Martha. Thank you, thank you for this insight. You have no idea how much encouragement you just brought me! Hugs to you friend 🙂
Rachel I was about to echo Noell’s words as I read your insight…thank you for sharing! God/Jesus does see us…He’s always aware of what we are doing and why we are doing it. As I’ve been reading this, thinking about it and asking God to speak to me He keeps reminding me of Jesus words, “Mary has chosen what is BETTER.” He’s telling me both (sitting at His feet and doing the work) are important and convicting me that I don’t always make the right choice…if I’d use my time wisely and do the work diligently I’d have more time and experience more peace when I rest. At the same time the more I allow Him to fill me the more equipped I will be to do the work He’s asking me to do!
I love your insight Rachel. Thank you for sharing it!
Me too Rachel, great insight, thanks for sharing!!!
Wow, Rachel, what a fresh insight into this story. Thank you for sharing it with us. This is why I LOVE doing these on-line studies. We all learn from one another.
God is EL ROI, the God Who Sees. We are never ever out of His sight as Psalm 139 so beautifully tells us!!
Blessings,
Wendy
As I work on this and sit with Jesus, I have a question – when and how do you encourage your kids to do this on their own? Every morning as a family we read the Bible and though it can be chaotic (5 kids from 1 to 10), I trust God’s Word will not return void. I also long for my children to make their faith their own and don’t want to be ritualistic so any advice from those of you’ve walked this road would be appreciated! Thank you!
Beautiful Jill,
I have no advice- especially since I have one daughter- the thought of four more is literally something I have only seen on the Brady Bunch 🙂 In the simplicity of one ten year old, I ask her to read scripture that I assign on her own and then she journals what she learned, the questions she has how the verses will impact her life and any notes she wants to write to me. I read her journal after and write back (which ends up being a love letter and a mini devo). The next morning we have a quiet time together reading our thoughts and love letters to one another. All that being said, God gave me an idea that incorporated her own time that she will do mainly because she likes the idea of me writing back to her and she loves our morning quiet times together.
No advice, BUT I do want to lift you up and ask that God provide an avenue with similar outcomes that is right for your precious family. One thing I know for sure, they are seeing God through you. I can’t tell you how much you have blessed me with wisdom and you continue to breathe truth into my life!
Abba,
Thank You for Jill’s unwavering heart- seeking You, Your kingdom and Your righteousness above all! Thank You that her five children are flooded with Your Spirit through their Mommy. Lord, I ask in Jesus’ Name, that You would put a flame of desire in each of her kids that wants to seek You on their own accord. Jill has set her mind and focus on You, so You will direct each of her steps. Work in her heart and mind so she has lightbulb moment ideas as she raises these kids in the way they should go. We know as they grow up, they won’t depart from their faith! In Jesus’ Name, Amen! xoxoxoxo
Thank you Noelle for your kind, encouraging words and prayer! They touched my heart! Your words about Brady Bunch made me laugh and think, I could use a Alice!!
After sharing these words last week, God showed me it’s another thing my heart can get anxious about…my children, their future and my role in preparing them. He whispered to me that the most important thing I can “do” is be who He made me to be – a woman who loves, seeks and shares Him! Then I read your words and He confirmed the message He’d been sending. Thank you for being a voice for Him! And for praying for me and my kids!
I love your journal idea…I can see my daughter (8) enjoying that…my 10 year old son would probably think it was torture – he is NOT a writer!! Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you for sharing your story, Wendy. It brought tears to my eyes because it is so similar to my own story. I am so grateful for the mercy of God and the transforming power of His Word. I have always identified more with Martha but now I understand that God has called me to exhibit the best qualities of each of these women. God calls us to lead a balanced life but He must always be the center of our focus.
What a great summary, “God calls us to lead a balanced life, but He must always be the center of our focus!” Thank you for sharing.
W
Yes and the balance is made clear at serveral places in Gods word, and for several subjects.
From Marta and Marie we learn that it is balance between sitting at jesus feet and serve.
But another great balace that is given in Gods word is the balans between the fear of God as in reverenve and joy!
Look at Mat 28:8
Psalm 2:11
Mar 16:8
So many Christians now are either trambling with fear for God and miss the joy He also calls us too. At the other hand we see so many now who’s focus is only at the joy He brings and forget the fear we have to have for our God who is also an all consuming fire.
x Wen
I just want to thank you Wendy for following the call of the Father and leading us in this Bible Study. I really need this. I exhibit all of these “symptoms” and want to get better. I want a closer walk with God. I now pray that through His Word and this study that He will teach me how to sit quietly and listen.
Amen to your prayer! May God draw you so close that you can hear His heartbeat and every tender whisper of His voice as He speaks into your heart and mind.
Blessings,
Wendy
Thank you Wendy for sharing your personal story. I’ve been a horrible mom. You made me realize that no mom is perfect and Jesus will show me the way to being a better mom.
Kimberli, the mere fact that you desire to be a better mom (e-v-e-r-y mom here is in the same boat!) is proof positive that you are a GREAT mom! If you really were a “horrible” mom, the idea would never have crossed your mind. Take cheer beautiful friend! xoxo
Kimberli, I totally agree with Noelle. You are not a horrible mom. Horrible moms do not recognize there is anything wrong with their parenting, and they certainly would not seek to find God’s will for them as a mother. Satan wants you to believe you are horrible and hopeless as a mother. I heard his whisper of those words for years. Do not believe him. I pray you will take such thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ and replace them with the truths in this story and others we will study.
God will meet you here and provide what you need to go a new direction in your mothering. He will be faithful to show you and lead you and transform your heart and mind.
Blessings,
Wendy
Hi Wendy, thank you for teaching us. One thing I have never heard is the reasurrance that God made Martha just as she was. Sometimes this story leaves me with the guilt that my personality is the lesser of the two. But I think what I am learning from you, is that no matter the personality there are appropriate times that rather than us working toward something we are called to sit at his feet. It really took a load of guilt off when you revealed this. Thank you.
AMEN!!!
I love that God gave you a fresh understanding of His living and active Word…that is what Bible study is all about. It exposes the lies and the misunderstandings we have believed for years. God is TRUTH and longs for us to know the TRUTH.
Blessings,
Wendy
I am finishing a Bible group study and this one came up in time. Wendy, I am that angry mom. I have a 13 year old son who has dealt with angry mom and now 4 little girls 2-5 years old. Thankfully God has shown grace on me and I have completed my second Bible study. As I stay in his word he has slowly changed my heart and mind. A work in progress. I see with Martha that she worried over the details, big and small. God wants our attention most of all. I say today hear I am. My eye,ears, well all of me.
Elisabeth, thanks for sharing how God is taking you along a wonderful journey through His Word and quiet time to change your way of mothering your kids. Your words will encourage other moms reading the comments.
