April Showers brings May Flowers!

I hope everyone has been enjoying the March book selection "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha's World" by Joanne Weaver. I must say it has challenged me in my growth just this past week!

The one story, in chapter 4 I believe, talks about God giving a man a task to do for him. He must take 3 little stones in the cart up to the top of the mountain and leave it there. The load was light and the man gladly took the job with a cheerful heart to bless God. But along the way, he ran into people who also wanted him to take their rocks to the top of the mountain as well some were small and some were big but his cart kept filling up. He thought God would be proud of him for doing a "Christian neighborly" thing for these other people. But before he got to the top, he broke down and starting resenting God for giving him such an impossible task. The cart load was too heavy and he couldn't pull it at all. God came to his side and slowly unloaded all of the extra burdens he had taken on thinking it was the "good" thing to do for others. But God removed his burden that God did NOT intend on this man to carry. Although he was being kind to others, it took away from his focus to excel with a happy heart with the small task God had intended just for him.

Boy, I thought about the bible studies and the child care and the favors I do for others and when we do that, I feel a lot of the time that that peace and joy of serving God I once had,... is gone. Serving God and doing the things he intended us to do with the gifts he gave us is what brings so much joy to his heart and we grow spiritually and can help others with a fresh and joyful spirit but not feel like we need to help the world. That IS, unquestionably, God's job, to help and save the world.

So think about how you can best serve cheerfully what God has already put in your life before you start saying "yes" to everyone who requests something of you. Be that Godly, happy mom who spends lots of time with her children, be the career women who does her work with honesty and integrity because she is refreshed with God's spirit daily and not bogged down but life outside of work. God wants you to feel His peace and joy when you live every aspect of your life... do you feel it in every activity of your day?

I can't wait to hear some of your thoughts on Thursday! I hope to see you then!