Women's Ministry Seminar: Maintaining Balance in a World on the Move

The word through Analí Rodríguez, I had already presented it before, but I know that some came later. Ani has been a member of our church for about 6 months, she is a woman who has prepared herself in the ministry, as well as professionally, she also has a professional job and we are privileged to have her this morning. She's going to share about keeping balance in a world in flux, so let's hear from Ani and see what the Lord has for us today.

Brothers, may the Lord bless you. Amen. It was not heard. May the Lord bless you. Glory to God. How good is God. As the sister said, this environment is saturated, brothers, it is saturated to see what the Lord is going to do with us this morning, right? Praise You.

My topic today is keeping balance in a world in flux, but first of all I want to tell you a little bit about myself because I'm new to the church. I do not only know two or three, you do not know me, as Meche has already said, I have been in the ministry for about 30 years in the ways of the Lord. I came to the ways of the Lord from a Catholic background, after a divorce with a 4-year-old girl. I came to the ways of the Lord out of curiosity, because I had already tried everything. So, well, I wanted to see what those people in the church had, how I could have what the people in the church had. By that time my mom and sister had converted to the Lord, and I wanted to have what they had.

I came to the ways of the Lord but it was made very hard for the Lord. I was a very tough person. I went to church and I didn't give my life to the Lord and the months went by, and I walk with a little leg here, with a little leg there, do you understand me? Then, one day the Lord grabbed me

and I was in my house, the pastor came to visit me in those days, right? And I was, I remember like today, I was in my apartment, my daughter was upstairs playing and doing her thing, and I was paying bills. And you know that when I don't know if someone is single here, but when a woman is single, one pays Pedro and doesn't pay Juan, and gives him a little here and gives him a little there. That was what I was doing.

And the pastor arrived and entered, ah, pastor, how are you, oh, yes, come in, would you like some coffee? Yes, yes, of course, if I accept it. We sat down and he began to talk to me about the Lord and how I felt in church and I, well, there. And my soul was struggling, because I said, look, in me, I said, look, ask me now, ask me, I'm ready. And when he doesn't... he kind of did, will you? And I, yes...

A day I will never forget. It wasn't that things were rosy for me, but there was already hope in my life. And my journey in the Lord began. And you know how everyone says, who is the first love, to everything he says yes. And we go to the church over there.... I, ..... And we go here... went.... and there.... and went.... and you have to be an usher, and come on.... and we have to do this... and I know nothing. Okay? But the Lord was nourishing me. You have to be a school teacher..... I knew about the Bible if I was just beginning, but I saw the need, and I saw the need. So, well, by that time there was already the pastor with whom I converted, well, he had already left and there was a pastor, so then, when I told her, look at those children, those young people need training and they need... .. And she told me, ah, well, if you see the need, it's yours.

And then, well, she became my mentor and I, that was that I ate the Bible, and that was and give it, give it, and give it..... and I was in continuous movement. I started giving Sunday school, especially to the youth. I met Miguel and Elizabeth from this church, they are the only people I know from that church, I was in Connecticut. After many years of being in the Bible school, being in all the service of the ministry of the church, after many years the Lord leads me to study. I felt that need to study theology more deeply and I entered the CUME Theological Seminary. I lived in Connecticut and I traveled twice a month to take classes, two and a half hours and I would leave work, because I have always had secular work, I would leave work Friday afternoon and take the baby to mommy. Thank my Lord. So, I went to Boston, I took a class from 7 to 10. I stayed at Elizabeth's house, I don't know if you know her, I stayed at her house. Then on Saturday morning I would go and teach a class from 8 to 4. I would get in my car and continue to Connecticut. I tell you, sisters, there were times, days, in winter that I had all my car windows open so I wouldn't fall asleep on the road. And I would say, 'Lord, take me home. Lord, take me home. 'Lord, take me home.'

