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1:03

Welcome to the Journeywoman Podcast. I'm

1:05

your host, Hunter Beeles. Wherever

1:07

you are on your journey to glorify God, we

1:10

are so glad you're here. On the

1:12

Journeywoman Podcast, we'll come alongside

1:14

you in the seasons and challenges of life to

1:16

move you to know and love God and His Word, to

1:18

find your hope in the gospel, and to invest

1:21

deeply in your local church as you go

1:23

out

1:23

on mission for the glory of God. Today

1:26

we are chatting with Mary Ann Chalice Helms

1:28

about how to glorify the Lord even in the

1:30

midst of what we might consider to be the mundane,

1:33

everyday work of life and ministry.

1:36

Mary Ann is a wife, a mother of four,

1:38

and a fellow

1:38

member of Morningside Presbyterian

1:41

Church in Georgia. Mary Ann

1:43

embodies so well what it looks like

1:45

to faithfully live as a Christian, especially

1:48

in the current online

1:49

spaces, which we talk about some in

1:51

this episode. I know that you'll be encouraged

1:54

by my conversation with Mary Ann, but before

1:56

we go there, I want to say a big thank

1:58

you to those of you who support us on Patreon. Support JourneyWomen Ministries

2:01

by donating to the podcast. With

2:03

your help, we are coming alongside more

2:05

women to move

2:06

them to know and love God, and we are so grateful.

2:09

If you'd like to help us in our aim to move women

2:11

to know and love God and His Word, to find

2:13

their hope in the gospel, and to invest deeply

2:16

in their local churches as they go out on mission

2:18

for the glory of God, you can do so at

2:20

journeywomenpodcast.com forward

2:22

slash give.

2:31

Mary Anne, thank you so much for

2:34

joining us on the Journeywoman podcast today. Good

2:36

to see you, Hunter. Good to talk

2:38

with you finally. I know. It's so wonderful

2:40

to get to see

2:41

you in real time because we

2:43

have a relationship and chat over Voxer a lot. Yes.

2:46

And you've been such a help to me. So it's just

2:48

really fun to get to see your mouth actually moving

2:50

with your words. Yes.

2:51

And my beautiful fall

2:53

Georgia backdrop here. I love

2:55

it so much. Yes. I

2:58

wish I could hop over there. I know

3:00

that you live in Georgia with your four beautiful

3:02

kids and your husband. And

3:03

I actually connected

3:05

with you primarily over Instagram,

3:08

where you share

3:09

some of that and just embody

3:11

what it looks like

3:12

to live as a Christian woman

3:14

in the online space with an eye towards others.

3:17

So thank you so much for your work

3:19

there. You're welcome.

3:20

It's been a joy. I'm

3:23

somewhat haphazard in my posting schedule. I'm trying

3:25

to get better about that. But life, right? Life

3:28

is real life.

3:28

The organic is always, you always

3:31

get applauded for the organic nature of social

3:33

media. Anyways, I think it's working to your advantage.

3:35

It's all I got. Today,

3:39

we're going to be talking about ministry in the mundane. And

3:41

I thought that you were such

3:43

a wonderful person to have on

3:45

this particular topic, because

3:47

I feel like you have done

3:49

so many different types of work

3:52

in your, I don't know how old you

3:54

are, Marianne, however many years old you are.

3:57

Yes. Well,

3:58

I yesterday thought I was 43. But

4:00

then one of my children reminded me I'm 44 after 40

4:02

doesn't matter

4:04

You're just midlife

4:07

and beyond so tell us about

4:08

what ministry looks like for you now what it looks

4:10

like for you You know over the years.

4:13

Yeah, it's definitely changed.

