Identity: Finding Peace & Security in Who you actually Are | Ep 05

Jemese: Hey, friend, welcome to a new creation podcast where we're winning women towards victory in Christ, one Jesus story at a time. My name is Jemese LaChel and I'm your host. My background is in trauma therapy, but I'm now serving in the Ministry of Inner Healing and deliverance for women. So go ahead and get yourself comfortable, maybe take a sip of water, because you know we all need to be drinking more anyways. And let's dive right into today's episode. 

I'm just sitting here laughing with our guest today. It's my pleasure to introduce her. Today we've got Cherlyn Decker here with us. Cherlyn is a speaker and author and a coach who helps women entrepreneurs show up with purpose and impact on those they're called to serve. She's written a book called “ROAR back: transforming struggle into strength”, and hopefully we'll be hearing a little bit more of all that later.

But Cherlyn’s got an incredible story for us today and I just can't wait to hear it. Welcome to the show, Cherlyn.

Cherlyn: Oh, I am so glad to be here. Thank you so much for having me somewhere along the way I remember seeing your book somewhere and it struck me.

Jemese: So of course God makes these kinds of divine appointments, and so I'm just thrilled to you actually be speaking with you because I know that you've got something wonderful or there's something wonderful that God wants to say through you and through this conversation.

 Before we begin, I always like to say a little prayer over this conversation, even over the listeners. So let's just do that right now. 

Prayer: Most heavenly father, we are just so grateful for this opportunity. We know what your word tells us that when two or three gather in your name, there you are in the midst of us, and we just want to acknowledge that and say thank you for being here. Lord, we ask you to just completely fill this conversation with your presence, not just between myself and Cherlyn, but also the listener, and Lord, just occupy their space and let us hear exactly what you have a rest. Let us see your heart for us today and and really be moved by exactly what you're trying to accomplish. We want your will to be done and the blessed name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. 

Cherlyn: Amen. 

Jemese: So I am running my mouth. I want to hear from you, sister. So one thing I always like to start the episode out of just asking what sear Jesus Story. So we're on a new creation podcast, so we want to hear those stories about how did God make things new for you? 

Cherlyn: Sure, so I feel like the very beginning is I was, you know, pretty much both born in church, like you know, born from my in the womb I've been since I've been in church. Right. He's the very, very beginning. So this was being having faith part of my life, having got a part of my life being in a follower of Jesus, happened at a really, really young age. And while that's, you know, wonderful, the the word also tells, the Bible also tells us that we will not be without trials, and so I have walked through a thing or two, as that's the commercial says. Great. So, you know, having God is my foundation. As things began to shake in my life, was absolutely critical. And so the new creation story that I want to share was probably when I was in my I'm going to date myself now, probably in my mid S and I was, you know, working in corporate America. I had, you know, I've been very successful. I was doing fantastic and I was in a situation where I got one of those phone calls that says, I'm sorry, your position, it's eliminated. And while part of me knew that it was coming, the reality of it was in that one phone call my family lost sixty percent of our income because I was the breadwinner.

Jemese: Wow

Cherlyn: We were living outside of Washington DC. It's a two income, you know, area, and that's you know, we were living comfortably and to lose my job was just such a shock to me. And here I was doing all the things I was supposed to be doing. I was, you know, getting my resume out there, I was calling my network, I was putting stuff on social media and telling people that I was looking for a new place and all the stuff, and I was doing all the right things. I had hired a head hunter at that time and, you know, I was trying to find a new job and door after door after door began to close in my face and it was one of those things where I was like God, like, I need a new job, like because we had some savings, but it was dwindling very quickly, right as normal life starts to happen. When there's no income coming in and they're still stuff coming out, you're like, oh my goodness, what are you doing? And and I remember just being frozen in fear. And then parts of who I was began to start to shatter, because what I learned about myself in that season is everything that I thought I was was built on what I did. It was built on the title, it was built on the money, it was built on the status, on the position, all the things right, and that was now gone. And so with that, as with that where my foundation was then built, I began to crumble and I was asking God, Oh my Gosh, what do I do now? And it was in that time of my life when God really began to show love and I began to meet him, as I knew in my head that he was my provider. But now I had to walk it out with my feet. 

Jemese: Right. 

Cherlyn: Says, show me that you are my provider, because this is who you say you are in the Bible, this is who you say you are in your word. I need to know you like that and I need to I need to know like I know what I know, like money's got to come in God right, and so he just did some amazing things during that season of showing me that he was my provider in that season, financially, but also in on the personal side of things. He really began to work in my personhood to change who I really am based on what he says that I am, instead of all the things that the world likes to define us. Like we were talking before about, you know what I was believing about myself. So that's kind of where it started and then, like it's been, it's just been a journey ever since.