Blessings,
W
Wendy, it has been awhile since I participated in a Bible Study with you and I am glad to be back. I am going through some medical difficulties and tests that have me extremely anxious. Thus, the reason for signing up for this study. In the video you mentioned that God is in control. Just last night as my husband and I had our evening prayers, I commented to him about the way my life is so out of control — much of it because I am no longer the physically strong woman that I was and I can’t control my own body as I once did. Then, you mentioned God is in control. This is just where I need to be and I hope to quiet my anxious heart and hear God’s Word. Thank you.
Oh Becky… I relate to what you are saying.. and will keep my heart next to yours as I pray. It can be so challenging, both physically and emotionally, to navigate life when interrupted by illness and all the unforeseen challenges that it brings. May our Jehovah Rapha heal your body and your spirit … and may His understanding allow you to be fully known and understood. I will also pray for God’s peace to flood your mind and heart (my anxiety in waiting for test results seemed always to hit me the most in the middle of the night) in beautiful ways. I can only imagine the love, adoration and compassion that God has for you – His sweet daughter….
Becky, I join Sas in praying for healing for your body and spirit. She has been through so many health issues herself. May the God of peace fill you both with His amazing peace from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. May you sense His healing touch in the places that hurt and ache. He promises that His Word is health to our body and healing to our bones. May this study be part of your daily medicine…the healing balm of Gilead…for your bodies.
Blessings,
Wendy
Thank you both.
Wendy- thank you for leading this Bible study. Like some of the others who have commented, I too find myself depleted and realize I am “running low or on empty”. Thank you for reminding us that Jesus did not rebuke Martha for her gift of hospitality, rather He reminded her ever so gently that we often let our God-given talents stand in the way of spending time with Him.
As I am going through the first question, I’m thinking about what it means to love The Lord with all my heart, soul and strength. When I study the Bible I always want to have a good understanding of the basis of a scripture. Which brings me to this question- is the heart not a part of the soul? It has always been my understanding that the soul is comprised of the mind, will and emotions. When I read Matt 15:19, my understanding is that the heart includes thoughts which lead to actions.
Will you give us some insight on this?
Thank you and may God bless you.
Rhoda
Rhoda, this is a great question. Thanks for digging deeper!
My understanding is that in some verses of Scripture heart and soul may have distinct differences. But in the Old Testament and New Testament verses speaking of loving the Lord with all our heart and soul, after looking at some research, I like the teaching that contends they are a list of synonymous words that build emphasis and provide a thorough sense of what it means to love God with our whole selves. If you want more understanding on this, let me know and I can do some additional research.
Blessings,
Wendy
Rhoda, the Scripture that really got me to thinking on this is Hebrews 4:12 “The Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts annd attitudes of the heart.” Think about dividing soul and spirit. 🙂 So here is a seperation of soul and spirit, where does the heart fit in and aren’t soul and spirit the same? Fun one. God gave me that to mull over for quite some time. Just thought I would add to yours and Wendy’s discussion and think tank courtesy of God. 🙂 Challenge our teacher.
Thank you Yanna for posting Hebrews 4:12…this verse has been brought before me several times recently so I believe God is trying to tell me something through it. I wrote it in my journal for this study and will continue to meditate on it.
Thanks again,
Christina
Christina I just love it when God keeps showing up over and over again. How fun for you that He repeats Himself so plainly. Keep me posted on His nudging.
Wendy this is my first time participating in an online bible study I’ve signed up for one before but never completed it. But I’m determined with God’s help to complete this one. In the lesson outline #6: “Martha wanted Jesus to tell Mary to help her serve their guests.” Sometimes when we are overwhelmed with life, ministry activities, etc. we have a tendancy to start complaining and focusing on and about what someone else is not doing, which adds on to our anxiousness. I believe we MUST stop, pray and prioritize.
Very true and welcome Zandra!
Amen to that!! Wise words, Zandra!!
W
Thank you Wendy for being a God fearing woman. Your testimony has allowed me not to be afraid to admit I am not perfect and call a “Sin a Sin” b/c this is the first step to accepting God’s TRUTH. I too have been and am that woman that allow anxiousness and worry to dwell in my life. The passages have reminded me not so, but stay my mind on God. So thank you for reminding me so that I can stay focussed on God at all times. The trials that I go through are to push me closer to Him and his word building a patient longsuffering woman of God. I know I will still stumble at times but is good to know that God is always w/ me extending His GRACE AND MERCY!
You are so welcome, Tonia. And, yes, our God is God of MERCY and GRACE! How blessed we are.
W
I wrote out all the questions from Wednesday and when I get a quiet day with no one around I want to sit at the table and spread out my Bible and open the notebook that I have everything wrote down and just spend time with God. Thank you so much for doing this Bible Study
Wendy, I am so happy to be back in study with you again! Thank you for sharing your personal experiences so honestly. It means so much to know you have struggled in these areas as well. I know that feeling of an eruption coming up, ready to blow. I’m getting better control but its only with the Holy Spirit’s help. I’m just starting the questions but one point you made in your video really spoke to me – Jesus wasn’t telling Martha to be Mary. My interpretation has always been that Jesus was actually telling her to be more like her sister. I’ve been doing alot of study recently on how God has created us all uniquely and this lesson fits perfectly. Jesus loved Martha the way she was, He was compassionate and only gently reminding her of her priorities. Awesome!
This story is really one of encouragement for those of us who are Marthas because Jesus does speak truth to Martha in love. He wants what is best for her, and he knows her being worried and distracted about many things is not His highest and best for her. Her gift of hospitality is meant to bring her and others joy and not anxiety!! Love knowing God gave you new insight into His Word today. That is why we are here studying it together. We all learn from each other.
Blessings,
Wendy
I have read the story of Mary & Martha many times before and it usually just made me feel bad that I wasn’t more like Mary. I loved how you said in your blog that “Jesus was not telling Martha to be like Mary. He created Martha and loved her exactly the way He created her.” That’s exactly what I needed to hear! God created me exactly as I am & He loves me! Who doesn’t need to be reminded of that?!! 🙂 I just need to be careful not to let my gifts become a duty or distraction. Day 1 and I’m loving this study already!!!
Yay! I am so thankful God is already bringing His living and active Word alive and doing a work in your heart!! He is so faithful.
Blessings,
Wendy
My prayer from question #12 … I don’t usually share, but feel *prompted* so I hope this either helps one of you beautiful ladies and/or just keeps me accountable 🙂
Dear Lord,
Help me to choose “the better way” that you have for me. I know that my time spent with you and in your word is essential to my day. Without time with you I become distracted, overwhelmed, unfocused, and sad. I NEED you and your peace and direction for my every move. Please help me! I want to wake up early and start out my day studying your word. I know this will help strengthen my walk with you, my daily life, and all of the relationships you’ve placed me in. Thank you for hearing my prayers and blessing my life. Please give me the strength and discipline to rise and study early each morning. Help me to do this while being the wife and mom that you desire for me to be. Quiet my anxious heart, Lord. Amen.
Hey Megan, I think that is a beautiful prayer that is straight from the heart. The prayer resonates so well with me. That is my heart’s cry to sit with Jesus before I start my day. Without Him, our day is a hot mess which can deplete our energy and let us run from Him instead of running to Him when the day gets messy and overwhelming. Keep it up sister.