4:16

I got married fairly young I was 21 when

4:18

I got married and there's a Significant

4:21

age gap between my husband and I and

4:23

so we wanted to have kids right away So

4:25

I was mom to my firstborn

4:28

Anna by 22

4:29

so that kind of Send

4:31

me right off into motherhood immediately

4:33

and then we had four kids

4:35

and fairly quick succession by Seven

4:37

and a half years past Anna. We had our

4:40

family complete since that

4:42

time I've really loved

4:44

working in women's ministry. So I was

4:47

partnered with another woman in our church for many years

4:49

teaching and Editing

4:52

content for our church women's

4:54

ministry Coordinating curriculum

4:57

and and then just weekly teaching that

5:00

was a big part of my life for probably

5:02

the first 15 years

5:04

of being a mom

5:06

Alongside motherhood

5:08

prepping every

5:09

night. Yeah in various ways I

5:11

mean it brought me so much joy But

5:13

eventually I felt the need to step away from that

5:15

as my kids headed into middle school my

5:18

emotional mental capacity was feeling

5:20

a little bit more full and so

5:23

I moved away from kind of official ministry

5:26

in my church and started

5:28

doing a lot more one-on-one kind of discipleship

5:31

of women and That

5:33

has also been just a source of real

5:36

joy in the

5:37

past

5:38

Few years a lot of the a lot

5:40

of my ministry really has centered around just

5:42

the discipleship of my kids and any mom

5:45

Whose kids are reaching those? Like

5:47

middle school teen years knows

5:50

just how

5:51

Full

5:52

that becomes for you, especially just the

5:54

discipleship the spiritual emotional

5:58

strength and fortitude it takes To

6:00

get through those years and then to also foster

6:02

your marriage alongside some of those challenges

6:05

I suppose you call them so that's kind

6:07

of my life now I'm also working part-time

6:10

right now in a kindergarten class in a local public

6:12

school And so I feel like

6:14

I'm kind of spanning all the stages

6:17

of child right again But

6:19

it's all good. I enjoy it all.

6:21

Yes. Yes well, what are some of the categories

6:24

that some of our listeners might be facing you and I were just

6:26

talking and Referencing that

6:28

there are so many different

6:30

Seasons of life and some of our

6:32

listeners may not have families some of them may

6:35

not have kids Some of them may not be married

6:38

Some may be single. So what

6:40

are some categories of kind of mundane? Ministry

6:43

in which the listeners might

6:45

be serving right now

6:46

Most of us at some point in our

6:49

lives will reach a point regardless

6:51

of the nature of our work of thinking I

6:53

can't do this for another day The

6:58

everyday That

7:00

work can become regardless

7:03

of whether you're you're married

7:05

or single It's just the burden

7:07

of work can really really get

7:09

to us and it can become a real mental

7:11

struggle to talk ourselves Into faithfulness

7:14

for another day. So I think the

7:16

conversation while a lot of the time My

7:19

references are yours would relate to motherhood.

7:22

There are so many other categories

7:25

of work Single women struggle

7:27

very much in the same sort of approach

7:30

to Mundane tasks, it's

7:32

just part of the nature of the fall that we

7:34

struggle with the everyday I think we

7:36

weren't really made to manage

7:39

the futility of the fall even though we were

7:41

made for work We weren't made for the futility.

7:43

So I think that's hard. No matter

7:45

what your life looks like,

7:46

you know I feel like

7:48

this conversation

7:49

is a little bit selfish

7:51

on my part Mary and because I told

7:53

you I have just been struggling with the

7:55

repetitive nature of the work inside

7:58

the home and like you said

9:59

memory is very stark

10:02

in my mind and became sort of symbolic

10:04

to me of just again the nature of

10:06

work and how we really just need Christ's

10:08

strength for the daily hourly

10:11

work that he's given to us regardless

10:13

of what that looks like.

10:14

I feel that and I do feel

10:17

these tasks like pressing me into

10:20

my need for Christ. So how

10:22

does God use these tasks,

10:24

whatever they may be in our respective season

10:27

to conform us to the image of Christ?

10:30

Well

10:30

I think it's interesting that historically

10:33

I mean we would believe I think

10:36

most of us in the biblical doctrine of perseverance

10:39

of the saints and the fact

10:41

that you know Christ is really honored and glorified

10:44

through our perseverance and then that perseverance

10:46

also becomes a distinctly Christian

10:50

brand like that Christians are persevering

10:53

people. So I think it's really important

10:55

for us to remember that we

10:57

love to sort of break this idea

11:00

of perseverance down into sort of heroic terms.

11:02

We probably like to glorify the saints

11:04

of the past and say well I need

11:06

to do these heroic noteworthy

11:09

memoir type biographical things

11:12

for Christ. But really one

11:14

or two percent of people are ever memorialized

11:17

in writing right? Most of us

11:20

the 98 99 percent our lives are lived

11:22

invisibly and quietly and yet

11:24

our perseverance our endurance

11:27

is what Christ chooses to honor.

11:29

I mean he rejoices over us with singing.

11:31

So I think we diminish our

11:33

work. Christ never diminishes the

11:35

ordinary. We are the ones who diminish the

11:37

ordinary. We have to just really remember

11:40

that that is not biblical to do. Yeah I'm

11:42

with you. I'm thinking about you know right now

11:44

I'm deep in Titus and

11:47

just remembering the immense

11:50

work that Christ has done in us

11:52

to bring us from death to life and

11:55

how that is what enables us to

11:57

work for the

11:59

sake of others. And you

12:01

think about some of these tasks, you're like, these

12:04

are tasks that are life-giving,

12:06

as our friend Karen Hodge loves

12:08

to say, like, just the work of

12:10

the home, these are things that the

12:12

Lord uses to sustain the life

12:15

literally of other people, making

12:17

the food over and over and over and over and over

12:19

again. And just remembering what

12:21

a

12:21

gift it is. And I think as

12:23

I reflect upon, man,

12:25

the only way that I can go about

12:27

these tasks with a glad heart is

12:29

because of the work that Christ

12:31

has done in me. So let me set my hands to the work

12:34

that he set before me, remembering

12:36

that great work.