Jemese: and so we're really hitting on two huge things: identity and promise. Right? identity. 

And those are Oh they're just so huge, especially that identity piece. I don't think many people even always recognize that they're they're in an identity crisis. You know, we hear this, this, the saying you know so, and those having an identity crisis and a lot of a lot of even believers, they don't always understand that they are living out this identity crisis. So what I love about your story is that, in his own way, he met you and showed you that you replacing identity and things that were not able to stand on that stable foundation, and I imagine that had to be really scary at first. 

Cherlyn: It was because you're looking in areas of my heart that I didn't want to go. And I'm a dreamer, so God has always given me, since I was a kid, these really vivid dreams, and I remember right about this time that God gave me this dream and I was wearing this this you know, kind of like a gray shirt like a repairman would wear when they show up to your house, you know, when it's got their patch on and where they work and then their names on the other patch on the other side, right, and I remember in this dream what I saw was the person's name was still there, but there was a big, huge, gaping hole over the place of where the person worked, huge hole, and I was like, what is with this dream, God? And so we became very clear that that everything, that this identity, piece of me was ripped off and now we were going to be stealing with this big, huge hole in my shirt. And it just began to be this journey of saying what's being brave enough to go in there and see what that is. And so then you know, if that wasn't scary dream enough. 

Fast forward a couple months later and I get the similar dream and now I'm wearing an eagle scout uniform and if you've ever seen an eagle scout, there covered and badges everything. They've earned, everything, they've achieved, everything they've you know, they've worked towards, got a badge for this and a badge for that, merit and achievement in all this stuff. And the badges are gone and the whole entire uniform is covered in holes. And God was beginning to show me that every single achievement, every single strength of every single ability, every single thing was going to be, was stripped away and we needed to now look inside the holes of my heart and figure out what is it that I'm who am I really without all of those other things? And so, while that's terrifying and scary, was also an invitation for God to say, are you willing to trust me? Can we go deeper here? And thankfully I said yes, but not everybody does. 

Jemese: That’s true. Not Everybody does, and that yes is so powerful and I don't know about you, but I know my own life experience I've seen that even if we say it and we're trembling, he will grab a hold of that. Yes, and it's actually him who produces the fruit and turns your life from ground completely. But you know, that's a hard concept to understand sometimes. 

You know, in the beginning this is recording around the season of Passover and resurrection, Sunday and all of that, and we're, I guess we I'm just seeing that scene play out of having to believe that the sea is going apart and that, you know, God is going to get you through to the other side, and I know that he wants each and every one of us to trust him that way, you know. And how beautiful is it that he made sure that you knew him that way? Sometimes we struggle with believing that we don't have those issues because we, quote unquote, know God already or we grew up in the church set at Saturday to ever have any of that kind of issues coming up or that those kinds of question things coming up?

Cherlyn: Oh sure. And to be honest, it reminds me of the verse of pride comes before the fall, because I thought that I had a solid foundation, and I did in so many ways at but still there were still lies that I believed. There were things that I let kind of get into my belief system, based on things that people have said, based on, you know, teaching, that I misinterpreted, based on experiences that I had where maybe God didn't show up like he like I thought he should have. So that then put God in a box that he doesn't do this or he doesn't do that because he didn't for me right. And so then that began to form what I believed about God. And now I was face to face with I want to know who you are, because your word says that you know you parted the sea, but he didn't part the sea until after Pharaoh realized, oh my gosh, I lost all my workers and I'm going to go,  go after and  get him. So they're coming over the coming over the ridge right and you can see him and all these relays are probably terrified because they're like, you brought us out here to die. That's exactly what they said to Moses. You brought us here to die. And so here this army's coming after them and then God shows up. They didn't think, oh he's going to part the sea. God had to show up and do something amazing and spectacular. So sometimes when we're in these situations, we are seeing and we're feeling the enemy coming at us, we're feeling our circumstances kind of squeeze us into this, into this tight little spot, and all we have is God. That's all we have. And that was me. I was in that place where the only answer I had was him. Every job closed, it store, every network dried up, every you know, the head hunter I hired couldn't get me anywhere. I was in this place where you would say I'm in a pit and I'm trying not to have a party down there, right because it's just, it's just to the place where I'm like, Oh my God, I'm by myself, you know. And my husband was struggling too, because we're you know, think, you know, goodness, my marriage is so much stronger because of that season. And we like to tell people that he's been married to two different women, because I am completely different woman than, you know, to twenty years ago, completely different for guy. He says he got an upgrade. So I appreciated. Yeah, in the middle of that, those crucible moments when you are just at your wits and and you know you're just feeling all the pressure. Everything, I mean ugly stuff, comes out of you. You know, the fear start to bubble up, the anxieties, the depression, all of those emotions that, while I was a good Christian girl, raised in a Christian home, did all the right things, still my life was not immune from getting hit with, you know, trials and struggles. Paul promises we will go through them. It is strengthens our it helps us build perseverance and character. And though you will go through those things. So it was just that I was not equipped to how to walk things out like that because I had never faced anything like this before. That brought me to the absolute point of I can do nothing and I'm fully dependent on God.

