Imagine feeling shackled by brokenness and inadequacy, only to discover a path to true freedom and inner peace. Dr. Sherri, a clinical psychologist and our guest on this episode of the Death to Life podcast, experienced just that. She shares her transformative journey from a conflicted follower of Jesus to someone living the abundant life promised by Romans 8. Inspired by her 2019 turning point, she describes fully surrendering to God and rejecting the lies that kept her in bondage, emphasizing how changing thought patterns can break the chains of mental and spiritual oppression.
Through her professional and personal experiences, Dr. Sherri illustrates the profound impact of seeking the Lord and immersing oneself in scripture. A significant breakthrough came when she confided in her cousin, Pastor Kevin, helping her dispel the darkness and recognize her true worth. Her story is a testament to the power of God’s love and redemption, offering listeners a pathway to wholeness and restoration. She emphasizes the necessity of a deep relationship with Jesus for true peace and freedom from shame, providing invaluable guidance on living according to God's design and embracing self-control granted by the Holy Spirit. Join us for this compelling conversation that promises to enrich and uplift your spiritual journey.
0:00 - Transformation Through Surrender
13:28 - Discovery of Faith and Healing
19:38 - Revealing the Lie of Brokenness
30:30 - Seeking Jesus for True Peace
37:19 - Journey to Freedom From Shame
53:23 - Understanding Depression Through a Biblical Lens
59:04 - Discovering Faithfulness and Obedience
1:10:49 - Letting Go of Burdens in Prayer
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https://www.lovereality.org/podcasts
Looking for discipleship and fellowship? Join a Circle at lovereality.org/circles
Imagine feeling shackled by brokenness and inadequacy, only to discover a path to true freedom and inner peace. Dr. Sherri, a clinical psychologist and our guest on this episode of the Death to Life podcast, experienced just that. She shares her transformative journey from a conflicted follower of Jesus to someone living the abundant life promised by Romans 8. Inspired by her 2019 turning point, she describes fully surrendering to God and rejecting the lies that kept her in bondage, emphasizing how changing thought patterns can break the chains of mental and spiritual oppression.
Through her professional and personal experiences, Dr. Sherri illustrates the profound impact of seeking the Lord and immersing oneself in scripture. A significant breakthrough came when she confided in her cousin, Pastor Kevin, helping her dispel the darkness and recognize her true worth. Her story is a testament to the power of God’s love and redemption, offering listeners a pathway to wholeness and restoration. She emphasizes the necessity of a deep relationship with Jesus for true peace and freedom from shame, providing invaluable guidance on living according to God's design and embracing self-control granted by the Holy Spirit. Join us for this compelling conversation that promises to enrich and uplift your spiritual journey.
0:00 - Transformation Through Surrender
13:28 - Discovery of Faith and Healing
19:38 - Revealing the Lie of Brokenness
30:30 - Seeking Jesus for True Peace
37:19 - Journey to Freedom From Shame
53:23 - Understanding Depression Through a Biblical Lens
59:04 - Discovering Faithfulness and Obedience
1:10:49 - Letting Go of Burdens in Prayer
💰 DONATE & SUPPORT our Ministry: lovereality.org/give
👍 LIKE us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alovereality
📷 FOLLOW us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riyoung31/
📚 LEARN more at our site: lovereality.org
https://www.lovereality.org/podcasts
Looking for discipleship and fellowship? Join a Circle at lovereality.org/circles
The world doesn't think that the gospel can change your life, but we know that it can and that's why we want you to hear these stories, stories of transformation, stories of freedom, people getting free from sin and healed from sin because of Jesus. This is Death to Life.
Speaker 2:And so one morning I got up and I just very clearly heard the Holy Spirit I need you to tell someone. And I had a cousin of mine who I grew up with, texted him and I just said I need to talk with you. And I had no idea what I was going to say, but I just knew that that's what God was telling me to do. So I did, and as soon as we got on the phone, all of this stuff just came out and I was just like I was crying and I just said I don't know what it is, I just feel broken, I feel defective, I'm never going to get it right. And then suddenly I just kind of took a step back and I said you know what it is. I said you know what it is.
Speaker 1:I said it's a spirit of brokenness and it was in that moment where the spirit of brokenness was revealed. Yo, welcome to the Death to Life podcast. My name is Richard Young and today's episode is with Dr Sherry. She is amazing. I love this episode. I love hearing her story, her heart, how God has changed her, and there's so much in this episode. I'm pumped. I'm pumped, Having just finished recording it. I think it's going to be a blessing and encouragement to all of God's saints. So buckle up and strap in. This is Dr Sherry. Love y'all, Appreciate y'all. Dr Sherry, welcome.
Speaker 1:I have been. I don't know who put me onto your content on Instagram and I saw it and you know, sometimes I put stuff out there and people get so angry and then when I see, oh no, there's people who have been doing this and they're long before you were doing it and they're speaking truth and lives are getting changed, you just get pumped up and you just dive deeper and deeper into it and I love what you're doing. I love what you're doing. I want to start like, in a spiritual sense where does your story begin in? Who God was and how you saw him and how you were able to learn Big question.
Speaker 2:That is a big question and I can say I mean from a spiritual perspective, from my experience, my relationship with the Lord, I have a clear recollection of where that started.
Speaker 2:I was, you know, blessed like so many people aren't to grow up in a home where both of my parents were married, still are married, and they loved the Lord.
Speaker 2:They parented imperfectly, as they would because they're humans, but they showed me the way to Jesus, they taught me about Him, they exemplified Him and so when I was five years old, in the church, I decided to follow Jesus and I remember I got baptized and I stood up there as this little tiny five-year-old girl and this little mic would bend down into the, uh, baptismal pool and I was just like, yeah, I want to follow Jesus, cause I love him, and he did everything for me, you know, and um, I did, I believe that at five, certainly Um, but I think the life that followed in and out um of seasons, um was in and out of closeness with the Lord and I would actually say this is interesting, rich, because it's kind of a revelation that I've had recently the more I have conversations with people about it, the more clarity God so graciously gives that I would say most of my life was living as the conflicted, confused follower of Jesus that Paul described in Romans 7. Hmm.