12:37

Like you said, the perseverance, the continual

12:39

remembrance of the gospel, the wonderful

12:41

work that God has done in me by the power

12:44

of the Holy Spirit to the person of his

12:45

Son, like that helps just

12:47

shape my mind. And I'm so

12:49

grateful for that. So that's one

12:51

of the ways that I kind of talk myself through,

12:53

like when I'm feeling just tired

12:56

in the work, like, okay, let's remember the

12:58

good work Christ did in me. How do

13:01

you counsel your

13:01

heart when you feel like you

13:04

can never seem to get ahead and you

13:06

just feel discouraged by the monotony

13:08

of the work that God's given you?

13:10

Well, I love to read historical

13:13

biography and this is something you and I share,

13:15

I think a commonality we share, but I think it

13:18

helps to remember that

13:20

perhaps this idea of

13:22

mundane is a little bit or the struggle

13:25

that we have over mundane is a little bit more

13:27

of a modern concept.

13:30

I don't know that traditionally historically

13:32

the church was thinking so much about,

13:35

is my work valuable before the

13:37

eyes of the world? Nobody could see each other.

13:39

So we didn't know we were we were sort

13:41

of forced to just live the

13:43

best lives we could in front of our local

13:46

community. So I tend

13:48

to really walk through those things in

13:50

my heart when I'm feeling weary. Like remember, not

13:53

only is this an unbiblical

13:55

assumption you're making about yourself that your

13:57

work has no worth because it's

13:59

in invisible, but also historically

14:02

this has never been the way the church has handled

14:04

the idea of work, that it has

14:07

to be prominent or that it has to be on

14:09

display. That's really a very

14:11

modern concept largely due

14:13

to technology and social media is advanced

14:16

in our lives. Yeah. So those things

14:18

are helpful. The spiritual is a good reminder

14:20

for me, but then a practical reminder to

14:23

just remember the church has

14:25

always functioned with a level of privacy

14:28

and that has benefited

14:30

it. You and I have even talked about this, this

14:32

concept of like Titus II mentoring and what

14:34

is the impact of like the internet on Titus

14:37

II mentoring relationships and stuff and you

14:39

think about the instruction that

14:41

older women have been given to teach

14:43

younger women and where what are they teaching them to

14:45

do? To do the work in the home. You're

14:47

like, this is so good.

14:49

This

14:50

is worthy valuable work God has

14:52

given us and I love

14:54

the reminder that our work is valuable

14:57

as unto the Lord. I think that helps us remember

14:59

in whatever we do, like we can give

15:01

glory to God including the one millionth

15:04

load of laundry.

15:09

You start the laundry, make the coffee

15:12

the same way every morning. You

15:14

click the gas stovetop to life, crack

15:16

the eggs, scramble the same way every

15:18

morning. You run the vacuum

15:21

over the hardwoods, taking care to get that

15:23

spot where the crumbs always gather,

15:25

the same place every day. You

15:28

scrape the pan clean, wipe the counters,

15:30

move the laundry to the dryer again and

15:32

again and again. The

15:35

baby stirs and then waits. You

15:37

feed, change, play and then it's time

15:39

for another nap again and again

15:42

and again. You fold

15:44

the clothes, change the diaper again

15:46

and again and again. You

15:49

take a walk, prep for dinner, clean the

15:51

bottles, start the dishwasher again

15:53

and again and again. You

15:55

fall into bed night after night,

15:58

weary, exhausted. not

16:00

only at the tasks themselves, but

16:03

at the monotony of it all, the

16:05

fact that you do them all again and again

16:07

and again, and

16:09

yet will face them all again the next

16:11

morning. This liturgy of

16:14

days, this repeating of tasks,

16:16

this work that's never completed

16:18

again and again and again, the

16:22

tug of the mundane pulls on

16:24

your spirit, your heart inclines

16:26

toward apathy, yet what is

16:29

happening in these moments? The

16:32

repetition, the rhythm, again

16:34

and again and again, the call

16:36

to serve, to work, to

16:38

give again and again and again, each

16:42

time a call to notice, to

16:45

see what is happening, these liturgies

16:48

form, they shape, over time

16:50

they mold us. The rhythm

16:52

of our lives, inviting us to

16:55

lean, to trust, to

16:57

work heartily as unto the Lord,

16:59

to

16:59

reflect the Father, to see the beauty

17:02

of work, to remember that these things

17:05

matter. So you start

17:07

the laundry, you clean the dishes again

17:10

and again and again, this

17:12

time leaning into this liturgy

17:14

of days, realizing that

17:17

even in its monotony it is doing

17:19

something, realizing that these

17:21

tasks, this work, it

17:24

is not ordinary,

17:25

it is sacred.

