Donna Henderson

Administrative Assistant

My connection to Faith And Reason Forum is a friendship with Donna and Brian Morley through our church and The Master’s College. I help with administrative tasks on the website such as word processing and scanning. We share a love for our Lord Jesus Christ and a passion for getting the Word of God out.

I didn’t always have this passion. Although I grew up in a Christian home, attended a wonderful church, and had a disciplined life, I struggled with depression in high school and went to self-help books for answers. Because the books were written by what I thought were Christian authors I trusted what they had to say. I became hooked on reading books that explained my depression as caused by external circumstances and others.

Blaming others and explaining away my troubles became a way of life. Through college and for many years in marriage, I convinced myself that I was better than others based on my work ethic. I thought that the circumstances of my life could and should be changed to fit my own personal idea of how I wanted my life to be. My life was a downward spiral of pain and conflict and God was pushed farther and farther out of my thinking. I knew that God was the center of the universe, but I was the center of my life.

My life consisted of periods of feeling good from my personal accomplishments to feeling panicky and miserable in the relationships in my life. The Bible didn’t make sense any more and church was confusing.

Ten years ago, after our family moved to Seattle, I fell on my knees before God and admitted that I knew I was miserable because I didn’t know Him. I knew that I didn’t have the peace and joy the Bible promised because of my own soft and untrained mind. I decided to take the time to know God even if I had to give up the basic necessities of life like eating and sleeping to do it. I began a course of learning how to understand the Bible. I asked God for the wisdom to understand what the Bible truly meant.

This commitment led me to ask a friend at church to teach me how to study the Bible. I began a program of seriously reading the Bible, reading books that explained the Bible, memorizing and listening to sermons on tape. Over the course of several months, my desire to know God turned into an unquenchable thirst for more understanding from the Bible. I experienced the ravishing desire to know God that was like a baby screaming for more milk.

Although my panicky feelings did not disappear overnight, my mind became stronger and stronger. I grew in my understanding and perspective on life in a way that changed how I saw the world around me. One of the first elements of the change in my own mind was the realization of my own sinfulness. I started making things right in all the relationships that were grievous to me. I started confessing everything large and small to everyone. The more I confessed, the cleaner I felt. I began to leap for joy inside over the sense of being forgiven by God and others. Understanding God’s Word helped me differentiate between my own sin and the sin of others. I began a regular routine of personal confession before God and others, then began to experience the exhilaration of forgiving others who sinned against me. This, over time, not only lifted my depression, but filled my mind with the peace and joy that the Bible promises to those who love God because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Along with doing administrative tasks for Faith and Reason Forum, I work in the Financial Aid Department at The Master’s College, as a Loan Processor. I’m married to Bill Henderson and we have two children: Brian (Master’s college graduate, May 2006) and Kimi whose currently in high school. I want to give my life and talents to a school where the Word of God is held as the highest standard for all of life. My true joy is helping where I can with the administrative gifts that God has given me in ministries that have the same passion for God’s Word that I have come to know.