Joanna Weaver’s approach to this familiar Bible story is fresh, and her aim is best described by the subtitle “Finding Intimacy with God in the Busyness of Life.”  How do we balance service and devotion?  Weaver points out that we are each different.  Jesus did not call Mary and Martha to give up their personalities, but to learn at His feet. “ Martha … does not lay aside her personality, she simply obeys…Mary does some changing too.  For although her contemplative nature makes her a natural worshiper, it also leaves her vulnerable to despair…”  “Two completely different women undergo a transformation right before our very eyes…. The bold one becomes meek, and the mild one courageous.  For it is impossible to be in the presence of Jesus and not be changed.”

From this encounter Joanna gleans practical insights into how to be drawn to Jesus feet during the busyness of our lives, and how not being there will manifest itself in discouragement, fear and doubt.  The book includes practical information insets with self-check lists, helpful tips, and suggestions.  (One insert listing the steps necessary to make Jesus Lord is incompatible with a reformed view of sanctification.) 

This book is set apart by the way it goes beyond challenging us to be intimate with Jesus, and explores how this intimacy changed Mary and Martha (preparing them for the rest of the story—Lazarus’s death and Jesus’ anointing), and how intimacy with Jesus will prepare us for the rest of our story.

- Kathy Stair, CEP Resource Consultant