Happy November ladies! This year has really flown by! I have enjoyed sharing with you all, and a few days ago I turned 33!  I am so excited to share, learn, and grow with you all in this new chapter of my life! This month we are talking about busyness. Life can be busy, and we as women wear many hats. We are mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, girlfriends, employees/bosses, and the list goes on. Each relationship takes a little bit more from us and requires more time from our day. We are naturally busy individuals. Have you ever stopped to think “Why do I take on so much?” “Did I really have to say yes to that?”

I found myself in a perpetual state of being “busy.” How many of you know that busy doesn’t always equate to productive? At one time I worked two jobs while I was living at home with my mom. BUSY. I always worked overtime, which almost equated to two jobs. BUSY. Before my layoff in 2017, I worked 10 hours a day sometimes 6 days a week and I had something to do after work EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. BUSY. Imagine how I felt from all that busyness to having absolutely nothing to do, except look for jobs and maybe go to the gym or for a walk. Your girl was sick! I felt so unproductive. Who was I now?

This gave me time to think. I thought about why I always took on extra responsibilities, extra hours at work, and extra tasks. I came to the conclusion that I was struggling with my identity, I had a need to be needed, and I was covering up deficiencies. This was a very sobering revelation. Sometimes we keep ourselves busy because we feel that we are what we do. Usually when someone says “tell me about yourself” we automatically say what we do, not who we are. We want to establish our titles or accolades first. I always had a “title” or was a part of something. So, what was I gonna tell them now? I felt my identity was in my job or activities. I wanted to be needed but didn’t want to need anyone else. I wanted to drown out the things I had no desire to face. I didn’t have time for emotions when my planner was full! I even remember saying during an emotional moment in my life “I don’t have time to cry.” Aside from the fact that I do not like to do it, to say I don’t have time to feel??? 

Right in that barren place, I had plenty of time to allow God to show me who I was. My identity is in Him. I don’t have to fill my life with work and activities to feel important. I don’t have to overcompensate to feel successful because of my fear of failure. We are so much more than our titles, activities we are apart of, and accolades. Even with those things, we can still end up empty, stagnant, and exhausted; especially if they are not endorsed by God. I wanted to look the part, but I was raggedy inside. I didn’t have time to focus on the things I needed to fix or work on. I just continued to cover them with my “busyness.” Busy and bleeding. I was reading Without Rival by Lisa Bevere and she said “God asked her did she want to LOOK fruitful or BE fruitful”. That touched my soul! There is a difference ladies!! Looking fruitful is for people, but being fruitful is for God to use you to reach people!

God gives us identity through His word. He says we are the salt of the earth. The world has flavor and substance because we serve Him. He says we are victorious, we have authority, we have dominion and power. We are His daughters, intricately made to be His glory carriers. Fearfully and wonderfully made so that each of us bring something different to the kingdom. This is who we are outside of all of those extracurricular activities. This is what truly matters. This is what remains even in the breakup, layoff, divorce, disappointment, or loss. It’s one thing to know who you are, it’s another thing to embody it.

Let’s go to Bible study! The topic of busyness reminded me of the story of Martha and Mary. This story is found in Luke 10:38-42 and John 12:2-7. Martha and Mary are sisters, and they were set to host Jesus and His disciples for dinner when they came through their city. Martha was in the kitchen cooking and preparing for the visit. Like us, the food wasn’t ready when her guest got there! She was still preparing and Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus; gleaning and listening to His words. She was captivated. Martha, on the other hand, was like “Ummm so Jesus this isn’t fair, I’m trying to prepare for you and sis is just chilling like there’s nothing to do. Make her come help me!” Jesus basically replied, “Martha, you worried about the wrong thing, Mary actually has the right idea.” Martha wanted to please Jesus the man of flesh, Mary wanted to please His spirit man. Martha wanted to serve Him with food and hospitality, Mary wanted to serve Him with her sacrifice. Martha wanted to look fruitful and Mary was actually being fruitful.

So which sister are you? I’m sure we probably have a little of both. We look at Martha and think she’s a boss and she was handling things. She kinda made Mary look unproductive. She was irritated because Mary was sitting still. Jesus proved to her that there is power in being still. We don’t have to neglect those things and activities, but we need to learn to be still and listen to what He has to say. Martha’s only reward was that she could tell her girls that she cooked for Jesus. Mary gave a sacrifice. She listened and she prepared Him for His sacrifice for us. She had the right idea and she had everlasting rewards.

So we no longer have to continue to fill our lives with things that make us look the part. There is nothing wrong with being apart of things, saying yes to obligations, or just being busy, however, check your motives. If you’re doing it to get special recognition and approval from others, to prove something to someone that probably doesn’t care, or to look “fruitful”, you have the wrong idea. Let’s ask Him to make us fruitful for Him. Whatever we produce, be it at work, church, a project, or organization, we should want it to look like Him. In order to do that, we have to be like Mary and sit at His feet. Spend time with Him. Allow Him to pour out His love, wisdom, healing, and peace upon us. I pray that we learn to make room for Him, that we learn to just slow down and check our motives before taking on tasks, that we understand that we are so much more than what we do. I pray that we receive healing and revelation in our stillness. That we allow our identity to come from Him and we walk in the power we receive from the encounter with Him. Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving and much love, my dear ladies!!