Happy Monday everyone,

Regular readers, will you join me in welcoming a new big group of ladies to our Happy Monday community? If you're new here, we're thrilled to have you! I write this weekly devotion to help you start your week with Jesus and a smile.

We're almost done with our current series, “I’m So Over It!” (You can read the previous weeks at the bottom of this letter.) In addition to a weekly fun quiz, we've drawn wisdom from various Bible stories to help us see where God wants us to experience more of His peace and less stress.

Ready for today's topic: OVERLOAD. It's quiz time! Reminder: If your score is higher than you’d like, consider that a gentle nudge from God to pay close attention to today's devotion.

WHAT’S BEHIND OUR CHRONIC OVERLOAD?

For much of my life, “overload” was my middle name. When God began dealing with me about why the “reason-behind-the-reason” that I stayed busy 24/7, I discovered five uncomfortable “whys” that fuel chronic overwhelm for many Christian women. Which ones resonate with you?

We love being needed.
We want things done a certain way, so we don’t like to allow anyone’s help.
We assume responsibility for people or things that aren’t our responsibility.
We use our contributions or accomplishments to build our self-worth.
We don’t know how to say “no” or express healthy personal boundaries.

Do you have any others to add? Which ones could you relate to?

Let me add that for Christian women, there can be lots of blurry lines. Many Christian women struggle with saying “no” when people at church, especially the pastor. If no one has told you this, it maybe helpful to know that you should ask for time to pray and discern before saying “yes,” even if the pastor or another leader asks you.

HOW DID JESUS AVOID OVERLOAD?

We're in the gospel of Mark today! The following Bible study is challenging, but needed, especially if you love helping people, but you've been doing too much lately.

At the beginning of Mark’s gospel, word about Jesus has spread. It's helpful to know that Mark's gospel focuses on Jesus as a servant. There's a lot of ministry action in Mark. Fun fact: the word “immediately” appears over thirty times in the New King James Version of Mark's gospel. So, Jesus stayed busy!

Mark.1 records how people traveled to hear from Jesus teach. Then, they stayed to seek healing from ailments and diseases that many couldn’t find relief from any other way. Here's how Jesus handled himself:

Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Later Simon (Peter) and the others went out to find him. When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.” -Mark 1:35-37 NLT

Even though a crowd waited for him and he was very popular, Jesus began his day by tending to his need to connect with God.

As Jesus spent time with God, it's not hard to imagine that Jesus reaffirmed his clarity on what to do and what not to do. Do you do ask God for clarity on everyday matters?

I believe that we have freedom to seek God at a time during the day that makes sense. You don’t need to become legalistic about only mornings. But I do believe that before you look at your to-do list or your calendar, you should spend time with God. It can make all the difference to look at what you have to do after He realigns your heart and mind versus looking at it through your cram-it-in lens.

Next, here is how Jesus responded to Simon. It's shocking!

But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.” -Mark 1:38 NLT

Wait! What about the people? Jesus knew that many people needed him for earthly healing and relief. Yet, Jesus operated from a heavenly perspective. While some people would not receive what they wanted in that moment, but Jesus ultimately gave everyone what they needed through his sacrifice.

THAT’S CHALLENGING TEACHING, ISN’T IT?

Let’s review the radical way that Jesus lived:

Jesus took care of himself before addressing the needs of everyone else.
He turned down the request to stay even though the people asked him to.
Jesus did not help or heal everyone who sought him out.
There’s no record of Jesus beating himself up or feeling guilty.

REFLECT OF THIS: Jesus loved people. We know that Jesus gave his life for them. At the same time, loving people didn’t mean that Jesus said yes to everything that every person asked him to do, even the people closest to him.

Because Jesus had clarity on what his mission was, he didn't tie his love for people into an obligation to step into every single person’s problem or situation.

Read that last sentence again.

What do we do this? How do we apply what Jesus models to our lives? Stay tuned! We'll continue this conversation next week with practical tools on how to say “no” without guilt, learn spiritual tools that lead to freedom and more! Make sure to join me so we can grow into God's best for us together.

I’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! How did you do on the quiz? What did you think about today's teaching, especially realizing that Jesus didn't help everyone who came asking?