Great prayer!! You echoed my thoughts!! 🙂
AMEN!! Megan, this is a beautiful prayer. Thank you for sharing it with us. It always helps to see how others pray.
Blessings,
Wendy
Thank You Wendy for that amazing study. The story that u told, i could relate to it good. It was a wake up call, as God wanted me to hear that .So many times i get frustrated and i hate myself for it. What i have learned so far was that i thought i was a Mary but i realized that i am a Martha. I love to serve my God with my life all day long and i pray Lord how can i serve u today? Use me Lord and sometimes i am wondering why hasn’t He used me? And i realized that God wanted me to spend more time with Him. He wanted me to be quiet and learn to listen to Him so i can get to know Gods Will for my life and hears when he calls me to serve Him and also to have a strong intimate relationship with Him .So i can get to know His Will for my life, so He can transform me into the person He wants me to be. So i can hear when He calls me to serve and listen to His instructions. And that God can use me more effectively because how can i serve God if i don’t know Him .How can i serve God if i don’t even take my time to listen to Him to what He has to say to me and where He wants me to serve Him and let Him equip me through His word to do the job I’m excited for next week.Praise God that He put this on your heart as a wake up call for all of us
You are so welcome. Excited you are with us and praying He will answer these cries of your heart!!
Wendy
This is my response to question 5:
Mary worshipped Jesus with all her heart, all her soul, all her mind and all her strength while Martha did not give her all in worshipping Jesus. Mary’s relationship with Jesus was one of worship and reverence for her Lord and Saviour, It is evident that she had a deep and intimate one with Him because when He came to visit, she chose to worship and adore Him rather than be anywhere else. Her mannerism reveals that, her Jesus meant everything to her and she was going to get everything that He had to offer. Being with Jesus gave her a spirit of peace that when Martha came to Jesus and complaining to Him about her, she did not even responded but allowed Jesus to take charge of the situation.
It;s not that Martha did not have a relationship with Jesus, she had one but it was more of a one sided affair. Martha loved her Lord and Saviour but did not spend enough time with Him. She never took the time to sit still and to rest so that she could hear from Him. She always had things to do, so her time with Jesus was limited. As a result she was anxious, worried and lacked peace because she was depleted spiritually and emotionally.
Great insight, AnnMarie. Thank you for sharing.
W
Wendy I really related to your story tonight! I am a young mom and so many times I just react out of emotion to my son and my husband! And I do need to start spending more time with God. I am so much like Martha I am always worried about getting stuff done and trying to impress people! I am really going to work on becoming a Mary! I have learned so much already and so excited to learn more thank you so very much for this study! It has come along at the exact time I am needing to hear this!! Thank you and God bless!!
After answering questions 1-9, I have realized that I can be like Mary, physically sitting at Jesus’ feet during my quiet time while being Martha in my thoughts.
This from Joyce Meyer on today’s You Version Devotional from her Everyday Life Devotional
Don’t Get Burned Out on Too Much Activity
In the early days of my walk with the Lord, I was very enthusiastic and eager to serve Him, so I signed up for everything that seemed even remotely interesting to me. One result of it all was that I quickly discovered what I was anointed to do.
Because of my busy life, I wasn’t spending time with God on a regular basis. I was doing good things for God, but somehow ignoring Him in the process. As a result, I often spent time feeling frustrated because I was doing works of the flesh.
“Works of the flesh” are things we do without God’s power flowing through us. They are difficult, they drain us, and they produce no joy or fulfillment. They are often good things, but not ‘God things.’
People can literally get burned out on religious activity as they struggle to serve God in their own strength. But Jesus didn’t die for us to have ceaseless activity…He died so that we could be one with God through Him, so we could have a deep personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Do you need to cut out some works of the flesh today to truly be with God?
Prayer Starter: Lord, I realize that doing good works is no replacement for truly knowing You. Help me to find my rest in You as I lay useless activity aside to spend more time with You.
Janet, this is great.. Thank you for sharing. Joyce is such a wonderful teacher full of so much wisdom.
W
Wendy,
Thank you for sharing what God has put on your heart. We are blessed.
I have an ongoing battle with busyness…just call me Martha! I resonate with this quote:
“If the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us busy.”
~ Corrie ten Boom
I’m again part of the Beth Moore “Siesta Scripture Memory Team.” For my scriptures this year I’ve sought a theme of verses on “one thing” How well I know this story & only today did I have my “AHA!” light bulb moment that Jesus SPEAKS the words in Luke 10:42a:
“but ONLY ONE THING is needed.”
You referenced a powerful collection of verses. Thank you!
Carol I too am participating in SSMT! Maybe we can meet there. 🙂 I am memorzing Psalm 139 for it exactly 24 verses.
Wendy,
I never could understand why Jesus would say that to Martha. To me it seems like Mary is irresponsible and leaving Mary to do all the work. Which is what Martha tells Jesus. I mean it is so easy for people to sit and read the Bible and pray all day and leave someone else to do all the work. Isn’t that being a religious hypocrite? Isn’t faith without works dead? Oh Wendy! I read the passage again and again hoping to try and understand why I should be like Mary. I am halfway through question 6 and these two things pop in my head
1. Martha has a bad attitude. Her motives are good( hospitality) but her heart is not.
2, Martha has opened her home to Jesus but Mary has opened her heart. Which is what Jesus wants more than opening the home.
I am still struggling with this story and definitely struggling with quiet times everyday with God. Which is ridiculous because I know that I cannot function without Him.
Also in Q6 a and b you mean Martha and not Mary right?
Lily, those are two very good truths the Lord taught you through the story!! Thank you for sharing.
And, yes, I think I have corrected that…I will check again.
Wendy
I need to learn how to get before Jesus feet more often than I do. The time I get up in the moring I get so busy and somethine I do not take the time to read. I will pray but not read. My heart want so much of more of God. I desire to be the woman he had called me to be. So thank you so much on the teaching on Mary and Martha. It is really make me see myself. I know God is calling me higher and all I need to do now is to walk in it, so keep praying for me that I will always put God first. I want to go to that next level in God. God bless you and your ministry.
Dear Wendy
Since March this year, God has really been speaking to me through this short passage about Mary and Martha. He keeps bringing me back to it again and again, so it was no surprise when He led me to this Online Bible Study and I discovered it was going to be about Mary and Martha! I would just like to share with everyone here how God spoke to me the first time I read it back in March:
The first thing that jumped out at me then was Jesus saying to Martha “you are worried and distracted by many things” – so was I – worried and distracted about things coming up in the future! Then Jesus says “there is need of only one thing”. Next God lead me to Psalm 31, v. 14 – 15 “But I am trusting you O Lord, saying you are my God! My future is in your hands”. He then lead me to Psalm 32, v.8 “The Lord says I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”
So it became like a Conversation between God and I:
God: “You are worried and distracted by many things.”
Me: “My future is in your hands.”