17:42

We know that we don't serve a high priest

17:45

who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. So

17:48

tell us, during his earthly ministry

17:50

did Jesus serve in ways that

17:52

may have been seen as invaluable

17:53

or in the secret places

17:56

like you referenced?

17:58

Oh, for sure. know

18:00

about the life of Christ, think about how much is

18:02

not recorded,

18:03

right? I mean, we tend to think we

18:05

know everything about his life, but really we

18:08

are just given a few little brief glimpses

18:10

into his public life of ministry,

18:13

but most of it is not shared with us. So

18:15

my assumption has always been that in those

18:17

pockets of

18:19

our not being given information was probably

18:22

helping his father with his

18:24

work and labor, probably helping

18:27

his siblings, discipling

18:29

in churches

18:30

in the area, preaching, just

18:33

normal labor for someone who chose

18:36

a life of ministry, but also with part

18:38

of a family in a local community. So

18:40

I would assume there is so much

18:42

about the life of Christ that was just

18:45

humdrum that we'll never know

18:48

about, but was faithful in his

18:50

life and before the father. What's

18:52

interesting about the life of Christ, I was thinking

18:54

about this this morning, you

18:56

know, the pinnacle of Jesus' career

19:00

was his death, right? Like most

19:02

of us labor long and

19:04

hard to sort of attain this level of

19:06

success and achievement.

19:09

And the actual pinnacle of Christ's

19:12

vocational life was his death.

19:15

And I think just remembering that is

19:17

very important for us as Christians

19:19

too, that it is not death to die.

19:21

So that moment of Christ's death,

19:23

which was the peak of his career, was

19:26

actually the moment of greatest triumph. And I think

19:28

that if we apply that, break that

19:30

down into our daily lives, we can remember

19:33

it is not death to die. There

19:35

is no such thing as futility,

19:37

ultimately, for the Christian. Again,

19:39

that's something we tell ourselves, that's something

19:41

the evil one tells us, but it

19:44

is not true in the life of a Christian. So I

19:47

found a lot of joy in just remembering

19:50

just the life of Christ and how countercultural

19:52

it was, you know, and

19:54

how it remains, particularly

19:57

again, when we compare his life

19:59

to a social media influence or even

20:01

in the Christian realm, just

20:04

how different his life was. Yeah.

20:07

Just quiet ministry. He was never

20:09

seeking to platform himself in

20:11

any way. You're making me think of the verse

20:13

that says, you know, the son of man came to serve,

20:16

not to be served and to give him life as a ransom

20:18

for many. Right. Really,

20:20

the pinnacle of that is his death on the cross.

20:23

And I can relate that to my life when

20:25

even in a simple task, this

20:28

is maybe going to sound just so sacrilegious, but

20:30

like just the slow death of

20:32

dying to self as

20:34

I seek to serve others within

20:36

the four walls of my own home. So

20:39

that's such a great reminder. And sometimes I have to

20:41

really apply that when I'm picking up the

20:43

one millionth LaCroix can sitting

20:46

around. Yes. Yes.

20:49

Every trip to the recycling bin is

20:52

a little death to self. And that's a great,

20:54

that is a great thing. And we can rejoice

20:57

knowing that God is doing a

20:59

work in us as we

21:02

work for his glory within our

21:04

homes. This

21:09

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21:42

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21:58

Years ago in Bible study. I

22:00

sat with a young woman who was explaining something

22:03

that her mentor had said to her that

22:05

she had noted for the rest of her life.

22:08

And this older mentor had said to

22:10

her, if it feels like death, it's probably

22:12

life. And so I have

22:15

remembered that for 20 years now

22:17

in my own life and walk with the

22:19

Lord just that if it feels like death, it's

22:21

probably the work of Christ polishing

22:25

us, shaping us, adorning our

22:27

lives with the gospel so that we really

22:29

do have

22:29

a more authentically humble

22:32

message to share with the world.

22:34

So if it feels like death, it's probably

22:37

life. I think that's something we can

22:38

all internalize. Oh, that's so good.

22:41

That is so good. I'm going to like put

22:43

that on something somewhere. I probably need it

22:45

in my laundry room, above my kitchen sink.

