186: How To Transform Your Struggles Into Your Strength With Cherlyn Decker

Cherlyn Decker is Dr. Brad Miller’s guest on Episode 186 of “The Beyond Adversity Podcast.”

Cherlyn Decker is a best-selling author, motivational speaker, and life coach. Her signature process has helped hundreds of people hear, experience, and lead from the Voice of clarity for the past 15 years, allowing them to fulfill their purpose with bold confidence.

She is the bestselling author of Roar Back: Transforming Struggle into Strength, which debuted at number one on Amazon in eight categories. Cherlyn tells the story of her layoff in this book and, from her experience, teaches us how not just to survive our trials but to use them, learn from them, and be empowered to help others.

Her world was turned upside down when she received a phone call from one of the people in the corporate office. She had just been informed that she was being let go from her job. Hearing this, she felt befuddled because she had been doing the same routine for a corporate company for many years, and then this habit was abruptly altered. She is left wondering, “Now what?” 

She was living in Washington, DC at the time, where you needed two sources of income to afford the living conditions. Cherlyn then entrusted everything to God’s will because she had always heard that God provides and will never abandon them, and as a result, she was doing the work that God had initially been intended for her to do.

Cherlyn sat down with her bible, meditated, and had a deeper conversation with God, putting all of her faith work into it. She asked him to redefine who she indeed was because she had known who she was her entire life – or at least as a corporate employee. She had to accept that she couldn’t do it all on her own.

She felt like having all these connections when working in the corporate world, and she could easily land a job. But to her surprise, Cherlyn finds herself being dragged into a different direction – all of the money, power, and influence felt like it didn’t matter as she knew God wanted her for another purpose. 

In this episode, Cherlyn shared how a calling from God transformed her life for the better by merely trusting in His promises and working towards her faith; Doing God’s work that she was called for.

Episode 186 of The Beyond Adversity Podcast is a must-listen for any spiritually-minded Christians who struggle to know their calling, who they are, and find the purpose that God has placed them on this planet. It’s a reminder for all of us that through faith with work, transformation into someone better is possible if we have faith and keep the word of God and make Him a center of our lives even during these times of crisis. 

“The Beyond Adversity Podcast with Dr. Brad Miller is published weekly with the mission of helping people “Grow Through What They Go Through” as they navigate adversity and discover their promised life of peace, prosperity, and purpose. 

Websites: https://www.cherlyndecker.com/ | https://www.amazon.com/Cherlyn-Decker/e/B09NL7P647/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/decker0528 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherlyndecker

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cherlyndecker/?hl=en 

Transcript
Dr. Brad Miller:

Dr. Brad Miller on the adversity podcast

Dr. Brad Miller:

where we help you to grow through what you go through.

Dr. Brad Miller:

As we navigate various ad first conditions that we all face,

Dr. Brad Miller:

it might be depression or divorce, perhaps disease that you face,

Dr. Brad Miller:

maybe debt or perhaps a death in the family.

Dr. Brad Miller:

We all go through stuff. And we like to talk to face to folks

Dr. Brad Miller:

who have faced some adversity in their life, and have chosen to break out?

Dr. Brad Miller:

of that pattern into something better and more complete.

Dr. Brad Miller:

We like to call that the life of peace, prosperity and purpose.

Dr. Brad Miller:

And our guest today has done just that. Her name is Charlene Decker.

Dr. Brad Miller:

She is a spiritual director, a speaker and author and entrepreneur,

Dr. Brad Miller:

and she has told has a great story to tell about the struggles that she has faced.

Dr. Brad Miller:

And now how she teaches others to face their fears.

Dr. Brad Miller:

And to, as she says, to transform their struggle, and just strength

Dr. Brad Miller:

through a book is called roar back. And her name is Sherlyn Decker.

Dr. Brad Miller:

And she's our guest today on beyond adversity. Sherlyn. Welcome. Today.

Cherlyn Decker:

Oh, Brad, I'm so happy to be here.

Cherlyn Decker:

I love the tagline of your podcast to help us get through go

Cherlyn Decker:

through what we go through. Because that's really the challenge, isn't it?

Cherlyn Decker:

Whether or not we will let us strengthen us in the process?

Dr. Brad Miller:

Well, we're going to talk just about that as we do navigate

Dr. Brad Miller:

whatever things happen in our life. But let's talk for a moment Cherilyn

Dr. Brad Miller:

about what happened in your life. What were some of the pivotal moments?

Dr. Brad Miller:

what are some of the adversities that you face, that kind of changed life for you?

