Joanna Weaver - Having a Mary Spirit: Allowing God to Change Us from the Inside Out

Contents

To my Mary-spirited husband, John
You have taught me so much through your life, your humility, your servant heart.
Thank you for being Jesus to me.
The heart of this book was formed through watching you live.
I am so blessed to call you mine.

Acknowledgments

They say writing is a lonely occupation, but in my particular case, nothing could be further from the truth.

While completing this book has required long hours in front of the computer, those long hours have been filled with notes of encouragement, phone-call prayers, friends dropping by to help out, willing wonderful baby-sitters (thanks, Grandma and Grandpa Gus, Trish, and Kerry), and beautiful places to write (thank you McLoys, Creechs, and Glacier Bible Camp!).

But none of it would have been possible had my family not come alongside me. Thank you, John, for encouraging me to follow Gods call on my life. Thank you, John Michael and Jessica, for believing in me and telling me not only it could be done, but it would be done. Thank you, sweet Joshua, for never crying when Mommy had to go to worknot once! And for all the sweet hugs and cuddles when I got home.

Thanks as well to my dear friends who allowed me to share our story, to other friends who shared their stories as well, and to all the women who faithfully prayed and lifted me up as I wroteI couldnt have done it without you. I literally felt your intercession, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

To my agent, Janet Kobobel Grant, who walked with me through six years of writing silenceyour consistent encouragement to write only when the Holy Spirit gave me something to say reinforced what I already knew. You are a gift from heaven, and I thank God for you!

And to my Anne, my dear funny marvelous editor, Anne Christian Buchananthank you once again for helping me shape the words to best express the message that so fills my heart. Working with you felt like coming home again. Thank you for being my friend.

To WaterBrook Press and all the wonderful people that make you such a wonderful company to work withmy deepest gratitude as well!

And to all the saints who have gone before, who, through their examples in Scripture or through their writings, show us the path to ChristlikenessOswald and Hannah, C. S. and Catherine, not to mention Paul, Mary and Martha of Bethany, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, mother of Jesusthank you for living lives of such passionate God pursuit that we cant help but follow.

But most of all, to You, Lord Jesus, I give my deepest thanks. For it is in You and through You that we find our life and have our being. You take what we are and make us what we were meant to be. Partakers of Your divine nature. Reflections of Your glory.

Soli Deo Gloria.

To You alone.

A Mary Spirit

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

PSALM 51:10 (KJV)

I ve always dreamed of being much more than I am. More organized, more disciplined, more lovingmuch more much more, if you know what I mean! Each January I set out on a new self-improvement program.

This year Ill get in shape.

This year Ill keep my house clean.

This year Ill send out birthday cards. On time.

This yearreallyIll be the loving, forgiving, obedient woman of God I long to be instead of the willful, stubborn, disobedient Christian I sometimes see staring back at me in the mirror.

All noble goals. And truth be told, I am much more at peace when my house is clean. And I believe that if you really love people, you ought to care enough to send the very bestor at least one of those ninety-nine-cent cards from Wal-Mart! And I know that genuine happiness only comes from living close to God and obeying Him.

I really do want to be different. I want to be changed.

As the saying goes, Theres a skinny woman inside me just struggling to get out. Unfortunatelyas the saying continuesI can usually sedate her with four or five cupcakes.

Working toward these noble goals has left me with little more than a cupboard full of half-empty vitamin bottles, several pairs of slightly worn running shoes, and enough cleaning products to Lysol a small third-world country. Not to mention a shelf filled with dust-covered devotionals.

Is that true for you as well?

Maybe youve discovered, as I have, that most of your New Years resolutions have little effect on day-to-day life except to add a burden of guilt and a feeling of failure. Continually striving, yet never arriving. Hoping, praying to be different, only waking up to find youre not as far along as youd hoped to be. Sometimes feeling like youre right back where you startedagain!

I know. Ive felt that way too.

In fact it was one of those discouraging moments that prompted me to write this book.

LEARNING FROM MARY AND MARTHA

It all began about seven years ago, with two sisters Id met in the BibleMary and Martha of Bethany.

As a pastors wife andat the timethe mother of two almost-teenagers, my life was busy and often crazy. There was so much to do and so little time. Yet while I tended toward drivenness, my heart longed for intimacy with God. Maybe thats why I was drawn to take a new look at the story that had intrigued me for years. Luke 10:3842 reads:

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lords feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, Lord, dont you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!

Martha, Martha, the Lord answered, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.

After hearing several hundred sermons on these two women, I assumed the meaning was fairly straightforward. Mary was the heroine. Martha was the villain. And too much of the time I was Martha! I felt the Lord convicting me of my tendency to rush around, busy with many things while ignoring the one thing that was neededto sit at Jesuss feet.

But as I studied the rest of the sisters story in John 11 and 12, I discovered something so beautiful, so amazing, that I felt compelled to share it in a book. For I saw two women change before my eyes, both of them experiencing a holy makeover when they encountered the living Lord.

And so, six years ago, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World: Finding Intimacy with God in the Busyness of Life was born.

Perhaps the most comforting thing I learned as I worked on that book was that none of us has it all together. Even on our best days and with our best intentions, we all eventually blow it. We start out operating in our gifts and talentsexcited to be serving the Messiahonly to have our efforts morph into a full-blown pity party when we dont get enough help, or we arent appreciated, or someone else gets the attention we know we deserve.

But what stood out most to me was the fact that when Jesus scolded Martha about her busyness, He wasnt condemning her efficiency and hard work or her can-do personality. He wasnt telling her she had to be just like Mary to please Him. Jesus simply didnt want Martha to be so caught up in kitchen service