22:47

Yes, it feels like

22:49

death. It's probably life. Probably life. So

22:52

you might want to put that on the recycling can too. That's

22:56

so good. Well, that certainly

22:57

encourages me. How else have

23:00

you been encouraged by looking at the

23:02

life of Christ in the

23:04

work that he set before you? Well,

23:06

that remembering nothing is small.

23:09

Again, you know, just take

23:11

your ordinary life. You're talking

23:13

about the recycling, right? And for me, it would

23:15

be something different. Think about how hard

23:18

that is to do well.

23:20

Think about how quickly, easily,

23:22

naturally we go to

23:25

complaint, self-pity, anger,

23:28

resentment, all of these real

23:31

paralyzing sins. And then we

23:33

practice those things day to day to day and

23:35

think about how much that is shaping our

23:38

character.

23:39

Or you can flip that and say, well, look at the

23:41

recycling bin or the this or the that

23:43

and think about how if I choose gratitude

23:47

or if I choose just non-complaint.

23:50

Think about how that is then shaping my character.

23:53

So we tend to diminish the fact that

23:55

the day to day life is challenging

23:57

and hard. So if we live it well, we're.

24:00

we're forging very strong characters.

24:03

So again, just going back

24:05

to the life of Christ, I mean, you just have

24:07

to read about Christ's earthly ministry, and

24:09

you can see that he would have faced many of the

24:12

same daily grind activities

24:14

that we face. Somehow

24:17

his example of doing all of that so well

24:19

before the Father, so uncomplainingly,

24:21

so gratefully, and

24:24

with such a posture of service is

24:26

really remarkable. We should constantly

24:29

be reading about the life of Christ to

24:31

remind ourselves of the actual reality

24:33

we're living under, you know? I just need

24:35

to like walk around

24:36

saying like, okay, Christ is my life,

24:38

Christ is my life, I'm hidden

24:40

in him, I can do these things. This

24:43

is so good. It's just a great reminder,

24:45

Mary-Ann, that all these little

24:47

tasks are really tools

24:49

for our sanctification. And so what

24:52

a blessing. Like we don't, I don't

24:54

know, we don't have to do, like you said, this big heroic

24:56

thing. We can just set our hands faithfully

24:59

to the task that the Lord has set before us and trust

25:01

that he will continue to conform us into the image

25:03

of his son. So are there any passages

25:06

of Scripture that you like recite

25:08

to yourself or rehearse? Like for me, it's

25:10

like Psalm 23.1. That's like such a classic.

25:12

It's the Lord is my shepherd, I have what I need.

25:15

Or Romans 8. That's been another great

25:17

one that I've just rehearsed over and over and over.

25:19

If I feel like death right now, I can

25:22

remember he's giving life to my mortal body

25:24

through his spirit that dwells in me. So I'm

25:26

going to go about this life-giving work, trusting

25:29

that the Spirit is going to give me the life I need to do

25:31

it.

25:31

So what passages encourage

25:34

you as you serve others, even

25:36

in the unseen places? I mean,

25:39

I years ago started repeating

25:41

to myself just the boundary lines have fallen

25:43

for me in pleasant places. And I mean,

25:45

that's such a common but yet beautiful,

25:47

significant Scripture passage. Just

25:50

knowing that

25:51

we tend to rebel, you

25:53

know, you can see at the very beginning

25:56

of the Bible in Genesis, we were poised toward

25:58

rebellion against boundaries.

25:59

And yet the Lord

26:02

established boundaries for our spiritual

26:04

good, but also for our mental

26:06

good. The boundaries of our

26:09

lives, I mean, neurologically, repetition,

26:11

sameness, routine, these are all good things

26:13

for our brains. So I would

26:16

remind myself as a young mom, these boundaries

26:19

are good for me at every level, social,

26:21

emotional, psychological. The

26:24

Lord was not only sort of addressing

26:27

our sin and our propensity to wander

26:30

in Genesis, but He was also being gracious

26:32

and kind and saying, these boundaries,

26:34

while you've earned them through your sin, I

26:37

will also give them to you as a good thing. So that

26:40

helps me and has always helped me throughout

26:42

my life. And then of course, when tragedy or

26:44

grief or pain comes, you

26:46

can also see that those boundaries God

26:49

gives us for how to work out our salvation

26:51

theologically, how

26:54

to apply yourself to good work. They continue

26:56

to be so valuable. I also love

26:58

the verse in Luke 6. I think it

27:00

is, don't quote me, I think it's Luke 6, but just

27:03

being faithful and little so that the

27:05

Lord can make you faithful and much. And I'm

27:07

not speaking in that passage about being faithful

27:10

in little ways, so God can kind of elevate

27:12

and platform and give you a stage. I'm

27:14

saying, giving, when

27:17

we are faithful with little things, the next challenge

27:19

that comes along in life, we

27:21

have been prepared for it through

27:24

functioning well the first time.