I continued my studies and was single for 17 years, to those who are waiting on the Lord, I say this morning, wait on the Lord because when the Lord gives something, it gives it good, good, good, good. I met my husband in seminary, he was in college and took a class at the time, Cume seminary had a satellite class in Hartford, Connecticut. Dave, my husband, took that one and it was a youth ministry class. He traveled from here to take that class, I traveled from New London, Connecticut to take that class in Hartford. Dave's teacher, Elizabeth's husband, who was my mentor, in those days, as it was, the class was only monthly, so I made plans with Aira, Elizabeth's husband, to go to lunch. So, my class, I was taking pastoral counseling, and Dave was taking the youth class. My teacher let us out early and I had no choice but to enter Aira's class, sit in the back, until Aira finished. Dave was in that class. Dave saw me, but I didn't see Dave, so we went to eat and since Dave, Aira lived here, Dave lived here. Dave called Aira and asked her who I was. And I didn't realize anything, but they got into conversation and came up with a plan that next month Aira was going to invite me to breakfast and Dave, like the one who doesn't want the thing, was going to be there.

So, well, Aira and I arrived at Frels and Aira told me, oh, look, Dave is there all by himself. He's in my class, we're going to invite him and I, like who doesn't want the thing, 'yes, invite him. It's okay, .... we enter into conversation as well. Months went by and then (.......) and Dave in one of the classes says to me, 'do you want to go to lunch?' Yeah, fine, whatever. And we went to have lunch, but I tell you sisters that when I accepted that lunch at that moment I realized, I realized and it was the Lord, that this man was going to be my husband, in an instant. When I said yes to lunch. So, well, .............. and throughout lunch I took and put the cards on the table. If you are looking for a wife, don't look here. Look, I have a ministry, I have this, I have this other, I'm not looking for anyone... And then, well, he tells me that while I was putting the cards on the table, he was saying, this will be my wife We were like this. As soon as I found out that he was doing the same ministry that I was doing in my church, but he was doing it in Kansas before coming to the seminary, and we started a relationship of friends and I as soon as we finished lunch and he left for his house, and I got in my car to go to mine, I all the way, which was about 45 minutes meditating with the Lord, I said, no, Lord, I am not looking for a relationship with anyone and even less that he was not from my culture, how will it do it. He is American, how are we going to understand each other. And then the Lord told me more, that is going to be your husband, but he's so square, he's this, he's that, you know, whatever. I mean, excuse, after excuse, after excuse, ok.

We had a relationship as friends for about a year, then we were a little longer, we went out for 3 years in long distance, at a distance. He lived here, I lived in Connecticut. He would do Sunday work here on Sundays at a Vietnamese church, then he would travel to Connecticut to my church, we would only see each other in church on Sundays. After church we would have lunch with my family, he would take it, get in the car and come over; 3 years. He won my daughter over, I had a daughter who was 15 years old at that time, that time if she is a single mother is a very difficult age. He won my daughter, once he won my daughter, he won me, right?

A very nice relationship and when the Lord told us it was time to get married everything fell into place. Everyone said, 'And Ani, why don't you stay in Connecticut, but the exit was mine, it wasn't his. When I said goodbye to my church, it was a celebration. When we landed here in Massachusetts, our first apartment was a house that, about two weeks before we got married, we didn't know where we were going to live. We got a house, free of grant, for four months, free of grant and it had a living room, an anteroom, three rooms and I said, "Lord, but what is this? Close is when things are under the Lord, that's why I mean, if you are waiting on the Lord, it is worth it, it is worth waiting on the Lord.

I've always had my secular job. After we moved to Connecticut, we came to the Hispanic Evangelical Church, we were there for 13 years. In the last year the Lord gave us a way out. We were there together with Nelson and Guillermo Sales, hand in hand with them, my blessed church. We were in various ministries there but when one does not have to be obedient to the Lord and when there is a way out, well, the Lord traces all things.

We have fallen here in Revere and the Lord has also taught us that this is the place. We have joined the American ministry, Saturday night ministry, a ministry that is beginning, a precious ministry and we hope that the Lord will give us a place there.

