I had a first impression when I met Katie M. Reid. I was certain she was barely over age 21, with one well-behaved toddler, and a husband who shared the work 50/50. Katie was warm and welcoming with a lively, outgoing personality and a cheerful spirit. Katie told me she would be celebrating the launch of her new book, Made Like Martha, on July 10th. What? Made Like Martha? Could a young, 21-year-old new mom, understand the magnitude of a Type-A Martha? Fast forward to the day I visited her website and discovered the real Katie M. Reid, mom of five, wife of one. Clearly, Martha tendencies could be a legitimate lifestyle. I was instantly attracted to a book written by this one person dynamo who “got things done” and still had time to write a book.
When I read a book, I rarely analyze why the author wrote the book or why they chose certain stories to share. I didn’t have to analyze the ‘why’ in Katie’s story, because her transparency reveals so much about her character. Her melodic prose was like a magnet to continue reading long after the time that I should have put the book down and tackled other things on my own to-do list. You see, I, like Katie have spent a lifetime using the checkmarks on my to-do list as a measuring stick of my value. That is such a decrepit form of measurement. You will learn why in this book.
The book covers these three facts, every one of them relevant to nearly every woman I know.
Striving: You don’t have to strive for what you already have.
Sitting: You don’t have to earn your keep or fight for a seat. Your worth is settled and your position is secure.
Standing: Your works are not a means to keep His love; they are a response of gratitude for His love.
Let me clarify that I have always believed that when God created, He created good. I have never struggled with feeling God created me and I was a mistake. I have spent too much time feeling God inserted a few mistakes in the process of creating me.
I would like to be smarter, studious, athletic, naturally organized, and graceful. Instead, I am the antithesis of all those things. I would love to be Mary for her calm, studious, reverent attitude. I would love to be Martha, who snaps to attention and gets things done. Just sop!
Reading Katie’s book has inspired me to recognize that God created me and he gave me the capabilities and capacities He intended me to have. God doesn’t want me to change who I am to become someone He never intended me to be. I’m neither, Martha nor Mary, I’m me and I am the daughter of the King of Kings. Katie warns her readers that we have adopted a ‘hired-help’ mentality that is just not right. Acting out this mentality is like doubting the love of God. Our tendencies are toward avoidance, manipulation, unbelief, control, insecurity, worry … and the root of those things is lack of trust. When God says he loves us with an everlasting love, we can trust Him on that. We are loved. We don’t have to prove our value. We are accepted in the beloved.
I could easily write so much about this book that it would be almost the length of the book, but instead will share a few things that spoke into my spirit and changed my perspective on what comes next.
Marthas tend to carry their own burdens, plus the burdens of every other person willing to pass theirs on too. We are weighed down with responsibilities, even those that don’t belong to us. God’s plan is for us to turn loose of the worry and burdens that are not ours to carry and give them to Him. Easier said than done, right? But our burdens can be carefully and prayerfully relinquished to the Father. How fitting that Katie reminds us that our souls can be at rest even when our hands are busy.
We have worries of our own, without assuming the burdens from others. When I worked in project management we were taught to ask, “What-if” about everything. Contingency planning forced the mindset of, “If this happens, then this …” We cannot ‘What-if’ life like we are living a project. ‘What-if’ causes stress, worry, anxiety – and can lead to unpredictable results that are almost self-fulfilling.
I love the way Katie points out that “Worry is believing God won’t get it right.” Letting our minds get tangled up in ‘what-if’ distracts us from the Great I AM. Worry breaks things – important things. Like – our faith in God, our concentration on what is right and good and virtuous. “Worry suffocates worship.” On the other hand, “We starve worry when we feast on worship.”
Katie introduces an indispensable practice that is 180 degrees from ‘What-if’, ‘EVEN-IF’. Every time you find yourself tempted to say, “What-if” immediately change your thoughts to, ‘Even-if’. God might not choose to change your circumstances, but through your attitude, trust in God, and daughter-of-the-King mindset you will change your perspective. You and Jesus will come up with life-changing resolutions for problems. ‘Even-if’ opens the door of possibilities that you haven’t thought of. ‘Even-if’ is an act of trust in your Lord.
Do you struggle with feeling that you are not enough? Maybe not. What about not doing enough, achieving enough, learning enough, improving enough? A lot of this has to do with not receiving grace offered immeasurably by Jesus, the lover of your soul.
Too often, we reject the truth that when God created us He said, “It is good.” We don’t have to perform at an impossible level. We don’t have to meet a standard to gain acceptance. God created you. He has a plan for your life. You are good. God only commands that we love Him and that we, in faith, accept His free gift of salvation. Jesus gave all, that we might gain all. As Katie says, “Once we have truly believed in Jesus as Savior and received Him as Lord, we don’t have to worry about losing our place as his children.” When we receive Him, our relationship begins.
God does not demand perfection; he knows we can never achieve perfection. God gives all the grace we need to live life as daughters of Jesus Christ. No matter how much effort we expand or how expertly we conquer our To-Do Lists, we can never earn the favor of God. We don’t have to. We already have his favor and His love.
What I have said about this book, Made Like Martha: Good News for the Woman Who Gets Things Done, barely scratches the surface. The book is rich in knowledge of Biblical truths and Katie proves her perceptiveness in sharing them.
Bible Study: I don’t want you to miss one of the major motivations for buying multiple copies of this book. I am giving them as gifts with encouragement for the receiver to invite friends to study the Bible with them. I’ve already used up all my words writing about what I learned from Made Like Martha, so here, in this final paragraph, are the Heart Lessons you will find in the Bible Study chapters.
- A Loved Heart, A Worshipful Soul
- A Daughter’s Heart, A Redeemed Soul
- A Grace-Filled Heart, A Secure Soul
- A Hopeful Heart, A Peaceful Soul
- A Settled Heart, A Freed Soul
This book is a valuable source of hope and inspiration for women who are searching for assurance that they are enough – AND is available from retailers everywhere – plus Here.