God: “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.”
Praise God – I can’t wait to hear what He will say to me through this Bible Study!
I pray God will bless us all and speak loud and clear to every one of us over the next three weeks.
Tracey, thank you for sharing how God took you to other places in His Word to affirm and deepen what He was teaching you. That is what He does when we dig deep and spend time with Him. And thank you for sharing those verses with us.
Blessings,
Wendy
sorry for the technical aspect of this post – but I’m “testing’ because my previous post said it was being considered but I don’t see it was posted. Hoping I am not having techincal difficulties because I really want to participate in this study…
Peggy, this one came through!! Let me know if you have more difficulties.
W
Dear Wendy – you are God’s agent, right on time. By Friday of this week, I was empty of the word for several reasons. Mostly I did not feed myself in the a.m., and relied on another who changed the format from preach to pitch last week.. A peer at work commanded my help like a drill sargeant Friday morning, and I felt the temper rising. Ironically, I had just posted a Power Thought card in my office that morning that read “I am difficult to offend and quick to forgive”. So God put me to the test in less than an hour of posting it. I helped her without complaint, retreated to my office, shut the door, & called my husband, who made me laugh. The issue with the peer is her refusal to forgive me in January when I asked if I offended her last December. She told me then not to ask her for help, ever, and twice this week she’s come seeking mine. My heart is still broken over her cavalier dismissal of a Long working relationship. And it’s all over setting a table early for a birthday party I initiated for her boss who is abundantly generous.
I wonder what everyone thinks about forgiveness and would welcome their experience. Is it immediate, or do you find it to be an ongoing process? I’d love to hear your insights.
Denise
Denise, Forgiveness is so much an ongoing process. A book that I am still working through is titled The Unburdened Heart by Suzanne Eller. She really speaks to women on the issue of forgiveness and I have learned so much from her as I have several issues in my life where I struggle with forgiveness. I’m still working at forgiving family members about something that happened 10 years ago. It is getting easier but I still have to work at it. Your situation sounds similar to what I’ve been dealing with in my family with a sister-in-law. Read passages on forgiveness in the Bible and talk to God in prayer about the situation then listen for what God is speaking to your heart about it.
Thanks for your suggestion. God is truly using books in my life. I just began reading Suzanne Eller’s book! I purchased it recently at a women’s conference in Hanover Pa, where Proverbs 31 was inspiring us all. How ironic though, that I should choose that book last night (from the many I purchased), and you should have recommended it in the meantime. God does indeed work in mysterious and wonderful ways.
I also struggle with forgiving family, given several instances of disinheritance, which places me in an awkward position with a Great Aunt often, when the cousin who got my mother’s money appears (broke again recently). Aunt V disagreed with me on this issue when I visited her and my other two great aunts (still) living in Hanover the weekend of the conference. Your reassurance that it is truly an ongoing thing feels much kinder. Thanks again!
Oh yes Denise, I agree with Carol – forgiveness is an ongoing process. There are some hurts that need you to forgive the person that hurt you each and everyday. I worked with a lady that made life difficult for me everyday at work, she insults me, puts me down and yet passes all the responsibility in the unit to me. I work like I have four hands yet I can never do enough. I was fed up and went crying to our overhead boss to save me from her – I was losing my mind. He calmed me down and told me that there was a restructuring going on in our department and I will soon have another boss. That gave me some peace and I worked with her till the restructuring took place. We now had the same boss and the same mandate. It was like a demotion for her and it really pained her that I was happy about the new situation. She however was to do my appraisal for the previous year and she scored me so low, that I went crying again to my new boss. She just said I should not worry, and told my old boss that since she was the one to do her appraisal, she will score her whatever she scores me. It was at that time that she changed my marks. To cut a very long story short, she was not happy with me, even though I tried to be a good person, she will insult me and try to make me look bad in the midst of my colleagues. The one thing that kept me going and still keeps me going is the fact that I tell myself that resentment only poisons me and she is like a sand paper rubbing out the sharp edges off me till I am smooth and clean while she becomes worn out. I still do work for her sometimes (to the amazement of my colleagues, some think I am a fool) but I know it is what Jesus would want me to do. I have to consciously forgive all that she did to me and what she still does some times and forget. I tell myself this is God’s creation, by forgiving her I am honoring God.
I hope my testimony helps, never thought I would have cause to share it, but that is it. I am still forgiving her every day.
Thanks for sharing your pain of a coworker, which acted like more balm to my spirit. Like you I have another long time coworker who is a unavoidable constant negative. We were both rehired in Sept 1999, and I taught her the job of asset manager as it was new to her. She was later promoted to portfolio administrator and I’m sorry to say became my supervisor about two years ago. She delighted in making me miserable as an employee and member of the workplace Toastmasters club. God redeemed me a year ago by reassigning me to another portfolio administrator, and this one is so good to me!!!. God also demonstrated his humour by physically moving my office to the one opposite hers. Sometimes I want to gag when she calls me sweetheart, but it’s easier since she apologized last summer. I told her I forgave her then, but it’s just another ongoing trial at times. So as you say, every day includes forgivenes, patience and longsuffering.
Yes, I agree with Carol and Olayinka, it is an ongoing process. It is really a step of obedience that we do once but then time and time again memories return or a person repeats an offense, and we have to continually sacrifice those feelings that rise up to the TRUTH of our FORGIVENESS that was extended. It is a journey that tests us over and over again, but becomes easier and easier over time.
Suzie’s book is wonderful. Nancy Leigh DeMoss also has a great book on forgiveness as well. And my book, Hidden Joy, has a chapter on forgiveness as well.
Blessings,
Wendy
How lovely to hear from you! and to receive your endorsements, that forgiveness is ongoing, and endorsing Suzie’s book. It’s another example of God moving in my life – using books!
Your book, Hidden Joy, was a powerful force in my life last year, after the first women’s conference I attended in Hanover, PA. I was moved both by your teaching at the conference, and later when I enjoyed your book at home. Thank you so much!
I’ll keep your other recommendation in mind for the future. After this year’s conference, I resolved to finish the several Joyce Meyer books I had started but not finished. So I could make a new start with this year’s Proverbs 31 books & just yesterday I started Suzie’s book! It’s an OMG moment for sure.
I look forward to this week’s study. . . Blessings to you too!
I have already been praying for some time for God to create a hunger in me for His Word and His Presence. I have also begun to pray the same thing for the Church; for Him to create that same hunger in the Church to draw us back to Him; to what the Church was originally founded on.
This is my first time to do an online study. I am thrilled to be here!
Nanci, so excited to have you with us for a first time on-line Bible study!!! You will love it. It is so fun to interact with women from all over the world. And what a wonderful prayer to pry for the church to be hungry for more of Christ!!