Speaker 2:Most of my life not believing that this freedom that was talked about in Romans 8, this life in the Spirit that I would ever get there, that I would ever know what that was.
Speaker 2:And so that's where I lived.
Speaker 2:And I had these times where I was closer to the Lord and I was active in a church body and active in reading my Bible, but I could never seem to make that marry up to my everyday in-the-moment decisions such that I experienced a freedom of Jesus.
Speaker 2:And so maybe I wouldn't say that it's a second conversion, but I would say that it was the revelation of God's light on the lies that I had believed, that I had entertained, that I had flirted with for all my life, that kept me in that Roman seven conflicted space. But that only came because I had potentially reached what I would say is the end of myself, and I knew I knew the way back home, but I was finally ready to surrender everything and say ready to surrender everything and say I don't have it and I got nothing without you, and that would have been back in 2019. And ever since then it's been a slow, imperfect, yet certain journey focused on him, focused on his truth, seeking him diligently, and, as I've done, that he has so graciously and brilliantly brought me in to the Romans 8 life of living in the full freedom and abundance that he promised 2019, a big year.
Speaker 1:That is the year that I was considering doing something stupid and destroying my marriage and I received the truth from Romans 6, 7, that the one who has died has been set free from sin. And I was like, well, what does that even mean? And so what was the first idea and you don't have to like in 2019, that was different. That was like, oh, perhaps this Roman seven life isn't the life that is destined for all of us, because that is the excuse we hear so many times Like, well, yeah, I'm just the Roman seven guy. Or yeah, this is. And you're like that, yo, that that's not about that. Like that's not supposed to be this thing. It's not. What was the first new idea that you grabbed onto? That was like, oh, maybe this doesn't have to be like this.
Speaker 2:This is not as good as it gets. That was really what the Holy Spirit whispered to me. I really believe this, that as a Jesus follower, as somebody who's covered by the blood of Jesus, I think that you can be guaranteed an eternal security with the Lord and live in bondage here.
Speaker 1:Mercy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that was me. Bondage here, mercy, yeah, and that was me, and so I was going. I was in a relationship at the time and I had thought that it was going to be, you know it, and we were together for about five years. We ended up living together and I knew the whole time I was just in this constant state of internal angst, just unsettled, because I knew it wasn't the life that God had for me, but I was depending on my own human understanding, depending on my own thinking, trying to make it fit, trying to make the square peg fit into the round hole or however that phrase goes.
Speaker 2:And I had become so aware. God allowed me to become so aware of how much I was fighting to be loved in this relationship, in this relationship. And he was right there all along, saying you don't have to fight for that, I love you. I love you with an everlasting love. And so he just faithfully pursued me, kept calling me and I kept calling out to him. And so, when I was calling out to him and praying, I was asking him to please restore this relationship, please make this relationship right, restore it. And the more I prayed that, the more frustrated I got, the more distance I felt, the more I just knew that the end was coming.
Speaker 2:Well, one morning I woke up and what came out of my mouth, rich, surprised me to no end. But it didn't surprise God, because I had been turning my heart towards Him and I knew he was where my hope was and I wanted to surrender fully to Him. I just didn't really know how and what that looked like and what the implications of that were. Oh, this relationship is going to end. Blah, blah, blah. Don't know where to go from here.
Speaker 2:Well, that morning, when I opened up my mouth to pray, I just said okay, lord, restore it or remove it. And that to me, when I think about that in retrospect, that was the truth of Philippians 2, 13, which says the Holy Spirit is at work within you, giving you the desire to do which pleases that which pleases the Lord. And, um, he wanted me out of that relationship because it wasn't what he had for me. And so, within a week of praying that prayer, I had a conversation. I moved out, ended up going into the basement of a friend's house with my two giant dogs because I didn't have anywhere to go. I had shut down my clinical psych practice, I had become financially dependent on him, all of these things. And God made a way because I turned my heart to him and I decided to do the one thing the four-letter word that is a four-letter word in the believing community tragically obey. I chose to obey him, and blessing upon blessing upon blessing has followed that, and blessing upon blessing upon blessing, has followed that.
Speaker 1:Wow, when you talk about the clinical psych community and I see what is a. Have you read Scott Peck's the Road Less Traveled? I have not. Like the enemy is a spirit of unreality, like he just lies, and if you're living by mental health is that you dedicate your life to live from the truth at all costs. And so he describes how not all therapy is good therapy, right. So as you, you you're saying you you'd had this clinical psych thing and but now you're, you're grabbing onto something. You're like, ok, obey, I'm going to obey this truth. How did you? Was there stuff that you had thought and believed before? Because of your practicing this, what that you started to look at strangely and say, oh, this might not be it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that was the work of the Holy Spirit too, very clearly, and I think one of the things that's really encouraging to me thank you, as I recount this story is that God is so faithful. You'll know the citation probably better than me Thessalonians Timothy. God is faithful even when we are not, because he can't deny who he is. I'm not sure exactly where that is, but he is faithful, and so even during the times when I was not diligently pursuing him, he was pursuing me and he was speaking to me. I was still his daughter, but I wasn't accessing the freedom that he had so readily available to me. But I was in my practice as a clinical psychologist, and so I was privy to encountering people, where they were and what they were thinking, what they were feeling, what they were going through, and it really was a privilege to have people who are strangers open up to you and there's no mistake right Like nothing is wasted. This is exactly where the path that God had led me on. But what happened during that time is, I noticed the Holy Spirit started showing me this common thread among everybody that would come to see me, and very often they just needed to hear that. That was a quote, unquote I'll use the word for its familiarities sake, but not because I like it but a normal thought, a normal feeling, right, like okay, yeah, uh-huh. And they'd say you mean other people, you've thought that, dr Sherry, you felt that, yeah, uh-huh? Yep, sure have. And so during that time though, because of privacy laws, you can't connect people with one another, and there's you know, there's legitimate reason for that.
Speaker 2:But during that time, I was having trouble sleeping at night, and God just kept, I just kept waking up hearing similar to that. This isn't as good as it gets to me. This, this theme was my people are not broken. My people are not broken, and I just was really struck by that, and I knew the direction that I had to take was I had to go and tell people that they have a mental health to take care of, right To that they have agency in their life that they can choose. I mean, this is what we did in therapy, right, we choose to talk about how we change the way we think, how we change our perspective, how we take control of what we have control over, and so that was what I decided to do.
