God is With You No Matter What

Woman Podcast

Reverends Michele Owes and Diana P. Cherry

God is With You No Matter What

Rev. Michele Owes: [00:00:00] Welcome. Welcome. Welcome back to the second podcast of the year 2025. I am so excited to be with you again. Honored that you allow us to come into your homes, to ride along with you in the car, to be a part of your life in sharing the word of God. I am with again, the one and only my friend and mentor, Mrs.

Rev. Michele Owes: Deanna P. Cherry. Please say hello to our podcast family.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Hello, podcast family. God bless you. And I know that I have shared a couple of times about hope, I want to give you just a word before we begin. Always remember that as long as you have breath in your bodies, keep hope in your heart.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen. Amen. In our first podcast of this year, we wanted you to know, uh, that our thoughts and [00:01:00] prayers were with the people of California. We wanted you to know that it's a new year, but we serve the same God, the same God that created us. the same God that has a purpose and a plan for our lives, the same God that sustains us, that protects us, that promotes us, that provides for us.

Rev. Michele Owes: We serve that same God. And though things have changed in the earthly realm, nothing has changed in the spirit realm. Our God still loves us and he will perfect those things that do concern us. And so on today, we want to talk about how to make it through tough times. We understand that some of us may be experiencing a bit of a letdown from the Christmas holiday.

Rev. Michele Owes: And the letdown is not from our God and who he is and our savior and who he is, but it may be from our experience with mankind.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Mm-hmm

Rev. Michele Owes: may have done a lot. Put a lot into the activity and felt [00:02:00] like we did not receive the type of love, attention, and care, or support that we would have liked to have received from the human side of life.

Rev. Michele Owes: But we do want you to know that life has some difficulties,

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Mm-hmm

Rev. Michele Owes: but it is only God. Who has said that he will never leave you fail you or forsake you. And so humankind can, you know, they can disappoint us because sometimes they don't even know what our expectations are. We set them high and we expect others to rise to the occasion.

Rev. Michele Owes: They may not even know what our expectations are. But we want to remind you briefly that when we give, we give out of the contents of our heart. We do not give to receive.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Mm-hmm

Rev. Michele Owes: So as it relates to where we're going in 2025, some have asked, how do we make it through difficult times? Some have asked, how do we just make it through the day to day when maybe our expectations are not being met?

Rev. Michele Owes: We want you to know that Mrs. Cherry and I, we have the [00:03:00] same challenges every day is not hunky dory, if you will, and every day is not the same, but what we do. And we don't mind sharing with you is we wake up to the same God every morning. We acknowledge Him. We pray to Him. We thank Him for who he is. We understand that even in that close abiding relationship with Him, we do not know what's coming next for the day.

Rev. Michele Owes: But He knows we don't know what's going to befall us. Mrs. Cherry and I had no idea that our husbands were going to go home to be with the Lord. Now that's a shock, right? We had no real forewarning that they would not come home with us. That's how serious we want you to understand that we may not know what befalls us on a given day.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Mm-hmm

Rev. Michele Owes: The people of California went to work and came home. There's no home, no neighborhood, no school, no church. Yeah. That's how serious a day can be in terms of not [00:04:00] knowing what befalls us.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right?

Rev. Michele Owes: It is the same God

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Mm-hmm

Rev. Michele Owes: who provides for us is the same God who protects us. It is the same God who wants us to be content in whatever state we are in because he has not left us.

Rev. Michele Owes: He has not forsaken us and he will not fail us. Mrs. Cherry hit the home run.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: We have an inner confidence that you develop from knowing God.

Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And that’s the beautiful thing about a church that teaches the word of God, not philosophy, and not some feel-good doctrine, but that teaches God and the truth of God's word. And once again, we've done this [00:05:00] before, but once again, it's crucial. It's a matter of life and death that if you're not in a good Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church, you change churches. There is nothing wrong with that, because your life is all you have.

Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Perfect that life and protect that life. And the Word of God tells us that God's Word will instruct us on how to be full and on how to be abase and the people who are suffering loss out in California now, I pray that they have been taught that this is just a season.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen. Mm

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: I hope that they've been taught from Philippians.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: It says I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Then the Word of God says in verse 13 of chapter 4, I can [00:06:00] do all things through Christ which strengthens me. And that's not just something that we say.

Rev. Michele Owes: hmm.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: It is something that I believe in the depth of my being. I would never have believed that I could go through the loss of my husband. I never even thought about it. It was, it was to me, it was almost like a ridiculous thought. What do you think after being together for at least 50 or 60 years?

