Musing Marla’s Blog

I went to the doctor for a follow up after my appointment on February 13 following my emergency room visit. My hemoglobin levels are over 12 when they were 8.2 last time! I feel much better. I'm going to continue to take the hormones for a year at least because I like being on an even level emotionally. The bonus was that I had lost 5 pounds since I was at the doctor! I had weighed more there than I ever had so I was glad that I lost weight. I hope to lose another 5 pounds to be back at my normal, comfortable weight where my clothes are not so tight and I feel healthy.

The literacy program assigned me a student. I begin teaching a girl from India area with an awesome accent on Tuesday, May 6 at 6:30pm. She has been tutored for a while but her teacher cannot keep teaching her. I like that idea since she will know what she wants to do and what curriculum she's already working with. She wants to brush up on conversing in English and get help studying for the QMA exam to become a medical assistant. I felt like I clicked with her already on the phone. She has the same accent as Glory does.

I will post some pictures of our awesome weekend at Amber and Matt's where we were able to spend Saturday with all of our kids. That is a privilege that doesn't happen very awesome. We celebrated Jezra's birthday early since we were all together.

I always hated the sermons about Mary and Martha and how Mary was so much better because she chose to sit at Jesus' feet while Martha, the task oriented person, was busy doing stuff. Yesterday I was listening to Focus on the Family and I heard a new extended version of this story. You can listen to it at: http://listen.family.org/focuswebradio/A000001050.cfm. The broadcast was called "Encounters with Jesus."

In between the first story of Mary and Martha and another mention of them is the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead. The first mention is in Luke 10:38-42 and is when Martha complains to Jesus about having to do all the work while Mary sits at his feet. The next time these two are mentioned is the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead and Mary and Martha both having a significant encounter with Jesus in John 11. The next chapter, John 12, begins with Jesus being at Mary and Martha's home again. The amazing thing I had never realized was that it says, "Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took a bottle of pure nard, an expensive perfume, and poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair."

Here it shows that Martha served Jesus but this time her attitude about the serving changed. She did it out of love for Jesus (as a part of her worship and honor of him) instead of doing it as a duty or work or obligation. Martha didn't need to become a Mary, she just needed to worship Jesus in the way he made her without complaining or trying to get others to be like her.

This frees me up so much because as you can probably guess, I'm a task oriented person who serves others as a way of making them feel special. I can still do this but it needs to be out of worship to Jesus (do everything as unto the Lord) and not out of "why isn't everyone else being like me" attitude. We can all worship Jesus in our own way, it just needs to be authentic. Everyone in the story, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, had changed the way they worshiped after the encounter at the tomb. Extravagant worship can be expressed in a variety of ways. Let's all be free to worship Jesus any way our heart wants to express it.