Speaker 2:So I got out of every insurance network because I no longer believed in diagnosing people, because if you're diagnosing people, then you are participating in the paradigm that says that they are defective or broken after getting out of insurance networks. And then I just started going and speaking, did some organizational consulting, stuff like that, until the Lord brought me to my own place of discovery that I had believed the lie and wasn't even aware of it for most of my life, that I was defective, that I was broken, that I was irreparable, that this was as good as it got. Sure, god loved me, I was saved, but maybe that free life just wasn't for me. And so, as he's taken me on that journey for myself, he has brought me and instilled in me a desire to pour out that truth on his sons and daughters that are living like they're not redeemed and whole and restored and free.
Speaker 1:Man. We just I think in my past we would just gravitate towards that because that was a good explanation for our behavior. And I remember buying the Carnes book about addiction and it's like this famous book about addiction. And I started reading it because I was like, man, I'm struggling with pornography and I don't know how to get out of this and I was like I need to own that. This is who I am. I need to own this and in owning this then there will be answers, because then I can read this book, because maybe my problem is the first step of the 12th step. I haven't been owning this enough, so I decided I was going to own it and I read the Patrick Karnes book and I'm reading it and I'm like, oh, I'm not even experiencing the level of addiction that's going on here, but maybe I can just take some stuff from it.
Speaker 1:And while some of these I don't know what I want to call it ministry some of these things have been helpful for many people, I found that later, as I was identifying with this broken person, then what is going to manifest in my life is heartache and pain and this thought and I want to hear what you think about this. When we're looking at our situation and we're like I must be broken because of what has happened, I've realized that it would be strange for anything else to happen based on the way you're thinking. You're not broken. The way you're thinking is going to lead to this. It would be strange if it didn't lead to that, right, yeah? And so when you realize, oh, this is actually what's supposed to happen based on the way I'm thinking, if I don't want these things to happen, I actually have to start thinking differently. And then that's the hard part, because I'm so used to thinking another way, did that? Oh, I need to start thinking differently and I can't identify with this broken person. Tell me about that journey.
Speaker 2:For me personally, I don't know that. So this is what I taught right Like I had started a nonprofit. I was doing my own podcast called thriving thoughts about changing the way you think so you can change your life. So this was the work that I was doing after I shut down my practice, and it was the work that I did for myself. But really, I would say the number one shift that happened for me was the well two things that served as the foundation for revealing the lie that I didn't even know I was believing Right Like I didn't if I was aware that I believed I was broken right Like.
Speaker 2:that's kind of you know your enemy and then you can kind of know what to do with that. But I really didn't. I mean, I knew the repercussions, I knew the symptoms, I knew the side effects of it, but I didn't really know the source. I literally thought it was me. And so what happened? I mean, right, I bought the lie hook line and sinker. What happened? I mean, right, I bought the lie hook line and sinker. What happened?
Speaker 2:As I started to seek the Lord again, imperfectly, but that was where my heart was positioned, starting to read my Bible, starting to talk to Him more, really just going God, if I don't have you, there is nothing Like I would 1000% be better off dead, because this is it, you are it, and if you're not it, I got nothing. And so, as I was pursuing him as his word does and this is why I'm a broken record now when people say I am in the word and I think we have to be honest with ourselves, right, we have to be honest with ourselves about what we're pursuing in every moment. And I wasn't honest with myself for most of my life. I could say I love God, but in this moment, was I loving God by choosing X, y, z? No, because love is an action X Y Z.
Speaker 2:No, because love is an action. It's not just something we say, it's not lip service, it's not a feeling, right, it's an action, just like Jesus on the cross exemplified that love is an action, it's a sacrifice. And so as I started reading God's word, the word changed me. The word shined a light on what was happening and started to kind of unearth all this stuff. And I just knew it didn't feel right, the things I was saying to myself when I looked in the mirror and I'm like I know that's not true, but, man, I don't know how to stop it. And so one morning I got up and I just like I know that's not true, but, man, I don't know how to stop it. And so one morning I got up and, uh, I just very clearly heard the Holy Spirit, I need you to tell someone. And I'm like, okay, I mean, at that point I was, even though my, my flesh, the flesh side of me was like oh, I don't think people need to know that Dr Sherry's dealing with this stuff. I'm supposed to be the one helping people, I'm supposed to be the one who has it figured out. And that was part of the issue, right, pride. And so that morning he just said tell someone.
Speaker 2:And I had connected about a year and a half prior with a cousin of mine who I grew up with. Our parents were in a gospel singing group and we would tour across the country and we would be on this bus together. So we hadn't connected at all like for the 20, 25 years of our adulthood. But we had recently reconnected and we were doing a couple of FaceTime calls, and so he is the one that God brought to mind and so I texted Kevin His name is Kevin, he's a pastor in Mississippi Texted him and I just said hey, I need to talk with you. And I had no idea what I was going to say, but I just knew that that's what God was telling me to do. So I did.
Speaker 2:And as soon as we got on the phone, all of this stuff just came out and I was just like I was crying and I just said I don't know what it is, I just feel broken, I feel defective, I'm never going to get it right. And then suddenly, after like 45 seconds of this verbal vomit about what was going on with me, I just kind of took a step back and I said you know what it is? I said it's a spirit of brokenness. And in that moment in it was in that moment, in that phone call, it wasn't in that moment that I experienced like total freedom in my daily moment by moment walk, but it was in that moment where the spirit of brokenness was revealed to me and it was in that moment that I realized just what we're battling against. Mercy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and ever since then it was like and again, that wasn't me, that wasn't Kevin, this was the word of God. That is the light that exposes the darkness, because the light and the darkness cannot coexist. So when you are immersing yourself in the light, the darkness will unearth itself. Just like the demons when they fell at Jesus's feet, right, and he comes out and they immediately they could have gone and hid, but in the presence of Jesus they know they have to bow. So they raced to his feet and said oh, are you here to torture us before our time? Because basically we're going to do whatever you say. And that's what happens when you are diligently seeking the Lord is it changes you and you've done nothing but expose yourself to God's truth and God's light, and then he does the rest. But expose yourself to God's truth and God's light, and then he does the rest.