Dr. Brad Miller:

that led you to do what you do now. But tell us your story.

Cherlyn Decker:

It all started with one of those phone calls that you get.

Cherlyn Decker:

And on the other end, the person says I'm sorry,

Cherlyn Decker:

Cherilyn, your position has been eliminated.

Cherlyn Decker:

And I was sitting there, and I had an inkling it was coming.

Cherlyn Decker:

But still in that moment, nothing can quite prepare you for the hit of what that meant.

Cherlyn Decker:

And I was, you know, I was flooded with all of these questions

Cherlyn Decker:

completely frozen in fear. And all of these things kept,

Cherlyn Decker:

I just kept being like, now what? Now? What.

Cherlyn Decker:

And it was, in that moment, when I realized I didn't know who I was anymore,

Cherlyn Decker:

because everything that I was, was tied up to what I did,

Cherlyn Decker:

I was working for corporate America and corporate America was very successful,

Cherlyn Decker:

what I was doing, I had left to go work for a startup,

Cherlyn Decker:

which I thought was promising bad fit. And then it was, you know,

Cherlyn Decker:

just that laid off from there and men like okay,

Cherlyn Decker:

and I don't know what I'm going to do now.

Cherlyn Decker:

And it was, we were living outside of Washington DC at the time.

Cherlyn Decker:

And that's an area that in requires almost two incomes.

Cherlyn Decker:

And so, when I lost my job, that was a significant hit.

Cherlyn Decker:

And at that moment, in my marriage, I was the breadwinner,

Cherlyn Decker:

so, we lost 60% of our income. And to just let that number sit with you

Cherlyn Decker:

60% of your income is fairly significant. And so, we just were at this place where we had

Cherlyn Decker:

He was, he says he's my provider did I truly, truly, truly believe that.

Cherlyn Decker:

to put some skin on our faith of whether we truly did believe that God was who He said

Cherlyn Decker:

And we had to walk that out. And I had to embrace all of the mess that was coming out

Cherlyn Decker:

of the inside of me as I was wrestling with all of the things that were attached to my job,

Cherlyn Decker:

and all the work that God wanted to do in me in the process.

Cherlyn Decker:

So that's kind of where it started.

Dr. Brad Miller:

And then, unfortunately, your story. Not a lot of people especially,

Dr. Brad Miller:

it's I think it's all happened maybe before COVID crisis.

Dr. Brad Miller:

But we know in the COVID crisis, last couple years, there's been a huge shift,

Dr. Brad Miller:

a lot of people lost their jobs, or a lot of people had some major shifted income,

Dr. Brad Miller:

or a lot of people had a shift in life circumstance.

Dr. Brad Miller:

And so, your story speaks a lot of people's stories right now.

Dr. Brad Miller:

And there's a lot of people who just flat out don't feel like they're a fifth

Dr. Brad Miller:

in whatever they're doing, and are just aching for something out

Dr. Brad Miller:

and they feel a little trapped there. But let's talk about what you did there.

Dr. Brad Miller:

And you said you had to put some skin in the game and put some legs on your faith.

Dr. Brad Miller:

That's, I guess, that involves taking action that involves getting,

Dr. Brad Miller:

you know, not just having a pity party and kind of, you know,

Dr. Brad Miller:

doing the poor, me type of thing. You had to have done something to

Dr. Brad Miller:

tell us about some of the actions or the shift that that you took

Dr. Brad Miller:

repress you and your husband took at that moment if you lost your job.

Cherlyn Decker:

there were quite a few markers that I have action steps that I took.

Cherlyn Decker:

And the first one was, you know, I really just kind of sat down with my Bible

Cherlyn Decker:

and was like, okay, God, who am I then, and I had to really let him redefined

Cherlyn Decker:

who I was by what he said, because for my whole entire career,

Cherlyn Decker:

I was who someone else that I was, I was the boss. I was the you know,

Cherlyn Decker:

I was the team leader; I was all of these other’s things and I had to redefine myself by

Cherlyn Decker:

who God said I was. So, we really started with the word and reap,

Cherlyn Decker:

resetting my foundation on what that was. The second one of the other things that I did

Cherlyn Decker:

was I had to realize that I could not do this by myself?

Cherlyn Decker:

And there was this lady that I kept looking for at church, I was looking all over the

Cherlyn Decker:

place, I remember, she would teach some seminars or something on like,

Cherlyn Decker:

guided prayer and things like that. And so, I was looking for her, her name had dropped

Cherlyn Decker:

into my spirit. And I kept looking and looking all over,

Cherlyn Decker:

only to find out that God had moved her to another place.