My secular job, I work at Brigham's, a program that radiation oncology residents, wow, did I say that right? Oncology Radiation, I have 28 residents, or doctors in training and they are like my children because they are all young, they are all 30, 35 years old and I also have the opportunity there to give them a little bit of the Gospel. I have 3 or 4 who are Christians and it is a love.

But, always very busy, always very busy. As you know, be it at work, be it in my ministry life, trying to give my best, trying to maintain a balance, which is the topic we are going to touch on today, because one leads to the other. If you have a balanced life, well, it's like everything is there. When your life isn't balanced like... I'm Puerto Rican so, if I say phrases there it's because of that, right? like on one leg, one limps, right? When it's unbalanced and also failing sometimes, right? Because sometimes we want to be perfect, sometimes we don't want to fail anyone or anything and we...

How many of you have felt that way, that you didn't Do they want to fail anyone or anything, do they want to be perfect, do they want everything to be good? And it really doesn't matter how you feel, it doesn't matter how you feel. Look, you can be dying inside, you can be very tired but you can't fail. And sometimes even our health is affected because we don't want to fail, because we have that mentality that we do have to be like that. And so are we women. This is our constitution.

But then we always live between the urgent and the important, so many legitimately important things that we have. But, for the Christian woman, keeping the balance becomes even more important because while the world, and its chores tells us to do more, do more, do more, the Lord calls us to be still and know that he is God.

So how do we find that balance? For me to develop this theme, I had to analyze myself because one is always from here to there, and from there to here. I had to self-analyze myself then, when I self-analyzed my first question was, who and what is my axis, my anchor? And of course it is, my anchor and my axis is Christ Jesus, the savior of my life, the Almighty.

But that self-analysis I understood and realized that there are times when I am close to the axis and then there are other times that I am far from the axis, that I am like this, and like this, that I constantly live in a scale. Amen. So, I found symptoms of imbalance. My first point this afternoon, tomorrow, is to discover the symptoms of imbalance. Today we are going to find the recipe for symptoms in our study book, in our Bible. But to get to the recipe we have to see the symptoms. So I'm going to give you a lot of Bible quotes but don't worry because I have everything here, you don't have to look for them, but you can write them down.

Our first symptom: the diagnosis. Distracted heart, symptom number 1, is in Matthew 15:8 "... this people of lips honors me more, their heart is far from me..." Symptoms of imbalance: distracted heart.

When my heart is distracted I cannot hear the voice of the Master. When my heart is distracted I take my eyes off the Master. It does not mean that we are not doing things well, no. We are even in ministry, we are in service but among all that service we are distracted. You have not heard the term “…anointing”, anointing on the treadmill. What does that mean? That you are so anointed and you run, you run, you run and you are saving so many lives that you have forgotten who the savior is. You believe that what you do is becoming more and more and more.

“....This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me....”

When my heart is distracted I develop a mask. Everyone sees you, you are doing, doing and doing, but it is with your mask. They understand? I do things out of routine and because I think no one else can do them, but my heart is distracted, so when my heart is distracted I am more susceptible to the next symptom.

The next symptom is a weak heart. It's in First Kings 19:4 and this is the story of Elijah and it says:

“... and he went through the desert one day on his way, and he came and sat under a juniper tree. and wishing to die he said, 'Enough already, oh Jehovah, take my life because I am no better than my parents...”

A discouraged heart is a heart full of sadness, full of anguish. Sadness that you do not know where it comes from. A discouraged heart is a heart that is in depression, is in depression. And you don't know why. But look, if I have a stable home, if I have a job, if I have this. Or see if I'm not sick. But then why? Why are you sad? Why are you sad? That is a discouraged heart.

Elias, after a great victory, became discouraged. The same thing happens to us. Discouragement creeps into our hearts very subtly, we don't realize it until we find ourselves under the sheet. Who has been like this here? Under the sheet and I don't want to go out, and don't open the window, don't open the window... And if the phone rings I won't answer, no, no, no. I don't want to listen to anyone, I don't want anyone to visit me. That is a discouraged heart. And even if we do great things in the Lord, we feel depressed, it's like nothing, right?