Speaker 2:And so at that moment it was like it was so liberating because I realized it wasn't me, I wasn't broken, I had bought into the lie that I was. But that spirit of brokenness was separate from me, it was not me, it was just along after me for all of my life and I was listening to it, I was communing with it. Right, because I wasn't communing with the Holy Spirit through the word of God. And so the jig was up. And so suddenly all of these things made sense, like, oh, now I get why I could see this spirit of brokenness but didn't call it that in others. Now I get why God called me to tell his people that they're not broken. And so that's the work is. It's exposing the lies of the enemy that have infiltrated the church at large and the believer's mindset.
Speaker 1:So, like in this conversation with your cousin, it's kind of like you took the red pill. It's like you're like, oh, like you can't unseesee that anymore. You can't unsee that it wasn't, that you're not actually broken, that the enemy is a liar, and he just said it. And because it seemed like it was your experience, then you bought it. Um, what? What bible verses were you drawn to after?
Speaker 1:Because when you take the red pill, called like the gospel or the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, the Bible even reads differently than it read before, where before, like, for example, ephesians 1 says we're blessed by in Jesus Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world and before. I think we would read that and say, oh, we could have every spiritual blessing if we get our ducks in a row, if we figure out this, if we figure out that and the Bible reads as this thing that could happen if you get your act together. How did it start reading? And like, what verses were you drawn to to show that you were not broken but you were, in fact, whole and complete in him?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a really good question and actually that raises a really important point. I contend that we need to talk about which is one of the enemy's greatest and most clever tricks is to keep us from reading the word, because when we read it we feel condemned. Because when we read it, we feel condemned. So I remember. So there's a verse that talks about how the enemy disguises himself as an angel of light. For years Rich, throughout my life, the enemy would say you're that angel of light, you're the fraud, you're really the evil one who's trying to pose.
Speaker 1:Because you're trying to help people but you don't know the truth yourself. You're like imposter syndrome.
Speaker 2:Well, because I did know the truth, but I was letting the lies out. You know, cover up the truth. And so it was. And because I wasn't living my life in the freedom of Christ, because I was living in bondage to all kinds of different things, it was this perpetual shame, this confirmation of brokenness, right, and I'm never going to get it right, I'm never going to get over this. And so that was one of the ways that the enemy I allowed not the enemy, because the enemy doesn't have power over us unless we give it.
Speaker 2:I allowed the enemy to keep me from reading God's word a lot of times, but on my journey, and before this, but after that, especially the one that God just showed me over and over and over again, and I would repeat it aloud every time the enemy, the spirit of brokenness, tried to bring me back there, I was like no, no, no, I see you. The difference is now I see you, I know who you are, the jig is up. Nope, it doesn't mean sometimes I didn't still like kind of go back into those old thought patterns and fears and doubts, but I was less likely to. And so one was 1 John 3.20, which says even if my heart condemns me. God is greater than my heart and he knows all things, and so I would repeat that aloud. Another one was 1 John 1.9.
Speaker 2:1 John was big in my life at that point, which is, if you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Another one was in Isaiah that says I have blotted out your sins like a dark cloud, like it's come over your sins and they're blotted out forever. And so a lot of it was speaking in the face of shame, of perpetual brokenness. No, I am covered, I am redeemed, I am holy. And those were the three verses, probably, that really I put into play moment by moment at that point.
Speaker 1:That's so amazing. Let's talk about peace, as you were talking about Isaiah. This verse jumps out of my mind that says that he will keep the imperfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee because he trusts in thee Isaiah 26.3. Yeah, when people come to you, do you find that that's the thing that they're searching for the most?
Speaker 2:and they might not even know it. Yeah, I think they know it. That's the thing, right, I think they know it and they don't know how to get it, and so I always point them back to this foundation. So I teach this seven-week Mindset of the Redeemed course, and the first week is building the foundation of what does it mean to seek God diligently. And I always point people back to that, because here's the thing Peace is a gift from Jesus.
Speaker 2:We can't access peace, the peace that passes, understanding, that peace that we're all hungry for, that we know we're looking for because God placed the desire in us. Right, the Holy Spirit is calling to us. We know it's there, we know this isn't as good as it gets, but we don't know how to get there. We're here and we don't know how to get there, and you can't get what Jesus gave without going into Jesus, right, it's just impossible. And so people would say things like I do read God's word, I do talk to him, I do pray to him, and so I understand that. I hear people and my desire is to meet them where they're at, not to argue with them, not to say you're doing it wrong, but to suggest that you get honest with yourself about what that looks like. So, for example, I probably would have said I do read, I do pray, years ago. But you know what my kind of reading was, was I feel really like nervous right now, or I don't feel forgiven. Let me Google some verses about that, right? Or before my cell phone look up right in the index, let me search for some verses about that. Or let me go and do the Bible app and get my little verse a day, spend my 30 seconds reading that, and then I'm good. But the truth is that's not going to sustain you. It's not going to sustain you. It's just not going to the diligence and the first fruits of your day and the first fruits of your time and your mind, space and everything. Once you start applying it to immersing yourself in God's word, that's where the change and that's where the peace happens.
Speaker 2:What I've found in my own life is that all of the things like Psalm 90, verses 14 through 17, I remember I was praying. I'm like God. I really need you to establish the work of my hands, which is verse 17, right? Well, verse 14 is satisfy me with your unfailing love, right, and then it's give me gladness. So you it. Basically I'm personalizing it Give me gladness over misery, replace my stolen years, approve my efforts.
Speaker 2:This was my prayer for a long time and I had this paper stuck up on my wall. But God said you're asking me for these other things. You're asking me to replace the stolen years, to give you gladness for misery and to approve the work of your hands. But I'm asking you to stop at number one, which says let me satisfy you with my unfailing love. And so that was where he had me for a couple of years and it wasn't until I promised this relates to your question about peace, because all of the things peace, joy, gladness, all of the things approval that we are seeking are in him and they can't come by seeking those things. They have to come by seeking him, mercy.
