Brianne Henry

F or the last few years, I have tried to choose a word or phrase to focus on in the coming year. I ended 2015 on a spiritual high and I recall 2016's focus being "dedicated passion." That was mostly lived out in the leading of the MOPS ministry at our last church. Then 2017 came barrelling in and knocked me off my feet. I had no word or phrase that I remember striving for except "survival." This past year has not been one where I've grown leaps and bounds in my relationship with Christ. Until the later part of the year, it was one where I didn't even have the energy (or quite frankly, desire) to open my Bible or pray. I say that in complete honesty and transparency. 2017 was tough. But here we are, just a couple weeks away from yet another new year. I'm feeling so much better than I was six months ago. I'm feeling like me again. And while I can think of a whole slew of things I need to work on, one is key. Luke has a sign in his office that re...

I                turned 30 on November 22, 2016. I was 8 months pregnant on my 30th birthday and just a couple of days before the start of 2017, Rebecca Sue joined our family. 2017 has been a hard year for me...mentally, physically (looking at you, lost sleep), and spiritually. Here are three things I've learned since I celebrated my 30th birthday. 1. I am weak and that is okay. God uses all kinds of circumstances and experiences to shape us. Some of those are great experiences and some of them are tough. This year, I walked through one of those tough experiences. I'm a firm believer in sharing our struggles with one another. There is no shame in your struggle, your hard place, unless you keep it hidden from the world. Darkness creeps in when we refuse to bring our struggles into the light. After I had Becca, I suffered from postpartum depression. There, it is in the light. I am just now beginning to dig dee...

First Baptist Church Fairview Heights, There are things I want you to know. These things are so important to me. I believe it’s good for my church to know my heart. Lord knows I am up on that stage hounding you all about something more often than not, so my blog shall be my forum for now. Five things I would love for you to know. 1.      I never pictured myself doing this. If we could go back ten years and tell 19-year-old Brianne Hayes that she would someday be married to a youth pastor, I would have laughed. Not that I didn’t love Jesus or desire to serve Him, but simply because I had other plans in mind. The Bri from ten years ago wouldn’t have been able to fathom the life that 2015 Bri is living because it’s just so incredibly different from what my plans were. Being married to a pastor is different than being a member of a church. Living in Kansas City and the Metro East St. Louis area is a far cry from Ramsey – town of 1100. And I n...

When I first got married, I received lots of advice. As do all brides. Some of my advice was a little different than the average soon-to-be-wife. I was marrying a youth pastor. My life was doomed (or so it seemed from said advice). I was encouraged to not make friends with church members by more than one seasoned pastor’s wife. I was told I would never “have all of my husband” because he would be consumed by the ministry. And my future kids, forget about it – doomed also. Was I scared entering this marriage? You betcha. Did I think my life was doomed? Not exactly, but I definitely heeded their advice and kept walls up. And then I did the hard things. I served alongside my husband. I had ugly people tell me bad things about my husband. I witnessed people I loved treat my husband with disrespect. And I knew those ladies were right. Put your walls up, Brianne, you can’t be friends with these people. Time passed, seasons of our life changed, and I began to witness solid Christian ...

You may have seen some strange sightings of a Flat Bri on Facebook. I've had people comment, message and speak to me in person about this phenomenon. There's some fun friends at First Baptist Fairview Heights. If you are wondering what in tarnation Flat Bri is - here is some background info. So, I do these video announcements at church. It's relatively new, been doing them a couple months. Basically, Luke and I film me welcoming everyone to church and then I go through a few important announcements. It saves time and prevents someone from having to walk up to the stage, read straight from the bulletin, and then awkwardly walk off stage. It's fun. Or at least I think it is! After the first video, one of my friend's sons wondered where I was filming. He really wanted to know where I was! A few of us joked about this - we thought it could be fun for me to film in various places around the church and then have a contest to see who could guess where I was. We then cr...

In just a few short days, I will celebrate being unemployed for one year. This year has been so different than I expected, so much harder and so very joyful all at the same time. Staying home with a kid isn't for the faint of heart - I don't even know how you mommies of multiple children do it. God called me to be at home this year. I know it's not a calendar year - but our big life events seem to circle a school year, so roll with it. And I am so very thankful He did. What did this year accomplish? REST. Now, don't mistake me here - chasing a toddler around and keep up with my husband's ministry work does not equal physical rest. In fact, I may have been busier than ever this past year. I didn't spend my days lounging on the couch or sleeping in past 6:30am. However, the type of rest I experienced over the past 12 months was so much deeper and so much better than simply a physical rest. I woke up most mornings to the sounds of Cooper - now my body knows 6:3...

I serve on the Early Childhood Committee at our church. One of our biggest challenges in our latest meetings is our very real need for more adults to work in the church nursery. A few friends from my Sunday School class can remember just a couple years ago when there were only two couples who regularly attended what is now my Sunday School class. My class recently went from one class to two classes, due to growth. When we moved here in June, Cooper was the only baby in the nursery during Sunday School and many times, it was just him and another little girl in the nursery on Sunday and Wednesday nights. Lately, we have regularly been having at least five kiddos on Sunday and Wednesday nights and many more than that on Sunday mornings. So our plea has been real. We've taken cute pictures of kids and written bubbles above their heads with funny comments. We've made "Help Wanted" signs and had kids hold them up after church. But it's not really working. So I got to ...