Cherlyn Decker:

But I connected with her. And she became my coach, my spiritual director through that

Cherlyn Decker:

season to kind of walk me through what I was facing, because I didn't have a

Cherlyn Decker:

vocabulary for it. I didn't realize, as you were talking just beforehand, that this was like a

Cherlyn Decker:

wilderness type of experience, or realizing that I didn't know what I was going to face

Cherlyn Decker:

here. But a lot of what I was facing was myself. And the reality of I didn't like necessarily

Cherlyn Decker:

who I was? And it was an opportunity for me to really let God mold me and make me

Cherlyn Decker:

into something new in that process. And that requires a lot of transformation work and

Cherlyn Decker:

being willing to do that. And I think the third thing we really had to do is my husband,

Cherlyn Decker:

and I had to recognize that God was calling me into something else. Because I had a

Cherlyn Decker:

network of people in my corporate world, I could have reached out to and could have

Cherlyn Decker:

sent my resume to and I did all of those things. And then doors began to shut in me

Cherlyn Decker:

face. And I was like, well, God, this is what I went to school for. This is what my degree

Cherlyn Decker:

is in, and all of those things and every door was shut. And this opportunity came along

Cherlyn Decker:

for what seemed like the job of a lifetime, the title, the money, all the things that I

Cherlyn Decker:

thought mattered. But it was an hour and a half one way, in DC traffic to this job with

Cherlyn Decker:

no public transit, we had public transit, just not to this place. And it was like, ah, you

Cherlyn Decker:

know, in that place of choice of what will I pick? And what will I choose to do? And I

Cherlyn Decker:

knew very strongly that God was saying no. And so, I was just like, told the headhunter,

Cherlyn Decker:

thank you, this is not the right opportunity for me. And my husband was not thrilled.

Cherlyn Decker:

And so, we I had

Dr. Brad Miller:

reality was starting to sit into I'm sure about the mortgage was there and car payments,

Dr. Brad Miller:

and what have you. And yes, and that's offer that was there. Yeah,

Cherlyn Decker:

yes. And then when that stuff happens, one thing then happens after another, right, the

Cherlyn Decker:

car breaks down, other things begin to break, and all of a sudden, more money is going

Cherlyn Decker:

out than it would have been before. And we were faithful stewards, we had, you know,

Cherlyn Decker:

become financial counselors through the financial ministry through church. So, we knew

Cherlyn Decker:

some foundational things. But this was a different level of faith that we'd ever had to

Cherlyn Decker:

trust God for. And I remember, you know, just having these conversations with me

Cherlyn Decker:

husband, rather, this was the right thing. Are you sure that you feel like God is calling?

Cherlyn Decker:

you into something else? And then he sees his, you know, verse of the day pops up on his

Cherlyn Decker:

phone? And it was, you know, do not, you know, you know, transform your mind, you're

Cherlyn Decker:

not conformed to the patterns of this world. And he's just like, sends me a screenshot

Cherlyn Decker:

with that. Okay, fine.

Dr. Brad Miller:

So, leading as well, as you had yours, and they finally, you know, came together they

Dr. Brad Miller:

finally intersected. That's an awesome God moment when, when that happens, so

Dr. Brad Miller:

you didn't know. So, you went ahead and took the plunge to me, you took the made the

Dr. Brad Miller:

decision to not take that opportunity, and go some for some other opportunities. And in

Dr. Brad Miller:

this process, you from just our conversation here Sherlyn, that you were sensitive about

Dr. Brad Miller:

spiritual? What I'm getting at here is it you took some of the actions that people need to

Dr. Brad Miller:

take, you know, you went to the head on or you did other things, you I'm sure you made

Dr. Brad Miller:

some adjustments in your lifestyle financially, or whatever would have been and you

Dr. Brad Miller:

took some action. That's so important.

Cherlyn Decker:

We did. I'm sorry. Go ahead. We did we had I mean, I'm glad you brought that up.

Cherlyn Decker:

Because we do, we did have to take a look at the reality of the things. Where can I cut

Cherlyn Decker:

back where can I renegotiate costs? You know, where can we let everybody know we

Cherlyn Decker:

lost our job and so do we have to possibly change you know, our payment structure of

Cherlyn Decker:

things we did the responsible things. On the money side, we did the responsible things

Cherlyn Decker:

on the job-hunting site, but at the end of the day, this was not that type of ask this was

Cherlyn Decker:

a spiritual ask with God would he would I trust him to go into a place that's

Cherlyn Decker:

unknown? In both my heart and in my career path?

