Tag: Bible

When Does God Ever Make Sense?

SherryAnnLeave a comment

God doesnt make sense

Yesterday sitting in church the Pastor preached about the future, and the message was directed right at me.

A few years ago my husband and I went to the infertility doctor hoping to have a baby. A week later the doctor called me and said, I am sorry I can’t help you. Talk about being devastated. I was so devastated that I could not look at a pregnant woman or even be around a new born baby I would turn my head the other way it was heart breaking.

A little over a year ago I felt led to go to the local pregnancy resource center close to the church that my husband and I attend. I had gone in there only to see what our church could do to help them. Talking with the director that day I began to feel much compassion for what they do at the center. I filled out the paperwork to see what I could do to help them, and they called me back in August of last year to see when I could start coming in for training at the center. It has been a long year, and I am just now getting finished with my training.

The miracle in this is that I can now look at a pregnant woman and it brings me much joy when I see a newborn baby. God has taken what was so devastating to me and is turning it around for his glory.

If you are just reading one of my articles for the first time, I would like to share with you the short version of my story. I am an adult adoptee. I grew up knowing that I was adopted. When I was 35 years old, I found my birth mother through a social worker in the state that I was born, and that is when I found out the truth of my conception. I found out that I was conceived from rape, saved from an illegal abortion at a planned parenthood clinic, and placed for adoption. My biological great aunt tried to coerce my birth mother into having an illegal abortion at a planned parenthood clinic, but my birth mother stood her ground and knew that there was life growing inside her womb. She did not want to destroy the plans that God had for my life. For that, I am so grateful.

Not that long ago the director of the pregnancy resource center came to me with a situation and asked me what day I could come in to start counseling women who are in a crisis. I am an extra emotional person, to begin with, and over the last few days, my emotions have been going all over the place. I will admit I am scared, nervous, got fear staring me right in the face. And I have been questioning God can I do this? My husband and I don’t have children, and I never had an abortion.

Going back to this past Sunday at church on the way to church in the evening I started thinking about people in the Bible who God used, and at the time it didn’t make any sense. Abraham is one of them. God told him he would be the father of many nations, and his wife was barren, but God gave them a son 25 years later. God also told Abraham to get up and go, and God didn’t tell him where to go just to go, and God would tell him on the way where to go. Noah is another one. God told Noah to build an Ark. The Bible doesn’t say how many years it took for Noah to build the Ark, but many Bible Scholars say about 120 years it took to build before the flood. So many stories in the Bible where things didn’t make sense to man, but it made sense to God. They had to trust God. In the evening service, I heard to other messages that were for me. After listening to all three sermons if I had a title for all three sermons it would be titled, “When does God ever make sense?”  I know God is going to use me at the center to be a light to many people, but since I do not have any children and never had an abortion does it make sense to me. While it’s not making any sense to me, it makes sense to God, and I just have to trust him, and I know he is with me and will help me.

img_0623

Sherry Hensley is a Pro-Life Speaker in Maryland-Conceived in Rape, saved from an illegal abortion. She is married to Fred Hensley. Sherry enjoys inspiring others and sharing her faith. Fred and Sherry attend Bethel Christian Center in Havre de Grace, Maryland.

Rejected But Accepted

SherryAnnLeave a comment

Rejected

Based on Mark 12:1-8

As we read these verses, we read about Jesus telling the story about the man who planted a vineyard. We see where the man sent out his servants to collect the harvest, but the farmers killed the servants. So the man then sent out his son thinking to himself they won’t kill my son. Well, the farmers did kill his son. Let us take our focus to the part of verse 10. It says, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.”

As I sit here this morning, I being an adopted child have struggled with being an adopted child and have felt rejection so many times. About seven years ago I met my Birth mother for the first time, but before she accepted to have contact with me during the waiting time for me, it seemed like forever. Finally, the day came when the case worker called and said my birth mother was ok with having contact with me.

Adopted children struggle with the feelings of rejection. A minister came to our church one time, and he sat and talked with me and said I struggle with two things, and one of those things was the feelings of rejection.

Jesus had to feel rejected by the way that people treated him, but because he was God manifested in the flesh he accepted and loved the people that rejected him.

We are human, and we all probably have felt the feelings of rejection, but we have to realize that Jesus won’t reject us. He loves us. When we come to him we become part of his family he adopted us. He gave us his name. It’s just like when I was born my birth mother gave me a name, but when I was adopted my parents changed my name. When we become part of the family of God not only does he give us his name but we begin to change because he changes us.

So when you feel like people have rejected you, remember that Jesus has accepted you, and he loves and he wants to change you.