Rev. Michele Owes: hmm.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: I never even thought about it. And then it happened. And I know if I had not been taught in the Word of God if I had not both learned and received and grown from what I had been taught, I would have been devastated because I'm human.

Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm. Amen.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: But instead of being devastated, Reverend Owes and I, were fortified. We were strengthened. We cried. We [00:07:00] hurt. We're human beings. Those were difficult days.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yeah.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Both of us loved them dearly. My husband was my life. It was like the Bible tells us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, it gives that same instruction to the married people.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: You know, we put on one another. And when my husband left, I realized that I had literally put him on and that my life was really hidden in him.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes, yes,

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Because was such a strong man of God, I could not even envision making a decision without him, getting up without him, eating food without cooking, going grocery shopping without him. The key to my survival and everyone else's survival is that we've been taught. So once again. [00:08:00] If you know that you're not in a good church, it might be a feel-good church, but if you are in a church where you're not learning things, leave. When we talk to you about the church, it is a place where we're perfected. The church is the place where we learn to make decisions for our lives. The church is the place where we get directions for our lives, this is what we were talking about.

Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: There will be tough times. You need to know that you're rooted and grounded in the word of God. Storms may come, billows may blow, but I'm standing on the knowledge that I have, that I've learned. We have to make a decision to make sure that we stay rooted and grounded in the Word of God. Trust God's Word. Know that God, as we said before, hasn't changed. He's with us. And you know something else? [00:09:00] God is for us.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: He is,

Rev. Michele Owes: He is for us.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: He's for

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: He fights these battles for us, but sometimes we don't recognize. So hold fast to the fact that all things do work together for good. It doesn't look good. And they might not be good, but they'll work together for good if we have been taught. If we just stay steadfast in his word and trust him, God is the one who will sustain us. He's the one that will provide for us. He is the one who will protect us. He's the one who will deliver us from whatever it is. But we must be taught. consider seriously where you are. In your relationship with God. And what do you know about his word? How much of his word do you really trust?

Rev. Michele Owes: hmm.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: If you're going through a challenge, make this an [00:10:00] opportunity to really trust God, you know.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yeah.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: For you, I live; for you, I die.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Blessed be the name of the Lord. I cannot do this on my own. You've got me, you know me.

Rev. Michele Owes: There you go.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And that's what we did. You just cry out to God and say,

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: you, I can't do anything apart from you.

Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: I am nothing without you.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: That's a Lord help.

Rev. Michele Owes: There you go.

Rev. Michele Owes: Have some mercy on me and help me, Jesus. Have mercy on me and help me, Lord.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right,

Rev. Michele Owes: There you go. That's it. You know, sometimes we feel like we have to do long prayers, and God is just asking for us to call on Him.

Rev. Michele Owes: Just call on him. He didn't say it had to be 25 minutes long. Just call me with a broken and contrite heart. And I'll know you're serious.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: what does a broken and contrite heart mean? If you haven't been around a baby, when a baby is [00:11:00] crying, there's, there's the kind of cry that says, Hey, where is everybody? Nobody is picking me up. Somebody come. There is a cry that says, I just woke up, but then there's a cry that says something is wrong.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: That cry that says something is wrong brings everybody running. And God is the same. That's the broken and contrite heart. That's the one that says, I'm serious, God, I'm not playing anymore. I'm not just saying, Hey God, can you bless me? I know I messed up, but you know me, you’re my man. So, let's just work through this.

Rev. Michele Owes: Not that, but the kind that says, God, my heart is grieved

over how I behaved and what I did and that I did not represent you at this opportunity that you trusted me with. God, I know that you are able to cleanse me from all unrighteousness from the cause of my actions and my thoughts. Lead me in the way everlasting.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: God is for us. God is for us. When we [00:12:00] call out to him with a broken and contrite heart and ask God to lead us and guide us, he is more than willing.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: We are children who are now ready to be T

to hear the instructions.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: We get ready for the new thing that God wants to do. It's a new year and look for the new that God wants to do in your life.

Rev. Michele Owes: It may be an absence of things. It may be a change. It may be, um, it may be a promotion. It may, whatever the new is, don't attempt to make it without him.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: right, right.

