Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

A Prayer for the Weary Soul

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A Prayer for a Weary Soul

Do you ever struggle to pray?

Do you wonder if God is listening?

Do you worry that your faith is too weak or your doubt is too strong?

Do you wonder if you are even welcome to come before Him with your pleas for mercy, healing, comfort or strength?

If so, this is a prayer for you.

 

“Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul” is one of my favorite hymns. The words were written by Anne Steele centuries ago. She knew the pain of suffering. She endured loss, serious health issues, singleness, and hardship. (You can read more about her here.) In these words, we get a glimpse into her struggle to place her hope in Christ.

 

Dear refuge of my weary soul,

On Thee, when sorrows rise

On Thee, when waves of trouble roll,

My fainting hope relies . . .

 

Waves of trouble, a fainting hope–does that sound familiar to you? It does to me.

 

But oh! When gloomy doubts prevail,

I fear to call Thee mine

The springs of comfort seem to fail,

And all my hopes decline . . .

 

And then comes the internal struggle. Doubt and fear creep in. Finding hope and comfort in the Lord doesn’t seem to be working!

 

Yet gracious God, where shall I flee?

Thou art my only trust

And still my soul would cleave to Thee

Though prostrate in the dust

 

And yet, where else should we turn? Who else do we have besides the Lord? We know He is the only secure place for our hope and trust, and so even in our pain, we cling to Him.

 

Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face,

And shall I seek in vain?

And can the ear of sovereign grace,

Be deaf when I complain?

 

This is my favorite line: Can the ear of sovereign grace be deaf when I complain? We take our sorrows to Him, and in His grace, He promises to hear our pleas for comfort. We know for certain that He cannot turn us away.

 

Thy mercy seat is open still,

Here let my soul retreat

With humble hope attend Thy will,

And wait beneath Thy feet.

 

I love this beautiful picture of a weary soul finding rest at the mercy seat of God. Often struggle, fear and doubt come before rest. But in the end, the place for our hurting soul is at the feet of Jesus.

Have a listen to this version by Indelible Grace. I hope it refreshes your soul as it does mine.

(If you don’t have Spotify, you can listen to the entire song here.)

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Christmast Gift Idea

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I recently wrote a post about the new Seeds Music CD, “The Power of Encouragement.”  For those of you who aren’t familiar with Seeds, they are Scripture verses set to music, and they are done very well.  I have their “Faith” and “Praise” CD’s as well, and my kids and I love them!  The music is catchy, and my kids have learned so much Scripture from these CD’s. Listen to some of the music on their website, and you will see that these are not your typical children’s music CD’s.

The new “Encouragement” CD is on sale through December 13!  You get TWO copies–one to keep and one to give away–for just $10 plus shipping.  Just enter the code “GIVESEEDS08” at checkout.  I recommend picking up some of the other CD’s while you’re there.  I’m thinking about buying some to give my kids’ teachers to play in the classroom.

Here’s what you need to check it out:

The Seeds Music website

The Seeds Music store

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New Seeds Music CD

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I’m slowly emerging from the first-trimester fog and hope to be back to blogging soon.  In the meantime, I want to tell everyone about a new cd from Seeds Music–“The Power of Encouragement.”

power

I was fortunate enough to get this cd a while ago, and my kids LOVE it.  Their favorite songs are “Take Heart” and “Go.”  My favorite is “A Servant to All,” which talks about anyone who wants to be first being last.  One day after we’d been listening to this cd, Christopher decided to give up his turn to choose what video to watch and quoted the verse!  I have to admit, this has only happened once, but it made my day!  This cd is upbeat and the Bible verses are terrific ones for both me and the kids to commit to memory.  I highly recommend it!  We also have the Faith and Praise cds, and they are excellent as well.  Click here to see a previous post I wrote about these great cds.

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Sowing Seeds of God’s Word

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Galatians 6:7-9: Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

One of my most important jobs as a mom is to plant seeds of God’s truth in my children’s hearts. Two great tools I have been using recently are Steve Green’s Hide Em in Your Heart CD and my new CD’s from Seeds Music. I love the Steve Green CD, but the Seeds music CD’s are FABULOUS. (Thank you, Julie, for introducing me to them!) They have adults and children singing, but it is so well done that I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself listening to them even without kids in the backseat. Honestly, the Ephesians 2:8 song brought tears to my eyes the first time I heard it. I have the Praise and Faith albums, and I plan to order the others soon.

It is such a blessing for me to watch my kids as they listen to God’s Word set to music. I pray that God will take these seeds we are planting and grow them into living, active faith in Christ. I’ll admit it, I’m becoming a bit of a fanatic. It is hard to get excited about singing about bus drivers and climbing spiders with my kids when we could be singing, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). There’s just nothing better than the Word of God.

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