Jemese: And you know, he really wants us to be dependent on him, and I have found and the many women I've talked to, the many stories I've heard, he will do whatever it takes to help us see that we need him and he doesn't want ninety nine percent dependency. He wants US one hundred percent depended on him. And that doesn't mean that we're not capable, that doesn't mean we should be, you know, lacking confidence. No, that's not it but what he wants us to know is just like that song says “Jehovah Jireh", and that's a very popular song. “Jireh, you are enough, you're forever enough, you're always enough.”

He wants us to see him that way because, you know, we are so limit anted and our own screen, and I can relate to that experience of hitting a wall where all the door shut and work does not produce. You can you can't find a job, but nobody's answering and door slamming shut. He will and in a hurt sometimes, like it hurts when that happens. But that's how important it is for us to be dependent on him. And that could be a tough lesson. 

Cherlyn: It can be, because I was a type a get or done, type of girl, giving the plan I go execute, type of you know, and in a way, and that was how I was in my walk with God to here's my plans, Lord just blessed, pat me on the head and send me on my way, thank you very much. But this was he wasn't telling me what my next steps were. The gave me one. Trust me. Well, that's fine, God, I do trust you. No, trust me with not knowing, and that takes us back to like you know, the story of Abraham, go to a place I'm going to tell you to go as you move forward, like you're going to going to know anybody, you're going to have to leave all your family, you're going to have to leave everything that you've ever known and go to a place that's absolutely unknown. And there is a lot of people listening who have this fear of unknown, because we like to know those next steps. But that's not how life works. We very rarely get the full blueprint of we're we're headed. And because God knew how I was, he wasn't going to give me the plan because he knew that I was going to try to manipulate my way to put, you know, to the end place on my own. so He's like, I'm not showing you that because I want to take you on a journey to learn how to be fully dependent on me, not against my independence, but to realize that where he was taking me, what he was calling me to do, was going to require me to trust him, and him only, and not my own strengths, and not my own abilities, and not my giftings. None of that. Not that I couldn't use those things. There was there's been a time in my life and he's just like, okay, go ahead, and I'm like, I don't know what to do with thout you, God, and he's like like because I got into this place where I was so dependent on God, but then he's just had to give me my independence back, and I was like, well, I like how to operate this independence. I've been in a place of dependence for so long. How do I do this? And so it's not that he doesn't give that back, it's just that there's this season that I had to walk through to learn what it really did look like to say I will trust you for everything. 

Jemese: Oh Yeah, and I keep read being reminded of the scripture that Jesus, Jesus wants to produce fruit in us that will last, fruit that will remain. And how can that happen unless we go through things? You know, you don't know what's inside of you until you're walking through the fiery furnace. You don't know. You just and you can say all day long, I trust, I trust, I trust. You can say that all day. Lord I have, you know, faith to move them out to and you can say that, but how do you really know unless you're put in the experience where you have to walk that out. 

Cherlyn: That’s exactly right. And the Bible uses imagery of oil and wine and both of those come from crushing and pressing. And none of us like to be in the pressing place. None of us like to be in those places of difficulty. But the same and we, you know, we can talk about linens and you know you can. You make you limen, limond out of limits and all of these things. Those come from the realization that great stuff comes, really expensive stuff, right, worth while stuff comes out of the breaking. The or the perfume that was shattered at Jesus's feet was worth more than a year's wages. She had to break it to get it out first. Pressed from that oil is the most expensive. The wine from those grapes end up come, you know, becoming expensive the longer their aged. When we realize that the most expensive, most valuable stuff we could bring to God comes from our crushing, not because he's cruel but because he loves to US enough to transform what we have walked through and use it for his golry every single time, every single time, and and it really gives him and glory. It is and honors him. When we can take that and now use it, like we were talking about a little it earlier, to help tell the story, that will help me somebody else, you know, to help empower somebody else so that maybe they could avoid those same pitfalls. 

