*The second stop on the At His Feet, In His Service journey*
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” — Romans 15:13 (NIV)
In the first part of this journey, we sat down beside Mary at the feet of Jesus and heard Him say the quiet, enormous thing: few things are needed — or indeed only one. We talked about drift. About finding your nest. About the truth that you cannot pour out of an empty vessel.
Here is the next question, and it’s the one that changes everything: once you’re sitting there, hands open and empty — what actually fills you?
Paul answers it in a single sentence, and it may be the most freeing verse in all of Scripture for a woman who is tired all the way to the bone. Read it slowly, and notice — before anything else — who does the filling.
Not you.
The God of hope fills you. The joy is His to pour. The peace is His to supply. You are not the well; you are the vessel. And most of us have spent years exhausting ourselves at the wrong job — trying to manufacture the very thing that was only ever meant to be received. We talk ourselves into peace. We brace for joy. We work up something that resembles hope, call it faith, and then wonder why we are empty again by Tuesday.
Here is the relief your shoulders have been waiting for: you were never meant to be your own source.
So what is your part? The verse tells you, and it is almost embarrassingly simple. As you trust in Him. That is the whole preparation. Not performing. Not producing. Trusting — coming with open hands and letting Him do what only He can do. Mary’s stillness at His feet was never laziness. It was trust with skin on. She stopped striving long enough to receive.
And watch what God does with a trusting, open-handed woman. He does not fill her to the brim and screw the cap back on. He fills her to overflowing. The word Paul reaches for means to abound, to spill past the edges. God’s intent was never a careful, rationed portion — just barely enough to get you through. His intent is overflow. Enough for you, and enough running over onto every person standing near you. Your hope drips onto their hope.
Do you see how this quietly heals the old Mary-and-Martha tension for good? Sitting and serving were never enemies. Being filled is simply what makes the serving holy instead of frantic. When you pour from overflow, the work stays soft and the love stays alive. When you pour from fumes, everything curdles into hurry and resentment. The overflow is the whole difference — and the overflow comes only one way: filled by Him, as you trust Him.
So here is your invitation for this week. Before you pour into your family, your work, your ministry, your long faithful list of the many things — stop. Come with genuinely empty hands. Don’t bring Him your performance; He never asked for it. Bring Him your emptiness, which is the only thing He did ask for. And simply pray: Fill me.
He will. Until there is enough for you — and enough to spill.
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This post is part of the At His Feet, In His Service journey — a Mary and Martha walk into rest and mission, for women who love God and are weary of running on empty. If your heart is aching to stop manufacturing and simply be filled, come walk it with us. We would love to have you in the community, where we’re learning together to sit first and let the overflow do the serving. Learn more at https://awakewomensministry.com.