Brianne Henry

What a good time of year to sit and reflect over the past twelve months. My life is pretty normal – to me. But I really do believe that other people view it as…not quite so normal. Just in the past twelve months I have had three addresses, moved to a different state, sold a house, and bought a house. Luke and I strive to follow where God leads us and that isn’t always easy. Today I would like to share the toughest thing that happened in 2014. I do know that our biggest blessing piggybacks on my toughest situation. Isn’t that how it usually works? Hard. Tearful. Embarrassing. Mortifying actually. That is how I would sum up 2014’s toughest situation.   This is difficult for me to type and I know will be even more difficult to actually post, but I believe it’s all part of the healing process. Let’s just rip the Band-Aid off here – In April, I was told my contract at the school I was teaching at would not be renewed. Whew, glad that’s over. I’m swallowing my pride and there’s a bi...

My Facebook feed is filled with hate - mostly about people. Ranging from articles bashing the Ferguson protestors (and no, I'm not on their side) to articles bashing the Duggar's for the number of kids they have (and yes, I secretly love the Duggar's) to posts ranting about a teacher or coach to someone complaining about their significant other. Some may see it as sharing a viewpoint or voicing their opinion, maybe even sharing a funny story. But, let's be real. It's hate. Plain and simple. If I had the courage, I would remove the Facebook app from my phone. But the withdrawal may just kill me. I would unfollow people who spread hate like wildfire, but then I wouldn't know it was happening. And my heart wouldn't break for it. Someone's heart needs to break for it, may as well be mine. 1 John 4:16..."so we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him....

I have had an old prayer journal sitting on my nightstand for weeks. I think we came across it when unpacking boxes and it’s precious to me so I put it there. Today, I cracked it open and skimmed over it quickly. It covered from early 2012 until about the time Cooper was born. It’s full, but apparently I got busy with a baby and didn't start a new one. It’s time to start journaling my prayers again. Want to know why? Because as I read through that book filled with my handwriting, I noticed it. Over and over again. Answered prayer. Answered prayer. Answered prayer. They weren’t answered at that moment. But in God’s timing, they were made perfect and complete. Here’s one entry that I wanted to share… 4/7/13: “I yearn to stay home with my baby…Lord, I asked that you please provide me with this opportunity. I know it may not be now, but you know my heart and how much I want this.” I would have been about six(ish) months pregnant here. Even then, I “yearned” to be h...

I love to write (as is obvious by the length of this post). It's good for my soul - quite literally. But I haven't written hardly anything of substances for well over a year. Working full-time, having a baby and moving will do that to you I guess. But writing...it's good for me. I could choose to write in a journal and keep it all locked up to myself, but I think it's good to share. Maybe not many people will read it, maybe some will be put-off by the topics I choose. But maybe one person will be touched and think, really think hard, about their walk with Christ because of my writing. That's my prayer. Here's my attempt to get back into the world of writing about what God lays on my heart. For the past six weeks, I've been immersed in the book of James. I am facilitating a high school Bible study on Wednesday nights and attending a Bible study on Thursday mornings covering James also. I am by no means an expert, but studying it at the same time two differe...

I have written a blog post or two before about how I wanted to be bold for Christ at the school I worked at in Kansas. Now I'm 275 miles away from that place. I am friends on Facebook with a few students from there. It seems as though some of them are having a hard time right now, from what I can see, someone passed away. A person who was young. Who had a lot of life ahead of them. And the people left behind are struggling. Struggling to find hope in a tough situation. I stopped. And I prayed. "God, please give _____ hope. Show them Your grace, peace and love." And then I thought about who was going to share this hope with them? How would these young people hear the Word of God? Mostly likely, they won't. I wasn't immersed in this community, but I knew those kids. Many of those kids did not know Jesus. And I am feeling broken for them. I have been reading the book of Acts the past couple weeks. Those guys were bold. Real bold. They prayed for boldness in Chapt...

Let's just start this post by saying...it's not over yet. The moving saga, that is. However, I want to share my story so far. It's a long one. Don't worry, I've been keeping detailed notes. Monday, June 16 Used Budget Van Lines...Moving truck scheduled to come between 10am-Noon...Delivery on Monday evening... *9:45am...Dann Moving calls. That is who will be moving us. They are running an hour late. *11:15am...Dann Moving arrives. They tell us the truck is too small. We look over the inventory estimate they have. We filled out two estimates with Budget Van Lines. On the second estimate, we changed the delivery address and also added more furniture that I had forgotten the first time. Dann Moving had the first estimate. Wrong delivery address. Less stuff. Already have a load on the truck. Truck might be too small. Freak out #1 (of many). *1:30pm...after a long lunch (that I paid for), I finally go to the garage and ask them how much longer. Two hours, they say. ...

What will we miss the most? Easy answer…Providence Baptist Church. Luke began working at Providence Baptist Church as the pastoral intern in September 2012. We were weary of getting into ministry again because our experiences hadn’t been great in the past. However, Providence was truly exactly what we needed. Luke began his ministry focused on the youth and worked alongside the pastor to do administrative tasks as well. Providence has been supportive of our family since Day 1. We have been loved on and encouraged for almost two years. We’ve made lifelong friendships with the great people who serve and attend there.   Our two years at Providence have been a time of restoration and healing for us. As we leave, we are excited to take the things we’ve learned there and use them to minister to others. Luke was ordained in this church at the end of March. By this time, we were in the thick of interviews and getting responses from churches. While we knew we...