27:26

And then the next grief or trauma

27:29

that comes, we've trained our minds

27:31

and our hearts to know how to look

27:33

to Christ for resolution

27:35

in that problem or for comfort.

27:39

So those two are very practical

27:41

scriptures for me, but they have really helped

27:44

me just,

27:45

they've hemmed my thoughts and my heart

27:47

in when I've needed those helpful

27:50

reminders of where

27:52

to go with my feelings because

27:54

we know feelings are not very dependable.

27:57

So yeah, those are probably two of

27:59

my more practical.

27:59

practical life versus and then of course, I have

28:02

many others that are comfort and

28:05

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28:48

You know, one of the things I've noticed about you is

28:51

you have seemed to set a lot

28:53

of little

28:54

like liturgies comes to mind,

28:56

but just practices, I guess,

28:58

that help you to stay on the straight

29:01

and narrow path, like these rhythms

29:04

in your home, rhythms in your life that

29:06

help you reorient to Christ

29:09

and to remember

29:10

what it is that He has given

29:13

you to do.

29:13

Of course,

29:15

we see you doing that with Scripture. That

29:17

was what we just discussed. Are there any other

29:19

little

29:20

practices that

29:21

you might encourage us

29:23

to set in place or to consider setting

29:26

in place that might help

29:28

us to orient our gaze

29:31

to the Lord as we go about the

29:33

mundane tasks that we have

29:35

to do today? Well,

29:36

I think one of the rhythms,

29:39

and again, of course, when I speak about any of these

29:41

things, the assumption is that these are in-process

29:44

rhythms, right? These are not perfected rhythms.

29:48

But I do think one thing that has been

29:50

lost in the modern church is a rhythm of

29:52

confession of sin. And I remember

29:54

hearing a woman, again, a Titus

29:57

II mentor, she once said, when we don't

29:59

involve like regular confession of our sin.

30:02

We are carrying burdens we were never

30:04

meant to carry. So we're walking around overly

30:07

burdened by the sin we have not confessed

30:09

and given to the Lord. And then

30:11

we also haven't given him access

30:14

to cleansing and healing. So

30:16

I do think one of the things I try to do

30:19

very regularly, usually at night after

30:22

I've crawled into bed and I'm about to go to sleep, is

30:24

just really honestly confront

30:26

my day if it needs to be confronted and confess

30:28

that sin to the Lord.

30:29

I feel like that continues an

30:32

honest relationship with the Lord and it also

30:34

gives him access to your heart

30:37

to be able to work in the deepest parts

30:39

of your heart so that you wake up in the morning

30:42

not as bound to that sin. It's not

30:44

to say we're not going to fight the flesh and

30:46

the spirit all of all the days

30:49

of our lives, but we're less bound the

30:51

more we confess our sin. So

30:53

I think that's one of the reasons I love liturgies

30:55

is because they assume that we

30:58

need that regular rhythm

31:00

of confession to be healthy Christians. Again,

31:02

I think the church has lost that to

31:04

its own detriment in past years.

31:07

I do try to set aside a

31:10

walk a week. I love to walk in the afternoons,

31:12

but I try to sort of specifically set aside

31:14

one walk a week that is just gratitude,

31:17

like calling to mind what I see

31:19

the Lord do. And there's nothing

31:21

better for the renewal of your faith than

31:24

actively searching your own recesses

31:26

of your mind and saying, you know, what is God done?

31:29

Did I go back and thank him for that

31:31

gift of grace in my life? Or did I just

31:33

ignore it and assume

31:35

that God should be good in my life? I

31:37

mean, think about how rude it would be if someone

31:39

in your real life extended you generosity

31:43

regularly and you never thanked them.

31:45

Like that relationship would be so unhealthy.

31:48

So I think we have to remember

31:50

we're in a real relationship with the Lord

31:52

and we have to involve healthy

31:55

rhythms of relating to him like

31:57

as father, but also as friend. So

31:59

thank you.

31:59

Thank you for these good gifts in my life. May

32:03

I respond well to them? May I steward

32:05

them well?

32:06

I was even just thinking, you know, if you

32:08

don't have anything to do when you're folding your

32:10

fifth load of laundry for the week, just

32:12

making that a practice of gratitude for the little people

32:15

or whoever it is that you're holding laundry for. There

32:17

are so many different ways that you can work those practices

32:20

in. If you don't have the opportunity to go on a walk by

32:22

yourself,

32:23

maybe your kids can

32:24

come with you and do a gratitude walk. That would

32:26

be a great way to instruct your children

32:29

and to help them see how you

32:31

can cultivate a heart. Of

32:34

gratitude, even whenever it might

32:36

be hard. So these are all such great

32:38

things.