W
I am a person who feels offended when I am spoken too harshly to, my feelings can be easily hurt. Just a couple of weeks ago I was in tears over something that felt like scolding but it wasn’t directed at anyone in particular but I took it wrong. As I read the passage about Mary and Martha, Jesus’ response to Martha was tender and compassionate. He understood Martha’s concern but he was trying to help Martha understand that Mary’s choice had more value in the long run. As I thought about how Jesus responded to Martha I felt that if I were in Martha’s place I could have handled Jesus responding to me in that way because, to me, his response was sensitive to Martha’s concern but he wanted Martha to see that Mary’s choice had value as well.
I am really enjoying this study. Today I answered the question to find 2 new things about Martha and Mary. “She welcomed Jesus into her home” tells me 2 things about Martha. 1) She was open-minded to new ways. Jesus was teaching some amazing new things and was a controversial figure. She welcomed new things, was intrigued and inspired, not afraid or indignant. 2) She was a warm person. She wanted to have Jesus in her home. He was welcome there. She had good intentions of serving him and others. I’m betting she was the older sister, accustomed to taking care of everyone, including Lazarus and Mary. And it seems Mary is accustomed to being taken care of by Martha. I’m guessing she was the younger sister, less duty bound and more free to do as she pleased, knowing Martha would “mother” her.
Melissa, these are great insights. Never before have I thought of Martha as being open to new ideas because she had Jesus in her home. But that is so right. He was extremely controversial. She probably even put her life at risk by doing so with as hated as He was near the end. Thank you for sharing.
Wendy
Loving God with all your heart looks like trusting Him even when your heart and your dreams feel broken.
Loving God with all your mind looks like trusting Him even when the negative thoughts come and the fear tries to set in.
Loving God with all your strength looks like trusting Him and holding on even when the wait is much than expected.
Loving God with all your soul looks like hoping and snuggling into Him even when there are no outward signs of change.
This is FABULOUS!! Thank you for sharing.
W
Love thsi Marie!
So incredibly grateful to have received notice of this new study. I have allowed myself to be at very great distance from God lately and even when I realized the source of my unhappiness, I still didn’t take the necessary step of quieting myself before God and letting Him fill me.
I was so surprised to hear you say that Jesus didn’t ask Martha to “be Mary” only to allow herself the time to sit at his feet. I will always be a “Martha” and in the past I have felt that was a very bad thing, that somehow I just didn’t have the wisdom needed to be at Jesus’ feet. Today I see myself as created by God to serve him in my own way- AND- always welcome at his feet. Thank you for bringing that to light! So good to hear Jesus loves Martha too!
Tammy, I can soooo relate to you. I knew I was drifting from spending time with Him and I could feel what it was doing to me and my family. This study is just what I needed. Bless you Wendy 🙂
I am so grateful the Lord has spoken affirmation in to your heart and helped you read His Word in a fresh way. That is such an answer to the prayers I have prayed for all of you!
Blessings,
Wendy
Wendie,
You are a prayer answered. My husband and I have been going through a very dark time in our relationship, amid wonderful things happening in our life. It has been a year full of moving to another state (a good thing), finding out I am pregnant with our 3rd son (after trying to get pregnant for 1 1/2 years), weathering the storm that comes with uprooting our 2 older sons who were 5 and 9 when we moved, and then finding out that my husband was being promoted in his job. The promotion led to a much more stressful work life and has shifted his work into an area that he does not like and does not feel confident in unfortunately. I have been praying for the financial ability to stay at home with my children, since my 1st child was born 10 years ago. When our 3rd son was born, I have been able to stay at home, but it has been a stressful transition from a successful career to staying at home with a newborn. The reason I am giving all of this background, is because I want you to know that I have been praying and thinking of how I can shift my focus from feeling sorry for my self and reacting with my emotions (mainly to my husband) to thinking of others and focusing on Jesus. I have been successful with that in the past, but I was having trouble trying to determine how to do it this time around. When our baby was a newborn, I was able to listen to sermons on-line and that was very helpful. With time, though, I found the sermons took too long and I didn’t have a structured way to study what I had learned. I have been praying every night for God to guide me to something that would help me focus on him every day. I have been researching ideas and trying many different things. Last week I was awake with the baby (now 7 months) and unable to go back to sleep, so I found myself laying in bed for several hours. I usually spend that time praying and thinking and at some point I remembered Proverbs 31 Ministries. I wrote myself a note to remember to go to their site in the morning…. Later that morning I did go on their site and found their daily devotional which was great, but then I found your Bible study and realized it was beginning on that very day! I sat at my couch and cried tears of Thanksgiving because I knew that God had finally been able to answer my prayer…. with you!! I literally feel like a new woman. When I feel myself feeling overwhelmed with “bad” emotion, I just think of you in your kitchen…and I know that I have a place to go to focus on Jesus. I cannot tell you how this has changed my life already. Thank you for listening and acting on God’s call in your life.
Wendy, Whoops– sorry to have spelled your name wrong– I have an Aunt Wendie, so that is how I spelled it. Plus, I am a sleep deprived mother of a baby, so my brain is not working well LOL 🙂
Anna, you have blessed me so much with the story in your post. I pray before I start every study for the Lord to draw the women HE needs to be here to be in His Word with Him. And your story shows He is being faithful to answer our prayers…both directions!! He is such a big God with so much to do, yet He cares about providing for our every need. I pray that He will do a mighty work in and through your time with Him here and with us. I pray He will open the eyes of your heart to see the wonderful things in His Word and open your ears to hear that to which He is calling you as a wife and mother of three young children.
And, no worries about the spelling. I always wished it was spelled either “Wendi” or Wendie.” I felt like with only a “y” it was so boring.
Blessings,
Wendy
Thanks so much for this study God is showing me how much of a distracted heart I have and how I can become so anxious He is showing me how to turn off the news and get into his Word to make him the center even as I home school my son . if my center is not in Jesus I have nothing to give out to anyone . I can run on my own for a short time but I burn out Lord help me to stay connected to you to you to live life from the inner court. This is so needed in our day and in the church were we become busy but in Rev in the church of Eph Jesus said you do all these things but you have left your first love and then it says to return to that place and everything will fall into its place
Wow
Ruthie, I just posted the same verse from revelation ….That is what God has been ministering to me also!!! Praise HIm that he can knit hearts together even over the internet
Dear Wendy,
Your bible study title really caught my interest as I have been in constant anxiety about being more intentional with my time with God and really being present with him. I have truly enjoyed the first week and look forward to the next two weeks. I plan to go back through your other bible study courses as I really connect with your bible studies.
Last night before I went to bed, I prayed that God would allow me to wake up early to spend time with him. I am so proud to say, that I woke up about 5:30am and prepared my time with him until it was time for me to get my boys up for school. This morning I read Psalms 1-9. I look forward to new quiet time with God.
Thank you Wendy for this bible study.
Yes!!! Praise the Lord. I am so thankful you had a great first day of time alone with God early in the morning. Don’t you know that He loved meeting with you!!!
As a young mom, you may enjoy the Proverbs study. It is an on-line study, but I taught it live here in Charlotte and have it in a pdf form if you are interested. You can contact me at deuteronomysix@aol.com if you want to learn more.