Jemese: Tell us a little bit about that. So if you could kind of jump forward, tell us a little bit about what changed. Like you, he took you through this process, you and your whole family. Really, he took you all through this. I mean you've got you've got two kids, right?

Cherlyn: I do. 

Jemese: Yeah and,

Cherlyn: Two teenagers. 

Jemese: Anything we go through affects our family. How did things change and transform for you all? Because while you're going through this and holding it together as a mom and as a businesswoman and trying to figure out direction, what changes did you see within family and also, just like within life in general? 

Cherlyn: Yeah, let me start with that second piece, in life in general. So in this season I was a worship later and so I am standing up, you know, in church every single week after week that I'm, you know, on the rotation, and I am pouring my heart out from God, from a place of absolute pain and dependence and all of that stuff, and there was just a rawness in my worship that people began to notice and Oh yeah, I got around the that Cherlyn lost her job and she's going through some stuff and blah, blah, blah. But then people began to approach me. This was a couple months in. They're seeing my worship and they're seeing my worship transform. And then like somebody stopped my husband and I in the hall way telling us congratulations because they thought we were pregnant because I was glowing so much. Now we weren't. 

Jemese: Wow, 

Cherlyn: yeah, nearly made my husband spit his coffee through his nose. Was One of those moments right. We were like, oh my gosh, but it was. But to see the fruit of this pressing, that it had finally released its fragrance, was just so beautiful. And then, probably around my layoff happened in February, probably around September, I go to this Labor Day Picnic and it's a group of people from work and people from church, because there was a lady that I worked with went to by turn and so she invited a mixed group of people and I walk in there and a woman that used to work for me was it was in the in the crowd, and so she sees me walking in with my, you know, my side dish and my lawn chairs and my husband and kids, and we're walking in and she says to me, Cherlyn, I recognized your form but not your countenance. She saw my shape walk in the room, but she didn't recognize me anymore because something physically had lifted off of me, something had transformed in me. No, I can't describe what these people saw in my worship or in the backyard barbecue, but they saw enough to know that, oh my gosh, something had happened. I had had, you know, an encounter with God where he completely radically changed so much in my life. 

Now, how did it show up in my marriage? Well, I mean it will. I can tell you how. A showed up in my finances, we just got all kinds. We would find fifty dollars laying at the ditch. We would get rebate checks from Costa show that covered the electric bill. We would get we would, you know, have somebody, you know, remember the whole you pay for the person behind you at start by, yeah, and…

Jemese: Pay it forward.

Cherlyn: Yes, and so people would do that for us. And what I'd be like it would just be these things would kind of happen. Grocery showed up on my front door, like all kinds of things that God would just show up in permission in ways that we absolutely needed. And so that that's, you know what's some tangible ways in my relationships, though. It created such a firm foundation in my walk with God that now, whenever anything comes at us, I I'm going to get out my word and I'm going to stand on the promises and you better believe I'm going to get out, you know, my sword, as Paul calls It, and I'm going to do, you know, some battle with the enemy and push him back and be like, oh no, you're not. So I know how to stand on the promises of God, to be like God has provided me once. I love the verse from revelation that says we overcome the enemy by the blood of the lamb, which is what Jesus did for us, and the word of our testimony. So now I have a testimony that says God has provided for me once and he'll do it again. So you best not becoming after me and my finances, because God has already got me. and Oh yeah, by the way, don't you even think about them after me in my health, because God says he's my healer. and Oh yeah, by the way, don't you dare come after my family, because you know, and I would have stand on these scriptures. And so now, like I have this ferocious faith that comes out of me whenever the circumstances start to swirl. So that alone from, you know, being paralyzed in fear to absolutely knowing that my feet, my my my prayer, life and my the way I stand on the promises of God is, you know, just with a fierceness that you know. He better not mess with me. He just better not.

Jemese: Come on, yes,!