Discouragement takes away our hope, the vision for tomorrow takes it away, it takes away our dreams and it's as if we throw ourselves a pity party. Do you know what a pity party is? We throw one of those parties, you know, so we're the guest of honor. We are staying home. I am excused from life, and then, when we are like this, our tendency is to instead of holding on to the Lord, we run from him. Amen, because we are like that, because we always have to be the strong ones. Because we.... and when our hearts are discouraged, it's not for anyone there, it's not for anyone.

There is no place, when we are discouraged or depressed, there is no place for the Father. And it is he who knows all our needs. We are talking about the symptoms of imbalance.

Number 3 symptom: doubting heart. It is in James 1:6

“.... but take care with faith, not doubting anything because the one who doubts is similar to the wave of the sea that is dragged by the wind and thrown from one part to another ...”

Heart that doubts. James 1:6. In this symptom we ask ourselves, we question ourselves, Lord, do you care about me? We doubt the existence and love of God when we have doubt. We question and find fault with everything, when the heart doubts. So then, doubt gives rise to disbelief and then disbelief has the capacity to change many things in our lives. Because then the love of God as we do not believe in it, we do not believe in the goodness of God. Imbalance symptoms. Heart that doubts, we question everything about God, we are on dangerous ground when we already reach that stage, because then we are questioning the greatness and power of God. We must not let doubt reach our hearts, because when this happens, when this symptom occurs, the enemy is already lurking, he is already at the door. And if you open it a little bit it will enter.

Symptoms of imbalance. What else do we add to the scale? Anxieties, worry, fears, all these symptoms paralyze us. Worry dominates us, makes us sick. When we worry about something or someone, we fix our eyes on the situation and not on the Lord. In Matthew 6:25 it says:

“.....Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or how your body will dress. Doesn't life have more value than food and the body more than clothing?....”

Worry. Worry can become your way of living. So you worry about everything, you don't go out. All of these are symptoms of imbalance, because it is one thing to be careful and another thing to be concerned. Care leads me to take the necessary measures to avoid the problem. That is care. So worry leads me to fear, it leads me to fear and where there is fear there is no place for faith. So, I'm already doubting faith, I'm doubting my faith.

Care leads us to God and worry leads me away from God. For example, as I was saying, I am paying the bills and I don't have enough to cover this, so I have to hold on to the Lord and say, 'Lord, but if I believe in a Jehovah..., you will provide, you will to give me the strength to get up to work, to do the things I have to do'. That I'm sick, and I even have to go check myself because look, my ear is sick. I have to go check on him because I'm not going.

I believe and have believed, and I maintain and support that I believe that a Jehovah rafa, the God who heals. And if he doesn't heal me, he's still God. So, I also believe in Jehovah, the Shaddai, the Almighty God. So, well, I claim those promises when I'm worried, when I'm discouraged, when I'm depressed in order to balance myself.

But we have a tendency to isolate ourselves. John 16:33 says:

“... I have spoken these things today so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have afflictions but be confident that I have overcome the world....”

He doesn't say, perhaps you will have afflictions. It is an affirmation what is there. You will have, you will have, okay? We are going to have grief. But I have overcome the world, trust me. Our trust is in the Lord. Amen.

To get into the next symptom, I have to give you an anecdote and I'm going to tell it in the first person. It was a very beautiful spring day, very beautiful, I was walking along the road. I meet the Lord, he tells me, how are you? Ah, good Lord, if I'm fine, look, it's a beautiful day and I'm happy. Look, Lord, how beautiful you are. Oh, yes, yes, I love you so much, Lord, but Lord, can I do something for you today because I'm not doing anything? And the Lord tells me, 'Yes, you see that wheelbarrow there, can you take it to the mountain for me?' 'Yes, Lord, of course, yes, why not, look, I, yes... .'.