Speaker 2:And so I was seeking him and I'm like every morning I would get up and I'd say, okay, lord, satisfy me with your unfailing love. And then at the end of the night and I would do my Bible study time and things like that, and I was really working diligently to position myself to the Lord as much as possible. I didn't always get it right, but more and more I did, and at the end of the night, before I would go to sleep, I would say thank you for satisfying me with your unfailing love. Even if I didn't feel it, I was learning, I was teaching myself, I was preaching to myself to believe what God said in his word, and that's where he had me for a long time and it wasn't. I think it was like six months ago.
Speaker 2:So this is after kind of this mindset of the redeemed was born, but not too far. It might've been right around at the same time. And I was writing in my journal one morning and I was just like. I just was like you have, I'm so happy Like you have completely turned my life around. You have, you are just like making roads where there were no roads. And then I sat back because the Holy Spirit was like now, do you see? And I was like instantly he did the rest of that passage. He gave me gladness over misery, he replaced the stolen years and he was approving my efforts. But he was doing all of that as a consequence to the first one, me seeking him and being satisfied fully with his love, without any of those things. And he gave them to me anyway.
Speaker 1:So I think it's Oswald Chambers who says if you have peace without Jesus, you actually don't have peace. That's fool's gold. And so, and we think, when Paul writes to us, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. When people are anxious, they might be anxious about, like, a certain circumstance not working out, or about their children, or about something, and they think that God is going to clear up their circumstance and that's how he will deal with their anxiety. But, like you said, jesus does not give peace outside of himself. He is our peace, what we're looking for. And then, as we seek the kingdom of God, then all of the other things are added unto us and we didn't even realize it, we didn't know it. We're like, oh, oh, I see what you did there. I was over a year. I thought. I thought that you would give me $300 to pay my car payment and that's what would free me from anxiety. Yes, but you are the freedom from anxiety.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so beautifully worded, rich. That's precisely it, and it's not until we're willing to be honest with ourselves. Are we pursuing Jesus? Are we pursuing to know him? Right, like scripture says, this is how we renew our minds by knowing our creator. That's Colossians 3.10. We know him. How do we know him? We go to the source, right, we read about him, we spend time with him. How do you know anybody that you have a relationship with? You get to know them, you listen to them, and when you're doing that and it's not, you know.
Speaker 2:To be clear, I think there's this there's a myth, right, that when you are following Jesus, everything is supposed to be good and sometimes it gets worse. I would say, maybe the circumstances never change, but you change and so, therefore, your perspective of the situation changes, and it does not have the power and authority over you to bring fear like it once did, right? No-transcript Is. It's radically simple, rich. It's in the moment, it's in every moment. You have a choice, right. Like so, I used to smoke and I remember when I was seeking God.
Speaker 2:He's like I want you to get real. Like, not that you know smoking a cigarette is going to send you to hell or whatever, but scripture says what sin? What sin to you? What God convicts you of is sin right. And he's like if you're if you're hiding behind a trash can, sherry, to smoke a cigarette, pretty sure you know that's not what I want you to be doing. This isn't the life that I have for you, right?
Speaker 2:So it was me getting honest with myself. I know, but I don't know how to stop that. I don't know how to stop doing that, god. So what he showed me was just so beautifully simple. I don't know how to stop doing that, god. So what he showed me was just so beautifully simple. And I had this sticky note. It's worn out, it's gone now, because now it's automatic. But it said what are you choosing right now? And that's what I confronted myself with every day. I put it in my wallet, I put it in my car, I put it beside my desk, I put it wherever, and that didn't just apply to that that desk. I put it wherever. And that didn't just apply to that, that was to anything in my life. What are you choosing right? Now.
Speaker 2:What are you choosing? Are you seeking your flesh or are you seeking me? And it was a simple question. And so sometimes I would pull up to the store to go into the store to buy another pack of cigarettes, and I would look at the sticky note and I would pull back out of the parking lot and go. And it was the obedience to seeking God with my whole heart. That was a scripture. I still have it actually right here. It says I worship with my whole heart. Even though I didn't the things that I saw were evidence. The things that I did were evidence that I wasn't worshiping with my whole heart I decided to start speaking scripture over myself and I said I worship you with my whole heart. Wow.
Speaker 2:And eventually I did so the uh.
Speaker 1:When we, when we minister to people, if they're under the age of, I'd say, 45, uh, usually that the way the enemy has attacked it seems to be through sexual immorality. That's high. It could be number one on the list, yeah and uh. As I was talking to a young person this week, they're like I'm grabbing onto what you're saying about that. I'm free from this thing and I used to be addicted to porn and I'm still looking at maybe twice a week, but I used to look at it every day, like a couple times a day. But now is it okay to identify as addicted to porn? Is it okay to identify as addicted to porn? And so my response was like well, define addiction. Are we just defining it as by a medical term, like your brain is used to, or are we talking about an identity thing here? How would you talk to someone who's coming there like, doc, I'm an addict but I don't wanna do this thing, but help me out, doc. Where do you start with someone like that?
Speaker 2:Um, because I've always had a problem. I've always taken issue with people calling themselves an addict, because it's an identity of brokenness, it's an identity of I can't help it, it's an identity of. It's always going to be this way. And for the believer, we have the Holy spirit which says that we have health, uh, self-control right, so that's a lie, right? Um so, and actually, if you look at the Latin root word of addiction, it's devotion, devotion. And so my question would be, or my question or thought to them would be are you willing to confront yourself with what you're devoting yourself to in every moment? Because here's the truth I can't devote myself to porn and devote myself to God's word at the same time. Mercy, it's just, it's incompatible. I can't do it. I can't devote right Now. We need people to come alongside of us. Remember, I told you I had this conversation with my cousin, kevin. This is there's power in confession to another believer, right and um.
Speaker 2:So we need to find that, uh, with discernment, um from the Holy spirit. But he, the Holy spirit, let me know when the time was right for that and who I was supposed to call. Um and but scripture says that there is forgiveness in confession of sins. Right that, when we can share the burdens.
