When Things Don’t Go As Planned: Mary and Martha

Today I was supposed to publish the next interview in the series with pastors, but as you can see, that didn’t happen. I can plan the way, but God directs my steps.

A man’s heart plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps.

Proverbs 16:9 (NKJV)

Last year, I pushed past my comfort zone and did an interview series. I was glad I did because I experienced the sweet grace of trusting God for His daily manna, or rather, His monthly manna. I tried to plan the interview schedule ahead but just couldn’t. Yet, His grace saw me through in rest and not strife and all the interviews came through well and on time. Once, I almost couldn’t publish in time, but it did. Fun fact, interviews and articles are posted every Thursday at 11:11 AM.

This time around in the interview series with pastors, I expected the grace to flow in the same way. But the busyness of pastors is underestimated. Something came up with one pastor, and I was praying hard for another pastor to answer me soon so I have something to publish today. I was reading George Müller’s book (I talked about him in my previous post) about how his great faith saw God provide money in each prayer of need, sometimes at the last minute. Similarly, I was praying and trusting God to provide the content. In the end, the other pastor was also swarmed with things to do.

I could have published the interview with either pastor today, but I had to re-shuffle my schedule and overload myself during the day, which meant sacrificing the time to be present with my children or my rest time at night to rush out the article. Either way, I know I will be short-fusing myself with the extra rush workload.

I would have pushed myself through that previously. I used to be very task-oriented and the impatient me would want to get things done like Martha. I was trained well in the Singapore system of planning, preparation, and efficiency. Yet as I push for things to happen, I’ll be anxious through the process and about the results.

Naturally, I was a Martha in church too, and God called me out of my busyness to learn how to sit at His feet. That was 15 years ago, and it was only recently I think I finally have an inkling of how it is to be a Mary. That took a long time to unlearn. I was sharing my testimony with a newfound friend and she commented, “Really?! You feel like a Mary.”

I was surprised to hear that, but happy to know I can toggle a little better now between Martha and Mary. There were many times I felt the struggle of Martha and Mary in me is liken to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, although I must defend Martha. She is not the bad one like Mr Hyde and gets too much flak. There are times when Martha is necessary, it’s just that I default to being a Martha too instinctively.

Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:38-42 (NKJV)

Interestingly, shema-rhema.com has become a platform for me to practice and learn to take things slow and not rush ministry work, trust God in His time and for His results. Thus this time it was an opportunity to intentionally not push for the interview to go through and make everyone feel rushed. It’s my hope that those interviewed feel at ease in the flow of grace and answer from a position of rest.

I used to rush because I always felt ministry work was urgent, okay sometimes, I am naturally impatient to see results. Time is short, and harvest is still plentiful, but I have learned that God knows what He is doing and is not rushed. I had expected God’s calling in my life to bear fruit in two months, but His right time could mean twenty years. He’s more concerned about our hearts and souls, who we are more than what we can do for Him. Time is indeed short, but God can harvest in one day what we harvest in our hustle for ten years.Like how the human process requires several weeks to turn grapes into wine, Jesus can produce wine in mere seconds as seen in John 2:7-9.

Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it.

When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.

And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”

John 2:7-9 (NKJV)

Hence I took a small U-turn and decided to change the monthly interview series to a bi-monthly series. To be honest, I felt a bit of a failure for not keeping up in the commitment. Yet, as I was typing this post, I thought of what George Müller wrote, if what you pray for is really a need, God will provide.

So I was wondering why God didn’t think there was a need to do a monthly series. Perhaps, God wanted to stretch this series to the end of the year because there might be pastors He wants me to interview, but I wouldn’t meet them in the first half of the year (I planned for the series to end by June if it was monthly)? Or perhaps a chance to put down my pride to make u-turn decisions and do what’s best for everyone’s souls – to slow down and rest.

Do you toggle well between being a Martha and Mary?Slowing down may throw plans off. But if God has called you to sit at His feet like a Mary during this season, trust in His timing to work all things out for the good. As cliche as it might sound, He works in ways we cannot see and is always on time. Plan with Wisdom, and flow with Holy Spirit.

(Update as of 19 Mar 25: Turns out the interview that was supposed to be published had fresh insights soon after.)

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