Rev. Michele Owes: Don't walk out on your own abilities and laurels.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: I think of David. David knew how to pray to God. He knew God. He knew how to pray to God and how to repent before God. And I'm just going to read a couple of verses because we talked about the word.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes. Go ahead.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Psalm 51. [00:13:00] It's a great prayer. If you're feeling low, if you're feeling like you've done wrong, or that God doesn't know you.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Or He doesn't hear you. Just take out Psalm 51 and read Psalm 51:3 says, I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

Rev. Michele Owes: I know that's right.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Against thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and born in sin, that my mother conceived me.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward part, that part that we don't tell anybody.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Thou shalt make me to know wisdom, down there where you think you're all by yourself,

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: He will come right in the midst of your mess and make you to know wisdom.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Purge me with hyssop, and I [00:14:00] shall be clean, wash me, And I shall be whiter than snow, whiter than snow, and my house is covered with snow right now. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou has broken may rejoice. Hide thy face, hide thy face from my sin, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Restore unto me. The joy of my salvation and uphold me with thy free hand. And then I'm clean, then I'm strengthened. Then will I teach transgressors thy way, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. When [00:15:00] we're living upright before God, not just living our lives,

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: but upright before him, calling out to him, create in me a clean heart, and renew my spirit, He will. If you do these things you will be found of him. You are going to lead somebody else to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Even in the midst of your struggle, your challenge, in the midst of those decisions that you wish hadn't gone that way.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: God is Good. He'll be God. He is never, ever, ever changing. And he loves you, and he loves me. What a blessing that is to know.

Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm. That is exciting. You know, I think what we picked up also in the prayer that you read of David's is that he wasn't blaming anybody else for what was going wrong in his life. He didn't highlight all the people that did him wrong. And there were plenty of people that he could have [00:16:00] named, right?

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: He said, cleanse me.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right.

Rev. Michele Owes: Some of us want to be forgiven, but we don't want to stay around for the cleansing.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: That's right.

Rev. Michele Owes: The cleansing takes some time, right? You have to go back into what, who, when, where, why. Why did you do that thing? That's something when you're correcting children, you always want to know why they did it, right?

Rev. Michele Owes: Well, if we don't want to repeat what we've been doing that we know dishonors God, we need to, we need to hang around and learn about the cause. Why are we doing this thing?

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right.

Rev. Michele Owes: Put the word of God on it and punish it with the word of God so that we can be changed. What he said, he said, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity.

Rev. Michele Owes: Cleanse me from my sin. It was all about David. God, I know some stuff is wrong with me.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right.

Rev. Michele Owes: Though I may be looking good, I might even be king. I may be dressing up for the party. I might be the most important thing in the room, but God, there's some stuff wrong with me.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: And only you know what's wrong with me.

Rev. Michele Owes: So, wash me [00:17:00] thoroughly from my own iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before Thee. Against Thee and Thee only have I sinned. Many of us think that we sin against others, but we really sin against God because we know His word. We know what he expects of us, but we choose to do something different.

Rev. Michele Owes: Therefore, we've sinned against God and David was just laying it on the line.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right.

Rev. Michele Owes: I messed up God. Sometimes that's our prayer. I messed up.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: It’s me, Father. I feel terrible.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right. You know, in 1st John, the Word of God tells us that if our hearts condemn us,

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: He knows our hearts and he knows all things. But also, in First John, it says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And that's what Reverend Owes [00:18:00] was saying. Sometimes, we ask for forgiveness, but we don't want to hang around and get the cleansing.

Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: My husband used to teach us that forgiveness takes care of the act. But when you get cleansed from it, it takes care of the cause of why you did it.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Stay to get cleansed from the cause and forgiveness for what we did, but we want to be cleansed, so we won't do it again.

Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: We can do it. It doesn't matter what we're going through. God is good.

Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: No matter how disappointed we are and what might have happened in our lives or in our family's lives, our God is unchanging.

Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: New year, but the same God.

Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: God is unchanging.

Rev. Michele Owes: That is absolutely true. In addition to God being unchanging, David said, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts. Now, here's the thing. It is [00:19:00] one thing when everybody else thinks a thing or believes a thing, but, but we can deceive ourselves because we're not dealing with the truth in the inward parts. When we're feeling like we've got it all together or we're walking this road that tells us we're together, but innately, we know we're not. We need to get back to what David is saying, you want truth in the inward part.

Rev. Michele Owes: You don't want me faking it until I make it or, or trying to project something that I am not.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right.

Rev. Michele Owes: All of us are our best selves when we know we need a Savior, right? Cause that means we’re just messed up. We know we need Savior. That's what drew us to the house of the Lord. If we're honest, it was that point where we came, we just couldn't live like we were living anymore.

Rev. Michele Owes: It's like, let me just go see what this Savior thing is all about. Who [00:20:00] is this Jesus and what can He do for me? But I do want to share with you, as Mrs. Cherry says, staying for the cleansing also can really be helped by being in a good Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church. And I want to caution you that you're not just looking for the size.