Dr. Brad Miller:

Let's go to that spiritual ask here just for a moment because I'm a believer that in order

Dr. Brad Miller:

to have true transformation, you have to connect with a higher power or something be

Dr. Brad Miller:

greater than ourselves. And that's where transformation takes place. but take the

Dr. Brad Miller:

physical action that gets us off the off the spot of this moron sort of Orient. But then we

Dr. Brad Miller:

have there the inner transformation. So, you mentioned about some things, basically

Dr. Brad Miller:

what I might call it. But what are the things did you do? What kind of things did you do?

Dr. Brad Miller:

to engage a, you mentioned about a spiritual director came into your life, or some

Dr. Brad Miller:

things you did to engage a spiritual transformation, which then, you know, became a

Dr. Brad Miller:

part of your process of overcoming this adverse life condition to get you through what

Dr. Brad Miller:

you do.

Cherlyn Decker:

I was listening to sermons from a lot of different places and a lot of different voices that

Cherlyn Decker:

I just didn't have an opportunity to do so because I was working. And so, I remember we

Cherlyn Decker:

had, I was standing in my grungy clothes, mopping the kitchen floor with my greasy

Cherlyn Decker:

ponytail, right? And I'm listening to this, you know, sermon. And the pastor is talking

Cherlyn Decker:

about how maybe we were not geographically positioned for God to bless us. And I

Cherlyn Decker:

stopped, and I was like, you are reading my mail. And so, we just, it was this opportunity

Cherlyn Decker:

to, to hear God speak right to me wondering, okay, do we need to move? Do I need to l?

Cherlyn Decker:

let go of some things because I had been in this process, Brad, where I was tightly

Cherlyn Decker:

clenched fist around all the things that I liked about my life. And they were all being

Cherlyn Decker:

pried open. So, my career, you know, we were an amazing church, we had an amazing

Cherlyn Decker:

group of friends and all of these things, God was challenging me to let him have. Will

Cherlyn Decker:

you trust me with this? Will you trust me with that, and it was just this season of letting

Cherlyn Decker:

go. And one of those options that kind of came to the surface was my husband was

Cherlyn Decker:

being trans being asked to be transferred to Denver. And I was affirming No way, not

Cherlyn Decker:

going. This is where my family lives. No thanks. This is where our kids were born. This is

Cherlyn Decker:

where I was raised, we're going to stay here. And so, when that pastor was, you know,

Cherlyn Decker:

who I don't even know, I'm just listening to the recording, right? When he said

Cherlyn Decker:

something, and it felt like it penetrated so deeply in my heart, I knew God was speaking

Cherlyn Decker:

to me. And so, there were things like that, that I was listening to. There were, you know,

Cherlyn Decker:

the, I was doing a lot of different types of reading, I was studying Jonah. And realizing

Cherlyn Decker:

that God has asked him to go someplace, and you know, would he, do it? And then

Cherlyn Decker:

studying Abraham, of what God was asking him to do something, would he do it? And

Cherlyn Decker:

understanding that in that process, we don't always know what where we're headed,

Cherlyn Decker:

and that I was a type A, you know, give me the plan. Let's get it done. I'm very driven.

Cherlyn Decker:

But God was saying, I'm not giving you the plan. I need you to trust me in a faith walk.

Cherlyn Decker:

And so, it was a lot of really just finding myself in the stories of Scripture and finding

Cherlyn Decker:

myself in the sermons that I was listening to, where God was beginning to speak and

Cherlyn Decker:

give me direction. And, you know, I, God gives me a lot of dreams. There's a lot of

Cherlyn Decker:

seasons during that time where I was getting vivid dreams, and I knew that they were

Cherlyn Decker:

directional.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Hmm. Well, that is very awesome that you had the sensitivity about that. To give you a

Dr. Brad Miller:

guess one detail did your husband asked for the transfer or they his company asked him

Dr. Brad Miller:

to transfer

Cherlyn Decker:

was an interesting way that that came up, there was a, quote, a lunch and learn like a

Cherlyn Decker:

bring your lunch. And let's listen to this presentation for this other part of the company,

Cherlyn Decker:

they were starting up a new division. And they had asked him to be a part of that. And

Cherlyn Decker:

so, he had jumped into that he was a part of this. And they were really looking to kind of

Cherlyn Decker:

make their own division outside of the where they currently work, unplug from the

Cherlyn Decker:

current office and go start their own office someplace else. And in that process, all of

Cherlyn Decker:

this was happening in my life. And so, we thought it might have been Texas and then we

Cherlyn Decker:

thought it might have been someplace else. And so, this was all kind of percolating and

Cherlyn Decker:

then you know, the Denver thing happened about a about almost a year into my layoff.