 

Written by Sherry Hensley

As an Eagle Soars

SherryAnnLeave a comment

isaiah_40_31_niv2

This title comes from the Sermon that was preached this morning in Church.  You will soar again.  I started to think about an Eagle and what it goes through when it learns to fly.

So I did some research this afternoon.

Baby eagles begin learning to fly–a process referred to as fledging– when they are only two to three months old though eagles who don’t share a nest with other litter mates can start learning earlier. Usually, this process takes a couple of months. During the learning process, many of the Eagles fall to the ground, and some are hurt and even die. Eagle parents will often continue to feed and care for baby eagles that have dropped to the ground until the babies learn. By four to six months, all young eagles should be flying unsupervised. While the Eagles will stay close to the nest while they are learning to fly, once they’ve mastered the process, they will travel far and wide, and most won’t remain near the area of their birth.

This was fascinating to me as it is with our walk with God. There may be times in our life where God is wanting us to go higher in him but we look out over the edge of where we are, and it looks so scary, but God will keep nudging us until we are pushed off the edge, and we have to have our wings and learn to fly and there are times where we will fall and get hurt, but we have people surrounding us that will help us get back on our feet. We will at times in our lives have to go through the same test over and over and over until we have mastered the process and once we have learned the process we can soar High, far and wide and not go back to that testing period again that we have passed.

Did you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks?

The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, the eagle sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it. The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm.

We need to look at what an eagle does when a storm is coming. While the storms of life are raging around us we can soar above our storms, no we will not escape the storms, but we can use the winds to be lifted Higher and Higher. We need to look to Jesus so that he can set our wings so that the winds of the storm will lift us above the storm.Sherry1a

 

 

 

Sherry Hensley is a Pro-Life Speaker in Maryland-Conceived in Rape, saved from an illegal abortion. She is married to a Minister and enjoys inspiring others and sharing her faith.

 

Are You Ready For Your Miracle?

SherryAnnLeave a comment

Miracle

John 11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” 4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.

The Bible says we don’t have because we don’t ask. We have to come to him and ask and believe that he will do what we asked because he can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask.

Will the answer always be the one we want? Lazarus was sick and was very close to Jesus. I wonder if Mary and Martha felt that Jesus is on his way Lazarus will get better. But Jesus didn’t show up, and Lazarus died.

What now. Their brother was gone. Their hearts were broken. Sometimes while we wait on God to answer our prayers, it can difficult, frustrating and we can even say where are you, Jesus. We have got to keep walking this walk.

Yes, it may look like what you asked God about is dead what we don’t know is that God is working on it.

Finally, after Lazarus had been dead for a couple of days, Jesus finally shows up. Well to Mary and Martha they knew their brother would rise again they didn’t know what was about to happen. That is the same way with us the situation may look like nothing is getting done, and all of hell has come against us things just get worse and worse instead of better. When all of hell is coming against us, we need to rejoice and keep pressing forward. Just when you think that the prayer will not get answered, and doubt tries to set in and all kinds of things Jesus will show up. He has to show up. He said he would never leave us or forsake us.

Was Mary and Martha prepared for what was about to happen?  I don’t think so. When Jesus stepped on the scene, everything else went a whole different direction.

Are you ready for your Miracle? It may not come the way you wanted or the timeframe you wanted.  What you asked God for and felt like it had died get ready for your miracle because when Jesus steps into the situation everything else changes.

Sherry Hensley Blogger (2)

Sherry Hensley is a Pro-Life Speaker-Conceived in Rape, saved from an illegal abortion. Sherry enjoys inspiring others and sharing her faith.

The Importance Of Internet Protection

SherryAnnLeave a comment

warning

II Corinthians 6:16-18  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

On Thursday, someone sent to me a story out of Denver Colorado about a 26-year old man that investigators believe may have victimized as many as 140 girls in Colorado and five other states.
I am not going to focus on the negative of the article. With the turn of events on Friday and homosexual marriages are now legal in this country it just makes for a path for sexual offenders to say it’s normal.
The Biblical plan for the family is the Father, Mother and then the children. The world that we live there is just hardly any respect for the parents anymore. The devil wants nothing but to destroy the family. We live in a fast paced society and prayer not only is taken out of schools, but how many are still praying together as a family and having family devotions. I may not remember a lot of my growing up years, but those are two things that I remember. Family Prayer and Family Devotions.