Okay, so Luke’s got a new job and we are moving. There are still a few unanswered questions. Where will we live? Where will I be working? Why did we want to leave Kansas City? Where are we living? When we were in Illinois for the vote on June 1, we did some house hunting and made an offer on a home in O’Fallon. The offer was declined by the seller though, because we hadn’t closed on our house in Kansas City yet. So frustrating! That house was amazing and I am praying it is still for sale when we do close so we can resubmit the offer. Because Luke is getting a new job, he must work there for 30 days before a mortgage loan will be given to us. Darn! In the transition time, we will be living in a house Luke’s brother owns in Lebanon. There is plenty of room there and it’s close to the area we want to end up, so we can stay there while we need to. The plan is to restart the house hunt once we are there and hopefully find something quickly (like the house we previo...

Isn’t it funny how God moves? Have you ever been comfortable and then suddenly God calls you to do something different? When I married Luke, I knew my life was going to be full of changes. Ministry is hard and many times, requires a move away from family. After two years of marriage, we moved to Kansas City. That was a hard time for me. I had never been away from family and I left everything I knew behind. But it was also a time of amazing growth. I no longer had anyone to lean on but God, Luke and myself. We had decisions to make that no one but us could determine. Our marriage became stronger and my relationship with God grew by leaps and bounds. We got comfortable here in Kansas City. We both finally got good jobs - doing what we wanted to be doing - we bought a house and decided it was time for a baby. Again, isn’t it funny how God moves us once we get comfortable? In September of last year, we traveled back to Illinois to be with Luke’s Grandma in her fin...

Last week, I passed out a 20-question paper to each of the students in my classes. This questionnaire is full of self-reflection questions to get them thinking about the school year that is about to come to a close. At first they complained, but after about five minutes, they began to reminisce over the past ten months. I asked them questions about the most important things they had learned this year. They were to list three nice things they had done for a fellow student or teacher. I asked them to share a time when something was really difficult but they persevered and finally got it down. These questions were not just based on classes they had with me, but on their school year as a whole. Then they began to ask me the same questions..."Mrs. Henry, what is your favorite memory from this year?" "Have you done anything to help another teacher this year?" It definitely got me thinking about my school year... Sometimes I feel like an outcast among my fellow educators...

I recently ran across an article about working mom's on Facebook. It's by Rockford Parent. It's called, "You Know You're a Working Mom When..." Kind of like the redneck jokes, only not jokes. Totally serious. Totally true. I read that article and said "mmmm-hmmmm" at the end of every paragraph. Some of the "jokes" include (I'm paraphrasing here).... - Spending 8 hours a day with co-workers you don't necessarily love and only 4 (if you are lucky) with your kids. - Coming home and jumping into cooking dinner and/or housework instead of playing with your kids. - Missing your kiddos all day but then secretly wishing them to sleep so you can pay the bills, do a load of laundry, clean the dishes. - Rocking them to sleep while your mind wanders of all the things you "need" to be doing instead of just savoring the moment. And the real kicker... - Feeling mediocre in all you do, all the time. That was the first one in th...

I spend my week days in the trenches, if you will. Immersed in the future of tomorrow. Shaping young minds to become responsible citizens of our great nation. Okay, actually I spend each day attempting to get those stinkers to listen me. Trying to make sure SOMETHING I say is sinking into their busy minds. Cracking jokes and acting *normal* crazy to keep their attention. This week I even played dodgeball. Me. Dodgeball. Doesn't go together. But in all of that, I make connections and build relationships. Or at least I try to. One conversation with a student recently struck me, hard. She told me she thought it was "weird" I was married to a youth pastor. Why? Because I didn't "talk about God and Jesus all the time" like other "religious" people she knew. After further explanation, she reassured me that this was a good thing. That she appreciated that I was "normal" and didn't go "throwing my religion" on people. But I left t...

Disclaimer: This post is about being a mom. The good, the bad and the ugly. I may even discuss breastfeeding, which is taboo to some. So don't read it if you don't want to hear about it. I title this post #1 because I hope to share my successes and struggles as a mom as I continue on this journey. Maybe someone out there is having the same struggles. Or is trying to have the same successes. Being a mom is hard. Being a mom makes you love with a fierceness I never knew. Being a mom is probably one of the greatest things in the whole wide world. I'm just over six months in to this whole being a mom thing. And wow. How tough. How fun. How frustrating. How rewarding. All rolled into one. My kid pukes a lot. I was prepared for poop and prepared for spit up. I thought I had a solid year before I would have to deal with puke. And yes, there is a difference between puke and spit up. I have cleaned up more puke in the past 6 months than I was expecting. I cleaned up a bunch thi...

I never keep my resolutions. I know most people don't either. I seem to make a list of things to do, work on, adhere to and then forget by....February. So why not keep the tradition going? I'm just going with things that I already have in place or am working on....and I'll focus on continuing to improve on them. #1 - Becoming more Christ-like. This is a yearly, monthly, daily, hourly process. I must spend more time in the Word, pray without ceasing and utilize the power of the Holy Spirit each minute of every day. #2 - Be the best wife & mommy I can be. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my job. I consider education my career. I highly doubt I'll ever not work and stay at home. But, my thought process has definitely changed. I would say pre-baby, I was career-minded. I spent a lot of time focusing on my career. And while that's still important to me - I want to be a great teacher, I am starting my Master's this month - I also think it's time for me to u...