You know her. Maybe you are her. The woman who feels like she must always be "on." The one who is always performing. This is how Mary Marantz felt about her life.
Marantz grew up in a trailer in rural West Virginia. The first of her immediate family to go to college, she went on to earn a master's degree in moral philosophy and a law degree from Yale. After turning down six-figure-salary law firm offers in London and New York and starting a business with her husband, Justin, together they have gone on to build a successful online education platform for thousands of creative entrepreneurs worldwide.
Even after Mary achieved success, she still felt she was not enough, and she needed to keep performing.
"I have always been more like a high-wire tightrope walker, her confidence built upon the think, feeling air buoying up beneath her," writes Mary. "Leaping, always leaping, never really knowing if the net will appear. And living for the next upswing of a high that will catch her just in time."
It was something that Mary's husband said to her 15 years ago that changed her life moving forward.
"He said slow growth equals strong roots and that we were building something to last," Mary explained.
It was those five words that changed Mary's perspective on life and lead her to write her newest book, Slow Growth equals Strong Roots: Finding Grace, Freedom, and purpose in an Overachieving World.
She hopes that this powerful devotional filled with stunning photography, will show women how to move from achieving, striving, and performing for their worth to the grace, freedom and purpose that come from knowing their identity and calling are determined by God.
"If you're feeling lost. If you feel like nothing is moving and no one in the world will notice you if you go ahead and give up... I'm here to tell you, it just takes longer than you think," Mary writes. "The headlines day will be here soon enough. And there will be so much to celebrate. But in the meantime, you are being refined in the fire of faithfully showing up."
"You are not in a race with anyone. Good things take time. Real things take time. And slow growth equals strong roots."
Today on Connections, Mary shares the inspiration behind her book. She'll also chat about her journey and how she managed to get to where she is today.