32:44

Confession and gratitude. How

32:47

might you incorporate these disciplines into

32:49

regular rhythms of your daily life? Maybe

32:52

it's something like Mary Ann mentioned, of making a practice

32:54

of confessing sin as you lay down in bed each

32:56

night, or rehearsing gratitude

32:59

to the Lord through prayer during your daily

33:01

or weekly walk. Or maybe it's

33:03

a practice like Hunter mentioned, incorporating

33:05

prayers of gratitude into your daily tasks

33:07

and rhythms, like folding laundry or doing

33:09

the dishes. As you do,

33:12

remember why it's so important that

33:14

we practice these spiritual disciplines. Scripture

33:17

tells us that if we confess our sins, God

33:19

is faithful and just and will forgive us

33:22

our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

33:25

That's 1 John 1.9. And

33:27

Proverbs 28.13 reminds us that the

33:29

one who confesses and renounces their sins

33:31

is met with mercy. We're

33:34

told too that in Christ, God

33:36

views our sins as no more, removed

33:39

from us as Psalm 103.12 says,

33:41

as far as the east is from the west.

33:44

That's how far He removes our transgressions

33:46

from us. And gratitude. The

33:49

Psalms remind us again and again to come

33:51

into the Lord's presence with thanksgiving, to

33:54

make a joyful noise to Him with songs

33:56

of praise. Ephesians 5.20

33:58

encourages us to all. Always give thanks

34:00

to God the Father for everything in

34:02

the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. If

34:05

you're looking for a place to start with gratitude,

34:07

open up your Bible to Psalm 103 and

34:10

read through the verses, giving thanks to

34:12

God and allowing your soul to bless

34:14

the Lord for all his benefits. Sister,

34:18

what might it look like for you to practice

34:20

these things daily? How might

34:22

confession and gratitude shape your

34:24

relationship with God, leading

34:26

you to deeper intimacy with Him? How

34:28

might you practice these spiritual

34:29

rhythms alongside those who are

34:32

in your daily life that you might grow

34:34

in Christ together? I'd

34:36

encourage you even today to draw

34:38

near to the Lord through confession and gratitude

34:41

and allow yourself to be met with

34:43

the depths of His mercy and goodness.

34:57

One thing I really want to ask

34:58

you about, I have really appreciated how

35:01

you are in the online space

35:03

trying to understand what women

35:05

who are in my generation

35:08

and generations below me, how we're

35:10

living online. How

35:13

do you see social media

35:15

impacting our understanding

35:17

of our work in our homes and what kind of pitfalls

35:20

would you caution us against while

35:23

we're scrolling online and

35:25

maybe even what you would encourage us toward

35:28

as we consider the work that the Lord has

35:30

given us and how our online

35:33

practice might be impacting

35:35

the way we're engaging with it?

35:37

I think we're slowly being conditioned

35:40

into greater levels

35:43

of unreality. And I have no

35:45

doubt that this is very intentional

35:47

on the part of the evil one to condition

35:50

us out of biblical thinking.

35:53

Our culture is easily,

35:55

definitely shifting away from

35:57

a Christian mindset. we're

36:00

surrounded by messages that are

36:02

counter to the gospel. So

36:04

I think when we, when you're online, we have

36:07

to really keep in mind that what

36:09

we are being presented as reality

36:12

is not in many, many cases.

36:15

And so the pictures we see of

36:17

work that is commendable, of

36:19

work that is worth our

36:21

value, is worth our time.

36:24

We're being told that our work should

36:27

sort of be glamorized, right? It

36:29

should be filtered and

36:31

beautiful, and it should lead us to

36:33

a stage somewhere, right? It should

36:36

lead us to a life of notoriety

36:38

and renown somewhere and somehow. And

36:40

if it doesn't, if it just leads us to the next

36:42

day of privacy in our home, we're

36:45

being told that's not really enough, because

36:47

even your home now can be your influence

36:50

or portal, right? So even

36:52

the home is becoming more

36:54

and more a place where you too can become famous.

36:58

And I think it just takes

37:00

a lot of reminding

37:02

ourselves, again, of the life of

37:04

Christ and really seeking to model

37:09

humility, quietness, privacy. I

37:11

think being more prayerful as a culture, as

37:14

a church than we are, of standing

37:17

against maybe the way the evil one is wanting

37:19

to corrupt our minds and confuse

37:22

our minds so that we lose focus

37:25

on what the purpose of our work actually

37:27

is. I don't know, there would be

37:30

so many podcasts that could come out of

37:32

a topic about social media or

37:34

a conversation about social media, but

37:37

small, quiet, private

37:39

work is really what I believe the

37:42

Lord wanted for the

37:44

world. I don't think this public

37:47

sphere is really what he wanted.

