God Is With You: Dealing With Fear, Discouragement and AnxietySample

THE TALE OF TWO SISTERS

Martha is a high performing, type “A” personality. She likes to get things done. Not only that, but she also wants them the way she had pictured them in her head. She was working hard to make it happen. But it was not coming together. It is not looking like what she thought it would look like. And she begins to search for someone to blame—her pick of the day: Mary and Jesus Himself.

Have you ever felt that way? You feel, “This is not what I thought my life should look like” or “I had imagined my ______ differently.” You fill in the blank. But if we are not careful, like Martha, we will become so worried, upset, and distracted about where life seems like it’s not going, that we miss embracing the beauty of what was happening at the moment.

The English word “worry” actually originated from a 16th-century German word, “wyrgan” which means “strangle”. And “upset” (Also 15th century German) is “aufsetzen” which means to “capsize” or “overturn.” If we wish the keep the boat (our life) from capsizing or overturning you “must” lighten the load and choose what to throw overboard.

Jesus talks of choice—sitting and listening as a choice. You can choose to be sitting and listening. Or you can choose to run and to be distracted. Jesus is asking Martha to choose to empty herself of her past ambitions. Sitting and listening requires the emptying of “self." But you say, “I don’t have the time!” And we keep saying this to things that probably matter the most. But we do have the time. We must just choose what to throw overboard! When we empty out we will have time to sit and to listen.

Martha is so distracted she failed to see the big success she is experiencing—Jesus in her house. What does it take to surrender? A choice! Mary has chosen what is best. This is the time to reset priorities and choose!

Life Application

Journal a gratitude, a throw off the boat, and a priority list.

Prayer

Lord, I want to gaze upon your beauty like Mary. I want to be captivated by Your loving gaze to the point where nothing else matters.