Speaker 2:But also, more importantly than that, not even more importantly, but when you are keeping that to yourself, when you're keeping an addiction or I really don't even like using the word addiction because again, it implies that you can't control it. Maybe you can't control it on your own, but you can do all things through Christ, who strengthens you and when you reach out in community. This is why we need to be in community with believers. We need to have relationships with believers with whom we can have these conversations. As soon as we expose that to the light, it stops having authority over us. But the longer we keep that right and we hide it and we keep it in the darkness, that's where sin thrives is in the darkness, in the secret. So I would say that, number one, get honest with yourself about what you're choosing, which is an inherent admission that you are choosing something and then number two do whatever it takes to surround yourself with people who can help you choose the thing you say you want to choose.
Speaker 1:When we're talking about shame, because when you're talking about sin being hidden, it's shame is the culprit, right? Like when sometimes people they'll message me and they'll ask about masturbation and they'll ask about addiction, and I just say, well, are you? You know, we're supposed to live from a clean conscience, right? Is that violating your conscience? And then they'll say, well, no, it's not violating my conscience because of that and I'm like, oh, okay Then then why would you ask, I don't believe you. Like I got, I don't believe you. Uh yeah, but the reason we don't come out and talk to people is because of shame. It's because we believe we are this thing, or we believe, like, we identify with this thing and we know it's not right, and so we stay hidden in the dark. Yes, if, talk to me about shame from what you've seen.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, just from my own experience, that is, what kept me in my struggles with sin for most of my life was this identity of brokenness which was rooted in shame. So guilt is a good thing, right Like guilt is a good feeling. Guilt is supposed to point us in the direction of the one who redeems supposed to point us in the direction of the one who redeems Okay, godly, so yeah, or guilt can point us in the direction of the enemy, of believing the enemy's lies.
Speaker 2:See, you're never going to get it right. There's no, there's no freedom for you, there's no forgiveness for you and therefore, if you take that guilt and you internalize it and you don't take it to the Lord for forgiveness, then that converts into shame. So guilt is feeling bad, recognizing that you've done something, there's something against your conscience, recognizing that there's something that doesn't fit. I love in the Chosen when one of the scenes, jesus reaches onto Mary's hand I guess she's in a bar or something and he reaches onto her hand and he just says that's not for you and it was just this beautiful loving thing. But that's what guilt is. It's supposed to be the tap on the hand, to return to love, to return to the one who has restored you right.
Speaker 2:But the enemy doesn't want us to do that. The enemy wants us to stay in the thing, to believe the lie that we can't go to God because we've done it one too many times. Grace is fresh out for us, it's good for other people, but you know what? There's really no hope for you, so don't go to the Lord, and therefore then there is condemnation, and that's what shame is. It's condemnation, it's the accuser telling you you're never going to get over this, you can't take this to God. It's Adam and Eve in the garden hiding. That's what shame is.
Speaker 1:So we can do one of two things with guilt we can go hide, which will guarantee shame and condemnation or we can go to the Father, run to the Father and let him wash us afresh Powerful, when you say and this is a wild concept that so many Christians don't even know exists in Scripture Romans 6.14 says that sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. So sin it's not even like. In essence, it doesn't have any power over you. It actually doesn't have any power over you Right when, when you realize that, like what you're devoted to can actually change, you believe, like. Talk to me about understanding what, like the sin, doesn't have power over you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so well. Romans 6.11 is one of my favorites. That says you have to reckon or count yourself as dead to sin. So you have to actually teach yourself, you have to convince yourself, you have to speak that over yourself, that you are dead to sit. And so one of the things that I did in the moments where I was recognizing and practicing what I was choosing, what I was choosing to devote myself to because you again, it's just nobody is taking your hands and forcing them to do what you're doing Once you recognize that you're choosing, that you're choosing to devote your hands, your eyes, your mouth, whatever, to whatever it is, then you're going in that direction.
Speaker 2:One of the things that I wrote down on a sticky note. I'm a big fan, if you hadn't noticed, but that's what I needed for me. I love it. I needed external reminders of truth, right, and there's biblical evidence and support for that. And we have an external reminder here in the written word, and I would say that's not who you are. That's not who you are. You don't do that. And even now, sometimes like thoughts will come up, not like full-on temptations, but thoughts that flirt with a past habit or something, and I'll be like that's not who I am. I'm dead to that. Let's go.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I mean, that's just one very practical thing. I'm dead to that. I don't have to do that. I don't even want to do it Like I don't even want to do that.
Speaker 1:And even if I did want to do that, I'm dead to it. And that's why the next verse says let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passion, because you thought it was your passion, but it was sin's passions. And since you reckon yourself dead to sin and alive to God because you're in Christ, now you don't have to walk in the way that you used to walk. And then he says to count yourselves as those who've gone from death to life and present your members to God as instruments for righteousness, so we can actually walk out the righteousness that God has given us, because we are dead to sin and alive to God. Okay, we're going to take a quick break from this episode and I'm going to bring on my sister, savannah. Savannah, what's going on? How are you feeling tonight?
Speaker 4:I'm good. How are you?
Speaker 1:I'm so good. Quick question for you how long have you been loving this gospel freedom?
Speaker 4:The freedom part probably the past year, but the good gospel probably about two years.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, okay. What has understanding this good gospel freedom done to change your life?
Speaker 4:Oh, my word, it's changed everything, in that I used to think that I could love people to the best of my own ability, and I have learned since then that I could only love them to the best of my ability. But that person has died and now Jesus lives in me, and so now I have the privilege of being able to love people to the best of his ability able to love people to the best of his ability.
Speaker 1:You love this so much that you've dedicated time, energy, finances to keep this message getting out there. Why is that important that people hear this message to you? Why is?
Speaker 4:it. Why is that important? Because it has turned my life upside down in the best way, and I think it's so important to share this message so that more and more people can hear it and that their lives can be changed as well.
Speaker 1:Man. So if you're listening to this and you know the deal, if you ever listened to these and I hope you do go to loverealityorg slash give, loverealityorg slash give, and every dollar that you give goes toward getting this message out there. We want people to hear the podcast, we want people on the Bible studies, we want you at Internet Church, and every dollar goes to doing that. So, loverealityorg slash give, hey, savannah, thanks so much.
