Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

God Will Never Leave You {No Matter What Monday}

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hebrews-13-5

I was halfway down the mountain and didn’t know what to do next. I was cold, tired and scared. And I was alone.

It was my first-ever ski trip, a church youth group trip during my sophomore year of high school. After a few runs down the bunny slopes, our college-aged chaperone took us up to the top of the mountain for our first real run. She paired up the new skiers with those who had experience, and she assigned me to the guy who had dumped me just weeks before. Perfect.

As you can imagine, he wasn’t too interested in offering words of encouragement as he skied slowly down the mountain beside me. It took him about five minutes to decide he was out of there, and off he went. I was on my own, forced to figure out how to get down all by myself.

We’re often tempted to view our grown-up trials in the same way. We want to believe God is with us. But sometimes it feels like we’re taking so long to work through our issues that we wonder if God will get bored and move on. Or we’re in the throes of suffering and can’t imagine why God hasn’t rescued us from our circumstances. We feel abandoned and alone.

But God isn’t like the 16-year-old boy who left me on the ski run.

Hebrews 13:5: {God} will never leave you nor forsake you.

Whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, the Lord is by your side. In Him, you have everything you need to face your struggles. His love for you will never waver, and His faithfulness will never come to an end. He will finish the good work He began in you.

No matter what you face this week, God will never leave you.

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God is For Us {No Matter What Monday}

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romans-8-31Do you ever feel like your life is you against the world?

You vs. The little people in your house whose behavior threatens to sabotage your sanity.

You vs. The co-worker who undermines your work at every step.

You vs. The slow driver in front of you when you’re already running late.

You vs. The fallenness of our world manifested in sin, illness, and death.

Who or what is your nemesis this week? Take a minute and fill in the blank. This week, it feels like you vs. _____________________.

Then draw your hope and courage from Romans 8:31: What then can we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

In this verse, Paul proclaims that God is for us as a response to the truth he’s just finished talking about in previous verses. He’s told us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That God works all things for the good of those who are called according to His purpose. That God foreknew us, predestined us, called us, justified us, and glorified us by His grace. (See Romans 8:1-30.)

If all this is true (and so much more!), there’s other conclusion to draw other than this: God is for us. And if God, the sovereign and powerful Creator and Sustainer, is for us, then who can be against us?

The answer is no one. People and circumstances come against us and appear to win sometimes, but the truth is that no one can successfully come against those who are in Christ. God takes what others mean for evil and use it for good in our lives, to sanctify us, refine us, and conform us to the image of His Son. (See Genesis 50:20 and Romans 8:29.) As Paul goes on to answer his own question, he shouts from the rooftops that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39). Your children’s misbehavior, your co-worker’s schemes, that driver in front of you, this fallen world—whatever your nemesis is this week—none of these can successfully thwart the Lord’s plans for you.

No matter what you face this week, God is for you.

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Perfect Peace is Found in the Rock Eternal {No Matter What Monday}

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Isaiah 26-3-4

We were two college freshman, thrown together into a tiny dorm room by the luck of the draw. After a rocky semester of figuring each other out, we were forced to inhabit each other’s space for hours on end with no escape. No classes, no meetings, no parties to separate us. Just one common goal: to pass our first set of semester final exams. Tension ran high in our hearts and in our third-floor dorm room.

One night, my roommate wrote out a verse and taped it to our wall:

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3).

This verse got us through those sleepless nights of studying, and it has comforted me during many anxious nights since. When the cares of my heart are more burdensome than college exams, my comfort has grown because of the verse that follows:

“Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord is an everlasting rock” (Isaiah 26:4).

What struggles, relationships or challenges are threatening your peace right now? Do you find it difficult to keep your focus on the Lord? I do.

When my peace is washed away by the waves of life, I can cling to the everlasting rock. My mind is not steadfast, and I struggle to trust Him. But the Lord is steadfast. He strengthens my faith and pours out His perfect peace into my troubled soul.

He is faithful, even when we are not. And as He pours out His peace over and over again, our trust will grow and our minds will be more steadily focused on the source of our hope and peace: the Lord, the Rock eternal.

No matter what you face this week, perfect peace is found in the Lord, the Rock eternal.

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God Will Supply Every Need {No Matter What Monday}

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phil 4-19

I’m wearing my Geek Badge proudly as I confess to you: I love packing my kids’ backpacks for the first day of school. The shiny folders. The unmarred notebooks. The textbooks just begging to be cracked open. And the spotless pencil box, filled with perfectly sharpened pencils, a clean glue stick, and every single one of the 24 crayons boxed in perfect order.

It doesn’t take long the backpack scene to descend into chaos, but on that first day, I am confident that my children have everything they need.

I love this new-pencil feeling because it feels good to have what you need. To have the confidence that no matter what you face, you are prepared.

If only I had this confidence every day. Instead, I look at my to-do list or my calendar, and I wonder, Do I have what it takes? Do I have what I need to get through this?

Maybe you’re wondering, too. What are you facing this week? What do you need? Strength? Hope? Courage? Peace? Wisdom? Someone to help you?

Philippians 4:19 promises we have what we need: “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

Our Heavenly Father gives us strength. He is the source of our hope. His eternal victory gives us courage. Because we have peace with Him, we can have peace with others and in tough circumstances. He promises wisdom when we ask for it. The Maker of Heaven and Earth is our helper. We can trust Him to give us everything we need.

There is no need you have that God cannot meet. He has all the supplies needed for your salvation and for every day of your life.

Whatever you face this week, you can have confidence that God will supply everything you need.

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