April 18, 2024
If you know your Bible stories, you may remember the one about sisters Mary and Martha and how they behaved when Jesus came to visit. Martha was the one who worked hard to get everything ready and Mary was the one who just sat at Jesus’s feet, listening. When Martha got upset because she was getting no help from her sister, Jesus said Mary had made the better decision. It’s a classic story about priorities and remembering to spend time with God.
Martha Gayle, whose first book titled When Jesus Calls was recently published, said she truly believes she got the right name – for years, her corporate career had her constantly going and doing. But the main character in her work of fiction is Mary, and she said she’s trying each and every day to be more like that person in the Bible.
“It was a very personal experience…an amazing journey,” Martha Gayle, who grew up in Henderson, said on Thursday’s TownTalk. Martha Gayle (her pen name) will be at Sadie’s Coffee Corner on Saturday, Apr. 20 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. for a book signing.
“The Martha in the Bible was always worrying about everything,” she said, adding that she tries to be hospitable to others. “I love serving others…I’m always the one planning.”
“Mary forgot about all of that – she was at Jesus’s feet – she wanted Jesus more than anything else.” Her book guides readers “that we all need to rest at Jesus’s feet every day.”
Although it is a work of fiction, Martha Gayle said she drew upon her own life experiences to create the story. As the plot unfolds, the author has sprinkled in more than 40 Scripture verses that the character takes comfort in. And Martha Gayle hopes her readers will take comfort in them, too.
She said she was called to leave her corporate career to become a stay-at-home wife and mother, and ultimately to write her first book. She’s working on a second one now, and she said it’s almost completed.
Martha Gayle dedicated When Jesus Calls to her father, Norman, who was his daughter’s “biggest cheerleader.”
Other friends and acquaintances from her growing up years in Henderson are proving to be cheerleaders, also, as she reads posts on social media about her literary efforts.
“I haven’t lived there in many years, but to know (friends) still feel this way … it’s so appreciated and so humbling.”
Martha Gayle said she tries very hard to live a transparent and honest life – “in a way pleasing to God. God has a perfect plan for our life,” she said. Her goal is simple: “I want people to read it and come to Jesus.”
Like Mary. ❤
I invite you to see the full story and interview online at WIZS.COM
Always Believe – John 11:40
Martha Gayle ❤
