Teachers of Good Things - Part 6

Teachers of Good Things Part 6

Transcript

00:00:01 Rev. Michele Owes

All right, we're back. This is Reverend Michele Owes and Mrs. Diana P. Cherry. We are back as Teachers of Good Things. We want to make sure that we pour all those things that are wonderful into your hearts based on the experiences that we were allowed to have with God. We understand that these are great opportunities and when something happens in our lives, it's not just for us. It involves us, but it's not even about us. We talked to you about some of the greatest hurts we've both experienced in life, which was the loss of our husbands. Just imagine that it wasn't even about us.

00:00:44 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Yes. Can you imagine? It's very much about me, Lord. I mean, how could you think that about us, right?

00:00:52 Rev. Michele Owes

But it did involve us. Yes. It involved the fact that God trusted us with two men that He trusted to carry the Gospel. Yes, it involved the fact that God allowed us, as part of our way of being in service to Him and loving Him, to love and care for two men whom He trusted to carry the Gospel and to serve them.

00:01:10 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Yes. In a way that glorified Him.

00:01:21 Rev. Michele Owes

Yes, God blessed us. Indeed. We still see the blessings of our lives even after they've gone to heaven.

00:01:25 Rev. Rev. Diana P. Chery

Oh yes, and we know they're having a fantastic time up there.

00:01:27 Rev. Michele Owes

I'm sure they are. So why shouldn't we down here?

00:01:31 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

I was wondering the other day, I wonder, have they even seen each other yet?

00:01:32 Rev. Michele Owes

Oh, I'm sure. I think they're probably in cahoots for us to have been together now. They are having a wonderful time in heaven where the streets are paved with gold, where there's no more crying, and there's no more pain. Why shouldn't we have a good time down here as well?

00:01:47 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Why not? And it's the only way we glorify God is by having a good time down here.

00:01:55 Rev. Michele Owes

That's true. And this is the joy, right? This is the joy of the Lord that's our strength. Yes. As we walk through this together. That's true. I do want to say this, and many people don't know this, but when my husband went home to be with the Lord, Mrs. Cherry called me nightly. She did. She talked to me through the nights. She and my mom, you two were there.

00:02:01 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

We did, we laughed so hard, and we cried.

00:02:05 Rev. Michele Owes

If there was a night that you missed, my mom filled in. Between the two of you, you called me every night to make sure that I was well. I've always, you know, seen myself as your daughter in the ministry. But we, we'd never really talked on the phone before, you know, no, no, we saw each other in person at conferences and pastors and leaders and things like that.

We had conversations before, but we'd never really talked on the phone, right? But boy, did we start in a big way.

00:02:56 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

No, we had not. Then we had a chance to share our hurts, and our pains, but also laugh. Yes, we did. About many of the experiences that we had and laughed so hard until we cried. So, we left the phone laughing.

00:03:22 Rev. Michele Owes

We did. And the joy, yes, the joy of the Lord just strengthened us through that time.

00:03:38 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

And I would always thank God that I was there at such a time as that. Yes, yes.

00:03:47 Rev. Michele Owes

And what a beautiful, beautiful experience for me to have that. You would stop whatever you were doing late at night. You understood what I was going through. You would pick up the phone. And say, “Hey daughter”. If we missed a night, you would text me. I haven't heard from you. How are we doing daughter? What a beautiful, beautiful experience. There were times when I would say to myself, okay, we're stronger now. We don't need to take up her time this way. We can move forward. Then it was like, I'm checking in. Those were great times. Great times.

All right! So, what we want to share with you is that we want to keep sharing. Yes. We want to continue to be Teachers of Good Things. Yes. But we want to see you while we do it.

00:04:17 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Amen. We want to be in your presence and hug your necks.

00:04:25 Rev. Michele Owes

And hug your necks. Right. And I was never the person who would sit down and correspond with you on everything that you write. It is not my ministry. Mrs. Cherry's ministry is that, right? But I will still be there, still hug your necks, I will talk to you, I will smile. We will teach you everything we've learned in the Gospel that has kept our hearts and minds together.