The wheelbarrow has 3 pebbles. Yes Sir, well, the wheelbarrow is in good condition. Yes, yes, I'll take it to you. Yes, yes, of course. ...... to the power, unmatched power, unmatched power of Jesus..... Ah, how are you? Long time no see. Oh, do you have that thing that you are going to take there? Do you want me to take it to you? Yes, yes, yes, no, no, no, you don't have time to go there..... Yes, I'm going there, I'll take it with you. Yes, yes, of course.

It's a big stone. And I put it in the wheelbarrow. I already have 3 pebbles and the rock..... Power, power, without equal power, Come Jesus, come Jesus.

Oh, how are you. Look, can you give me a little water? Because look, I'm going up the mountain and I have this wheelbarrow and I'm very thirsty. She gives me the water, and tells me, yes, if you go to the mountains, I have two bags of powder, let's see if you can take me. Oh, yes, of course, I'll take them to you. The wheels on that wheelbarrow are very good. I have other things, but yes, yes, of course. To the wheelbarrow

I already have 3 pebbles, the rock, two bags of dust. Oh, power, power, power... Look, I'm going to the mountain and... putting a break here with you. Oh, you have two bags of granillo. Oh, yes, look, I'm going to the mountain, yes, yes, throw them there. Yes, yes...... ah, ah. ah...... oh, oh...... Lord, but what is this? I can't carry all those things. How come I can carry all those things?

And Lord, what's wrong with you? Why are you so angry? Sir, but look, the wheelbarrow broke down, I haven't reached the mountain and I have so many things, I can't. So the Lord tells me, but what do you have there? This is not yours, this is not yours, this is not yours. I gave you these 3 little stones that you had to take me. All that is there is not yours. You take me the 3 pebbles, let the one I gave the other loads carry them. It's not for you. Ah, power, power.......

What is the last symptom? Tell me, the overload. The overload. Overload is a symptom of imbalance. You think no one else can do it. You believe that the Lord has commanded you to carry load by load, load by load and you tell everyone yes, when perhaps the Lord is calling you to pray for a person more capable than you, but you see me there. The overload.

We have to recognize that this is a symptom of imbalance as well. Among all other things that is a symptom. So we've given some of the symptoms because I imagine there are more, but let's get to the recipe.

We've talked about symptoms, let's go to the recipe. The recipe is in the Bible. First, we know and we are convinced that our axis is the Lord. First, love the Lord, that's a recipe. That is point number one of the recipe. Luke 10:27

"You shall love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind, renew your first love......"

Fall in love with God. Fall in love with the Lord because it's like the first time we were. Because I remember that I of my first love. Let's get that first love back. Where is? It's ok, it's ok to ask the Lord, 'Lord, where is my first love? It's you, I want to be in love with you. It's ok, we don't fail the Lord when we ask him that.

Second, recipe. Renew your mind. Ephesians 4:22 to 24

“....As for the past way of living, get rid of the old man that is corrupted according to deceitful desires and renew yourselves in the spirit of your mind, put on new clothes of the new woman.....”

Let's renew our minds with healthy things, with good things, with Christian fellowship, let's renew our minds. Recipe. Meditate on the word. Psalm 1 of John 2 says:

“Blessed is the man who did not walk in the counsel of evil nor was he in the way of sinners, nor has he sat in the seat of mockers, but in the law of The Lord is delighted, and he meditates on the law day and night”

Meditate on the word. Recipe: seek the peace of the Lord. It's in Psalm 91, of course, but in Ephesians 2:14 it's:

“....because you are our peace, who made both peoples one by breaking down the middle wall of separation”.

He is our peace. Recipe. We have symptoms on one side and now we have a prescription on the other. Trust him. Trust him. Isaiah 26:3 and 4

“You will keep in complete peace him whose mind is stayed on you, because I have trusted in you. Trust in Jehovah forever because in Jehovah, the Lord, is the strength of the centuries.”