37:49

I think it's really interesting that

37:51

this technology and this

37:53

sense of conditioning that sort

37:55

of wants to publicize all of our work has come

37:58

as we become a post-critic. culture

38:01

like we are not a Christian culture

38:03

anymore we're definitely post and

38:05

so now we're just seeing this emergence

38:08

that the online is more real

38:10

than the real. So I

38:12

think Christian women are going to have to band together

38:15

to really buffer against

38:17

this movement by connecting with

38:19

one another in healthy online spaces

38:21

because they do exist. Connecting

38:24

in the local church, connecting

38:26

in communities where

38:29

they can remind each other that the unseen

38:32

is good and they can remind

38:35

and encourage one another that that is really

38:37

God's original design.

38:39

Yeah agreed. I think

38:41

we absolutely can encourage each

38:44

other in the unseen work in

38:46

online spaces like we're doing right now coming

38:48

alongside women in our various you

38:50

know respective work in

38:53

their earbuds but certainly

38:55

there is no replacement for that

38:57

Titus 2 mentoring in the local

38:59

context. Do not let us be the

39:02

primary influence in this conversation

39:04

about ministry in the mundane.

39:05

Get together with a Titus 2

39:08

mentor in your local context.

39:11

Find a Marianne wherever it is

39:13

that you are and ask if

39:15

you can come alongside her in some of her

39:18

mundane work and see how she seeks

39:21

to treasure Christ even in the midst of

39:23

that. So Marianne thank you so much

39:25

for your encouragement to do these

39:27

things. I really have appreciated

39:30

it and I'd love to know as we're coming

39:32

to a close one of the questions I've asked every

39:35

person in this series

39:36

is what it is that

39:38

brings you rest when you

39:41

feel weary. I

39:43

loved this question. Certainly

39:46

my family so that

39:49

would would have always originally been my answer

39:51

but I will say with honesty when

39:53

I was in your stage I wouldn't have necessarily

39:56

if I see it in my family like what

39:58

brings your ass like oh take it

39:59

a break from the family. Being

40:02

away. Being by myself.

40:07

No, and that is very naturally normal

40:09

at that stage because it's so

40:12

noisy. It's so glamorous all

40:14

the time. Someone is always so

40:16

upset and efferented

40:18

about something. At

40:20

this stage in our family life, my

40:23

husband and children are restful

40:25

to me. I mean, they certainly have so many

40:28

complex things happening in their lives, but

40:30

they themselves are just delightful. We've

40:33

sort of been adding people to

40:35

our family slowly as the

40:37

kids meet people and bring people home.

40:39

That's been interesting too. It's

40:41

full, but it's a really fulfilling

40:44

and beautiful

40:45

stage of life. Restful. And

40:48

then if you've hung around my Instagram for any

40:50

amount of time at all, you know that I'm a runner. And

40:53

so I find a lot of

40:55

rest, ironically, in running. It

40:57

is my happy place. And I love

40:59

that. It's just a beautiful

41:02

space for me to exist in every single

41:04

day, except for Sunday. I take a

41:06

day of rest Sunday.

41:08

Oh, that's wonderful. That's wonderful. I have

41:11

just started running again because we

41:13

have a baby that had a

41:16

sensitive eating situation and I've been nursing

41:18

and had to protect my milk supply, but

41:20

I just started running and I could not keep

41:22

up with you. Let me tell you that. That's okay. Certainly

41:25

not to the restful stage

41:27

yet, but. Yes, no worries at all.

41:30

I

41:33

love that so much. Well, it has been restful

41:36

talking to you. Thank you so much

41:38

for sharing what the Lord has

41:40

taught you over the years. I know that this has

41:43

been such an encouragement to me and it'll be such an encouragement

41:45

to the listeners too. Thanks for joining us on the Journey Women

41:47

podcast. Thank you for having me. You

41:55

guys, wasn't that good? We pray this episode

41:58

encourages you to see

41:59

your work.

41:59

even if it's ordinary or mundane,

42:02

as beautiful unto the Lord and glorifying

42:04

to Him. If you found this episode helpful, consider

42:07

sharing our Rest of the Weary series with a friend

42:09

or leave us a review on iTunes or Spotify.

42:13

As always, thanks for listening. It's a

42:15

joy to get to Journey alongside you guys. Can't

42:17

wait to see you here next Monday. Have

42:19

a great week!

42:30

you