RE~WRITTEN: October 29th 2011

It was warm outside. One of those summer nights where it was comfortable, not too hot or cold. Just right. perfect for what God was about to do.
I was 16 years old.
Raised in a Baptist family who had never mentioned nor practiced the gifts of God.
Although my family was amazing in their faith I had never actually experienced the POWER of God the Father.
I knew He was real, I knew He had sent His only Son to die for me to have everlasting life…but His power….I had never felt it to be so real until that night.

25 years ago there was a christian book store called Heartsong. I had a friend whom I met through school and she had stumbled upon it through some old friends. We started hanging out there every week end and eventually when my parents left their small baptist church I started going to church with her at the owner of Heartsongs church which was in Reynoldsburg.
I was so drawn to Rich and his wife Karen. They quickly became spiritual parents to me and I love them with all that I am even to this very day.
They were real.
Honest,
Beautiful,
Caring people.
I can honestly say they are still those very same people that touched my spirit so long ago in that tiny bookstore.
My walk with the Father took me to places I would have never imagined if I had stayed in that small Baptist church in Canal Winchester.
My spirit was so hungry for something more that I knew God had for me but I was clueless on how to find it.
Late Friday nights Rich would close up shop and shut down the lights and play worship music for those of us who wanted to stay and pray…and seek…and eventually…find.
For me, I was restless. Wanting to know what God wanted from me, in my life here on earth. I had been told a thousand times over how my soul was older than my age and now almost 40 am I realizing how true that was and still is.
One Friday night Rich wanted to pray over us as he usually did towards the ending of the evening but this night was different.
I had laid out on the floor under the pool table with such longing to hear from God on my life, my mission for being. It was unlike ANYTHING I had ever felt or gone through before.
I wasn’t leaving until I knew.
As Rich laid hands on me and began to pray it’s as if he too knew my heart was longing to hear something from God and he began to pray for the Lord to show me what I needed so desperately to see. It was then tears started falling from my eyes and it was as if my skin was peeling off and God was totally re-identifying who He was meaning for me to be. I know it sounds crazy…But it was so amazing. Here I was, when most teens are out into trouble, going to the latest movie, walking around the mall…I was in this darkened, peaceful room and God was moving and shaking my spirit to the point my life would NEVER be the same. My relationship with Him would NEVER be the same. For the first time in my life I was experiencing His almighty power within my heart, my spirit, my soul…I could feel it from the bottom of my biggest toe…all the way to the top of my head and every hair on my body was on edge.
It wasn’t until Matt Rice had also began to pray. Just a few years older than me he too was praying that God would show me a vision for my life.
And then it happened.
For the first time ever, a vision that I totally had no doubt God Himself was placing in my heart and spirit. I remember it so clear too. I couldn’t see any faces. However there were thousands of them…people…male and female just walking…Holding signs that had words like “Love me” “Don’t let me go” “I want to be loved” “I want to be wanted” and they were walking towards the edge of this huge cliff with a drop off never to be seen…At this point I was crying so hard I couldn’t even open my eyes because it would hurt to see what little light Rich had on in the store. Rich asked me what I was seeing and I told him. Through my tears I said “I’m supposed to help these people….” Rich was so in tune with my thoughts as he responded with “Cheryl…every part of my spirit is telling me those are aborted children.” The crazy thing is, as those words fell off of Rich’s lips I was already there. I knew that’s exactly what it was I was seeing. I just KNEW IT. Matt too confirmed that is what he saw but it wasn’t just the aborted children, he had said young girls who were single mothers….Not knowing where to turn and feeling all alone in their situation.
5 years had passed and sadly my relationship with the Lord came to a stand still in my own rebellion and all of a sudden I had found myself pregnant and unmarried. Sitting in a Planned Parenthood with three women telling me abortion as an option was the best for me because of my age and the fact I had just broken up with my boyfriend a few weeks earlier.
Heartsong on that sweet summer night at 1am in the morning, He knew where I would be in 4 years, He knew from that four years where I would be in 11 years…and from there till now, HE KNEW. I messed up! I stepped right out of His will and right into my own and even using MY very rebellion He lead me right back in line to HIS purpose and will for my life. I ask you WHAT OTHER God could do something so amazing, so perfect and so beautiful to where even in the midst of you thinking you are done for, He is STILL glorified in bringing you right out of your messed up situation?
My BIGGEST and GREATEST testimony of all is when young women ask me after hearing my story if I ever regretted the decision I made in CHOOSING to have my daughter….I get to tell them with true sincerity that I have never had it easy, it has been rough at times, but never, not even once, EVER did I regret giving birth, giving and choosing life to THE most precious thing that has ever happened to me. My daughter will be 18 soon. I can’t believe how bold she is for the gospel. Her ability to stand on His truth amazes me everyday. Sometimes she’s even the one to give me encouragement to keep pushing through and see what God does. I can’t ever even imagine what would of happened if I had stayed sitting in that Planned Parenthood and allowing those women to scare me into choosing death as an option for my baby, when life…is such a blessed thing. VISIONS…brought to life….Don’t ever allow ANYONE to tell you they aren’t for today, or they were for then, but not now because I am LIVING proof that’s a lie, my daughter is living proof…that’s just not so….Follow the Father and seek Him in all you do….HE IS FAITHFUL.

SELAH~
CHERyL