Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

A Savior Has Been Born to You {No Matter What Monday}

by Leave a Comment

luke-2-11

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 Herman screams at the trembling shepherds, my kids and I love to yell it together: “Hey! Unto you a child is born!”

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

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

When You Face An Impossible Situation {guest post on (in)courage.me}

by Leave a Comment

20161210_henley_lengths-1

It was one week before Christmas 2010. I sat in my oncologist’s office at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, 600 miles from my home in Arkansas, clutching my husband’s hand as tears streamed down my face.

My oncologist had delivered the great news first: after two rounds of high-dose chemotherapy, the rare and aggressive tumor in my breast was much smaller. But there was bad news. My platelets were dangerously low from the chemo, and I still needed at least four more rounds to have a chance at survival.

My doctor had a solution.

In a clinical trial at MD Anderson, I would receive an experimental drug to boost my platelets. But I would need to spend two out of every three weeks in Houston. At that time, I feared I wouldn’t live long enough to walk my 18-month-old daughter into first grade. I certainly didn’t want to spend any of my time in a Houston hospital room.

But I didn’t have a choice.

 

I’m sharing God’s story of faithfulness in my life over at (in)courage today! It’s a wonderful community and provides rich devotional content daily–I hope you’ll continue reading there, check out their other posts, and subscribe to their devotional emails. 

Share

God Knows All Things {No Matter What Monday}

by Leave a Comment

psalm-147-5

 

When my dad was five years old, he told his mom: “I can write my name and tie my shoes and count to ten. I won’t have to go to school, will I?” When he got to kindergarten, he found he had more to learn. He spent the next 21 years going to school!

 

No matter how many decades we spend in school, our knowledge remains incomplete. My dad is really smart, but there are certain tasks I wouldn’t trust him to do. If you need someone to solve a differential equation, sing bass in your choir, or whip up a fantastic pot of baked beans, he’s your guy. But if you ask him to frame your new house or cut your child’s hair or perform your hip replacement surgery, you will regret it. Some jobs are beyond the scope of my dad’s understanding.

 

But my heavenly Father knows it all. He knows every person, animal, plant, pebble, galaxy and atom in this universe. He knows every detail about every subject from astronomy to zoology. He knows every event from eternity past to eternity future. Nothing is beyond the scope of His infinite knowledge.

 

Psalm 147:5: Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.

 

He’s not just all-knowing; He is good. He uses His immeasurable knowledge for the good of those He loves. We can trust our unknown future to the One who knows all things. He’s not going to get it wrong, because all His decisions are informed by His complete knowledge.

 

No matter what we face this week, we can trust the One who knows all things.

Share

It is Well With My Soul {No Matter What Monday}

by Leave a Comment

it-is-wellI belted out the words to my favorite hymn, tears flowing freely, as my church family harmonized effortlessly around me. Singing that hymn on that Sunday is one of my most poignant memories of corporate worship.

 

Days earlier, on January 12, 2010, an enormous earthquake rocked the small, impoverished nation of Haiti: a land precious to two families in our church who run schools there, and therefore precious to our entire church family. It was more than an earthquake in a foreign land – it was another symptom of a fallen world, another crack in our broken hearts. And yet, we sang:

“And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,

Even so, it is well with my soul.”

 

How can your soul be well when nothing else is well?

 

Another verse in the same hymn says:

“My sin—oh the bliss of this glorious thought!—

My sin, not in part, but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!”

 

The Lord redeemed us by nailing our sin to the cross of Christ. Through the Son, the Father met our greatest need—our need to be reconciled to Him. As this world falls apart and our hearts break, we can have peace knowing that the Lord who loves us so deeply will never stop caring for our needs. Because we have peace with God through Christ, it is well with our souls.

 

No matter what we face this week, it is well with our souls . . . even when nothing else is well.

 

P.S. The people of Haiti need our help again in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. To learn more about the work my friends are doing in Haiti, please visit the Hope for LaGonave website. I’d love for you to consider donating to their work—I can vouch for the fact that your funds will be used to thoughtfully care for children in Haiti.

 

(Quotations from the hymn “It is Well With My Soul” by Horatio G. Stafford)

Share