Blessings,
Wendy
Sorry I am so late posting in my comments but I thought I should lend my voice to this discussion. Being a Mary takes years and years of preparation. I can only boast of spending time at the Lord’s feet after years and years of working on it. In fact my trick was to pray the Proverbs 31 Woman into being in me. After years of hard work I see both Martha and Mary in me and appreciate God greatly for the women he has made out of me.
Stay blest,
Lynn
What a blessing Lynn. We love having a balanced woman with us!! And your words show us that it just does not happen. It takes time and prayer and discipline! Share more…please.
Blessings,
Wendy
“But as for God, His way is perfect.” & “He has made everything beautiful in His time.” This Bible study definitely came right in the knick of time. I started a 21-day Daniel fast (no television, social networking or scrabble LOL) today & needed this 3 week study to assist me!! I slacked off on spending QT @ my Master’s feet & was feeling quite guilty about it. I would stay up later than necessary & could/would not get up @ 5:45 when the alarm went off. Although I do read @ least one verse or recite the same one every morning I know that is NOT the same as spending quality time with God, being still beforeHim & listening for His still small voice. This 1st session He has already used to put things in proper perspective for me. Ta DA(Thank You Father) for Wendy Your vessel that You pour out from. Continue to fill her cup as she pours out to each woman participating in this awesome Bible study. Thank You for Proverbs 31 Ministries. In Jesus’ name. Amen
Thank you for your sweet prayer!!
Blessings,
Wendy
I have been trying so hard to be close to God. I want to hear Him speak to me. I know I don’t spend enough QT with Him. But I think I really had a break through. I feel that He brought things that happened today at work to my mind to show me just how much like Martha I am. I just fret over the small things that aren’t done the correct way. Why can’t I put as much importance on my time with Him?
Linda, you will soon. It takes discipline and work in the beginning. But as time goes on, it becomes a joy and delight. Take one day at a time…baby steps. Be faithful and He will be faithful!!
Blessings,
Wendy
Hi wendy,
After a week holiday I jumped in today and finished this lesson in one morning so I can start with lesson two tomorrow!
Thinking of what sometimes keeps me from doing my quit time I realised it was often a good preparation / planning!
Going to bed in time to be fit when my alarm goes way before the kids need to get up.
To bring everything in order the evening before like choosing their clothing for the next day the evening before.
Preparing breakfast table the evening before.
These things very small all will bring me more rest in the morning!
Just thank you to let me think of these things trough your question.
Not highly spiritual things but very practical and easy to accomplish!
Also ban my phone in the morning. I always check if there are prayer requests but often it makes me check all of my messages and it all is taking away from my time with Jesus!
Dear Lord,
You see what I just have wrote here before and will you please help me to stick with it.
To do my proper planning and structure to be able to spend all of my available time in the morning to just start with You. Give me the strength to be committed to it and to my QT, for I know my spirit is strong but my flesh is weak, I am so weak as I human that I cannot even take a breath unless you allow me too so also with this Lord help me and give me Your strength for I am weak.
Amen
xx wendelijn
Wen, you and I are built very much the same way. The blessing of our personality is that when we do commit to a quiet time, we are faithful and ordered and God can do great things. We just have to get going with it in the first place and not want to complete our “to do” lists!! 🙂
me
As I wrapped up the questions this morning there was a resounding message coming through in all of my responses. God wants me to remember that He should always be the number one. He alone is worthy of my praise and devotion. When anything else takes priority it gets in the way of honoring and worshipping Him. Whether it be money, possessions, hospitality and preparations, or worrying controlling and planning every aspect of my days and my life, when I allow it to consume me it has become an idol and it is taking away time from worship and adoration of my Lord and Savior. I pray that God helps me remove the distractions that take my heart away from Him. I pray that He helps me lay down the worry and restlessness and allow Him to be in control. I pray that I learn to trust in His plans and let go of my need to know or control every plan. I pray that I learn to long only for Him, to be filled with Him alone so that He spills over from my heart into the world around me.
Amen and amen to your prayers, Rachel. I too need to pray about letting go of wanting to know and control the plan. 🙂
blessings,
Wendy
Last night as I finished up the homework and looked at the story of the rich man the message I got was – God is a relational God! He’s more concerned with us knowing Him than serving Him, but all too often like Martha I get consumed with the work and like the rich man can focus on the stuff. Over the last year I’m grateful God’s worked in me to start changing this and creating a desire in me to sit with Him, be still and get to know Him more.
Now He’s taking it a step further and showing me in a way the same is true for the people in my life. There are things my husband and kids need me to do for them, but what they long for is time with me. Asking God to help me make the better choice and focus on what He wants and then for the wisdom to know what that is, the discipline to do it and desire to surrender my plans for His.
Thanks for this study Wendy and thanks to all of you for comments, insight and prayer…would have love to respond to all of you! (Guess the Martha in me had work to do!) Looking forward to what lies ahead and praying God will continue His mighty work!!
Ow and I ordered Bobbies book!
It is for sale in The Netherlands too. Not in Dutch but in English but thats not a problem!.
Planning on taking it on our summer vacation and use it there in my QT.
xxx Wen
I am so excited you bought her book. It will bless you!! She wrote the Bible with her daughter. The devotions in it are precious.
Love,
W
In rereading Luke 10-38-42, I realized something I hadn’t before. Martha probably isn’t just upset about what’s going on with Mary in that moment. We know this because Jesus tell her she is worried and upset about “many things.” And I was struck by how many times in my own life I’ve had a meltdown in a particular situation and realized it was the culmination of a lot of anger, anxiety, unhappiness, etc. that may not have had anything to do with the immediate situation. Spending time with Jesus helps us not only to rest and refresh, but to get clear on what’s troubling us.
Great insight Amy! worried and upset about “many things” has happened to me then I too have a meltdown and woe to anyone within arms length and hearing. Maybe the one we should feel sorry for is Jesus! Yet, He is patient, loving, kind, and knows us better than we know ourselves. As our example He dd not take Martha’s needs personally or turn her bossiness on to someone else (Mary) instead He encouraged her! Suggesting she re-think what was really needed probably caused Martha to take a deep inhaled breath and think What? did He just say and contemplate why Jesus did not follow her, but instead suggested she follow him at his feet. Good stuff, good observation Amy got me to pondering. Which I love.
Amy, thanks for picking up on those two little words, “many things.” Great insight for us today!!
Blessings,
Wendy
Dear All,
I hear women beating themselves up for not being what they believe God wants them to be. I have learnt one thing and that is I am a work in progress. This journey never ends until we see him face to face. With that said, I will encourage women to find time whenever they can to sit at his feet. I was once a very busy wife, mother and student that could not sit at the Lord’s feet for days because of all that was happening around me. But God’s word says that we should be still and know that he is God. How can we be still when the enemy beats us up with guilt. Guilt is a joy stealer and we cannot allow it to steal our joy.
Women, wait on the Lord, be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart (Psalm 27:14) The trick is just to wait on the Lord. The day nor the hour matters but the waiting. Then our hearts will be strengthened. Our prayer is that the Lord should teach us how to wait. For those that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength… Isaiah 40:31.
