Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

God is Always at Work {No Matter What Monday}

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2017.03.27 (2)

The Israelites were in an impossible situation again. They’d barely finished eating their unleavened Passover bread when Pharaoh changed his mind and decided to reclaim his slaves. A wandering throng of men, women, children, and livestock were now being chased down by the world’s most powerful army. We know the end of the story: the walls of water let the Israelites escape before crashing down on Pharaoh’s chariots. But before the happy ending, I wonder how the Israelites felt.

The vast sea was ahead of them, but what did they see behind? Was there a giant dust cloud as 600 chariots charged through the desert? Could they hear the hooves of the horses and feel the ground shake under the weight of the giant army?

Exodus 14:19-20 tells us that the pillar that accompanied them on their journey out of Egypt moved between the Israelites and the approaching Egyptians as night fell. Could they see the army chasing them or the water parting? Or did they spend a terrifying night clutching their children to their chests, crying out to the Lord for a deliverance that seemed impossible?

Some of you know how those endless, dark nights feel. You cry out to the Lord, but you don’t see the waters parting yet. You’re still drowning in fear, grief, uncertainty, difficulty, or worry. Where is God? Why hasn’t He swooped in and saved the day?

I don’t have an easy answer for you, but I know this: God is always at work. One day, the sun will rise, and we’ll see the parted waters of rescue. He will not abandon you, His beloved child.

No matter what you face this week, God is always at work.

P.S. Have you heard Ellie Holcomb’s new album, “Red Sea Road”? I’m listening to it constantly right now, and I think you’ll like it, too. Click here to hear her perform the title track. It’s SO good!

P.P.S. What’s your #NoMatterWhatMonday? Join me on Instagram and use the hashtag to remind us all of a truth or a verse that you’re clinging to this week. I’d love to see your #NoMatterWhatMonday!

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God Heals Broken Hearts {No Matter What Monday}

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Ps 34-18 (2)

The Great Breakup of January 1991 swept through Woodland Junior High like a social earthquake. One couple after another toppled, and it seemed no one was immune. Even the long-term couples couldn’t withstand its force. When it was over, all that remained of the junior high dating culture was a bunch of brokenhearted adolescent girls, including me.

At the time, most of us who were dumped thought it was the most horrible heartbreak of our lives. But 25 years later that pain pales in comparison to the heartbreak we know as adults. We watch friends endure illness, job loss, divorce, death. We experience pain and loss ourselves. If we’re paying any attention to the world around us, heartbreak is everywhere.

When sadness threatens to crush us, there is a place for us to seek comfort: in the arms of our Heavenly Father. He cares for our broken hearts. He sees our pain and surrounds us with His love and peace. He will never leave us alone with our sadness. We can trust Him to lovingly mend our lives back together when the destruction of grief blasts through.

This truth isn’t a platitude that sounds nice but has no real power. And it isn’t a band-aid that we put on our grief that makes it all feel better. Grief and loss is still painful, even with the Lord. But as we run to Him with our broken hearts, He gently takes our pain, heals our wounds, and gives us the strength to go on. We can face our grief without despair because we belong to the One who heals broken hearts. And we know that one day, there will be no more broken hearts when we are with Him in heaven (Revelation 21:4).

Psalm 34:18: The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

No matter what you face this week, our Heavenly Father heals broken hearts.

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Your Heavenly Father Knows Your Struggles {No Matter What Monday}

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ps 56.8Psalm 56:8: You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? 

 

When my daughter was younger, I convinced her that I literally had eyes in the back of my head. She couldn’t see the extra pair of eyes, but all evidence pointed to their existence. I had an uncanny way of knowing what she was doing, even when I wasn’t looking at her. Sometimes she didn’t realize I could see her in the rearview mirror in the car or hear her from the next room. Sometimes I made an assumption based on what I knew about how she behaved. Sometimes it was purely a lucky guess.

 

As much as my knowledge freaked her out, I think it also brought comfort to my young daughter. There is something reassuring about being known deeply by someone who cares about you.

 

Psalm 56:8 is one of my favorite verses, because it tells me that God knows my struggles, my sleepless nights, and my tears. He doesn’t know these details of my life because of eyes in the back of His head or because He made a lucky guess. He knows each tear because He created me, redeemed me, cares for me, and rules over every circumstance of my life.

 

When I spent months away from my family in 2011 battling cancer, I filled many of God’s bottles with my tears. When I was weighed down by sorrow and fear, I found comfort in knowing that God cared about every single tear that I shed.

 

No matter what you face this week, you have a Heavenly Father who knows your struggles and cares about every tear. How does this truth bring you comfort today?

 

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Jesus Will Wipe Away Every Tear {No Matter What Monday}

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rev 21.4

If you ask my 10-year-old son what he would wish for if he had three wishes, you’ll hear a couple of the things you’d expect to hear: unlimited Minecraft-playing time, no more homework ever. But he’ll probably include one wish that might surprise you: His wish that Jesus would come back today.

 

My son can’t wait for Jesus to return. Maybe it’s because he watched me suffer through cancer. He watches me grieve the loss of friends to the disease. We take meals to sick people so often that anytime I take them with me to deliver food to someone, my kids ask if the recipient has cancer.

 

My 10-year-old understands that he lives in a broken world filled with sickness, sadness and death. But my son also understands that he does not live in this broken world without hope.

 

He knows there is a perfectly joyous ending coming. He knows that every heartache he feels will be made right when Jesus returns in glory. He knows His Savior will wipe away every tear.

 

Revelation 21:4 gives us this promise to cling to: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. 

 

No matter what you face this week, your triumphant Savior will one day wipe away your tears.

 

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