Cherlyn: It says you're going to put him under your feet. I just put him under my feet. I just tell him right back where he's got to go. But that came with the pressing and so we ended up being able to step into this level of authority that I have and you know, and be able to trust God like I do because of what I walk through. Yes, and I think sometimes we want God to just instill it in its we just want them to give it to it's just make us that way. Your God, you can do anything, just just do it. But he wants to walk us through the experience of growing, of of being in the vine, of being so abiding, in the presence of the sun, abiding in the presence of the Holy Spirit, just abiding. He wants us to walk through that because, like you said, you mentioned authority, and this authority enables you to have a ferocious faith in the really intertwined, the really intertwined really, and that is something that I don't feel like we talk about enough, that confidence, which is really confidence in him, that confidence to speak the word with a the authority, with power and to put the enemy in his place. 

Jemese: We need that and that's what that's truly what the Lord wants rest, because a lot of people are going through so many trials and circumstances and they're going through that crushing, but it's almost like a crumbling and they stay and they don't know what to do at that point because maybe they don't even know Jesus and maybe they don't even understand this God stuff. You know. Tell us a little bit about from your experience. You know the word of God, the importance of it, the importance of diving into it. Did you feel like going through this and walking through this really gave you more of a tenacious hunger for the word and understanding. Did anything change with your relationship to the word and your Bible and and how you utilized it? 

Cherlyn: I did, because I became more Paul calls it a sword in effusions, chapter six. He calls it the sword and when order you anyone, you know it's a weapon that I wanted to know. How do I use it like that? And so I began to dive into the word because I wanted to know every single place in the Bible where he got it provided for somebody, every single spot where he showed up and the most craziest circumstances to provide for somebody. I mean there's a story of a lady who, you know, she got she poured oil to pay off her debts. Like what, what? All right, Pantry, right, yeah, and then like here's this you know widow who is about ready to die and she's like going to make herself for a last piece of cake, and that the Elijah says to her, you know, feed me, and she's like what? So she makes him the cake first and then there's enough and it never ran dry until the famine was over. So there's just so many ways you. You know, we see God and multiplying food. I wanted to see how do I do that, God, how do I operate? How do I trust you for this kind of supernatural stuff and my finances? And so I began to dive into the word with a look at what. Who Do you say you are? Number one, because I needed to go because for some of you, maybe not be God your provider. Might Be God is your healer, or might be, you know, God is your father, or it might be God is something you know. We need to know who god says he is. And then I was able to say, okay, then what am my circumstances need, because who is he? What do I need him to be in my life right now? And then what's the promise that he gives me? Because you said earlier that identity and promise are intertwined, and I believe they are absolutely in the sense that you can't tap into the inheritance. Everything that you have is a daughter of God, everything you have is the bride of Christ until you know who you are, and so you know you're his daughter, until you know you're the bride of Christ, you ain't got no inheritance. 

Jemese: Exactly 

Cherlyn: when you know who you are, when you know what your identity is, then you can tap into the promises of God, then you can tap into the inheritance that he has for you. And so all of those things began to connect and I began to use the word of God as be like, well, this is what your word says, your word says, your word says. I would look at my circumstances and say, your word says. It's really that simple. And I think some times we just we just kind of think of the word is just kind of all scary and in in you know where I don't understand it. But really there's so many promises in there and that's what I went on hunt for. I became a promise hunter in the word of God. I want to know what you say I'm entitled to because I want it. I want everything that you say I can have. 

Jemese: Yes, I love that. Be a promise hunter and I love that and and it's true. You know, a lot of people are intimidated. I confess that I for many years I did not pick up my Bible because I didn't see I didn't see the people around me picking up their Bible very much. And when I had questions, I'd never got clear answers and so it ended up be this thing that I kind of carried around and I chucked away. But like many, like you, like so many stories that I've heard, God will allow the circumstance to occur in our lives that will draw us. And Oh, I've now I'm just so passionate about women diving in the word, all God's children diving in my worry. But we need to know what's in there and I have found that that that idea that the scriptures are scary, whatever, whatever that's like, that's how the enemy wants us to see it. Because when I pick up my Bible I see hope. The Gospel of John says that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God and the word was with God. You know, in the beginning the word. I now know that when I'm pick up my Bible, if I feel like I can't encounter Jesus or I'm struggling, I can pick up my Bible and Jesus is the Word. So when I'm reading my Bible, I'm just going into that knowing that I'm encountering God right there, even by just even if I don't know what it says. This is how I wasn't the beginning, you know, when I when I first was born again, I didn't know what it said, because keep reading, just keep reading, just keep reading, because the Holy Spirit will bring you into understanding. That's his job, you know, to make sure that we know, and so I love to hear that you you went in with purpose. You know, you went in with I want to find this. I know that it's it really is simple. It is so simple. It's the enemy who wants to make us think that it's complicated, but it's not. 

