Full Pursuit November: All Around Thankful

Another two post day! Thanks for hanging in there with me, I didn't want to miss either Captivating #7 (the first post of the day) or this wonderful Full Pursuit profile.

I first met Cheri on FaithWriters.com. She is way better at it than I am and graciously offered to help me with pesky grammar and style issues that I definitely have. From that we just became flat out friends and as I get to know her, I'm amazed. She isn't just a faith writer, she's a faith-Liver. I couldn't think of anyone better to feature to kick off Thanksgiving week than Cheri. When the going gets tough Cheri doesn't walk away, she presses in with her faith. Not easy to do, I know that from my own life. I think you'll be inspired by her as well.

1. This is a season of thanksgiving. What are you thankful for this year?
I am thankful for family, faith, friends, and country. At first glance, the list seems simple and almost trite. I mean, on the whole, who isn’t thankful for those things? Yet I feel that 2007 has brought to me a deeper and richer awareness of these blessings that I can so easily take for granted. Here in America, a country literally founded on the right of religious freedom, Christians today are in danger of losing freedom of expression, and I am thankful for a government that still allows its citizens to participate in the choice of leadership. I am thankful that the church is waking up and that we serve a God big enough to turn things around in our nation.

Friends this year have been a constant source of encouragement and edification in our family’s faith and growth. God has used relationships with dear brothers and sisters in Christ to teach us many things, some old and some new, on levels that we’ve not experienced before.

I grow increasingly thankful for God’s grace and mercy with each year that passes. Twenty-two years ago, as a brand new believer, I just knew life would be perfect from that point on, no more flesh mess. Little did I realize that the battle was really just beginning, because along with my rose-colored glasses, I toted around with me enough emotional baggage from my past to impede my faith walk for years to come. In the quarter century I existed before I came to Christ, I attempted to fill the God-shaped void in my heart with any number of things—education, career, drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, marriage. Each solution promised fulfillment, yet left me feeling empty and purposeless, until finally I found Christ... or rather, He found me.

I am a work in progress, and over the past two decades, God has mined the depths of my shallowness and proved faithful to continue the work He began in me at salvation. I am ever thankful for His gentle touch, as He performs open-heart surgery on me, often on a daily basis, to free me of bondages that would otherwise cripple me from enjoying the freedom He purchased for me on the cross. I am thankful for His redemptive work in my life. I am thankful that He doesn’t give up on me, that He is continually teaching me the value of forgiveness, showing me how being willing to forgive is for my own benefit, much more so than for those who hurt me. I am thankful for the work of restoration that He is accomplishing in my family.

I am specifically thankful this year for a wonderful daughter-in-law who chose to forgive me for my knowing she wasn’t right for my oldest son, for I know now that she is, in fact, perfect for him. I am thankful for the relationship God is growing between the two of us, and I am thankful she and my son are married. My gratitude extends to their twin boys, my grandsons, and the new little granddaughter that we are due to welcome into our family next April.

I am thankful for the ministry of Teen Challenge. Our second son fell victim to drug and alcohol abuse in his late teens, and because of his willingness to get help, he has now been fully restored to us. He accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior while at Teen Challenge, and he will return home in January, with plans to go to college. What Satan meant for his demise, God used for his good.


I am thankful for my two precious daughters and the closeness we share. Watching them grow into beautiful young women of faith blesses me more than I could ever have imagined. I am thankful for my wonderful husband and his ability to love me unconditionally. He personifies the love of Christ to me. No one else could love me, with all my flaws and quirks, the way he does. I am thankful for his wonderful parents, who came to Christ just three short years ago, and who have always loved me like a daughter. Last, but not least, I am thankful for my dad and my sister, who I know, by faith, will walk together with me in the kingdom of God.

2. You are a Katrina survivor. Explain to us who do not live in the area what that time was like. Is the media portraying recovery efforts accurately? How can someone who lives far away help in any way?

We are fortunate to live far enough north of the Gulf of Mexico that we didn’t sustain any flood damage from Katrina. The area where we live, however, is less than fifty miles from where the eye of the storm passed, so we sustained a great deal of wind damage. Though we lost at least thirty trees on our three acres, none fell on our house, which we know was God’s protection.

We were the only family to evacuate on our street, and we couldn’t get back home for two weeks. We were without electricity for five weeks, and without Internet and phone for three months. If it weren’t for text messaging and cell phones, there would have been no contact at all with people outside our area during that time.

After two years, it is amazing to see some areas still vacant, basically unrecovered, while other areas are mostly back to normal. Our family now views hurricane season with much more respect than we used to. In early June, we pack “hurricane boxes.” If we need to evacuate, we are ready. We watch every tropical situation in the Atlantic. But ultimately, we know we are in God’s hands.

There are still ministry teams in the area helping with recovery efforts. The media portrays some things accurately and other things not so well. Continued prayer, at this point, is one of the best things that God’s people can do to help.