Rev. Michele Owes: You are looking for a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: They will open the Bible and tell you where to look and read. It can be up on the Kryon, or up on the screen. But don't be lazy. Bring your own Bible and find it. You need to get your own Bible and mark up some of those pages. Then look for the dog-eared corners so you can find that scripture when you get home.

Rev. Michele Owes: Put your little dot on the left or on the right. Put a little check mark where you started and where you ended, where God chastised you through his word, where he deeply [00:21:00] loved you and guided you through his word. That's what you get from a good Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: We are missing such a big part of our lives if we're not there.

Rev. Michele Owes: We're missing the people who are going to love us and be glad that we came. We're missing the people who want to be a part of our lives. When God starts disassembling from you all of the people who kept you in trouble, he wants to reassemble some new people who will lead you in the right way.

Rev. Michele Owes: This will cause you to do the right things and go to the right places. But we're sitting at home trying to work it out by ourselves. When there's a seat in the house of God, a seat at the king's table where God wants to serve you with the nutritious word from on high to feed your soul so that you might grow in the way he so desires.

Rev. Michele Owes: He's not left you. You may be having some challenges, but he's not left you. You may be having some challenges, but he [00:22:00] still loves you.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right?

Rev. Michele Owes: While having some challenges, He will perfect those things that do concern you, but you just can't act like he doesn't exist, and you got it all together.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: He will never leave us or forsake us. And we have to stand in that knowledge.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: My good friend, Archie Dennis used to always say, you’d do better if you knew better.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yeah.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Know better, do better. You cannot know better until you get involved with the Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church, whereby you can grow in the Word of God and the knowledge of God. He has a plan and a purpose for your life. We all have a plan and purpose. And it's the same purpose. You don't have to buy a million books on a purpose-driven life because we all have a purpose. We should all be driven by [00:23:00] that purpose. You learn that in a good Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen. Don't use the excuse of, well, you know, some of these pastors are getting in trouble. So what? People get in trouble; pastors are people. That's not our job. Our job is to find the place that God has desired for us to be so that he can feed us with knowledge from on high. We have nothing to do with other people's business in that fashion.

Rev. Michele Owes: Our business is to get where God needs us to be so that he can teach us. And so you pray and ask God where he wants you to go. Where is he leading you? Some of you have had 50 invitations to the same place and have chosen on Sunday morning to watch the game, to wash your clothes, or to hang in. But everybody is saying, come here.

Rev. Michele Owes: You're going to grow here. You're going to learn here. But we just, we're fighting with God as though we have a better answer [00:24:00] for ourselves. Give up the fight. You cannot win. If you want some of the struggles to end, you want peace of mind and heart. You want love, unspeakable joy, unspeakable. It's in his house. It's in his house with his people doing the things that he so desires of you. If you're in the wrong spot, run.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: yeah, yeah,

Rev. Michele Owes: Run out the door. If you know you're in the wrong spot, and most of us know when we're in the wrong spot, just run. You don't owe anybody anything. Nobody owns you. All of us are children of the Most-High God.

Rev. Michele Owes: We're joint heirs with Christ Jesus. God has a right to assemble and disassemble us where He wants us to be. There could have been a time when things were of the Lord and with the Lord and in His fullness, but no longer. So what? We stay? Why sit you here and die, according to the Bible?

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right,

Rev. Michele Owes: Rise, arise, and let's leave [00:25:00] this place and get to where we're supposed to be.

Rev. Michele Owes: Ask God where he wants you. Please don't be lazy about it. Get there and grow according to his will.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: One of

Rev. Michele Owes: Um, let's see.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: One of my good friends from Africa is an older gentleman. He said this about 10-15 years ago. He said somebody was evidently getting a little flirty with him. He said, I had to pick up my grace and run.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes,

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Pick up your grace and run. Get out of there and run right into the arms of God.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: He's waiting to receive you.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes

Rev. Michele Owes: There is a church out there for you. God has not left you out in the planning of his church homes and of the men and women who are listening to the word of God and are growing in it, and obeying God in the way that they share. So you have not been left out. Don't be lazy. You'll look for a house, an apartment, a car, a new dress.

Rev. Michele Owes: Look for your church and look for your God to meet you there when you get there. All right. We love [00:26:00] you. We hope you can feel the love because there's nothing but love talking to you.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Amen. God bless you. Love you.

Rev. Michele Owes: God bless you. See you on our next podcast. It's 2025!

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And we are yet alive.

Rev. Michele Owes: There you go, bye now