Speaker 4:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Depression, depression, I think depression kind of breeds more depression, breeds more depression, breeds more depression. Yeah, and I have one more question of this because I want to honor your time. But in in understanding what depression is what, how have you been able to define it? And, in defining it, be able to walk somebody through it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, let's look to the word of God. Proverbs 12, 25 says it anxiety in the heart of man causes depression.
Speaker 1:Mercy.
Speaker 2:I didn't say it, the Bible says it. So this is why, actually, you know on the clinical side of things, or anybody, if you talk to somebody, how many times have you heard somebody say I struggle with anxiety and depression? It's very rarely that it's just one or the other. Usually those are coupled together. And there's a reason for that is because the symptomatology, at least clinically speaking, is very similar, very much is very similar.
Speaker 2:But here's where I think that, as believers, we need to let this inform us, let God's word inform us and not the world system inform us. Because if that's true which it is, because the Bible says it anxiety in the heart of man or human right, humankind, causes depression? Of course it would. Why? Because anxiety, heaviness is a shouldering of the burdens and cares that I'm actually not supposed to carry. I'm supposed to put them where, but if I'm carrying them, then that will lead to excess heaviness, which is a depression, right, and that will lead to feelings of hopelessness. And so it goes back to what we talked about in Philippians. I mean, how many times does God address worry in his word? I can't even count, right, we are supposed to depend on him, not on us, but every time we're holding on to something and depending on ourselves, depending on what makes sense to us, depending on, you know, making sure we've dotted all of our I's and crossed all of our T's, that is not liberty, that is bondage. And when we are walking in bondage, that is heaviness and that is depression.
Speaker 2:But then what we do is we say things like there's something wrong with my brain. I refuse to believe, and there's no biblical evidence for it. I refuse to believe, that God would make your brain disobedient to him. He doesn't make your brain behave in such a way that you are not able to take your thoughts captive. And it's an identity issue and it's a practical issue. Taking thoughts captive is the practical issue. The identity issue is to stop saying you are depressed. Wow.
Speaker 1:He says to cast our cares upon him because he loves us. Yeah, and so when we're, I find that resisting, something like resisting that what the doctor is going to say, or resisting you know something that your child is going to do, or resisting this thing that's happening in your marriage and you're fighting, and you're fighting and it's not actually happening. You're just resisting and holding because you have to take care of it and you haven't cast these things to him because he loves you. Um, it's kind of like, well, what else do you think will manifest? That is what's going to manifest. Is depression, is heaviness? Yeah, like there's no other way, like you can't operate like that and not experience this, so like, and this is his solution.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he'll handle it, because we weren't designed to carry that. That's, this is the whole point of all of this is for us to learn, on a moment by moment basis, to operate in our design, and our design is not to carry any of these burdens. I mean, when Jesus talks about this and Luke, you know, the birds don't worry about they don't even worry about what they're going to eat. But even in the church, even among believers, we say things like well, it makes sense that you'd be worried about that. No, it doesn't make sense, let's go Fix it, jesus.
Speaker 1:So yeah, just starting off with that idea, that is super helpful to me that if you're dealing with anxiety and depression, you're holding on to something that you were never meant to hold on to.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And the fear is well, if I don't hold on to it, what's going to happen? Well, you holding on to it's not doing what it's doing anyway. So, wow, doing anyway. So, um, wow, uh, I want you to take this time for the next. I want you to testify. So we got to this part in your story where you're like I got rid of this and I got rid of that, and now I'm just talk to me about what has happened in the last few years, that you have taken this different approach than you had before, and how God has blessed and it doesn't necessarily need to be in riches and fame, but in that your light has been shining and people have seen your good works and have been glorifying your Father in heaven.
Speaker 2:Amen. So to be clear, I didn't do anything.
Speaker 1:Let's go.
Speaker 2:God did all the work. That, in and of itself, is the most liberating thing, Like when God says seek me first and all these things will be added unto you. He can be faithful. He is faithful to keep his promise. He can be trusted to keep his promise. He means it. He means it. All you have to do this is what I discovered all you have to do is to diligently seek him. And what happens after that is when you diligently seek him, you start to hear his voice more clearly in its application, in your moment by moment life. He starts to reveal through the power of his word. Because that's what his word does. It's sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword. His word reveals the dark spaces. You know what it is. It's Psalm 139, the beginning and the end. So Psalm 139, the beginning is you already know everything about me. God, Search me. You've searched me, You've known me, but the end is a heart posture that says now I invite you to search me and know me.
Speaker 2:It's a very different heart posture from knowing that God knows to asking him to know, because when you ask him to know is when he can reveal to you what's there that doesn't belong, what he has already redeemed but you've still been clinging to as your identity. But the only way that happens is through the diligent seeking and knowing of him. And so, as I did this, I actually shared this in a group the other night. God is so faithful. I used to fight to obey him and now I long to. I long to obey him because I have put myself in the position of a sunflower whose only job it is is to track the sun. I have literally put my life down to every moment. God has taught me, through some drastic consequences, that he is my provider, he is my hope, he is my sustainer, he is all the love that I need, he is the only thing that I need, and if I take this moment, this only moment that I control the last ones, they're covered. I believe that through God's word, the future ones are secured. Through his word, the only thing I need to be responsible for and this is freedom is right here, right now. Am I doing what you've asked me to do Right now? Am I doing what you've asked me to do? And when I answer that yes, in the affirmative, the next moment takes care of itself. He takes care of everything.
Speaker 2:Somebody said to me well, you know, all you got to do is work hard and keep the wolves at bay. And I said I don't have to keep anything at bay. All I have to do is show up and do what God told me to do. Obey. All I have to do is show up and do what God told me to do. But the only reason that I am acutely attuned to what he wants me to do is because my heart is positioned to him. He gets the first fruits of my day. He gets the last fruits of my day. I long to honor him and as I have grown to know him, there is no question. Do I obey him or not? There's no question. It's I want to, because that's who I am. I know who he is and I know who I am. And I track him like the sunflower and he spreads the fruit.
Speaker 1:That's like first John five where he says for this is love that that we keep his commandments, verse three of chapter five, and his commandments are not burdensome. Like you're following the son, right.
Speaker 2:If Jesus says, do it, you're like say less.
Speaker 1:I'm going to do it Done and it's not burdensome.