Dr. Brad Miller:

One reason I'm asking that because, you know, you sound like you were, in a way

Dr. Brad Miller:

coordinating your, your god moments with your husband, and that, you know, you had

Dr. Brad Miller:

this moment of truth where he has this opportunity to go to Denver and you are dealing

Dr. Brad Miller:

with all the other dynamics family sound like you were raised in that Washington DC

Dr. Brad Miller:

area or your family was there. So, you got all those dynamics and all that stuff that keeps

Dr. Brad Miller:

one in one place. And that meant he may been be led for other reasons, other places

Dr. Brad Miller:

and you had to come together and so we've got to point out what I'm getting out here

Dr. Brad Miller:

with Cherlyn his spiritual discernment comes into play, you know, really trying to be wise

Dr. Brad Miller:

about this and, and as part of the spiritual life is not just abdicating things to kind of Oh,

Dr. Brad Miller:

Well, that's the way it goes. It is kind of working in, in tune or engagement or harmony

Dr. Brad Miller:

with the Holy Spirit and with the others who are in our life, you've made a covenant with

Dr. Brad Miller:

your husband, for instance. And so that covenant comes into play as well. Do you think

Dr. Brad Miller:

of can you think of any other moments in this whole process where you kind of felt this

Dr. Brad Miller:

Harmonic Convergence, I'll say, about how kind of the Spirit in your physical situation,

Dr. Brad Miller:

and opportunities seem to come together on that line?

Cherlyn Decker:

Asked me a different way.

Dr. Brad Miller:

When did you see God just an aha moment for you, they really confirmed that this was?

Dr. Brad Miller:

okay. For good here, even though I'm nervous about it. I'm about it. This is an aha

Dr. Brad Miller:

moment. Yeah, I'm ready to do this.

Cherlyn Decker:

Oh, my gosh, there were so many confirming things that had happened. I remember

Cherlyn Decker:

somebody coming up to us at church, and just having a conversation about they had

Cherlyn Decker:

me confused with somebody else. And they were like, oh, I hear you're moving. I was

Cherlyn Decker:

like, what? So, it was one of those things that complete mistaken identity, but God was

Cherlyn Decker:

like talking to me and poking at me and getting me to kind of let down my will in me

Cherlyn Decker:

way. And so, it was just so many of those little things that I was paying attention to,

Cherlyn Decker:

because I think that's really the key is paying attention to all the little nudges that I got

Cherlyn Decker:

from the Holy Spirit along the way. And as you were saying, having wisdom and

Cherlyn Decker:

discernment to be like, oh, wait a minute, you know, this is this is more significant. It

Cherlyn Decker:

may be that person did hear from the Lord and say, oh, I hear you're moving. And that

Cherlyn Decker:

was more of a, you know, prophetic than it actually then I actually believed that it was

Cherlyn Decker:

at the moment. And so, I think that that was one of the things and then from a from a

Cherlyn Decker:

realization that God was working. So, when my layoff happened in February, and then

Cherlyn Decker:

probably about September, I go to his Labor Day barbecue. And we're walking in it was

Cherlyn Decker:

one of these mixed companies, types of groups where they were people who I knew

Cherlyn Decker:

from corporate, and then who I used to work with, and then people from my church, so

Cherlyn Decker:

there was a common group of friends there. And so, I walked into this backyard carrying

Cherlyn Decker:

my you know, my salad or desert, whatever my last name told me to bring. And us

Cherlyn Decker:

lawn chairs and my kids in tow, right? We're walking in as a family. And this lady that

Cherlyn Decker:

used to work for me was there. She saw me come in, and she says Sherilyn, I recognized

Cherlyn Decker:

your form, but not your countenance. So much had changed in me in that process, that

Cherlyn Decker:

somebody who worked with me every single day, recognized the transformation had

Cherlyn Decker:

happened. And that's when I realized that the work that I had been doing, was starting

Cherlyn Decker:

to pay off, it was starting to show it was starting to, I was starting to emerge as

Cherlyn Decker:

something different. And I was realized, okay, God, if I can trust you, with all of these

Cherlyn Decker:

layers of my heart that we've had to explore, then yes, I can trust you with this move.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Awesome. Well, let's go there with people like this coworker, former coworker, and

Dr. Brad Miller:

somebody you had that kind of relationship with, oh, you and your former in your work

Dr. Brad Miller:

environment and AIS and whatever that she saw you in this new way. And then, so she

Dr. Brad Miller:

saw the transformation take place, let's talk about the role those emotional relationships

Dr. Brad Miller:

play in transformation that could be with your husband, it could be with family

Dr. Brad Miller:

members, it could be with coworkers or church folks. Or perhaps it's a mentor, you

Dr. Brad Miller:

might have, you know, through a sermon that you hear or you know, books or tapes or

Dr. Brad Miller:

whatever influencers in your life. Tell me about the, you know, the power of positive

Dr. Brad Miller:

relationships to help our maybe mentorships or, or accountability groups that help you

Dr. Brad Miller:

in this process of transformation to a role played with you.

