Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

Jesus is With You as You Suffer {No Matter What Monday}

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I have many parenting moments that I’m not proud of, but one of my worst mom-fails happened as I slept. My daughter was frightened in the middle of the night and came to my room to wake me up. She shook my shoulder and said my name, but I kept snoozing. My neglected little girl eventually gave up and went back to bed. 

As I read Mark 4, I wonder if the disciples felt a little bit like my daughter that day on the Sea of Galilee. They were scared, and Jesus was sleeping. 

“On that day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to [his disciples], ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’” (Mark 4:35–38)

Let’s pretend we never heard this story in Sunday school, and we don’t know what the next verses say. (We’ll get to them next week.) What does this passage teach us about being in the middle of the storm of suffering? 

When the waves are crashing over the side of your boat and it’s filling with water, it’s doesn’t mean Jesus  has abandoned you. Jesus was right there with the disciples, and He’s right here with you. 

If it seems like Jesus is sleeping while you suffer, it’s not because He doesn’t care. It’s because He cares about you that He’s waiting for the perfect time to calm the storm. As we’ll see next week, He always has a purpose to His timing, even when we can’t understand it. And in the meantime, you can trust that He is with you.  

No matter what you face this week, Jesus is with you in the storm of your suffering. 

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Does God Still Love Me? {Guest post at Women Encouraged}

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I’m honored to be sharing over at Women Encouraged today. If you don’t already follow their blog and listen to their podcast, you are missing out! They serve their readers and listeners with such solid, life-giving content each week, and I definitely recommend that you check them out!

Here’s a preview of today’s post . . .

My daughter’s dark brown eyes stared up at me from her bed, just above the bright floral comforter pulled up to her chin. She tried to sound casual as she asked her pressing bedtime questions: “Mom, which one of us do you love the most? Do you love Will more than me?”

Minutes earlier, as my daughter waited for me to tuck her in, she watched me stop in the hallway and comfort her hurting brother. The questions swirled in her mind: Does Mom still love me? Does she love my brother more?

I tell my daughter I love her and prove it with my actions every day. I meet her basic needs, shower her with hugs and kisses, engage in activities she loves, and frequently put her desires ahead of my own. This little girl knows she is loved.

And yet, when her brother’s needs delayed me for a couple of minutes, my daughter began to doubt my love for her. She questioned a basic truth that had been proven to her every day for seven years.

Her doubts sound a little too familiar.

What truth can we cling to when we begin to doubt God’s love? Read more here!Share

When Motherhood Meets Cancer {Guest Appearance at Risen Motherhood}

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In October 2010, my husband and I sat on the floor in our boys’ bedroom as they ran around us in a pre-bedtime frenzy. Surrounded by bunk beds, toys, and trains, we told our young sons I had cancer.

When the doctor called earlier that afternoon, I expected him to say the lump in my breast was breast cancer or not breast cancer. Instead, I heard a strange new word: angiosarcoma. When I typed it into Google, I quickly understood why the doctor’s tone had been so serious.

Angiosarcoma has a five-year survival rate of 30%. My boys were six and four, and their little sister was 18 months old. I closed my tear-filled eyes and started begging the Lord to give us those five years. I wasn’t bold enough to ask for more.

Over the next several months, I endured seven rounds of chemotherapy, most of which involved a clinical trial at a Cancer Center, 600 miles from home. Chemo was followed by five weeks of radiation and then surgery, all out of town. I spent a total of fourteen weeks away from my family, sacrificing months with the hope of gaining years.

I wrestled through many questions during my cancer battle and the tenuous years that followed.

Could I trust the Lord to care for my children even if losing me was part of their story?

Would he meet their needs when I could not?

And at the end of this, would they be emotionally scarred or would they be spiritually stronger?

The Lord met me in that questioning place with the truth of his word. The questions never vanished, but he taught me to cling to his promises as the uncertainty raged around me.

To read the entire post, head over to Risen Motherhood – it’s one of my favorite blogs. I hope you’ll take a look around while you’re there and check out their podcast for some wonderful, gospel-centered encouragement for moms! Share

God Knows More {No Matter What Monday}

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I recently sat at a coffee shop table with a friend and chatted about the challenges of parenting tweens and teens. We shared areas where we were making decisions that are unpopular with our kids and encouraged each other to stay the course.

When you’re the one facing the eye-rolling and disgusted sighs of a child whose happiness you care about, you’ve got to cling to this basic truth: you know what’s best for your child. You know more than she does. She doesn’t understand how you could possibly be acting in her best interest, but you’ve got 20-30 more years of experience in this world, and you are qualified to make some decisions in her life.

I like to think I’m mature than my kids, but there are times that I want to do more than just roll my eyes at God. “I don’t get it!” I cry out in my pain and confusion. “How could this possibly be Your plan?”

God’s Word gently reminds me that my heavenly Father is qualified to rule over my days:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Even when we don’t understand His ways, we can have confidence in His goodness and love toward us in all that He does. The Bible tells us about one more aspect of God’s character that is higher than the heavens. Psalm 103:11 says, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.”

These are two things our finite human minds can’t fathom: God’s ways and God’s steadfast love. When we don’t understand what He’s doing, we can trust that His actions flow from a heart of steadfast love for His children.

No matter what you face this week, you can trust the One who knows more than you.

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