Trust him. The entire recipe is in our study book. Have faith. Matthew 17:20

“Jesus said to them, 'because of your little faith, for I tell you the truth, if you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to that mountain, move from here to there and it will move. and nothing will be impossible for you....”

Have faith. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. In Second Corinthians 10:4 and 5

“For the souls of our army are not carnal nor powerful in God for the destruction of strongholds, tearing down arguments and all haughtiness that stands against the knowledge of God and taking every thought captive in the obedience of Christ.”

We must do that every day, every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, because we go to work, we go to the supermarket, we go to the mall, many things come to mind. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Don't be afraid, why are you afraid. Recipe. Do not worry. Second Timothy 1:7

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind. Do not fear because the Lord is with us..."

Do not be anxious because you get up at night and you are anxious, from here to there, and from here to there in the house, in the kitchen , in the living room. Because? Don't be anxious. Philippians 4:6 and 7

“Be anxious about nothing, unless your request has been made known to God in all prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”

Anxious. How many does it happen to us? Amen. Amen.

Continue to the goal. It continues towards the goal, it is in Philippians 3:13 to 14

“My brothers, Paul is speaking, I myself do not claim to have already reached it, but I do one thing, certainly forgetting what is left behind and reaching out to what is left behind. which is ahead I press toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God.”

Our goal is Jesus Christ.

The recipe brings me to my last point. My responsibility, since I know some of my symptoms and I have the prescription on the other side of the scale, what is my responsibility? The last point is to develop a special place in which you meet with God. Propose to visit the room often, develop a life of prayer at the feet of the teacher. The living room, for me, is where I meet God, that secluded place, that upper room that I have made.

And to finish, to get to that point, we are going to see that the well-known story of Mary and Martha, which is in Luke 10:38 to 42. But what is interesting about this story is where the writer puts this story. If you look carefully at the story of Mary and Martha, so well known, it is in between the parable of the good Samaritan, service, we all know what that is. Service, then it is before when Jesus teaches the disciples to pray. Service. Prayer. There in between is the story of Mary and Martha. How interesting, and he says:

“It happened that on his way he met a woman named Marta in the village who received him at her home. She had a sister named Mary, who, sitting at Jesus' feet, heard his word. But Marta was worried about many chores and approaching said: 'Lord, don't you care that my sister lets me serve alone? So tell him to help me.' Who said that? Jesus answered and said to her: 'Marta, Marta, you are anxious and troubled by many things..... -Amen-..... but only one thing is necessary, and Mary has chosen the good part, which she did not care for. it will be taken away....”

Almost always when reading this portion of the Bible we put ourselves in two opposing camps, that if I am Martha, that if I am Mary. So, well, I compare myself more with María, because I am more of those who smell the flowers on the road, and I fly every hour. So, well, I am Marta, because what Maria smells like two or three roses, I can cut all the roses, put them in a vase, put a bowl in it, put it on the table.

How many of us are like this? Amen. And this portion is used a lot to look at ourselves, that we have to refute that. Because what Jesus is doing here is bringing to Martha's memory a different perspective. He is giving it like a couple, and if we read the passage and say, Marta, Marta, you are anxious. Or we say, Marta, Marta,... it depends on how you read the text. Because for me, and this is my opinion, for me what the Lord was saying was, Marta, Marta, I am your friend. I know your family, I am your Master, for a little bit. Be aware.

So when we read it, Marta, Marta... we don't divide. But when we read in the way that I know that Jesus is very subtle, very loving, well, I read it in a way that a friend tells me. And then, well here, he became aware. I guess she wasn't looking for an embarrassment. She just needed help. And let's put ourselves in perspective... and I'm focusing more on Marta because we women, very busy, at least I relate more to Marta, because I'm from the living room to the kitchen.