Cherlyn: That’s right, and I one of the things that you know that people might be asking it's okay, where do I start? Where do I start in the word of God to find what you guys are talking about? And I'm going to tell you. Either started Ephesians, Start in Ephesians, because everywhere in Ephesians it tells us who we are and what we have. And so start they are. Soak in to who God says you are and what he has for you, reading through the proverbs and just soak in all of that wisdom and don't necessarily realize struggle with whether or not you can understand it, because the word says that he will give you revelation and understanding. All we need to do is ask him for that. And when we when you see where it says, ask him. Ask Him. If it says you know, ask me for understanding. Ask Him for understanding. If it says may the doors of you know made the revelation, and when the old eyes of open, the eyes of my heart, ask him say God, open the eyes of my heart, be able to sin. He will. He will reveal those things to you because all interpretation, all revelation, comes from God anyway, and he can speak right to your heart, right when you need it, and give you the and lead you to the verse that you need. And you know, sometimes it's just as easy as you know, go into your search box and say, you know, scripture versus on whatever you're feeling, anxiety or depression or whatever, and just let someone else's do the homework for you, and then just begin to read those and then read them in your Bible and see what they what the story is in context or those people walking through for God to actually say that about them. And so that's just a good how to place to start with the word. When it's like, okay, how do I get there? 

Jemese: I love that. 

Cherlyn: Yes

Jemese: I often say that. It's like we take one step towards God, we take one step towards Jesus us. He takes a thousand steps, starts us because he wants us to know him. He wants us to have relationship with him. You know, he doesn't want it to just be something that we heard about or no, if he wants us to have the personal understanding, the personal revelation and the wisdom, he's so willing. He's so willing to pour that out on us. So I love, Love, love that advice. 

Tell us about the promises and we talked a little bit about that. I want to dive in. I want to dive in a little bit more. And the promises, because I don't know about Yale, but I've talked with a lot of women who they just don't, they literally don't understand. Holy God made a promise. That's for them. Did you struggle at all with breaking down that sort of mindset, if you will?

Cherlyn: I did, from this sense of that. I had a difficulty with timing because, let's just face it, we live in a microwave world where we can order something on Amazon and then by the end of the day the dog food is delivered. That has depend great. was here, like it used to be a two day delivery. Now it's like same day door stock if you order right now, right type of thing. So we're used to in a I mean we can put frozen chicken and the instant pot and it will be done in thirty minutes. We are used to that kind of response. But that is not God, and so I would struggle with the you know, I need you to show up in this situation, God, and I need you to show right now, like right now, right now, like hello, I said right now, and it would just take a lot longer than I expected. It would take out and there are still some promises of things that God visions and plans and promises that God has given me and things that he's spoken over my life that I am still not there yet. And so we can be frustrating in those times when you're like, but it hasn't happened yet. But his word says that his word will not return void. It will accomplish what it's set out to do. So that means if he's going to speak something over you. If it's in the Bible and he says I have a purpose in a plan for you, then he has a purpose in a plan for you and he will make sure, because he loves you so much, that you're not going to miss it. He will make sure that you are connected with the right people at the right time. He will make sure that the you know, right opportunity to show up at the right time, because God is outside of time and we have a hard time understanding that because we live inside, you know, of Oh, got to be right here because I have a podcast, you know, and we're going to we're going to we have to show up, because we're used to living inside a chronos time, chronological time, but God is outside of that and so he can make sure that things happen when they're supposed to happen. I mean, the just how you and I even got connected was a divine appointment, because somebody needs this conversation. 

Jemese: Oh absolutely, 

Cherlyn: and so he connected us because somebody's listening and this conversation is for you, and God saw you and he knew you needed this and so he made sure that we met at the right time so we could record this at the right time, so we could go live at the right time, just for the person who's going to be listening at the right time to get what they need. God is perfect. And so while I struggle with the waiting of saying God, but you said, I can remind myself and your word will not return word, it will accomplish what it set out to do. And so I just constantly go back to to the word and remember that those voices of doubt, those voices of you know he's not gonna those voices of but not for you, that are all lies. We have to be able to recognize the difference between the Voice of the enemy, the voice of ourselves and our insecurities in our lack of belief about God, and then the voice of the father. And once we can, and that's I mean that's a whole ‘nother conversation, but when we need to understand if it sounds like a lie, it's not God. If he's lying to you, telling you that something that's contrary to what the word says, it's a flat out lie. And that's why Jesus calls him a liar. 

Jemese: That’s right, and we get to call it a liar too.

Cherlyn:  That's right.