Lynn,
Thanks for your loving, confident reminder. There is no condemnation in Him. He has told us (Romans8:1) – now we need to believe it!
Thank you for this reminder, Lynn. We all have seasons. There may be times when all we have time for is a short devotional and prayer. Other times we have time to dig deep and pray long. What matters is continually connecting our hearts and minds to Him…whatever that looks like in our season of life.
And you are so right…in Him there is no condemnation. Just a gentle conviction…a reminder…that He misses being with us. He gently draws and woos us back.
Blessings,
Wendy
I tried to fnd the email devotional I read to copy and paste it but could not here is the part that made me think it went with our study. A person asked Billy Graham how he made time for Bible study everyday and Billy Graham replied “I do not know what you are talking about.” I really like this. Our Quiet Time sitting at Jesus feet should become like taking a breath in and out. Just routine, not something we “make time for” a must to Live. I know I for one cannot exist without my time with God and His Word. It truly has become a part of me like breathing. Bible Studies, like this one, are like exercising my lungs, getting my heart rate up, and keeping the blood flowing an “exercise” in the Word as I research, ponder, and participate further with God in my day. I am so thankful God has opened the door to keep His Word alive and active in such an easy way. We are very blessed to have resources in our generation and teachers who teach. Thank you Wendy! I am looking forward to tomorrow’s new video and questions.
Yanna, thank you for this beautiful picture of Bible study and sharing how it has become a part of you, “like breathing.” Wow!!! And thanks for sharing the Billy Graham quote. I have never heard that before. What an answer to that question!!
W
🙂 you are welcome W
I really liked this question;
15. Read Psalm 63:1 and Psalm 42:1-2. List the verbs used to describe the author’s feelings for God. Do you feel this way about God? What creates these kind of feelings within us?
Are, thirsts, longs, pants, living, go. Yes I do! Being in a pit of despair where the only way out was Up created a longing for God that will only increase each day because I was lost without Him and now that I found Him I am not letting go! The order of the verbs (are, thirsts, longs, pants, living, go) says it all!
I have always loved these words. They remind me at times that I am not thirsty and not hungry. Those are the times where I have stopped sitting at His feet. It seems the more I sit alone with Him and His Word, the hungrier and thirstier I get!!
Love you,
Wendy
Me too Wendy! If you ever open a monestary let me know. Instead of someday when I am old I will wear purple….I will live in a monastary on a cliff with my Bible, writing materials that never run out and the world wide web so I can do online Bible studies. I don’t need much to sit at Jesus feet. lol
Thank you Wendy for this study…I got to your blog after reading the May 8th devotional “Learn to Rest”, Im so glad I did. I read and started my homework was almost done, but Im also doing the Confident Heart Study with Renee, and to my surpise in Chapter 9, which I read yesterday, she also touches on Martha and Mary.worry, being exhausted…I love that I had already done some study on Martha and Mary with you, here. I have been a Martha for a long time and since the beginning of this year I really started to think about scripture and studies, I love reading Probverbs31 devotionals every day….I have read Lysa book “Unglued” and started reading my bible more and spending time with God. I moved on to Renee’s study and feel so free, I have finally started to become a Mary, digging deeper, reading, having my quiet time, writing in my journal….I viewed the video, where you talk about losing control with your kids, I cried…I remember when mine were little, the yelling, grabbing, agressivness verbally….Im so glad that I surrendered my life to God over thirteen years ago, Ive grown to be a better person, mother and wife…Im so grateful for women like you that have taken time out of your busy lives to help other sisters like me….Cant wait to continue….Be blessed
Anna, don’t you just love how God works this way…speaking to us the same message through many different vessels and messengers? He knows just what we need when we need it. Renee is a dear friend, and her book is wonderful!! I am so glad to know that you are reading it along with her.
Blessings,
Wendy
I just found the first lesson and here the second one is ready to come.
Well, this is right on for me. We are going through an employment change. We have to move into a fully furnished house(required with the position). I have a houseful of personal things and many aquired memory items from my mom. Now I have to downsize all I have accumulated. Ouch, this is so hard. God has pressed me into letting go. Help! It is so hard for me to let go. But, I want Him more, so much more.
Thank you all for your bits of encouragement above. I will overcome by the “Blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony” or am I just quoting cliches.
Thank you Lord for using Wendy to call me back to You. Thank you for Your word to cleanse me and direct me back to you.
Amen!
Wendy
I started to post this last night, but the children distracted me and I didn’t get a chance… For me, the reason that my “fire” burns out and I stop spending time with the Lord every morning, is because I let our culture inspire me instead of the Lord. I let my friend’s CLEAN houses, my children’s sports practices, and my own pride inspire me to have a more clean and more organized house, to get more things done on my to do list, and to never miss a sports practice….. Instead, I need to let the Lord inspire me…and the only way I can do that is to spend time with him every morning. That means that I won’t have the most organized house, my kids will have to miss some sports practices once in awhile, I will have an overflowing email inbox…but I will have a deeper relationship with God and in the end that will be what matter. Thank you Wendy, for your sweet and kind voice. You are like an angel that I get to “turn on” every time I open my laptop.
Anna, you have spoken words that many of us, especially moms, need to hear!! It’s okay to not have the cleanest house or the most perfect attendance at practices or meetings. It’s okay to not be at every social event and volunteer every time someone asks. We need to seek His will for how we spend our days, and the most important part of each day should be our time with Him!!
And thank you for your sweet words about the teaching messages. I love teaching the Word!
Blessings to you,
Wendy
First, I must thank you for this study. I am one who been dealing with anxiety for almost a year. I dealt with anxiety when I was 18. And didn’t realize it would come back into my life, so this is the perfect study for me to do right now. More so because my husband needs surgery to repair a hernia. Now, my husband had hip surgery 6 years ago, when he shattered his hip slipping on ice, and i know the hernia surgery is not as big as the hip surgery. However, I am a nervous wreck right now. As I am writing this, he is having an consultation with the surgeon, discussion details. Last night, while I thinking of today, I wish I had a coffee date with a friend. However, that was when God spoke to me. He told me, “Come to me, child.” He wants to be the one to calm me and he wants to be the only one. I will sit at his feet and will work on sitting at his feet everyday, since he is the only one that can give me peace and everlasting water.
Michelle, we are so thankful the Lord brought you hear to receive just what you need…peace and rest!! Praying you will find that as you meet Him in His Word. And you are so right…He is our friend, the friend that will never leave us and never disappoint.
