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.
The Adventures Of The Cherry Family 