Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

The Lord Will Fulfill His Purposes for You {No Matter What Monday}

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psalm-138-8

Am I the only mom who hates Chutes and Ladders? It’s the board game that never ends! You finally get your cardboard kid up to the 80s or 90s, and then you hit that giant chute back to the bottom. You might get lucky and hit a ladder or two along the way. But those chutes are enough to make me crazy. It feels like there will never be a winner.

Do you ever feel that way about the Christian life? You start to make some progress exercising self-control over your thoughts or your actions, but then you mess up. You practice kindness and gentleness with your children for a couple of days, but it doesn’t last and your temper erupts. You dig into God’s Word or sit with Him in prayer for a few mornings in a row and then go back to hitting the snooze button.

Little ladders up, giant chutes down.

Psalm 138:8: The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Today’s Scripture brings comfort to our chute-like moments. The Lord will fulfill His purpose for you. Yes, there will be ups and downs. There will be mistakes with consequences. There will be successes that seem short-lived. But because of the Lord’s steadfast love for you, He will not forsake the work of His hands. And you are the work of His hands.

Each and every one of His purposes for you will be fulfilled. He can even bring purpose to us as we sit on our bottoms at the end of a chute. Even there, His grace will find us.

No matter what you face this week, the Lord will fulfill His purposes for you.

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Why Sometimes I Don’t Say God is Good {No Matter What Monday}

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Psalm 145-7

I have a love-hate relationship with the phrase “God is good.”

I believe God is good, and I believe it’s important to acknowledge His goodness. But sometimes I hesitate to say, “God is good.”

When something fantastic happens and I respond with “God is so good,” is there an unspoken implication that if it had gone the other way, He wouldn’t be good? Or He wouldn’t be as good? Or He wouldn’t be as good in this situation?

This unspoken implication exists because we don’t typically proclaim God’s goodness when sharing bad news. When was the last time you saw a Facebook status that said, “Devastated by the news I didn’t get the job – God is sooooo good! #Blessed”

I hesitate to say “God is good” when I’m celebrating because I know I might not say it if I was grieving. Confessing God’s goodness isn’t my knee-jerk reaction on bad days. I may be aware of His comfort and peace, but His goodness doesn’t dominate my thoughts about God in those moments. Maybe you feel the same way?

And yet, God is good. All the time. In all circumstances, God deals with His children according to His unwavering goodness and steadfast love. We can proclaim His goodness with our happy news as well as our disappointments. When we suffer, His goodness is just as true. And we need to be reminded of His goodness even more in hardship than in good times.

I want to be like the generations of God’s people described by the psalmist in Psalm 145:7: “They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.”

I’m going on the record right now: God is good all the time. When good things happen, I’ll pour forth the fame of His abundant goodness to me, and simply say, “God is good.”

Because saying “God is good, but let’s all be clear on the fact that He is good even when the bad things happen” . . . well, that’s just awkward.

No matter what you face this week, God is abundantly good to you.

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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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God is With You {No Matter What Monday}

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ps139.9

A few weeks ago, I woke to hear the loud rumbling of thunder. I knew what would happen next. Sure enough, a few minutes later the outline of a little girl darkened our bedroom doorway.

 

My daughter was scared. She didn’t want to be alone. Her dolls and stuffed animals couldn’t provide the comfort she needed. She sought comfort in the presence of those who knew what she needed and love her.

 

I’m trying to teach my daughter to turn to the Lord when she’s afraid—and not just so she’ll start sleeping in her own bed through a thunderstorm. I love comforting her when I can, but I know there will be times when life is hard and I’m not just down the hallway. I want her to learn that there is One who loves her even more than I do. Her Heavenly Father is always with her.

 

Psalm 139:7-10 says: Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

 

God is present everywhere we go. He is always with us, and He is always leading and holding us. He cares about every detail of our life, every moment of our struggles. Everywhere we go, He is there. Every decision we wrestle with, He will lead us. Every storm we endure, He will hold us.

 

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

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