Jemese: I love it. I love it, I love it. I know that someone is going to be so blessed. I could feel the fire of God on this conversation. I love it. Is there anything that you feel like you want it to touch on we haven't dived into just yet?

Cherlyn: Yes, let me try to paint a little bit of a picture that's a little bit different to try to explain what we've been talking about. For Anybody who goes to the gym, you were familiar with going in there on arm day or leg day and you work out those muscles and you are using ways and you're strengthening those muscles. Are you using resistance? And what you're doing is you're breaking down those muscles. You're breaking them down, because the science behind it is as you break them down and then they recover, they get stronger. And so here with this whole entire thing we've been talking about today, is us going into the gym with God and letting him her be our personal trainer to strengthen us in the areas that we need strengthened so that we can get stronger. So, yes, while it might feel like, oh my goodness, my life is breaking down in this area, okay, maybe it is, but trust your trainer and recover with him and rest with him, soak in the word of God, covering your worship music, do all of those things to just let God strengthen you so that you can build up those resistance and build up that strength and build up those muscles to take you where he's trying to take you. So I hope that that analogy helps put a little bit of a different picture on kind of what we've been talking about here. We talked about the crushing and the pressing, but I think the analogy of the gym is kind of helpful for people that paints such a clear pictured. It really is about trust. We like we discussed, we have to walk through your process to know that. We know that, we know that we trust. And kind of even going back to some conversation Abraham when he was taking that trest walk. That was all trest, and I heard a pastor preach went that it's not that God didn't know if Abraham would be obedient or not. We're talking about Abraham getting ready to sacrifice his son and the angels says Abraham, maybe it's not that God he was being mean. It's that Abraham. He didn't have that experience yet of knowing that he trusted God that way, like that intensely, that much. He didn't. Abraham didn't know. Abraham didn't know. God knew, but did Abraham know? And I think sometimes we have to ask ourselves that when, especially if we're scraggulating with why are you putting me through this Lord? You know, sometimes we think we're not supposed to ask those questions, so we just hide it in her heart, but the question still remains. Why am I going through this is so hard? I think sometimes God is he's he's giving us that environment to ask ourselves. Do we really trust him like we say we too? Yeah, and it was that mountain experience that he had with Isaac where he named God Jehovah Jireh. He didn't know him as his provider until that moment. It was absolute desperation, as I was about. You know that I was to the absolute place where I could. I he just couldn't believe the situation he was in and he and God showed up and God provided. He's like, oh my Gosh, you're my provider. Like in a way, out of desperation, out of Oh my out of just absolute emptiness, and that's when he named God. And we all need to have these experiences with the Lord where we see who he is. When he says I'm your provider, do you trust him that he is and ask him to show up and show you that he is not? Think is here, inviting him to make you know, cause your life to go all crazy, but because you want, he says, test me in this, and let me prove myself that. You know, when you were struggling with Lord, I believe that you're my healer. So you know, lay hands on yourself. The word says lay hands on the sick and they will be healed.

 Well, okay, so I don't know if you know, if people don't know this about me. I have I have hearing damage. I was a worship leader for a long period of time and years before we had inner ear stuff. So I'm listening to these monitors scream at my face and I've lost some some hearing. So I can't even I can't be on worship teams anymore because my hearing loss is so bad. But so you know, I still am trusting God heal my ears. I mean I'll put my hands on my ears and I'll be like, Lord, your word says you are my healer, heal my ears. Now I mean that waging process, because I believe he's going to do it, but he's going to do it on his timing so he can get the glory for it exactly exactly and, like you said, it's standing on the word. 

Jemese: That’s about having that ferocious faith that's so important. What would you say to the listener who didn't know the Lord in this way, who maybe didn't even have a relationship with Jesus or was struggling with that or you know, I have a lot of listeners across the spectrum. I have some listeners who are in the faith but maybe it's stale or stagnant. What would you tell someone listening about how to for themselves begin to know God that way? 