Cherlyn Decker:

Yeah, so there was a spiritual director who I mentioned. And then around Easter time, I

Cherlyn Decker:

remember being at a Good Friday service and had heard a sermon about dying to self

Cherlyn Decker:

in a different kind of way. And I really became a that that just broke me. And so, I rushed

Cherlyn Decker:

to the altar that particular weekend and was met by one of the women pastors that

Cherlyn Decker:

were on staff. And she was like, the children's minister or something over the nursery.

Cherlyn Decker:

And she and I just bonded, and we met on a regular basis to kind of for and we're

Cherlyn Decker:

exploring, I think one of the Ruth Haley Barton books about loneliness, and just the

Cherlyn Decker:

transformation and all of the things that I was going through in the process and just

Cherlyn Decker:

sharing this journey and in some so many ways, she was there to kind of hold my arms

Cherlyn Decker:

up while I was dealing with all of this nasty stuff that was coming out on my heart. So

Cherlyn Decker:

she was very powerful voice in me, and then from a distance somebody like that I never

Cherlyn Decker:

met in person, but who I've adopted as my spiritual dad is Graham cook. And so, I just

Cherlyn Decker:

began to dive into his books and his to his teaching series. And those types of things

Cherlyn Decker:

ordering, you know, watching his messages online and things like that, and just

Cherlyn Decker:

beginning to, to hear him speak into my life. As a mentor. I lost my dad a couple years

Cherlyn Decker:

before, so he kind of became my adopted father. And that way we've never met, and I

Cherlyn Decker:

can't wait when I finally do and just tell him that, you know, I adopted him 12 years ago.

Dr. Brad Miller:

I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear that. So yeah, that's awesome. Well, the, what

Dr. Brad Miller:

you're sharing is the dynamic that happens, the energy that starts to pop, crackle, and

Dr. Brad Miller:

everything, when, when some when relationships come into play in our transformation.

Dr. Brad Miller:

And that's an awesome thing. I love to see these various elements or transformations of

Dr. Brad Miller:

physical action, the spiritual, the spiritual force, and the emotional thing. And another

Dr. Brad Miller:

piece of I think it's just kind of the, what I call the cognitive which is the, the habits or

Dr. Brad Miller:

the practices or the disciplines, or how we actually live out our daily life, you know, we

Dr. Brad Miller:

have these high moments. But how did your day-to-day life transform? Or what are

Dr. Brad Miller:

maybe some of the practices or habits that you do now, which help you stay on track?

Dr. Brad Miller:

With the so the countenance is some view of the countenance of peace about you?

Cherlyn Decker:

I think the most transformational one for me has been standing on the promises of God,

Cherlyn Decker:

and in a way that they become a rock, and in the way that they become a sword. And,

Cherlyn Decker:

and I mean by when I, you know, when I was saying here, we were dealing with financial

Cherlyn Decker:

struggle, and do I trust God to be my provider and all of those things, I was standing in

Cherlyn Decker:

the word that's like, you know, you will put your you provide it for the widow you

Cherlyn Decker:

provided for this person, you provide it for that person, whatever promise it was

Cherlyn Decker:

whoever God said He was, if he said he was my healer, if he said he was my protection,

Cherlyn Decker:

if he said he was my friend, all of those things who he said he was, I was like, I want to

Cherlyn Decker:

know you like that. And so, I would say to him, I don't know this aspect of you. I don't

Cherlyn Decker:

know you as my provider. So, I need to see it. Yes, it was like, I saw his blessings. I saw his

Cherlyn Decker:

hand a favor and stuff on me in the job. But I didn't know him as my provider when we

Cherlyn Decker:

had nothing. When we had when we were when we were just thankful to find $50 in the

Cherlyn Decker:

ditch. Because I mean, and I'm serious, because we were what we were walking the

Cherlyn Decker:

dogs, and my kid was, you know, she was probably in kindergarten or first grade at the

