Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

Delight Yourself in the Lord {No Matter What Monday

by Leave a Comment

I’ve noticed a trend in my life—maybe you’ve experienced this, too. I have my eye on something new for awhile, and I finally get it. At first, my new possession makes me happy. It’s shiny and pretty, or it makes my life easier, or it’s just a fun new toy. But then I find that this new thing doesn’t bring me as much joy as it did at first. A catalog comes in the mail, or a friend gets a new car, or I notice a cute pair of boots at the mall, and suddenly there’s something else that I want. 

I know it’s true, but I still so often forget: the things of this world will never truly satisfy my heart. No matter how much I get, I’ll always want more. There’s only one way to get the desires of my heart once and for all: 

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

This verse doesn’t mean that if I delight myself in the Lord, I’ll get everything listed in the latest Pottery Barn catalog. But as my delight in the Lord grows, my desire will be for Him and the good gifts He gives. And He is always faithful to give us every spiritual blessing in Christ (see Ephesians 1:3). 

God has given His Son to die for you. He’s given you His Spirit to dwell in you. If God gave up His own Son for you, you can have confidence that He will also give you everything else you need (see Romans 8:32). 

When your desire is for the Lord, you will have all you could ever hope for. When God gives you Himself, He also gives you His strength, His peace, His joy, His promises fulfilled, and eternity with Him. 

No matter what you face this week, delight in the Lord who has given Himself to you. 

Share

His Power is Strong {No Matter What Monday}

by Leave a Comment

We saw last week in Mark 4 that Jesus led His disciples into a storm on the Sea of Galilee. As the waves threatened and Jesus performed a miracle, the disciples learned more about their weakness and His strength. 

“And [Jesus] awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’” (Mark 4:39-41)

The disciples’ faith was weak. They knew where to turn in their troubles—they ran to Jesus. But their fear of the storm’s power outweighed their confidence in Jesus’s presence. Can you imagine that moment when Jesus calmed the sea and then called them out for their fear and doubt? 

But the disciples’ weak faith put Jesus’s strength on display. When He spoke to the wind and the waves, there was immediate and complete calm on the sea. The disciples had seen Him heal diseases and cast out demons, and yet they were amazed and asked themselves: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”  I would imagine that their fear turned to faith and their confidence in Christ grew. 

Maybe today you’re in the middle of the storm of suffering, and God hasn’t stilled the wind and the waves yet. You’ve pleaded and begged, but the storm still rages. I don’t know why you’re suffering, but I do know this: God will use your suffering to show you more of your weakness and send you running to Him for strength. In His perfect timing, He will speak peace to the waves that threaten to drown you, and you will arrive on the shore with greater confidence in His power. 

No matter what you face this week, when your faith is weak, His power is strong. 

Share

Jesus is With You as You Suffer {No Matter What Monday}

by Leave a Comment

I have many parenting moments that I’m not proud of, but one of my worst mom-fails happened as I slept. My daughter was frightened in the middle of the night and came to my room to wake me up. She shook my shoulder and said my name, but I kept snoozing. My neglected little girl eventually gave up and went back to bed. 

As I read Mark 4, I wonder if the disciples felt a little bit like my daughter that day on the Sea of Galilee. They were scared, and Jesus was sleeping. 

“On that day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to [his disciples], ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’” (Mark 4:35–38)

Let’s pretend we never heard this story in Sunday school, and we don’t know what the next verses say. (We’ll get to them next week.) What does this passage teach us about being in the middle of the storm of suffering? 

When the waves are crashing over the side of your boat and it’s filling with water, it’s doesn’t mean Jesus  has abandoned you. Jesus was right there with the disciples, and He’s right here with you. 

If it seems like Jesus is sleeping while you suffer, it’s not because He doesn’t care. It’s because He cares about you that He’s waiting for the perfect time to calm the storm. As we’ll see next week, He always has a purpose to His timing, even when we can’t understand it. And in the meantime, you can trust that He is with you.  

No matter what you face this week, Jesus is with you in the storm of your suffering. 

Share

Unto You a Savior is Born! {No Matter What Monday}

by Leave a Comment

Every December, I read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever with my kids. We sit by the Christmas tree and read about how everything went wrong, starting with Mrs. Armstrong’s broken leg and ending with the Herdmans bringing their ham to the baby Jesus. (That part always makes me cry!)

When we get to the line that the feisty Gladys Herdman screams at the trembling shepherds, my kids and I love to yell it together: “Hey! Unto you a child is born!”

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)

Many of us have heard these words so many times that we fail to recognize how bizarre, how profound, how amazing they truly are.

When the angel says to the shepherds that unto them a child is born, that had to be shocking news. (And not just because it was delivered by an angel in the middle of the night.) Shepherds weren’t celebrities or powerful rulers or the religious elite. And yet, this Savior was born to them. Christ’s arrival was turning all the social norms upside down.

Next, the angel says the child is born this day in Bethlehem. The birth of the Son of God was an actual event in history, on a specific day, in a specific place. It unfolded according to centuries-old prophecy so there would be no doubt Who this baby truly was.

Then the angel delivers the really good news: this baby is a Savior, Christ the Lord, the promised and long-awaited Messiah. But He’s not only divine. He’s human, born of a woman, a baby lying in the animals’ feeding trough.

The shepherds knew the only appropriate response to this bizarre news was to run to the baby Messiah. I pray that no matter what you face this week, you will run to your Savior and Lord in worship and praise.

Merry Christmas, friends. Unto you a child is born!

Share