If I am Marta, I get a visit that I did not expect. I have to prepare dinner and the help I was counting on is going to listen to the Master. We know that what Maria was doing in that culture was out of place, because there were all the men next to the Master and I don't know how much, and a woman came to sit there. That was out of line. So, Marta, 'Lord, but look, well, I need help'. But, he, Jesus, in all his mercy says, Marta, Marta, you are anxious.....

I think that when he said to Mary he was not going to get the best of her, he He wasn't embarrassing her even more, he was just saying I want you to join your sister. We are talking about balance.

We've seen symptoms and we've seen prescriptions. Now we see a woman like us busy. I become aware.

Luke does not tell us what happened next, whether he sat at the Master's feet or not at the Master's feet. We only know that this event happened and that we use this portion of the word to divide ourselves into two camps, to categorize ourselves, and that is not so.

To his life, that she would have to trust him. Martha's second encounter with Jesus is in John 11:17-27 and is when Lazarus dies. And it says:

“So Jesus came and found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for 4 days. Bethany was about 15 states from Jerusalem, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them for their brother. Then, Martha heard that Jesus was coming and went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home:

“And Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died, but I also know now that whatever you ask of God, he will give it to you.' Jesus told her, 'your brother will rise again', Martha told her, 'I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day', Jesus told her 'I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even though he is dead, will live and everyone who lives and believes in me will not die forever. Do you believe that?' Marta's response, 'Yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God who has come into the world.'

Second meeting. It is the same woman who he told him, you are very anxious, who we have said, that if she is intelligent, she sits at the feet of Jesus. Here we see the evidence that she sat at the feet of Jesus. Because? He goes out to meet Jesus, asks him a question, as he did before. Her personality has not changed, she tells him, 'Lord, if you had been here....' She is the same person, the curtain did not fall after Jesus told her, you are already in trouble. Martha is over. No, her personality hasn't changed, but at this moment Martha articulates her faith and you can see the confidence that Jesus has in her.

When Martha tells Jesus, 'I know that whatever you ask of God, he will give it to you,' it is because that woman was sitting at Jesus' feet. What she says here she did not learn in the kitchen among the pots, among the cassuelos, she did not learn it from here to there, from here to here, she did not learn it in the symptoms of imbalance. She learned it at the feet of Jesus. She became aware and joined her sister and when Martha, here, makes the affirmation of saying, "Yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who has come into this world", that This affirmation places Martha in a place of honor because Martha becomes the only woman in the Gospels who affirms the true identity of God, of Christ.

He doesn't say, but Marta look, if she stayed, she stayed in the kitchen. No no no. When Jesus said to Marta: 'Marta, Marta, be anxious....', she said, what is more important? It is more important to be there in the kitchen or it is more important to be here in the living room. Balance. I am more in the kitchen than in the living room or I am more in the living room than in the kitchen. Balance.

Marta becomes a woman of honor.

Third meeting. I am finishing. The third meeting is found in John 12:1 to 2 and here is the account of when Mary, Martha's sister, anoints the feet of Jesus. It says:

“Six days after the Passover Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, the one who had been dead and whom he had raised from the dead and they made him cook a dinner, Martha served and Lazarus was one of those who were seated at the table.

Here we find her serving again, but we cannot be disappointed that we have found her serving, because that is already part of her personality, and that is very much a part of her, so she cannot really immediately pass from the kitchen to the living room, because she is a very busy, industrious woman, a strong-willed woman, a woman who does things. By this simple reference we can see that she joined her sister, she served quietly, she did not come alone, a simple reference that Marta was there.

Many of us are very busy, be it at work, be it in our church service, be it in our homes, in our schools, but we have to find the balance. And how do we find the balance? Knowing the symptoms of imbalance, following the recipe and joining Mary and Martha at the feet of Jesus.

May the Lord bless you. I would like us to sing a song, the first song you sang. If you find yourself, or something that I have said this morning has resonated in your mind, in your heart, I know that there is a team of women here who are going to pray for you. I ask without any concern that it happens, we all need to have balance in our lives, because we are all very busy, very busy and the Lord really is so good, what the Lord has done in our lives is so powerful.