Jeanette Henry tells ministers' wives to ‘count it all joy’ despite hardships

TAMPA (FBC)—Neither clinical depression nor church conflict can rob Jeanette Henry of her joy as the wife of a minister. Her candid testimony of real-life issues was a living example of the 2003 Ministers’ Wives Luncheon theme based on James 1:2: "Joy in the Journey."

FBC photo by Ken Touchton

Jeanette Henry, wife of Jim Henry, pastor of First Baptist Church in Orlando, spoke at the 2003 Ministers’ Wives Luncheon Nov. 11 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Tampa.

"We can count it all joy because we can be sure of the goodness of God," said Henry, wife of Jim Henry, pastor of First Baptist Church of Orlando and a past president of the Southern Baptist Convention. She addressed 140 women Nov. 11 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Tampa.

Henry said she began to learn the lesson to "count it all joy" when mounting church tensions almost cost her husband a pastoral position in his early years of ministry.

"We can count it all joy because God is so good to us when we stay the course," Henry added. "We can count it all joy because we can be sure of the Word of God."

Disclosing her six-year battle with clinical depression, Henry said, until just recently, she kept her struggle with depression a secret. As a pastor’s wife, she was reluctant to share the truth of her battle with the genetic disease.

But after alarming health issues, spurred by the depression and the ineffectiveness of medication, Henry and her husband recently made her illness public to their congregation.

Since that time, the church family has been extremely supportive of Henry and her battle with the disease, she said. She added that she "never felt so loved."

Her motivation to expose the once secret depression came from a desire to encourage other ministers’ wives to seek help when their journey seems trying.

Many women serving in ministry feel they must endure their problems alone, said Henry. By not getting help or sharing their problems, they have no support or encouragement.

Sharing her struggle at the luncheon was an act of "conviction" for Henry who was advised by her doctor to step back for three months and do only those things she wanted to do.

"I felt like the Lord wanted me to do this because it is time to tell of my experience. I don’t know what He is doing, but whatever it takes, I’ll do it!"

Rosemary Young Brantley of New Covenant Baptist Ministries in Starke attended the annual luncheon for the first time. "Being Mrs. Henry’s age, I can relate to what she is saying. I have really been spiritually fed" by her testimony, said Brantley.

The luncheon featured the presentation of the annual Clyde Merrill Maguire Award for Outstanding Service by the Conference of Baptist Ministers’ Wives of Florida.

Ann Fuller Coffman of Westview Baptist Church, Sanford, received the award. The pastor’s wife served as president of the Florida Woman’s Missionary Union from 1994-1999. Her husband, Bill W. Coffman, served as president of the Florida Baptist State Convention in 1987.

The 2004 Ministers’ Wives Officers were announced at the meeting. They are: Sabrina Patterson, First Baptist Church of Glen St. Mary, president; Kitty Hogan, The Church at Chet’s Creek, Jacksonville, first vice president; Leah Loy, Ortega Baptist Church, Jacksonville, program vice president; and Anita Weaver, Parkwood Baptist Church, Jacksonville, secretary-treasurer.