God's Refuge

When I was young, I thought I would never see technology grow so fast as it has. With the technology, there is so much junk on TV and much worse is the internet. My husband and I do not have children, but if we did we would love and protect them. Protecting your children is part of loving your children.  If my husband and I had children, we would have internet protection on the computers, the tablets, and phones, and we would also have time limits for them. There is just way to many people that prowling around and I hate to say this but it’s not just men.
I believe that a lot of the problems would be solved if people would obey the Bible from the front cover to the last cover. Family Prayer and Family Devotions is so very important in the day that we live in.

 

Sherry Hensley Blogger (2)

 

 

 

 

 

Sherry Hensley is a Pro-Life Speaker in Maryland-Conceived in Rape, saved from an illegal abortion. She is married to Fred Hensley a minister of the Gospel. She enjoys inspiring others and sharing her faith.

 

 

 

The Oil Of Joy

SherryAnn1 Comment

JoyoftheLord

Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Looking up in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary The Word Joy it has a few meanings

A feeling of great happiness: a source or cause of great happiness: something or someone that gives joy to someone: success in doing, finding, or getting something

You are probably wondering where I am going with this. We will get there. The other day I posted on my blog about Breaking the Alabaster Box. Someone emailed me and said I want to Challenge you to do a post on Joy. Since the Alabaster Box has got to be my favorite story in the Bible, I am going to focus on the box as if it had Joy in it.

We live in a world today where wrong is now right and right is now wrong. Standing up for moral values, Standing up for Life, Standing up for Marriage between a Man and Woman. Standing up for these things can get us so discouraged because the world is so negative about these issues that our heads just spin and our minds feel like they are going to explode because every time we take a stand for what is right we get it head-on with the negative. It may not be anyone we know, but society does a good job with telling all negative junk. We never hear anything positive on the news anymore.

Let us think about this Woman with the Alabaster Box. What if all those negative people where the problems that we have in Society today.

What would she be like with all that negative junk around her? Who knows but I would be frustrated to the max, and I would be thinking is anything going to change or am I even making a difference.

She looks at her box again the box looks too beautiful to open, but her mind is frazzled. She takes a moment and starts to break the box, and she is pouring out the Oil on her Savior. He is reaching to her and giving her the Joy that she needs. What is happening instead of all the frustration and feeling frazzled she is reminded of some scriptures in the Bible.

1st one is Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

She realizes that pouring the Oil she is gaining New Strength. New Strength to renew her mind.

2nd Verse that comes to her mind is 1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. New Strength to be able to cast her cares up the Lord because he cares for her.

As we see because she is pouring the Oil out she is gaining Joy in return. She has gained strength to renew her mind and to cast her cares on the Lord and

3rd Verse is a reassurance verse that is 1 Chronicles 16:27 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place. ( A Reminder that Jesus Christ sees what she is doing by taking a stand for the things that are right.)

The 4th Verse is Psalms 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Let’s take a look as to what has happened since she opened her box of Joy. Her mind is Renewed, She is casting all her cares upon the Lord, She knows that God sees her, and know she knows that staying on the right path she finds Joy in the Presence of God.

5th Verse is Psalms 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

So many scriptures about Joy went through her mind that by the time she came to the last verse she has so much Joy in her heart. The last verse that came to her is 1 Peter 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

Joy

The Moral of the story remember to Keep Your Oil of Joy bottle filled.  We maintain the Oil of Joy by Renewing our Mind, Casting our cares on the Lord, Remembering that when we think we are not making a difference that Jesus Christ sees what we are doing. We also keep the Oil of Joy bottle filled by staying on the right path. When we are on the right Path and doing the right things we find Joy in the Presence of the Lord.

 

 

 

 

Sherry Hensley Blogger (2)

Sherry Hensley is a Pro-Life Speaker in Maryland-Conceived in Rape, saved from an illegal abortion. She is married to a wonderful man who is a Minister. She enjoys inspiring others and sharing her Faith.

 

 

Grafted in the Vine

SherryAnnLeave a comment

I am so amazingly blessed as to what God is doing since I started to share about how I found out I was conceived in rape. The other day I have the privilege to share with someone who follows my blog that I was adopted and shared with them the story about finding out I was conceived in rape. They never realized the depth of adoption. I think it blew them away.

Well I have been thinking about the passage in Romans 11:17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

These verses have been going through my mind and thinking about God’s chosen people the children of Israel. Well the Children of Israel turned their back on God, so God started dealing with the gentiles and when we come to God and repent, receive his spirit in us and are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ he then adopts us and we are grafted into the vine. He has given up the spirit of Adoption and we can call out to his and call our Heavenly Father Daddy. I am so very thankful that I have been grafted into the vine and that God has chosen me to be able to share my story and people’s eyes are open, hearts are changed, lives are saved.