Cherlyn: That’s such a powerful question, I mean in the first thought that came to my mind is if I were going to tell you about this mate, amazing man that I met, I would tell you all about the wonderful things that he is. He's my, He  provides for everything that I need, every single care that I have. I can lay at his feed and he's be like he's the most supportive. He's the most sustaining, he's the you know he's he brings calmness, he brings me peace, he gives me great what advice and wisdom. He leads me and guides me and ways that you know, I would not have gone before. He's my biggest cheerleader, he's my hope, he's my rock and, at the end of the day, laid his life down for me and he said, whatever you think you might have done that makes you think you're unworthy of all of this, he sacrificed himself so I could be forgiven and he did that for you and he's inviting you to receive that that sacrifice. As says, he sacrificed himself for you so that you could have full relationship with the father, so you could be in right relationship with God, so that all your sins would be forgiven and you can tap into every single promise that God has for you. Is just by saying yes to the man who laid his life down for you. And if I introduced you to that man, you'd be like, oh my gosh, where is this person? And you are called his bride. So if we think about this as like a dating relationship. If I were to be tell and about this amazing man that I thought that I met, that be perfect for you. You'd be soaking all of the step in and be like yes, and then you find out that he's been wooing you this whole entire time and all you have to do is say yes and like your life will change because he's going to come into your life and he's going to begin to do the work that when you say yes, I trust you. Yes, I surrender this area. Yes, Lord, I want you to use me. Yes, God, you know I want those purposes and plans you have for me. Will you know you're going to become a better version of yourself, not that you were a bad version before, but it's just like the Caterpillar turning into the butterfly. You end up in a transformation process where you are going places that your wings can take you, that you didn't even know you had wings, but it was inside of you, because He created you and he knew it and he created you to fly. And there's things that he wants you to do that you can only do when you say yes to Jesus. So I want to invite you to know who this man is because he's a wooing you, he's chasing you and he wants to be there for you and free single step of the way. 

Jemese: That’s so good. That's so good. How could we find your work? I know you have a book. Tell us a little bit about where we can find you. And I’ll have all that juicy stuff in the show notes. 

Cherlyn: Yeah, so. So. The best place to find me is on my website, CherlynDecker.com You can find me on social media. All of my handles are the same, @cherlyndecker, with the exception of facebook. Facebook, I think it's @CherlynDeckerAuthor or whatever. But I'll make sure you have all of those social links and I'm going to give you a special place to go, CherlynDecker.com/newcreation because on that place not will all those other places to connect with me. You're going to be there place just get my book. is going to be their link. You joked Amazon. And then I want to be able to put the word of God in your hands. I write declarations all of the time for myself and I want to put a declaration in your hands, and what that is is that's taking the word of God flipping it into a prayer or an affirmation and saying it over yourself. And I want that, is just the basic way to be able to stand on the word of God, stand on his promises, and I want to put that in your hands. So there's going to be a place on there, on CherlynDecker.com/NewCreation, for you to be able to go to get this declaration in your hands, because I want you to learn how to stand on the promises of God by speaking it out loud. 

Jemese: Yes, I love it, and that's putting your faith in action right there. 

Cherlyn: That’s it. 

Jemese: I love it. Thank you so much. This is such a blessing, such a blessing, I don't even want the conversation to end. I know that this is going to be so fruitful for someone and I just can't begin to imagine but God's going to do with this. I thank you so much for your time. 

Cherlyn: This has been my pleasure. Thank you so much.

Jemese [prayer]: I couldn't say in any better than we just heard Miss Sherlyn say it, but I want to give you one more opportunity to come to Jesus, whether you're coming to Jesus for the very first time in your life or maybe you want to recommit. He makes it so simple. The Word of God tells us that whoever declares it with their mouth, Jesus is a Lord, and whoever believes it in their heart, they shall be saved. I invite you to say this prayer along with me. Father, God, I believe. I believe that I'm child of God. I believe that Jesus bore all of my sin, all of my sickness, all of my disease on the cross, that he died and rose again on the third day. Lord, I choose you. You have chosen me. I choose you, Lord, and I thank you. Please continue to teach me and guide me, help me to make the tough decisions that I need to be making. Help me to know you as you say you are. Please lead me into all truth about who you are. I want to know your character, I want to know your attributes, I want to know you personally. Please teach me, Lord. I confess that I am now the righteousness of God in Christ, and I ask you to please lead me into more wisdom and understanding of this beautiful gift of grace which you have blessed me with. Thank you, father, thank you, Lord, Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit, and if you just said that prayer for the first time, welcome to the family. 

Jemese [outro] :All right, that's a wrap for this episode. As always, thank you for tuning in and if there's anybody that you know who might be blessed or encouraged by something that was shared today, please do us the favor of sitting this episode to them directly, maybe via a text message or on your social media. That would be an incredible blessing. It would also bless me tremendously if you would take the time to leave a review on apple, podcast, spotify or wherever it is that you're listen to your podcast. That just helps us spread this message of the gospel of Jesus and touch more lives for his glory. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all. I'll see you in the next episode.