The Adventures Of The Cherry Family

Over the last several months, the Lord has been taking us through a season that, in some ways, we knew was coming . However, so many things have happened that we never would have expected. Our transition to Ohio has definitely had its ups and downs, but thankfully, by the grace of God and because of the sweet Mangrum family, we were able to have a place to stay and wonderful time of deepening our relationships with the Mangrums while I was searching for a job, and we were also searching for a home. We waited in hopefully expectation for 2 months before I was able to find a job, and we finally found a home that was not only a great location for ministry purposes, but also the perfect set up to allow for Riley to come and live with us when she moved to Ohio just two days after we moved in! To say that God knew what He was doing would be a huge understatement. His hand has been on truly every moment of our time here. From my frustrations with trying to find a job in the middle of Covid, to our moments of defeat when our “great plans” failed or changed, God was and is always there. He is always working in the seasons of waiting. I’ll be the first to admit that patience is not a gift of mine, so I was not always pleasant or kind in this season, but by God’s grace, He has still given us a beautiful story to tell in spite of our shortcomings.

Since we moved here and officially started meetings together as Inspiring Hope Church, God has already blessed us with so many relationships and connections we never could have imagined. We now have an incredible core team that has been meeting together weekly to study scripture and to find ways to reach our community as we move forward. We have recently been able to serve several of the local schools as they find a new normal in this difficult time, and we are developing relationships with new people every day in each of our own work and social environments as well.

God is so good, and He is so faithful. I could tell story after story of moments God brought together to get us to where we are today (and if you would like to know any of them, feel free to reach out!). But over the last several weeks, I’ve been deeply reminded that, yes, God is so good to us, and He absolutely will move mountains to make things come together, BUT He doesn’t do those things so that we will be happy and have a good “easier” life. He moves mountains for us, so that we will go out and shout from those very same mountaintops of His glory and His honor and His name! We should be moved into action as we watch Him work. We should be so overwhelmed and overjoyed that we can’t help but tell every person we encounter of what God has done and what He is doing even now. The attitude of our hearts must change from I’ll tell someone if they ask…., to Let me tell you what God has done!

However, as we started to get into a routine, I quickly found myself just going through the motions. The excitement of moving had worn off, and I found myself living like very little had changed. Then one day as I was driving to work, I was listening to a sermon podcast. He talked about 1 Samuel 3 when the Lord speaks to Samuel for the first time. Samuel, who was literally sleeping in the temple at the foot of the Ark of God, had never heard the voice of God yet, but he was ready. He was laying in the closest place he could possibly get to God, so that just in case God wanted to speak, He would be ready. And what was Samuel’s response?

1 Samuel 3:10, “Speak, your servant is listening.”

When I heard this, I just thought , What if my approach to life was the same? What if I spent every moment possible at the feet of Jesus just waiting for Him to speak to me and guide me into whatever He would have for me next? The most beautiful part of all this is that we already have that access to Jesus! We don’t have to be a priest in the temple laying at the Ark of God, because if we are believers in Christ, the Holy Spirit Himself is already in us! All we have to do is be still and listen. We have to choose to look up from our mundane routines every single day, multiple times a day, and in our most genuine hearts, say, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” When we are faithful to do this, lives will change. We will start to actually see people with the eyes of Jesus. Life will no longer be about what makes me happy or what is good for me. Life becomes all about following the sweet voice of the Holy Spirit in us as He guides us to love and serve His people.

YES, God is for us, and YES, He wants good for us, and YES, He loves us more deeply than we could ever imagine! The only question is, what mountaintops can we be shouting it from in each of our daily lives? We have to set aside our selfish desires, and choose to give Jesus a standing ovation with our lives.

Sometimes, God calls us to do hard things. But when He does, He promises to move mountains to make them happen.

About a year ago, our executive pastor and his wife, Ben and Brittany Mangrum, announced they would be moving their family to the Cincinnati area to plant a church. Soon after, they expressed their desire for us to go with them. At the time, we were interested, but we also had no idea what the next year of our lives would look like. We agreed to go on a quick vision trip with them in October and had a great time learning about the community and about all God was already doing, but we both still left unsure of where our hearts were. In fact, Brock and I even talked about knowing we would come back and maybe bring some teams back to help with their church plant, but we didn’t feel like we were called to move there. Brock already had several potential job opportunities in Oklahoma, and we were having a difficult time envisioning what God was doing, even in the next few weeks, so thinking a year ahead seemed a little too daunting. We put it on the back burner for awhile, and really didn’t start praying through it again until it was time to start applying for jobs and residencies. We decided Brock would apply for a few residencies in Cincinnati and a few in Oklahoma and whatever he got is where we would go……

Sometimes I think God is laughing at us when we make our own plans. Especially when those plans require no trust in or dependence on Him. Needless to say, that didn’t work. Brock and I were both almost immediately offered job opportunities with a time limit much smaller than “waiting to see how residencies panned out” would allow. At the time, we felt a lot of confusion and frustration with how everything happened, but looking back, God didn’t want us to have the easy, care-free, “whatever happens, happens” sort of mentality in making this decision. He wanted us to struggle with it. He wanted us to HAVE to pursue Him deeply and in ways we had never experienced before so that when we did finally make a decision, we would know it was the right one. We were both basically offered our dream jobs within a week of each other (none of these jobs of which were in Cincinnati), but it was almost as if God was placing everything we ever thought we wanted right in front of us just to give us peace that He was calling us to something different. He was showing us over and over again that His ways are so much better than our ways. His plans are so much greater than anything we could ever imagine. So after weeks of prayer and seeking wise counsel, we decided God was, in fact, calling us to move to Cincinnati. We turned down all of our “dream job” opportunities in blind faith believing God was calling us there, and HE was going to provide the way to get us there.

As you can imagine, our prayers over the next several weeks were not weak or half-hearted as we waited for Brock’s interviews and board exam results. We were on our knees every day begging God for peace and contentment as we slowly watched Him not only MOVE MOUNTAINS, but also move all the boulders, rocks, and even pebbles to get us there. Every tiny detail, God has orchestrated beautifully so that we know without any doubt in our hearts or minds that this is where God is calling us. God is in the midst of providing a way. By God’s grace, Brock passed all three sections of his board exams and has been officially offered a residency at the Cincinnati VA, and we are trusting that God is going to move mountains for me to find a job as well. God is so good and so deeply faithful when we choose to walk with Him in obedience.

With all that said, we are so heart-broken to be moving away from this beautiful place we’ve called home for the last 4 years. God has grown our family so much through the support of our family, our friends, all of the incredible people we have developed relationships with here in Tahlequah, and through those who have invested in us in our church community. I don’t know if we would be where we are without each of you loving, supporting, and discipling us along the way. We desperately desire to maintain connections with everyone, so we decided this blog might be a good way to stay connected with each of you as we continue this amazing adventure God has begun.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about how you can support us in this ministry. But most importantly, if you have any questions about the hope and faith we have in Jesus Christ, we would love to talk to you! We are so excited for all that the Lord is doing through Inspiring Hope Church, and we cannot wait to watch and see how God will continue to move mountains as we walk in faith and obedience with Him.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” -‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭10:23-25‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” -Colossians 3:12-17 ESV