Cherlyn Decker:

time, and we're walking the dogs, and we're between these couple of houses, we're not

Cherlyn Decker:

buying a buddy's car, we didn't see it fall out of somebody's purse, but there it was $50

Cherlyn Decker:

laying in the ditch, and that was gas money that week, you know, or when the Costco

Cherlyn Decker:

rebate check comes at the same time with the electric bill. And it's almost the same

Cherlyn Decker:

with a little bit of leftover because that's God he's abundant. He gives you more than

Cherlyn Decker:

you need. I mean, these days $50 won't fill up my car, but then it did. Sure. And so, we're

Cherlyn Decker:

in this place where I was seeing God show up in ways I hadn't seen before. Because I

Cherlyn Decker:

was looking for it. I was trusting it. I was standing in faith for it by saying this is who you

Cherlyn Decker:

say you are and I'm trusting and believing it. And so, I was I was given his word back

Cherlyn Decker:

to him. It was like Jesus would say it is written and it'd be like it is written, pull out verse

Cherlyn Decker:

outstanding on and declaring the Word of God over my life in a way that I had never, I

Cherlyn Decker:

was just wasn't a part of my faith tradition that, you know, God was really challenging

Cherlyn Decker:

me to do.

Dr. Brad Miller:

It's really cool when you see the manifestation of our belief system come to fruition,

Dr. Brad Miller:

whether it's finding some literally money in a ditch or something else that happens. And

Dr. Brad Miller:

one of the great ways I think, Sherlyn that he does. This fate that we take that we

Dr. Brad Miller:

approach God in our life, is manifested in how we share that love with other people. We

Dr. Brad Miller:

share the good news, we share our story, we share our process to share that with others.

Dr. Brad Miller:

And you've chosen to do that by writing a book and you have several other things on

Dr. Brad Miller:

your website that are helpful to people, particularly women, I believe, but the name of

Dr. Brad Miller:

your book is roar back, transforming struggle into strength. So, if a person is hearing us

Dr. Brad Miller:

story here today, and maybe she has a similar story of losing a job or losing something

Dr. Brad Miller:

of value and then struggling, what is she going to find when she picks up rollback or

Dr. Brad Miller:

somebody gets a tour as a gift.

Cherlyn Decker:

She's going to find some raw honesty about what I was walking through. And that

Cherlyn Decker:

transparent journey of what the Holy Spirit walked me through and what he you know,

Cherlyn Decker:

the questions he asked me the things he was challenging me to do the things that he

Cherlyn Decker:

was challenging me to believe and let go of It's definitely a raw DIY story of what God

Cherlyn Decker:

did in my life. And what I love about, you know, the verse in Revelation that it says we

Cherlyn Decker:

overcome him, meaning the enemy by the blood of the Lamb, which is the price that

Cherlyn Decker:

Jesus paid for us on the cross, and the power, the word of our testimony. And so when

Cherlyn Decker:

we can think of my story, being my testimony of what God did for me to be something

Cherlyn Decker:

that helps someone else overcome their situation, then I have a responsibility to share

Cherlyn Decker:

my story with whoever God gives me the opportunity to I'm so I'm so thankful for you,

Cherlyn Decker:

Brad, for even having me here to share my story with how I have overcome some of

Cherlyn Decker:

these things. Because that's what we're back is it's the inner confidence.

Cherlyn Decker:

the confidence that came out of me in that season is now makes me absolutely fearless

Cherlyn Decker:

when the enemy tries to throw stuff at me, and like, really, you're trying that, okay. And

Cherlyn Decker:

so, then I pull out my Bible, and I find a promise from God. And I'm just like, I can go to

Cherlyn Decker:

battle with him in the, you know, with the Word of God, knowing that God is

Cherlyn Decker:

faithful, and that God will do what he says he's going to do. And I can trust him, and I

Cherlyn Decker:

can be in his hands and know that he's got me. And so, all of that came out of that

Cherlyn Decker:

season of saying, okay, maybe it's my testimony. Or maybe it's another episode that

Cherlyn Decker:

you're hearing from maybe it's this book, maybe it's another book that you're reading,

Cherlyn Decker:

maybe it's the stories in the Bible that are saying, hey, you did it for them, can you do

Cherlyn Decker:

that for me. And so, I'm hoping that that's what we can do with the power of testimony

Cherlyn Decker:

is realize how much you can unlock breakthrough for other people.

