Welcome to Week #5 of the Made Like Martha Mobile Book Club. We are glad that you’re here and I’m grateful for the opportunity to talk with you about a central theme to Chapter 5—GRACE.
(If you’re joining this book club for the first time, keep reading, I’ll fill you in below.)
Friends. Have you heard about this book?! Made Like Martha: Good News for the Woman Who Gets Things Done. When Katie shared the theme of this book with me I literally hopped up and down in excitement. That woman she’s talking about? That’s me. I’m a doer-creator-worker-leader woman and I love how Katie’s book empowers women like me to keep working with the spiritual posture of a daughter.
Check out this quote from the back cover:
“Your desire to get things done is not something to temper but something to embrace as you serve from a place of strength and peace—knowing Christ already did His most important work for you on the cross.”
Good stuff, right?
My struggle with striving in my faith began super early in life. If you’re familiar with my backstory you know that I came to Christ at a young age and while my salvation was real, I somehow missed the relationship part. For years my Christian walk was self-driven as I followed all the rules and did all the Christian things with the sense of earning heavenly merit badges.
Praying.
Tithing.
Serving.
Studying.
Working. Working. Working.
Learning about relationship with God changed everything for me, and set me on journey of trading religion (knowing about God) for relationship with my Savior (knowing God). As I began to hear His voice and connect with Him, my old habits and practices became new and life-giving. It’s amazing the difference that came from actions motivated by love instead of obligation.
I wish I could tell you when I stopped trying to earn my way to heaven I immediately understood the goodness of grace. But even still today, I struggle to receive unmerited favor from God and people. As Katie puts it, I can live with a “receptivity deficiency.”
I’ve long reconciled my need for God’s saving grace. I know I can’t possibly earn my salvation which is why Jesus paid the price for me. I receive saving grace freely and with gratitude.
But there’s also fresh grace—the good I don’t deserve—for each day. And as I sit here reading Chapter 5 I’m smack dab in a new season that requires lots of new grace.
A new baby.
A new job with a lengthy commute.
A new daycare for the boys which carries new social interactions and a whole new germ pool to build our immune systems.
A new family rhythm and life calendar. New responsibilities.
Oh, and as you all know, the old everyday things like grocery shopping and laundry and car repairs don’t hit pause until all the new things calm down.
The other day I dropped the ball on some plans and had to go to a friend with the bad news. Even as the words of grace were coming out of her mouth I thought, “I wish I didn’t need grace. Can’t I just be on top of top of things?”
I’d much rather #slay like a general girl boss than need unmerited favor. I’d love to look over my mom-life checklist with a beaming sense of accomplishment instead of just scratching out the date at top and changing it to tomorrow.
But as I talked with God about my desire to have more of my life in order, He reminded me that He likes it when I rely on Him. (And rely on Him more than I rely on that morning cup of coffee.)
I’m not suggesting that we stop proving faithful because we have grace. What I am saying is simply an echo of what God keeps whispering into my heart. Giving me grace is not God’s second-best choice.
He doesn’t sit there wishing I had it altogether. Grace isn’t just something He gives, it’s an element of His character, His nature. Where I wish I could perform a bit better and challenge myself to work harder, Jesus calls me into His presence to rest and receive.
God has more good for me than what I could ever earn on my own—even on my best day with every box checked and task completed. It’s not a failure to need Him. It’s only a failure when I won’t let myself receive the good He freely gives. And good news, there’s grace for that, too.
Need more confirmation? Check out 2 Corinthians 12:7b-10.
Have you ever felt like God would rather you didn’t need His grace in your life? If you believed that God wanted to give you His grace freely, how would that change the way you receive it?
Made Like Martha: Good News for the Woman Who Gets Things Done by Katie M. Reid is an invitation for go-getters to discover what it means to rest as God’s daughter without compromising their God-given design as doers. Join us on Facebook for the “Made Like Martha Sisterhood” as we embrace our design for God’s glory and the good of others.
