Terribly Interesting

🍁 It is October 1st! Let’s commit our month to Jesus.  Jesus, thank you for autumn and the invitation to savor colors and flavors and company. We commit this October to You. Lead us to act in wisdom and kindness to those in our path. Give us the humility to follow where you lead and to receive what you generously give. Show us what you want for our October. May we sow beauty for your Namesake. Amen. Let’s create a life you love. Book a session at StephCherry.com

  A few years ago, I found myself in an unparalleled season of grief. I was completely collapsing under the weight of it and I had no idea how to get up. I had been counseling and studying God’s word for 20 years, but I could not navigate that valley. I felt a strong nudge to seek out a woman I had seen on a friend’s Instagram post and that led me to Life Mentoring School. I have known quite a few Biblical Therapists and Christian Counselors that have transitioned or added coaching into their practice. It made me curious on that level. I knew that it might help me better serve others. I also had complete clarity that I was going to go through this program for myself. I had to wade through every bit of the process myself. I had to navigate the pain. We don’t help other people heal by giving them tools that we don’t use. So, I went. It was one of the biggest investments that I had ever made in myself and it changed my life. My coaching cohort was and is a life line to me. Maybe you f...

I encountered Jesus as a young child in a church pew in the balcony of an old country church. Through a lifetime of trial, I knew he was there. I did not always know or understand what he wanted of me, but I knew I was wanted. We could go through all of the pain and abuse of my life and unpack each tiny detail, but that is not what this is really about. I love what Frederick Buechner said, “Pain is not the biggest thing that has ever happened to you.” That is true. I have beheld far greater glory. As I clung to his word through all of this, I knew he was there.   My story about trying begins long before I began trying to have children. I tell you this because almost half of the population has been abused in some way. The attack on my uterus began when I was four-years-old. I spent most of my life believing that I was broken and I was crippled by shame. I carried that shame into every relationship I had. As I encountered people in the church, I never felt safe enough to ask for...

My story involves 6 miscarried babies (with a set of twins I went into early labor with to bury), 4 failed adoptions, 3 sibling deaths, abuse, infertility, and loads of trauma. Jesus took it all and made the things that should bring death usher in healing. My dear friend Emily took my story and placed it in the pages of her book. If you are struggling today, you’re not alone. Raising children is hard. Not having children to raise is hard. Losing children is hard. I want you to know that you are not alone. No matter how much the enemy of our souls wants us to feel isolated, God has given us community. The beautiful thing about suffering in the hand of Christ is that it makes us vulnerable in the places we have built walls. We can all take a collective, soulful breath and know we reside in a kingdom community that awaits our honest pain. You can read my story and others in Trying.  Now available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3xXGV6S

View this post on Instagram Several years ago I sat in a small auditorium in OKC learning how to bring reconciliation among classes and races. We learned to bring healing by giving place to people who have no place. We alleviate pain by offering a spot in our very lives. There were and are so many things I will never be able to wrap my mind around. I wept learning about the fatherless generations and the pain that has been caused. As John Perkins spoke over us that day, I grew to love him. He has been through terror and pain and left safety to share the gospel. He didn’t scream at us or tell us how angry he was. He spoke of such forgiveness that it gripped my heart. You can read his story here. He made a choice to make the heart of the racist white man his mission field and I will forever be grateful for his example of forgiveness. #675 #bookstagram A post shared by Steph Cherry (@heystephcherry) on Aug 20, 2020 at 8:29am PDT ...

View this post on Instagram I might just love Kevan now. I did not have a single clue what this was about besides these guys carrying a man in a backpack across Europe. Upon opening the book, I saw that the forward was written by one of my favorite authors, Andrew Peterson. He had carried Kevan around the Warren and become a mentor to him .   The more I read, the more I loved this adventure and these men. The sacrifice it must have taken to carry someone for 3 weeks through huge crowds and up steep cliffs. It’s beautiful. I found out that Kevan loves Jesus and had been studying the servant’s heart in John during this journey. What a powerful picture of that idea literally carrying someone is. There are amazing details about places he traveled in the book. One of my favorites was when he traveled to the Peter Pan statue and told the stories of how green parakeets escaped from a pet store 30 years ago. Those birds turned into a f...

View this post on Instagram One of my mom goals has been to create spaces that spark the imagination for my children. I used to only read theology books, but I came across a quote years ago that opened up my thinking. I can't tell it to you verbatim or who said it. The gist of it is that imagination is what helps us conceive of heaven and all of the wonders of God. Without it, we make God dull and formulaic. Peter Pan shows us how rare adults with wonder are. My hope is that my kids hold tightly to imagination and carry it with them into adulthood. {Blog link in profile} A post shared by Steph Cherry (@heystephcherry) on Aug 3, 2020 at 9:04am PDT One of my mom goals has been to create spaces that spark the imagination for my children. I used to only read theology books, but I came across a quote years ago that opened up my thinking. I can't tell it to you verbatim or who said it. The gist of it is that imagination is w...