Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

Trust in God’s Steadfast Love {No Matter What Monday}

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Have you ever felt forgettable? Several years ago, a woman introduced herself to me, thinking we’d never met. But she’d actually hosted a skin care party at my house a few months earlier. I felt very forgettable that day. 

As much as it hurts to be forgotten by another person, it’s even more painful when we feel forgotten by the Lord. In Psalm 13:1, David cries out to God in his pain and says, “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” 

Maybe you’ve felt the same way.  You look at the circumstances and suffering in your life and wonder why God seems to be ignoring your prayers for help. 

David doesn’t shy away from asking God his difficult questions. He’s honest about his pain and sorrow. He pleads with God to listen and answer his cries for rescue. And at the end of the psalm, David reminds himself of the truth of God’s character: 

“But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.” (Psalm 13:5-6)

Even when he feels forgotten, David trusts God’s steadfast love. His circumstances haven’t changed, but he’s choosing to remember what he knows to be true about his God. 

The Hebrew word that is translated “steadfast love” in verse 5 implies not just love but also faithfulness and loyalty. God’s steadfast love is His commitment to keep His covenant promises to His people. This love is steadfast because it’s based on God’s promises rather than on how much we deserve it. 

David knows God will never forget him or abandon him, because God promised to be with David. God can always be counted on to keep His promises. God’s steadfast love endures forever, because God’s promises endure forever. 

No matter what you face this week, trust in God’s steadfast love. 

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Does God Still Love Me? {Guest post at Women Encouraged}

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I’m honored to be sharing over at Women Encouraged today. If you don’t already follow their blog and listen to their podcast, you are missing out! They serve their readers and listeners with such solid, life-giving content each week, and I definitely recommend that you check them out!

Here’s a preview of today’s post . . .

My daughter’s dark brown eyes stared up at me from her bed, just above the bright floral comforter pulled up to her chin. She tried to sound casual as she asked her pressing bedtime questions: “Mom, which one of us do you love the most? Do you love Will more than me?”

Minutes earlier, as my daughter waited for me to tuck her in, she watched me stop in the hallway and comfort her hurting brother. The questions swirled in her mind: Does Mom still love me? Does she love my brother more?

I tell my daughter I love her and prove it with my actions every day. I meet her basic needs, shower her with hugs and kisses, engage in activities she loves, and frequently put her desires ahead of my own. This little girl knows she is loved.

And yet, when her brother’s needs delayed me for a couple of minutes, my daughter began to doubt my love for her. She questioned a basic truth that had been proven to her every day for seven years.

Her doubts sound a little too familiar.

What truth can we cling to when we begin to doubt God’s love? Read more here!Share

God’s Free Gift of Adoption {No Matter What Monday}

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We have the same conversation almost every night at bedtime. I tell my daughter I love her. She says, “I love you more.” And I reply, “That’s not possible. I love you more, and I loved you first.”

I win the Who-Loves-Whom-The-Most battle because I loved my daughter before she even had an awareness that I existed. I know her 9-year-old mind can’t begin to fathom the depth of my love for her. It reminds me of God’s love—a love so deep, so wide, so infinite, so indescribable, beyond the comprehension of His children.

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (1 John 3:1)

God’s Word describes many ways that His free gift of grace changes our lives. As we are united to Christ by faith, we receive all that He earned on our behalf: redemption, forgiveness, eternal life, and more. One of my favorites of all the benefits we receive from Christ is our adoption as sons and daughters of God.

Because of the lavish love of the Father, He united us to His Son, Jesus Christ, and made us His children. The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines adoption as “an act of God’s free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.” That’s amazing news! God brings us into His family and treats us as His children.

If our adoption is an act of God’s free grace, we can’t earn it, and we can’t lose it. He doesn’t love us as His daughters and sons because we’re loveable, because we’re good children, or because we bring something valuable to the relationship. Adoption is one-sided—a Father welcoming a child and giving the child all the privileges and rights that come with being part of the family.

No matter what you face this week, you’ve been adopted by God’s free grace.

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Nothing Can Separate You {No Matter What Monday}

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A few weeks ago, I asked my daughter what she learned at Bible study as we made our way through the dark parking lot to our car. Her answer surprised me: “We learned how God kept parting all the water for the Israelites.”

If you spent much time in Sunday school as a kid, you probably saw the parting of the Red Sea on a felt board at some point. As the Egyptian army with their horses and chariots came barreling after them, the recently-freed Israelites huddled on the shore of the sea, waiting to see what God would do.

Forty years later, those who had crossed the Red Sea on dry ground had died in the wilderness. The next generation stood on the banks of the Jordan River as it rushed past them at floodstage. On the other side lay the long-awaited Promised Land. Once again, God proved that nothing can separate His children from His unfailing love, His perfect plans, and His gracious salvation. (Check out Joshua 3 to read more.)

The God who won’t let anything stand in the way of showing His love to His children is still the same today:

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

In these verses, Paul gives us a comprehensive list of all the circumstances and powers that can’t separate us from God’s love. And in case he missed anything, he adds these powerful words: “nor anything else in all creation.” That pretty much covers it, wouldn’t you say?

Do you ever feel like a roaring river or a foreboding sea is keeping you from what God has promised? The hard circumstances we face can separate us from comfort, from happiness, from friends – maybe even separate us by death from someone we love and miss. But no matter how hard things get, our suffering will never be able to separate us from God’s love for us in Christ.

No matter what you face this week, nothing in all creation can separate you from God’s love in Christ Jesus.

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