Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

Do Not Lose Heart, Glory is Coming {No Matter What Monday}

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2 Corinthians 4-16-17

I hate suspense. I’m impatient and can’t wait to know how it ends. Yes, I’m one of those people who turns to the last page of the book to see if the heroine lives or if the couple ends up together. I love binge-watching series on Netflix, because I can look ahead at the episode descriptions and get hints about what’s coming!

I don’t like suspense in my entertainment, and I certainly don’t want suspense in my life. I’m eager to know what’s ahead. What will my children’s lives be like? What challenges will my marriage face? What tragedy is lurking around the corner? What might happen in our nation or our world that will impact our lives? I wish I could turn to the last page and find out these answers!

And yet, God’s Word doesn’t keep us in suspense. We know how all this ends.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18: So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

This is the end of the story for those who belong to Christ: an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Eternal life, resurrected bodies, a new heaven and new earth, living forever in the light of Jesus Christ, seeing God’s final and complete victory over sin and death and evil.

Life is hard. We suffer. Our outer selves are wasting away, and we are afflicted. But glory is coming. And when we see God’s glory someday, all that we are enduring now will seem like light and momentary affliction.

I can’t wait.

No matter what, do not lose heart. Glory is coming!

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Sharing God’s Faithfulness ~ Feathers Podcast

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feathersAs long as I live, I want to share His story of faithfulness with others. This past week, I had the opportunity to talk with Amy J. Bennett on the Feathers: Faith in Flight podcast.

Feathers features stories of people who faced difficult situations and were asked by God to have faith and obey Him. I love listening to it as I drive, exercise, or do housework. Amy’s God-honoring conversations with her guests inspire me, and I enjoyed getting to share my own story with her listeners!

If you’d like to listen or share the podcast episode with others, head on over to Amy’s website. I recommend checking out her other episodes while you’re there!

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Your God Will Hear You {No Matter What Monday}

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Micah 7-7I try not to be a mom who stares at her phone all day. But I remember a time, a few years ago, when my young daughter was trying to tell me something, and I was engrossed in my phone. She gently put her hands on my cheeks, lifted my eyes to look into her eyes, and then started speaking to me.

 

She needed to be heard.

 

That’s one interesting aspect of our current social media age. Anyone can get their message out there. We are all clamoring to be heard. We can instantly tell hundreds of people about our joy, our heartbreak, or our great new purchase at Kohl’s.

 

But is anyone really listening?

 

Micah 7:7 tells us that there is One who hears us: “But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.”

 

The God of our salvation hears us. The Lord who has the power to rescue us, our Heavenly Father who cares for us, the God who proved His love by saving us . . . He hears our cries. Psalm 34:6 says, “This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.”

 

Do you need to be heard? Are you feeling discouraged by your troubles and feel that no one understands? Cry out to the Lord. He will hear you.

 

No matter what, your God will hear you when you cry out to Him.

 

{ Graphic hand-lettered by Amanda J Calligraphy }

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Breaking Free from the Superwoman Trap

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06012016_GUESTMarissaHenley_WalkInFreedom

I sat in my counselor’s office with silent tears sliding down my face, feeling flattened by the pressures of life. The expectations placed on me by myself and others were more than I could bear. My counselor handed me a blank sheet of paper and a cup full of markers.

“Draw it,” she said.

I’m no artist, but I tried my best. I drew a stick figure lying at the bottom of the page, with harsh arrows pointing down at the distraught figure. (That is, the stick figure who would have looked distraught if I had known how to draw that.)

The arrows represented the pressure I felt to be:

  • an attentive mom who gets all the mom stuff right;
  • a loving wife who gets all the wife stuff right;
  • a wise and compassionate friend who makes everyone happy;
  • a perfect homemaker who serves nutritious, savory meals from her spotless kitchen;
  • a healthy, thin woman who looks effortlessly put-together, but not in a snobbish or intimidating way;
  • all while juggling a million responsibilities with ease.

The impossible standards of those arrows were a heavy weight on my shoulders, reminding me of my daily shortcomings. I felt trapped, laid out on the floor, just like the defeated, joyless stick figure in my drawing.

Then my counselor asked me to draw how it could feel better.

Can you relate? If so, click here to continue reading with me over on (in)courage today . . . 

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