This is another wonderful book by Joanna Weaver. I just love her writing style - she is so easy to read! Her transparency is refreshing! This book has been a wonderful source of encouragement and conviction. Joanna starts off the book with a very serious prayers asking God to change us to be more like Him. And that is exactly her goal as you read the pages you can tell that the prayer of her heart is to help others become more like Christ.

In order to be more like Christ we must be changed from the inside. Deep inside. Things must be faced that we have repressed and stuffed deep down, thinking we would never have to deal with them again. Once we start to change the hidden places of our heart our actions follow. People can't help but see Christ in our lives.

I highly recommend this book as a great resource for those who are seeking a closer walk with God. In my opinion this book is best read before her first book. Once you have taken care of your heart you are more likely to have the desire for the living room intimacy she speaks of in her first book, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World.


Back of the Book:
"Lord whatever it takes, make me like You!"
You long to serve God with grace and strength, to reflect Christ in every word and action. Yet you find yourself continually struggling to bring that vision to life in your daily walk.

At our very core, every one of us is a 'twisted sister' within whom the flesh and spirit battle constantly for control. We are afflicted with spiritual schizophrenia, the disconnect between our good-girl desire to put Jesus first and our bad-girl realities that crowd our thoughts and push him out of the way.

In this life-changing book, Joanna Weaver, author of the perennial bestseller, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, directs your gaze past your own shortcomings to the God who stands ready, willing, and able to make a new woman out of you. She equips you with biblical insights and practical tools to partner with Christ, inviting him into the hidden places of your soul and giving him full permission to redeem and renovate.

Drawing on the stories of the biblical Mary's (Mary, mother of Jesus; Mary, sister of Martha; Mary Magdalene) and others whose experience with God transformed their lives, Joanna shows you how you can find what you long for: hope, healing, wholeness, and joy. Having a Mary Spirit will launch you toward lasting personal transformation: soul-deep change that results in a complete makeover - from the inside out.

This prayer was in my Bible study book this week. The 3rd paragraph really spoke to me as I have been consumed lately with some pain that I have been feeling. God is in control of that situation no matter what the outcome is and if you would, please pray for me tomorrow at 11 while I am at the doctor. If there is someone reading this with some pain of your own, I would be happy to pray for you and lift you up to Jehovah-Rapha (also spelled Rophi and Rophe ~ God who heals). Just leave me a comment.

We all have someone we admire who has an exceptionally sweet spirit. Let's pray for the Lord to use us in that way to others.

-Written by an anonymouse seventeenth-century nun

Psalm 56:3 "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee."

Fear. An ugly 4 letter word that encompasses a lot of all that we do.

I have had a lot of fear in my heart lately and have not been trusting in the Lord as I should. I keep trying to find my own ways of fixing things without even considering where God is and what He would have me do.

This week my Bible study chapter is titled "Fearless Beauty" and on Friday an email devotional I get was about fear. I'm thankful for the way that God surrounds us with the resources we need at every stage of life exactly when we need them.

At the end of the Bible study chapter she mentions Jeremiah 17:7-8
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD
And whose trust is the LORD.
"For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit.

This passage is my memory verse for the first half of this month (The LPM Blog). The thing that I struggle most with being afraid of is the 'year of drought'. Finances seem to always be an issue in our house. I am always anxious about the possibility of the drought. According to this verse when I am anxious about that I cannot yield fruit.

Finances are not the only thing I worry about. I have also been afraid of some physical issues that have been going on lately. My previous memory verse included the phrase "who heals all your diseases"(Psalm 103:3). I chose that verse specifically to remind me to put my trust in the Lord and bless Him at all times no matter the circumstance. Only God can "pardon all our iniquities" and "heal all our diseases". "Bless the Lord, O my soul!"

Those are two of the most specific things I fear, but I also have the daily anxiety that needs to be turned over to the Lord as we are reminded about in Matthew 6:34.

