Telling of God’s grace in my life is as much about the present as it is about the past. However, I will start with a summary of my background. My parents and faithful Christians in the church taught me God’s ways, for which I am grateful. I do not remember a time when I consciously did not believe that I was a sinner in desperate need of God’s saving grace.

For a time, I wished I had a rags-to-riches sort of testimony, because those stories seemed so exciting. I came to see that it was just as much a miracle for God to save me as it was for Him to save someone from an outwardly more troubled life. This came from a growing awareness of the depth of sin in my heart and life. The older I get, the more I see this, and the more thankful I am for the undeserved forgiveness shown to me.

What a truly amazing thing that, because Jesus is my High Priest, I can approach God with confidence. I pray for and trust that God is making me more like Christ, but the battle with my old nature will always be there, on this earth. It’s a journey through the wilderness (like the Israelites of old), with the trials promised in Acts 14:22 (I shouldn’t be surprised), but it is a journey with joy and blessing and peace because I believe the promises, and God’s Spirit is with me. That pretty well summarizes my faith and life thus far.

Since birth, I have lived in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Colorado, New York, Kansas, Alabama and Wyoming, and I have had the privilege of traveling overseas several times. I love experiencing different cultures, whether by visiting or by living somewhere. While I can theoretically understand the value of people living in one place all their lives—and many are called to do that—I am so thankful for this gift of different cultures. It is rich. Now we are in Wyoming, which has a culture of its own.

All my life I have been taught that it is important to be around non-Christians. Not so they will influence me and pull me down (appropriate caution needed), but to befriend them and let them see Christ in me. I’ve learned I must be a true friend first, and that is usually very enjoyable. Taking time to talk and find out about them, going for coffee (more likely tea for me), exercising together, asking for their help in some way, playing piano duets—these are natural things for me to do with people, and they build friendship and trust. It is then more natural to share the gospel at a good time. I have a good international friend; she has been in our home a lot, and I attended the special event celebrating her country at the university, in which she was involved. Not long ago, I had the opportunity to share the gospel with her and she really listened. I wish I could say she has become a Christian (she thinks “God will be understanding with me when He knows I did my best”), but I pray for her, hang out with her sometimes, and she knows I love her. This may just be me, but I find sharing the gospel with someone who knows nothing of the gospel more refreshing than trying to work with someone who has a lot of Christian baggage but is likely not a Christian.

Music is one of the things God graciously allows me to do. He’s given me some unique piano students here in Laramie. I love them dearly, and I can get pretty passionate about them, their lives, and their piano playing. I’m not trying to get them ready for Julliard (they should go to someone else for that!), but I am trying to help them love and enjoy their music. Aren’t we glad God didn’t make us robots? Some of my students are Christians, some are not. I can be more explicit with Christians about music being a gift from God and that we should glorify God with it, but I talk that way to some extent with all of them. Sometimes that has led to sharing the gospel.

It’s pretty important to be flexible when committed to a church, and that is no less true here in Laramie. I’m so thankful, once again, for my other job, that of tax preparation and consulting. I can keep my own hours, and what a blessing that has been. People will often look at me and ask, “How can you stand doing taxes?” I actually enjoy digging into a tax return. It’s kind of like putting a puzzle together. This job has taught me a lot, and it’s well suited to me, as we specialize in taxes for ministers, missionaries, and chaplains. If it were up to me, our government would do better to tax its citizens in a different way than with income tax. I’ve often said that if the Internal Revenue Service folds, after celebrating, I’ll go work at the chocolate shop downtown!

What are some sins of a “nice” girl who can’t remember ever not believing? Well, pride, impatience, slacking in prayer—for a start. My heart can want people to think well of me, I want this church to grow faster because that’ll look better, and other kinds of pride beset me. I am impatient when people don’t operate the way I do. And then, the spirit is often willing but the flesh is weak when it comes to prayer and really taking the time to pour out my heart to God. He is helping me with this. Worry and wanting things to go just so is another thing I must turn over to the Lord regularly.

Recently, I gave a friend attending church a copy of a good article in the RP Witness on suffering. Last week, when I was suffering physically for a few days, I really had to talk to my own soul and say, “Do I really believe this? Am I really trusting God and believing His promises right now, when it’s my turn?”

I believe God has helped me to realize and accept that people are very different, even within His church. I think all Christians should have the same basic values and goals (kingdom-centered), but we are all made differently and are given different tasks. More specifically, at times I have struggled to understand and connect with Christians who stay in a comfortable, large, safe church situation when they could be stepping out of their comfort zones and being a part of a church that really needs them. But I realize that God calls people to various missions and responsibilities, and I can leave that with Him.

It is a blessing to have the husband God gave me, one that I don’t take for granted. When I was first getting to know him, he stopped the car on a snowy night to change a tire for a woman. I was smitten from then on. He loved people and was involved with them and in the church—I knew I would enjoy living alongside this man. This is still so true! Of the many things I appreciate about him, one is that his theology/beliefs are subject to Scripture, rather than the other way around (making Scripture fit one’s system). This would be true of any godly man or woman that I respect, but it is particularly true of him.

I know it’s tough out there for young, godly Christian women to find godly husbands; that’s a hard thing in our culture. I pray for several in this regard. But I will always say: Don’t settle. When I’ve been hurt by people, and we all know how deeply that can cut, it is way too easy to let something grow and fester. “You have no idea how this person treated me…and does God even know?” I have to remind myself that of course God knows, even if no one else understands. My natural-man hatred of God, and the way my heart can drift away from loving God—this is far worse than anything anyone has ever done to me; it doesn’t even compare. Once I’ve acknowledged this, the only thing that will stop the resentment is by truly overlooking it, or talking straight with the person.

Another thing I find hard is when close loved ones leave the faith. While I’ve always believed in God’s sovereignty, His infinite wisdom and love, and His ultimate justice, these things are more real to me now. I pray and pray, pleading with God, and I believe He wants me to do that. But what a comfort it is to know that though He hears me, I am not the one responsible to bring these prodigals home—that I really can trust God, no matter the outcome. These beliefs are now more personal and precious.

I’ve been studying Hebrews with a small group. Hebrews 6:10-12 says that God notices our labors of love, but that we need to exert the same diligence in our faith and hope. If I am sluggish in my faith and hope, or in my believing and expecting, then my labors of love can quickly lean towards works-righteousness, and become grueling.

That brings me to something I read years ago. There is a tendency to, even subconsciously, think that while God saved me by His power and grace, my daily sanctification is more up to me. So wrong! My sanctification is just as dependent on God’s mercy and power as was my salvation. In other words, I must “preach the gospel to myself every day.”

—By Cheryl Hemphill

Cheryl Hemphill lives in Laramie, Wyoming, and is involved in the RP church plant there with her husband, Bob. They have three children and six grandchildren.