Blessings,
Wendy
Wendy, I don’t know how I first came across your website but I am thankful I saved the info at that time, some months ago! Two of my boys are grown & live on their own & I have one left at home, w ith one more year of homeschooling with him. I have always struggled with daily, consistent quiet time, especially after we started our family. Many times I have prayed to hunger & thirst for more of God’s word & every time I start out getting it done but it never lasts long. I use to have great guilt about this because I knew it was something I needed to do, not just for my sake but for the sake of my boys & my husband. A dear lady encouraged me that I can spend time with God throughout the day, signing His praises, praying over things or people as He reminded me while I worked around the house, etc and I realized that I was already doing those things. Though I still sought to have that time to read Scripture & learn of Jesus’ ways even more, it was a season for me to focus on my family but find the balance of spending time WITH Him & being a “Martha”. I was never successful in a daily quiet time…I have never been a morning person but always ready to fall into bed at night. While working through the questions of your study, I came across another study for a book I have been wanting to read, which included links for Scriptures & videos associated with the study. The author hit the nail for me…& it so nicely connected to this study! He spoke about how he remembers praying the same exact, word for word prayer over every meal he ate & how one day he realized how “stale” that must have “tasted” to God. While attending a service, he watched a young lady he had seen lead worship several times and readily saw how her worship always seemed fresh. It was never the same “routine” for her. So, when I wrote my prayer of commitment, that was MY prayer – that I didn’t want this revelation & desire to hunger for more of God’s word, as we’ll as desire for daily, consistent quiet time to be the same request it has always been!
I look forward to the future lessons & what God has for me during this time in my life. And if you pray for me, will you remember to pray specifically for a ministry job for my husband. He was let go from his last position a year ago now (due to financial issues in the church) & is working long days at 2 different jobs so we can stay current on our bills & have food on the table. We are renting a basement apt that has outworn its welcome in my book…I simply need some things that are in storage to be able to finalize my sons last year of school, among other things or issues.
Thank you for your thought provoking questions & sincerely with us!
Blessings, Raquel
Raquel, your post was full of so many good things. Especially the part of about talking and praising God all throughout our day. It keeps us close and connected to Him and Him to us so that we can hear His voice and sense His presence. Also asking Him to make our worship and study “fresh” and not “stale.” Thank you for sharing these with us.
And I am praying now for the Lord to open doors that only He can open for your husband to find a job. When He interviews, I pray great favor over Him and that God will fill His mouth with the words the employer needs to hear if he is the one they are to hire. Praying provision for every need for your family during this time!
So thankful you found us and are joining in with us for the study!
Blessings,
Wendy
I’m a little late on week 1, but so grateful to be here. As I listened tonight to both Wendy’s message and the message from last fall from her friend Bobbie, I realized how much this is God’s prompting to participate in this study. Thank you for this study. I’m excited for the rest of this one – and for whatever else you are bringing our way! These messages really were water to a thirsty soul. Thank you!
I love hearing how God is feeding you through this study! And thanks for taking the time to listen to Bobbie’s story. It is very powerful and so full of hope!
Blessings,
Wendy
God taught me a powerful lesson as I asked Him to show me what it meant to love Him with all of my heart, mind, soul, and strength. My reply would be too long to post here, so I wrote it on my blog:
http://bit.ly/11RXyQt
<3 Heather
I encourage you all to visit Heather’s blog and read her story. It touched my heart in a powerful way.
Love your honesty, Heather.
Love you!!
me
Thank you Wendy
For bringing this wonderful study I go back to the scripture that God gave me some time ago,
Isa 30:15
For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. So I pray that God will quiet my heart for the things that goes on, and that my mind will stayed on him continually.
Thank you for sharing this verse with us. I love receiving and reading verses that I do not see and read often. You have blessed me with this verse today.
Wendy
Just starting the study tonight, and I have to tell you, Wendy, that what you shared in this first video really spoke to my heart. I am so blessed to have my precious, two-year old daughter, but as a widow who works full-time, I find that I can be short-tempered and somewhat detached at times. Part of that has to do with being tired, but part of it has to do with not taking time on a daily basis for time in the Word and prayer. I really felt convicted as I listened to what you had to say about the relationship you used to have with Lauren. As school winds down in the next month, and we face a long (and hopefully happy) summer together, I am making a commitment to my time with the Lord. My hope is that the fruit of that will be an extra measure of love and patience and interest in the things that Michaela is excited about. 🙂
All week as I have thought about the challenge of this Bible story, my heart has gone back to a song that was sung at my mother’s funeral in 2000. If you have not heard it, I recommend you look it up on youtube and listen. It’s an old, old hymn, “Sitting At The Feet of Jesus”. I’ve been working on keeping it in my mind to help me stay at His feet throughout the day.
My takeaways from this first week: In Q 4 I noted that Jesus told Mary that “it will not be taken from her”. She is connected to Jesus and other can’t remove that connection. (Like the vine comment someone wisely offered earlier !) After going deeper, my insight about what I value is to keep Jesus my #1 priority, and when I want to be negative about something I’m doing or thinking, that I need to remember why and for Whom I’m doing it! My takeaways from this first week: In Q 4 I noted that Jesus told Mary that “it will not be taken from her”. She is connected to Jesus and other can’t remove that connection. (Like the vine comment someone wisely offered earlier !) After going deeper, my insight about what I value is to keep Jesus my #1 priority, and when I want to be negative about something I’m doing or thinking, that I need to remember why and for Whom I’m doing it!
Wendy – you briefly mentioned journalling and using it to look back on all of the times God has been so faithful through trials. Recently, I was asked to share my story at our church’s ladies tea. I spent a lot of time preparing for it – praying, listening, talking with my husband, editing, reading scripture…and reading my journal over and over! Each time I read through my journal, God showed me numerous times how He redeemed and restored me, showing me how many prayers He has answered over the years! Things that I had forgotten.
Thank you for this study, Wendy! This is one of my favourite Bible stories – it never gets ‘old’.
Wendy I have finally gotten to work oh your study, I had taken on so many that was not able to keep up with them all. the good thing however about doing online studies is that they are always their when you are ready to dig into them.
I watched your video and was able to relate so well what you went through with your daughter. I too went through the same. When my daughter was about 9 I asked her when the last time I yelled or hit her was and she said to me that she did not know. I had made great progress and like you could not have done it without God’s help.
I look forward to doing this study, thank you for having such a heart devoted to God and sharing your heart and being real. Being real is what makes a difference in your studies. In Him, may He continue to bless you ministry. Caroline
Praising God for your daughter’s words and the mighty work He has done and will continue to do in your life!! And thank you for your kind and encouraging words.
Blessings,
Wendy
Ok so I’m doing this bible study about 4 years after it was original put up. But Wow I know God led me to this now for a reason. I am in the season where God has ask me to give up somethings and step out in faith with others. I have defiantly been more anxious this study is helping me sit and listen more. In all the changes I need to still sit at Jesus feet and know his voice. To know that I will give it all up for him. When I am intune with God don’t question or worry as much. But when like Martha I get so wrapped up in doing and for get why I start to question. I start to ask why he put things and people in my life but now says give them up. I need to sit at his feet and trust him more.
Such a gift to know God continues to use the study He laid on my heart so long ago to bless and encourage you! Thank you for taking the time to share your heart with me. May God continue to reveal more of His heart and truth to you as you sit at His feet.
Blessings,
Wendy
Love it