00:04:32 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

And how on earth can we do that?

00:04:41 Rev. Michele Owes

We can do that with my favorite thing. Yes, a retreat! Alright. A women's retreat. Yay! Sounds so good. Okay, what are the dates?

00:04:47 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Oh, we are going to get together in July of 2024. The Teachers of Good Things will plan for a retreat in the Houston area. We ask you to stand by as we know more, we'll share more. Yes. Right now. This is what we know. Yes, it is the desire of both of our hearts and we're going to do this thing. We are going to do this thing. What's so interesting is that it was the women's retreats that you used to host at Sandy Cove that I’m going to say helped God to shape my life.

00:05:29 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

And mine.

00:05:32 Rev. Michele Owes

It helped me to be a better mother, and learn how to handle the lean times, how to handle the the not so lean times, and how to handle the great time. Then, how to regard my husband, right? I learned how to pack. I learned that when you have small children, you must manage your time well. So, I began to cook on the weekends. I would cook all my meals on the weekends so that I was just heating up so that I could survive the evening. There was so much that I learned.

00:06:02 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Yes, and then don't forget the pretty tips.

00:06:08 Rev. Michele Owes

Yes. One of the things that I remember was the retreat where you put your suitcase up on the stage and taught us how to pack right so that when we got somewhere we didn't need an iron. In case we got there late, we wouldn't have wrinkles. I still pack that way today.

00:06:31 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

I have so many people who tell me about that. Yes, and I taught how to fold a fitted sheet.

00:06:41 Rev. Michele Owes

Yes, you did. Then you taught us that we could make our children's lunches the night before. Make all the sandwiches and put them in the refrigerator. Take them out one by one. You froze some things.

00:06:55 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Yeah, I froze.

00:06:58 Rev. Michele Owes

I never graduated to freezing, but I did get to put things in the refrigerator so that we could be prepared for the night before.

00:07:02 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

And instead of buying those individual bags of things that cost a fortune, buy the big bag, and make your little baggies. Yes, I surely, remember that. So we want to share some of these great things with you. We want you to have the benefit of a life in Christ Jesus that can save you time, energy, and money.

00:07:10 Rev. Michele Owes

Yay, for saving the money. So please meet us in Houston on July 26th, the 27th, and the 28th, the morning of the 28th. We're going to have a beautiful time in the Lord. We will give you more information shortly on the exact location. The Houston area is where we're planning to embark upon our very first one.

00:07:32 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Sounds good to me. Yes, yes, yes.

00:07:47 Rev. Michele Owes

What do we want to share with our audience today about our life in Christ Jesus that took us from a place of great joy to a place of great pain, to a place of great joy again?

00:08:10 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Yeah, you know, I think the thing that we must keep in mind, and one of the challenges for us is that we serve a never-changing God in an ever-changing world. God is the same. What is it? Today, yesterday, today, and forevermore.

He's the God of what was, He's the God of what is, and He's the God of what is to come. God hasn't changed. So as women of God lifegivers, we ought not to change. I think that that's the biggest challenge or, one of the biggest challenges that we face in terms of how we look, how we dress, what we do, how we act, how we carry ourselves.

One of my complaints, or concerns in the body of Christ is that we don't have enough women of wisdom. A gray head doesn't mean that you have wisdom. It doesn't. My desire has always been for women to be wise women. For us to be wise, we must be teachable.

Our desire for the retreat and these podcasts is that you would open your heart. Open your ears, open your eyes, and see things a little bit differently, perhaps, from God's perspective. We never want to teach anything that's of us. We always want to teach what is of God. And so, I encourage you to be teachable.

Prepare your heart before the retreat to receive the things that God is speaking of. Prepare to be a good listener, a good hearer, a good doer, and a good person who is teachable. We can teach good things. But the listeners must have a heart to hear, a heart, a mind to see, and to do, eyes to see, ears to hear, and a mouth to speak the good things that we are striving to teach you.

