Martha and Martha: A Lesson in Learning and Writing

By Kathleen Y’Barbo @KathleenYBarbo

We all know about Martha from the Bible. Biblical Martha was the Martha Stewart of her day, bustling around showing Jesus her devotion to Him with hospitality without any help from her sister Mary. From this story, we learn that sitting at the feet of Jesus—literally for these biblical sisters and figuratively for us in modern times—is what the Lord preferred. What I take from this example in Luke 10 is that God wants us to crave Him and His words because it is through this practice of listening and learning that we grow closer to Jesus.

Biblical Martha is a role model for me. She was busy—too busy according to the Bible—but she loved Jesus and believed He could do anything (see John 11:21-22). When her brother Lazarus died, Martha was absolutely certain that Jesus could bring him back to life. She’d learned that about her Lord. It’s with a small grin that I note that she also made a tiny complaint about the speed with which he arrived.

I, too, have been known to make that complaint. But I digress.

Fast forward from Biblical times to today. If you’ve been a member of ACFW for long, you knew my friend, Martha Rogers. She was a part of ACFW from the very beginning, she rarely missed a conference until recent years, and her Verse of the Week post was highly anticipated by our members each week.

If you didn’t have the privilege of knowing Martha Rogers, let me sum her up in just a few words by offering her bio: Martha Rogers is a multi-published author and writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. She is the Director of the Texas Christian Writers Conference, a member of ACFW, ACFW WOTS local chapter in Houston, and the writers’ group Inspirational Writers Alive.

Did I mention that Martha was also an octogenarian? Yes, she did all of these things—wrote all of these books and shepherded all of these writers—well after her retirement years began. See, Martha had a whole other life outside of writing. She was a busy mom of three boys, a busy grandmother of a whole passel of grandchildren, choir member, church member, and a high school English and Home Ec teacher. Did I mention she was also a breast cancer survivor?

Suffice it to say, when she retired, Martha got busy. Those who knew her would say she was the Energizer Bunny, always ready to go and never at a loss for words (on paper and in conversation). Sounds a bit like biblical Martha, doesn’t she?

Martha and I were critique partners back in the late 90s before ACFW ever existed. We were in a group that met weekly at Boston Market and shared a chapter each time we met. Yes, that’s right, a chapter every week or we better have a good excuse.

I should mention there were no good excuses.

Those years with Martha and the other ladies of the group taught me so much about writing. I learned to write fast, to write tight, and to listen when someone tells you that a character wouldn’t do what I’d just had them do. I watched our members get published, and I watched Martha wait for her turn.

We celebrated when she sold her first book, a historical romance, on her 73rd birthday. We continued to celebrate as she sold more and more books until the total surpassed fifty novels and novellas sold. Like Martha in the Bible, she was busy!

Martha was a tireless volunteer—she was ACFW’s Volunteer of the Year in 2014—and a lifetime learner. Her library of craft writing books now resides with her favorite ACFW local chapter, the Woodlands Writers on the Storm, in the form of a lending library.

Martha might have started writing at a time when many are finishing, but she proved she wasn’t anywhere near done. While working on this blog, I went in search of memorable Martha Rogers quotes and found this one from Susan E. Mathis’s blog. Susan asked Martha why she wrote and what drove her to write. This was her response:

“I’ve written for so long that it’s simply a part of me. So many stories float around in my head, and I must get them written. Right now, I’m driven by age because I want to get all of the stories written…I’ll write as long as the Lord leaves me here on earth.”

Martha did exactly that. Our loss was heaven’s gain when, at the age of 86 years young, she left this earth and fell into her Savior’s arms on April 18, 2023. ACFW lost a champion volunteer of the organization and a prayer warrior who never met a stranger.

A true writer until the end, Martha’s last historical romance was published posthumously. Unexpected Treasure, book 2 of the Treasure Quest series, was published in May 2023 by Forget Me Not Romances.

If you’re a writer and you’re reading this, no matter your age, I think Martha would want you to know that it’s never too late to do what God has set you on a path to do. Never stop learning, and never ever lose sight of the One who bids you to listen and learn.

Well done, good and faithful servant.

Publishers Weekly Bestselling author Kathleen Y’Barbo-Turner is the author of more than one hundred books with over two million copies in print. A tenth-generation Texan and paralegal, Kathleen and her husband are parents and in-laws of a blended family of Texans, Okies, and three adorable Londoners. Find her at www.kathleenybarbo.com.