Speaker 2:No, it's exciting. Yes, yes, and I was never there before. But, to be clear again, I didn't do anything to get there. The only thing I did was say yes to his instruction which said to seek me first. That's it.
Speaker 1:And so since then your practice has kind of changed. How long has the Instagram thing been happening for you, or TikTok? I don't know if you're on TikTok, but I just see I am not on TikTok. People tell me.
Speaker 2:I should be on TikTok, but no, I, you know God had. Well, god hasn't told me to be on there, so I'm not. But, um, so, yeah, I'll share with you really quickly that story. Um, so I had been becoming more faith forward, more scripture forward in sharing, and, as God was doing these things in my life, it wasn't because I planned it, it was just because it was inside of me, like I got to get it, I got to tell people right, like that's what happens, and so it was still very much the same message. But before I was shy about saying why I thought you know what I thought, and so I was kind of rebranding Dr Sherry that way, just sharing more. And so last it was last August, so not even a year ago I had.
Speaker 2:Well, let me just tell you the story. So, because this, this is all stems, everything I share, stems from what God teaches me personally. Um, so I was out on a walk with my dogs and I was just starting to think about all these bills that were coming due and I'm just like God, this is just like I, just I'm so tired of living this way. I mean, it's been a long season and, um, I was just like I don't know what to do. So I get out my phone to go look at my bank app and I very clearly heard the Holy Spirit, not audibly but in my spirit, say look away. And I was like, okay, because again I've gotten better about obeying right, because I can trust him. So I took my phone, put it back in my pocket and went on.
Speaker 2:Well, as I was finishing my walk, god dealt so generously, generously with me. He was like what would that have profited you If you went to look at your bank account? You already know what's in there. What. What would that have done for you? Exactly? And I was like it would have stressed me out more, because that's right. Like it would have made me more anxious. And he's like exactly. And then he shows me look at the flowers. Like, take your walk, enjoy your life, you know. And so I got. I get back from the walk. It was hot. So it was August morning, it was hot here. I get back from the walk. It was hot. So it was August morning, it was hot here.
Speaker 2:And I had worked out, I had walked the dogs, I hadn't gotten ready, I was outside in the worst lighting possible and I made this video and I was like I just God, was just like you just need to tell people about that. But I didn't even talk about the experience. I just said you know what, if you're facing a problem a financial problem, relationship, addiction, whatever the enemy wants to convince you to keep your eyes on the problem. And I can't even remember what I said, but you know what happens when you do that is, you get more stressed out, you feel more like a failure, you feel more heavy, you don't feel less, and so I want you to look away. That's what I said in the message Look away from the problem and look to Jesus. That video went nuts. That day I had 900 followers.
Speaker 1:This was a year ago.
Speaker 2:less than a year ago, you had not even August I had 900 followers and it just started going from there. And so now there's I don't know, I don't, I don't keep track of it, I try actually not to look at it because, um, that's not where my heart is, um, and I've asked God only to give me that which he wants me to have and that which I can handle, cause I like to respond to people's DMs and things like that. But now it's over 90,000.
Speaker 1:So we're talking. It's crazy.
Speaker 2:So God is the great multiplier right, and all we have to do is be obedient.
Speaker 1:And you weren't out here like, oh, this mug's going to go viral, hold on, I'm in the wilderness, yo don't? You were just being obedient to what he had called you.
Speaker 2:Yes, I just that's what I'm saying. It is so simple and we overcomplicate it and in the moment, but that could have only happened because, like my experience on the walk of hearing the look away and then actually looking away, I want you to understand this I wouldn't have heard that had I not been diligently seeking the Lord and I wouldn't have done that, I wouldn't have obeyed and looked away had I not been practicing listening to the Lord. Right, so yeah, he's amazing.
Speaker 1:I am so encouraged. I am so encouraged. Let me ask you this is how I end all my episodes old Sherry, the one who died with Christ, uh, from the new Sherry, the one who raised with Christ, you get to go, talk to her and you get to give her, you know, you get to put your arm around her and encourage her. I'm wondering where, what time would you go back to? Would you go back to that, that sweet lady in that relationship? Or would you go further, back to when you were? Because, from somewhere between, jesus has done it all for me, this sweet little girl on the baptism, that baptismal to? Um, I'm at my wits end, but somewhere in between, there, that girl needs a pep talk. Where would you, uh, where would you travel back to?
Speaker 1:And you probably wouldn't listen, but it's just fun.
Speaker 2:So that is my answer is I know myself and God knew me, knows me because he made me. I wouldn't tell her anything because she wouldn't have listened. She wouldn't have listened, I just would have. I'd go back and I'd pray for her, and I'd probably go back and stand beside her and just silently pray for her, and I'd probably go back and stand beside her and just silently pray for her, and that would probably be somewhere around the time she was seven or eight. But I wouldn't have told her a thing because God knew I needed this level of tenacity to do what I'm doing now.
Speaker 1:Well, dr Sherry, I'll just say this you have been such a blessing in our community. Your stuff gets shared around so much, there's so much agreement in it and, oh yeah, your light is shining. You are the salt of the earth, and so I just want to say thank you for being faithful to his faithfulness. Your eyes have been opened and you're seeing the truth of what you have in Jesus Christ, and it is a blessing to the body of Christ.
Speaker 1:So thank you so much for that and thank you for coming on and sharing your story. You're a blessing to me.
Speaker 2:Thank you, rich. This was very edifying to me too.
Speaker 1:Praise the Lord. Yeah, if you are out here and you're bearing the burdens that you were never created to bear, you're holding on to them and it's leading to anxiety and depression, then this is for you. This prayer is for you. Father, thank you that you're more than willing and more than able to bear all of my burdens, so I give them to you. I place whatever in your hands right now and I'm letting go of it, and I know you have it. I don't know what it's going to look like, I don't know if my circumstances will change, but I do know that you are where my help comes from and that you've loved me with an everlasting love. So I rejoice in all of this and I give this to you in Jesus's name. Amen. Man, if you want to vibe with us at Internet Church it's every other Friday night eight o'clock central Go to the loverealityorg circles page and sign up. Sign up to go to Internet Church and vibe with us. It's going to be a great time. Love y'all and appreciate y'all. Bye.