00:10:25 Rev. Michele Owes

Amen. I think it is an honor that God would tap us on our shoulders yet again to share the Gospel. We're not done.

00:10:32 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

No, we're not done.

00:10:37 Rev. Michele Owes

Because we did retreats together before, and we enjoyed them. We loved our roles doing retreats. Now God is tapping us on the shoulder again, which means He already has identified the body.

00:10:49 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Yes, He has identified everybody who's going to respond.

00:10:53 Rev. Michele Owes

Right. This means that there are people who as you listen to us, God is going to let you know, if you're that person. If you're that person, make whatever adjustments that are necessary, within the will of God, to join us in Houston. We would be honored by your presence.

We're going to have a fantastic time. Whenever I came to the women's retreat, I always felt like God specially loved me. It was also a private time that He could renew my mind. He could change me.

00:11:22 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Yeah, it's our time. It was our time. That's what I meant, individual time.

00:11:41 Rev. Michele Owes

Yes. It was our time. He could change me in a way that He didn't have to change me in front of my husband. I could go home changed. And I could act like I did it all by myself, right? That the word of God didn't change me. I had changed myself (laughter). No, but it was a, it was a special time. And I always felt like when the retreat ended, I didn't want to go home.

I just wanted to learn more, not that I didn't want to go home to my husband and family. I felt like there was still more that I needed, maybe for some of the things that were ahead of me. Little did I know, that going to those retreats and the things that I learned from you was preparing me to be a pastor's wife, to go into ministry, and ultimately to start having retreats of my own because I didn't start a women's fellowship. My first move with the women of our church was a retreat.

00:12:38 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

A retreat, my goodness. But you know what is so amazing? I hope I have an opportunity to share it in July. The first retreat, I went to that retreat, I did not have a teaching written, you know, nice, neat notes and all that. I had nothing. Every day, I would go. Back to my room. I hardly ate. I would prepare, and I had a person on staff who was supposed to help me, and she freaked out. She couldn't help me to do anything. I left the retreat. I had laryngitis. I went back to my room each time and God met me each time. I might bring out some of those teachings from that retreat. Wouldn't that be fun?

00:13:21 Rev. Michele Owes

That would be fun. Now, as much as you taught us as women of God life givers, I would be afraid to show up anywhere without my message fully done. It might not be printed, but it's fully done.

00:13:38 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

But I didn't have anything. I know what to do. You know, I went to the retreat hoping that God would show up. That's the truth. I had nothing.

00:13:48 Rev. Michele Owes

And the other thing, I don't know if you've noted, but I've not held a retreat without you.

00:13:54 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

That's the truth. Amen.

00:14:01 Rev. Michele Owes

So, we're just continuing how God started. That's right. And I've had many. But you, you've been at every one. That's right. You have been to every one. Yeah.

00:14:07 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Yeah, and so I have, so I have. I've enjoyed all of them.

00:14:08 Rev. Michele Owes

Listen, Mrs. Cherry is a wonderful teacher of the gospel, but she gets down to the get down. She'll say some things about whatever and you’ll say, oh, she didn't say that, but she said it. She said it and she meant it.

00:14:26 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Better put on six pairs.

00:14:26 Rev. Michele Owes

She's saying underwear. If you're having trouble right now keeping yourself chaste, put on six pairs of armor guard underwear.

00:14:41 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

And by the time you get to the sixth pair, you ought to have come to your senses and got out of that bed, girl. Cause you've worked too hard to get them off.

00:14:45 Rev. Michele Owes

That would be Diana P. Cherry for you. That's right, live and in living color. We do have wonderful times at the retreats. Yes, wow, our time is up for today.

00:14:55 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

I know. Can you imagine that?

00:15:00 Rev. Michele Owes

Alright, well, in grand memory of our founding Episcopal Pastor, our time is up. We do so thank you for yours today and we'll be back shortly with more things from Teachers of Good Things. Yes. Alright, thank you. We love you.