Dr. Brad Miller:

let's go to that power of testimony that you've shared your testimony in a very powerful

Dr. Brad Miller:

way here today. I know you do. So, in your book, which in many ways is you know, your

Dr. Brad Miller:

story of your process and what you went through. But I'm sure that you not only through

Dr. Brad Miller:

your book, but the resources you have on your website, and through other connections

Dr. Brad Miller:

you've had that you've had opportunity to share with people I met in particular, I, I

Dr. Brad Miller:

would presume, I'd like to hear a story of a testimony of someone you've worked with, or

Dr. Brad Miller:

someone has been in your life or your sphere of influence that you've seen, who is kind

Dr. Brad Miller:

of in that ditch where you are at or similar. And now it's come up, tell me a story about

Dr. Brad Miller:

someone you've worked with that has come out too.

Cherlyn Decker:

Oh, my goodness, there's so many to choose from. And the person who is coming up in

Cherlyn Decker:

my mind's eye is somebody who was in an environment where she was also in a

Cherlyn Decker:

corporate job. And it was extremely toxic. And they were beating down on her for who

Cherlyn Decker:

she was. And she came out of that job situation she left. And she just came out of that

Cherlyn Decker:

job situation completely, not knowing who she was, she lost her confidence in herself.

Cherlyn Decker:

And we, you know, we probably met this past January, and we just started she, she

Cherlyn Decker:

heard me speak somewhere. And so, she reached out and she felt like the Holy Spirit

Cherlyn Decker:

was telling her, she needs to work with me. And so, within the first, probably one or two

Cherlyn Decker:

conversations, she had this massive shift of realizing that, you know, that time that you

Cherlyn Decker:

spent at that company wasn't wasted that God was going to redeem every single piece

Cherlyn Decker:

of it. And in the process, she has not only found her confidence, again, she has found a

Cherlyn Decker:

new purpose. And she is now doing something in complete alignment with her gifts. And

Cherlyn Decker:

she was a former physician. And she was somebody who was told and taught that she

Cherlyn Decker:

didn't have any kind of that she couldn't talk about what she was doing, because it

Cherlyn Decker:

brought too much attention on herself. And so, she just would be like, Oh, she wouldn't

Cherlyn Decker:

let anybody call her a doctor. And so and so I'm like, but this is your gifting. This is your

Cherlyn Decker:

skill set. This is who God created you to be and she like, Yeah, but that's who I used to

Cherlyn Decker:

be. I mean, that's still who you are, you're still very much somebody who is science

Cherlyn Decker:

minded, who cares very much about how God created things and how people work in

Cherlyn Decker:

the mind and all of that. And so, she's, you know, shifted all of her creativity into a way

Cherlyn Decker:

to kind of have to work with a ministry for other doctors and to work in and she loves to

Cherlyn Decker:

ask those deep questions of the faith and ask why. So, she's found her gifting in her

Cherlyn Decker:

niche inside of apologetics because that's where she's realized that's where her natural

Cherlyn Decker:

giftings work best. And she's finally to the place where she's okay with people calling

Cherlyn Decker:

her doctor again, even though she's retired and she's not practicing and you know, she

Cherlyn Decker:

has a completely different direction. And that just to see the confidence that coming

Cherlyn Decker:

out of her be able to walk out what God has put in front of her in a completely new way

Cherlyn Decker:

has made her as made or transformed for sure that

Dr. Brad Miller:

it's an awesome Some story to tell. And I'm sure there's other opportunities out there. So

Dr. Brad Miller:

if people want to understand and connect with you, I know you speak and you have

Dr. Brad Miller:

resources on your website and your book. If people want to be connected with you,

Dr. Brad Miller:

Sherlyn how can they? How can they do so

Cherlyn Decker:

the best place to go would be my website, Cherilyn decker.com. And if they click, I think

Cherlyn Decker:

it's forward slash, beyond hyphen, adversity, I'll make sure I get that link to you. Cherilyn

Cherlyn Decker:

decker.com forward slash beyond hyphen, adversity, there's a special place for you to

Cherlyn Decker:

go to the connected. And I'll give you a free gift of one of the prayers that I have there

Cherlyn Decker:

for the declarations that I take from the Word of God that I stand on. And that's a kind

Cherlyn Decker:

of good way to get started and standing on the promises of God.

Dr. Brad Miller:

We'll look forward to that and all those connections you could find at our website, Dr.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Brad miller.com. It's been an absolute joy and a pleasure to have our author guests with

Dr. Brad Miller:

us her to her book is roar back, transforming struggles into strength. And she's all about

Dr. Brad Miller:

empowering you to face circumstances that you have with courage, confidence and

Dr. Brad Miller:

boldness. We thank you for being our guest today on beyond adversity. Cherlyn Decker