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Nothing is ever wasted in God's economy! What the enemy intends for our destruction, God uses for our good. I have witnessed this to be true time and again in my own life. My hope and desire in writing and sharing my life with others, especially those desert times, is to bring a word of encouragement - to be like a stream in the wilderness of someone else's desert.
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Growing up in the shadow of alcoholism, I learned one truth: My well-being in life depended solely on me. Other people, no matter how much I loved them or how much they loved me, were unreliable. I lived unapologetically by this truth until I gave my life to Christ in my mid-twenties. Once saved, I realized that God had given me a second chance, and I vowed to do a better job with my future than I'd done with my past. I didn't want God to be sorry He'd saved me.
My husband and I were saved the same week. In our zeal, we were determined to be the best Christian couple, the best Christian parents, the best Christian "whatever's" that we could be! I'd developed a serious love of reading when I was young, because it was an effective way to escape the turmoil around me. So to accomplish the goal of being the "best," I read all the "right" books and listened to all the "right" teachers. I was determined that our kids were not going to make the same mistakes my hubby and I had made... no, sir.
As the years passed, I discovered that I not only loved to read, but I loved to write too. It started with sharing our family escapades in our annual family Christmas letter, The Hardaway Herald. Then in 1995, one morning in church, I felt God speak to my spirit that I was to write a book, a testimonial to Him.
The call was put on the back burner when an employment situation forced our family to move from Texas to Louisiana. Once there, we decided to home school. There was little time to do more than the necessities required for day-to-day life.
Again the years passed, as they do, and I began to think about that book I'd been called to write. I wasn't sure exactly what God wanted me to share, so I began to pray about it. A friend shared FaithWriters with me, and I began to dabble at writing something other than the family's annual Christmas letter. It was rewarding to share bits and pieces of our lives, and to hear that those things had been a blessing to someone else.
Eventually the bottom fell out of my neat and tidy little world. First, we had Hurricane Katrina. Then we had our own personal family storm, when our youngest son got involved in drug use. All my plans to be the "best" parent came crashing down around my ears. I mean, great parents don't have children that decide to use drugs, do they?
For years I had been trying to earn God's favor by being the "best," and He now called me to complete and total surrender. It was time for me to realize that He didn't need me to prove anything to Him, time for me to stop directing the show and to let Him take the lead in our lives. I turned my son over to His care, and amazing things began to happen. And through this surrender I experienced a new depth in my relationship with God, one that I'd never before experienced, and one that has continued to grow and shape my life and the lives of each of my family members each and every day since that time.
I have ceased striving to be the "best." I have learned that He loves me just because "I am," not because of anything I can or cannot do. I am learning to rest in Him. Today, I live not to prove anything to God, but only to serve Him and share His love with others.
FAVORITE LINKS
FaithWriters Magazine, front page feature & interview
FaithWriters Magazine, article in A Merry Heart section
shoutlife.com/CheriHardawayAll4Him
www.cherihardaway.com
SAMPLE ARTICLES
Poetry
Bea Z. Boddie
Short Story
It Happened in Providence
Other Article
Choose Ye This Day...
MY NEWS
God first breathed into my heart the idea of a book, a written testimony of His faithfulness to me and my family, in 1995. What He neglected to tell me in 1995 was that I hadn't yet lived all that He had for me to write about. It is now 2008, and the thirteen years that have come and gone since God whispered in my ear have taught me and my family about God's love for each of us in an incredible way. It's time to share our story and His love...
Worth Every Tear is the true story of the Hardaway family's journey with God, the story of the change God wrought in my heart and the resulting changes I saw in my family. God rescued all of us in a way that could never have happened with me in control. God has used my family's struggles to get my attention and remind me that He is God and I am not.
Surrender and victory are often seen as opposites, but in God's kingdom, surrender to Him, letting go of our own plan and trusting in His, is the only pathway to freedom and victory in Christ. This is the hope I want to share with others in my book, which is now in the process of being written!
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- Published in the Heart of God International Ministries anthology - Women of Passions: Ordinary Women Serving an Extraordinary God (2008). Three of my works appear in this anthology under the pen name of Faith Bigelow Walker. This book may be purchased from the link on my Shoutlife page (accessible above at "My Favorite Links").
- Published in the Jan/Feb 2008 edition of The Fit Christian magazine (e-zine). The story used was: The Perfect Pants, which may be accessed and read on my FaithWriters profile page.
- Published in two FaithWriters anthologies: Journey of Faith (2006) and In the Beginning (2005). Winning stories were: What Mick Didn't Know, The Silent Partner, and Green and Mean. Publication pending in two more FaithWriters anthologies which are still being compiled; winning stories: Invisible No More and Bea Z. Boddie. All stories may be accessed and read on my FaithWriters profile page.
Also published in FaithWriters Magazine; stories used: Practicing Deity Without a License and The Missing Gene. Both may be accessed above, at "My Favorite Links."
- Published four devotionals with Inspired Moms (www.InspiredMoms.com). Titles are: Dishes, Missions, and Other Things; Dust Bunnies and Dirty Bathrooms; Stand Consistent; and The Little Things.
CONTACT ME
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