Pray with me about relying on God - ALL THE TIME!! I encourage any who read this to find scripture to bring to mind when the fears of your life overcome your mind.

We can yield more fruit and be effective for the Lord when we trust Him completely.

This last week I was wondering why our Bible study chapter wasn't affecting me so much. It was called Mind Control, so you would have thought that I would have gleaned something from it. But, unfortunately, it seemed like there was a 'road closed' sign between God and my heart.

I was bothered by this, but didn't take the time to sit and pray and read the Bible to see what I needed to get rid of in my life to get past the road block.

On Monday night while we discussed the chapter I felt like my heart was not in it. I didn't know exactly why, but the obvious reason was there was something sinful in my life separating me from God.

On Tuesday I was talking to a friend on the phone and we started talking about something that we have both been going through. The longer we talked about it the harder the Lord hit me over the head with the knowledge of exactly what I had been doing. I was being controlling and planning to manipulate.

That evening I put my daughter to bed and sat down with my Bible and prayed and read and cried for about 30 minutes. Thank God for His amazing forgiveness that is always available. I prayed with David:

"Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me."(Psalm 51:1-3 NASB)

I continued to pray through Psalm 51 and was hit really hard when I read v. 8.
"Make me to hear joy and gladness,
Let the bones which You have broken rejoice."
What I was struggling with was in direct connection to a diagnosis I received in September. I needed to have joy and gladness and rejoice in the way God made me and what He was doing in my life through the way that I am seemingly 'broken'. That is the exact term that I have used many times to describe myself.

I continued to pray that God would
"Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You." (v. 10-13)

2 weeks ago in Bible study the chapter was about having a willing spirit. I need to be willing to let God do whatever He knows is best for me. Another very powerful word in Scripture - let. 3 little letters that are so very hard to say. Especially for someone who likes to have control over every situation.

So pray with me as I continue to work on 'letting' God work in my life and giving Him complete control.

I must also say that I am very thankful for the forgiving spirit that God has graciously given my husband. He very sweetly listened, forgave and prayed with me.

Praise the Lord!!

I was reading the book for my weekly Bible study last night and was given a brand new perspective on Romans 7. The quotation that she used was from the New Living Translation. This is a great Modern English translation to help us be able to more easily understand what Paul is trying to say. It made it a lot easier for me to personalize it. Here is the text:

I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?

We have all been here with Paul. The struggle of knowing what is right, but fighting within yourself to do that because the sin looks/feels good to us. Thankfully Paul didn't leave us hanging at the end of chapter 7, but moves on in chapter 8 in the first verse to say that there is "now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." By turning to Christ we have the Spirit of God that can help us to not turn to the sins that "so easily beset us." As our pastor pointed out yesterday in his message, we don't have to sin. Sin is a choice, just as doing right is a choice. In order to not do the sins that we are so drawn to we need to set up road blocks. Remove yourself from the temptations. Romans 8:13 says "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Our pastors message was entitled "Mortify". We need to daily, moment by moment, be "putting to death"(NAS) the deeds/desires of our flesh. What really stuck out to me is that the dying that will take place, is not just the eternal death, but when you make fleshly choices you are killing relationships. When we are selfish and only think of ourselves and making ourselves feel good, we don't think of those we will hurt in the process.

I think the best way to end this is to quote I Corinthians 15:56-58

"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."

This is a Japanese version of Psalm 23 found in the book "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World" by Joanna Weaver. A great book if you've never read it. I encourage everyone reading this to meditate on the words and look up our version of Psalm 23 as a comparison. What an amazing interpretation of the most popular Psalm.

The Lord is my pace setter…. I shall not rush

He makes me stop for quiet intervals

He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity

He leads me in the way of efficiency through calmness of mind and his guidance is peace

Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret, for his presence is here

His timelessness, his all importance will keep me in balance

He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity by anointing my mind with his oils of tranquility

My cup of joyous energy overflows

Truly harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of my hours for I shall walk in the Pace of my Lord and dwell in his house for ever.