3. How important is faith to you? Did you feel like God forgot you during Hurricane Katrina? Did it strengthen your faith?

Faith is of primary importance. Without it, we cannot please God. I have learned that faith is my anchor. When everything appears to be going crazy, if I can grab hold of my faith, I have an anchor in the storm that is raging around me—be it a physical storm, a spiritual storm, or an emotional storm.

I didn’t feel forgotten by God during Hurricane Katrina. On the contrary, I felt guided by Him. My husband and our younger son were out of town the weekend Katrina was in the Gulf. I’d contacted my husband and asked him what we should do. He said to stay put, he would be home by midnight Sunday night. (The storm actually hit Monday morning.) By Sunday afternoon, I had our other son and his pregnant wife at the house, and our two daughters. We were watching the storm’s progress on television. Though we had never before evacuated for a hurricane, we knew we had to leave for this one. We actually ended up meeting my husband and son at a hotel that they checked into while en route home.

4. You are working on a book. Where did the idea come from? What is your goal with this book?

I’ve always loved to read, and I discovered over the years that I love to write too. About twelve years ago, I felt impressed by the Holy Spirit in church one morning that I would one day write a book. The idea stayed with me, but on the back burner of my life, while the business of childrearing and homeshooling kept me plenty busy.


Three years ago, I felt the idea of writing stirring in my spirit again. I asked my husband to pray about it with me. For Christmas that year, 2004, he gave me a laptop and told me to get started. A friend had told me about Faith Writers, a Christian writers web site. I joined and started writing. Through that exercise, I honed my skills and learned a great deal. Then Katrina happened, followed by our family’s journey with our second son’s going to Teen Challenge, and the writing again got put on the back burner of my life.

In the summer of 2006, the challenges my husband and I had encountered raising our children, along with the personal challenges I’ve faced in my lifetime, caused me to question my life, my walk with God, my usefulness to Him and His kingdom. There were those in the church that saw us as failures when we dealt with rebellion and with drug use in our household, and we saw ourselves that way too, for a time. Then God graciously led us through the desert of religious performance into the light of His marvelous grace. I know there are parents like us out there, parents who have tried to be perfect and to make perfect kids, parents who have experienced or are experiencing the painful truth that we cannot force our kids to love God or to always make good choices. It is my hope that the book, by sharing our family’s journey, will impart the hope, encouragement, tender mercy, and grace that God has poured into our lives.

The tiny seed in the form of a thought to write a book came from God twelve years ago, planted and nurtured for years in my spirit, while our family lived the very story that He has now asked me to share. In May of this year, 2007, God clarified to me that He wanted me to write and share my family’s testimony to serve as an encouragement to others. As of this interview, I have written four chapters. The book seems to write itself. I will start with an idea of the direction I am to go, but as I start writing, God sometimes changes things completely. It has been a wonderful adventure, both to live it and to write it. I look forward to seeing what God will do with it when once it is finished. But if it is never read by another soul except myself, still I will be content, for I know that I have been faithful to obey what God has asked of me, because in the writing of our story, I have fallen in love with my family all over again.

If anything I’ve said here has touched one of your readers, I would love to chat with them. They can reach me at: afaithwriter@bellsouth.net

I hate to do it to you friends, but I'm going to leave you with a cliffhanger! Cheri has so much good stuff that I want to wrap up tomorrow. I hope you come back, it's been a joy to feature her and her inspiring story. I encourage you to contact Cheri at the e mail she listed if you want to chat about anything she read. She was transparent in her communicating, I love that because it means she's willing to take those broken places in her life and display them to help others. Take advantage of the offer if you have been touched.

Now, for my 5 thankful things today...

1. I'm so thankful for cyber encouragement. I learned today from Kim at the BitterBall
http://bitterball.blogspot.com/2007/11/i-was-given-award-make-that-2-awards.html that she passed the Integrity award on to this blog. She said such a nice thing, it's the very reason I have a blog. "For Staying True to Your Beliefs: Julie at The Surrendered Scribe who manages to find faith in every part of Life. She even once found it watching Dora The Explorer" I write what God gives me, that's it. And He really gave me wisdom from Dora. This is so encouraging.

2. I'm thankful to get a group encouragement. Jenn Doucette e mailed me to let me know she took a peek at her interview at http://christianwritersforum.com/Blog/ called "Step Away From the M&M's". She really enjoyed the look and feel of the site, something I have no part of, trust me. I'm so thankful to have a neat e-mail friend who gets the mom thing!

3. Thankful for a good start on Christmas shopping. I'm maybe 40% done. No, that's wrong, we're 40% done. Hubby ordered something cool today, I appreciate his help.

4. So thankful for peanut butter cups and chili. Not at the same time.

5. Thankful for direction. I have an appointment next month that I'm believing will give me insight and information. I don't handle the wait and be clueless lifestyle very well and for that, God is probably trying to refine me by doing just that. I don't know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future.

Come back tomorrow for the conclusion of our interview with Cheri, the writer who lives out her faith!