About Cheryn Brewer
I am creator of the 100 Things Journal and I have been journaling for over 30 years. Much of my journaling is done during my devotional time as I record what I learn from the Lord, which inspires most of my writing. I teach journaling workshops and love encouraging people to put their hearts on paper. I'm a homebody who loves to travel. I'm a planner and a list-maker, a deep thinker and a good listener. I love long conversations over coffee and getting to know people. I hope you will join me from time to time as I share my thoughts and discoveries.
That said…
I didn’t grow up with a mother’s love, only her constant criticism. But, I was given a father who loved me unconditionally and taught me that God could be trusted because my dad could be trusted. And I eventually came to realize how God has used my mother in His plan to make me who I am.
I didn’t get one true love to last a lifetime and have spent most of my life single, but I have genuine friendship with my ex-husband and his family that people who don’t know us think is just plain weird. It is a testament to what forgiveness can do.
I didn’t have children (and thus, no grandchildren) but my life is filled with friends who are loyal and supportive and encouraging and fun.
I didn’t earn a college degree that would take me down a career path leading to financial abundance, but I have held positions where my skills and talents were utilized and appreciated, and I have served in various areas of ministry that have allowed me to use my gifts in ways that have brought more fulfillment than any paying job has given me.
I have never lived somewhere beautiful (I know, the desert has it’s own beauty) but I have traveled to many beautiful places, well beyond my means, because of God’s provision and blessing in my life.
I have experienced heartache and disappointment, but through it I have experienced closeness to Jesus that brings unexplainable joy and peace. I have failed and I have made bad decisions and I have felt like a disappointment to God, but I have been protected and taken care of and provided for in sometimes miraculous ways and God has always been faithful to me.
I didn’t get the life I expected, or think I might have preferred, but I wouldn’t change one step on this journey I have taken with God, this adventure called life, this chosen life, chosen for me, lived with Jesus.
I now live in Las Vegas and share a small apartment with my cat Dizzy who is relentless when she wants treats. (I wish I had her persistence.) I attend Awaken Las Vegas (a Calvary Chapel) where I serve as a Biblical Counselor, a member of the Sunday morning Follow-Up Team (meeting with those who come forward to receive Christ) and as a Women's Bible study leader.
That said…
I didn’t grow up with a mother’s love, only her constant criticism. But, I was given a father who loved me unconditionally and taught me that God could be trusted because my dad could be trusted. And I eventually came to realize how God has used my mother in His plan to make me who I am.
I didn’t get one true love to last a lifetime and have spent most of my life single, but I have genuine friendship with my ex-husband and his family that people who don’t know us think is just plain weird. It is a testament to what forgiveness can do.
I didn’t have children (and thus, no grandchildren) but my life is filled with friends who are loyal and supportive and encouraging and fun.
I didn’t earn a college degree that would take me down a career path leading to financial abundance, but I have held positions where my skills and talents were utilized and appreciated, and I have served in various areas of ministry that have allowed me to use my gifts in ways that have brought more fulfillment than any paying job has given me.
I have never lived somewhere beautiful (I know, the desert has it’s own beauty) but I have traveled to many beautiful places, well beyond my means, because of God’s provision and blessing in my life.
I have experienced heartache and disappointment, but through it I have experienced closeness to Jesus that brings unexplainable joy and peace. I have failed and I have made bad decisions and I have felt like a disappointment to God, but I have been protected and taken care of and provided for in sometimes miraculous ways and God has always been faithful to me.
I didn’t get the life I expected, or think I might have preferred, but I wouldn’t change one step on this journey I have taken with God, this adventure called life, this chosen life, chosen for me, lived with Jesus.
I now live in Las Vegas and share a small apartment with my cat Dizzy who is relentless when she wants treats. (I wish I had her persistence.) I attend Awaken Las Vegas (a Calvary Chapel) where I serve as a Biblical Counselor, a member of the Sunday morning Follow-Up Team (meeting with those who come forward to receive Christ) and as a Women's Bible study leader.
About the Chosen Life
When I moved from Nevada to Arizona years ago, I had to decide on a new personalization for my license plate because CHOSEN, the plate I’d had for more than a dozen years, was not available in Arizona. After much consideration and deliberation, I settled on CHZ LIFE. I’d only had it a few weeks when an incident caused me to question my choice. I pulled into a gas station, and as I was pumping gas, a car pulled up to the pump behind me. Two women got out who – how do I say this nicely – looked as if they had seen the seedier side of life, and one, who was either on drugs or was the way she was because of regular drug use, said out loud, “Cheese Life”. I corrected her… “it’s Choose Life”, and she responded with, “well duh… it’s better than choosing death”.
The irony is that she represented just the opposite of what I meant by that plate. I realized after some thought that it is even more appropriate than I originally intended. While it is indeed a pro-life statement, Deuteronomy 30:19 comes to mind when I think of choosing life: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” All of life is affected by the choices we make and we choose life over death when we…
Over 30 years ago, I kept coming across the scripture John 15:16 – "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you" – from different sources within a short period of time. When that happens, I begin to pay attention because God is telling me something. He was telling me quite simply that He had chosen me… thus, the choice for my Nevada license plate.
Actually, He has chosen everyone. The difference is how we respond. I responded by accepting His call and I respond daily by making choices “for life”.
We also have the power of life or death in the words we choose to speak – to ourselves and others. When someone shares a dream, we can give it life or we can kill it with our words. When someone wrongs us, we can respond likewise or we can change the pattern. We can encourage or we can demean. We can act with kindness or we can be rude. We can compliment or we can find fault. The choice is always ours.
I don’t live a perfect life, but I live a chosen life. The choices I make determine much of what happens in my life. If you want to have “control” of your life, do it by choosing life over death with each choice you make. Whatever is beyond our control is still affected by the choices we make in dealing with each particular circumstance. That is true control. Regardless of whom else we share our lives with, we have to live with ourselves, and making choices for life makes that much easier.
The irony is that she represented just the opposite of what I meant by that plate. I realized after some thought that it is even more appropriate than I originally intended. While it is indeed a pro-life statement, Deuteronomy 30:19 comes to mind when I think of choosing life: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” All of life is affected by the choices we make and we choose life over death when we…
- Choose a positive attitude over a negative outlook
- Choose forgiveness over resentment and bitterness
- Choose kindness over self-centeredness
- Choose doing what is healthy over laziness
- Choose effort over complacency
- Choose compassion over condemnation
- Choose listening instead of assuming
- Choose waiting instead of pushing
- Choose others before self
- Choose to put the spiritual above the physical
- Choose plans for eternity over temporary satisfaction
- Choose God’s ways over our own
Over 30 years ago, I kept coming across the scripture John 15:16 – "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you" – from different sources within a short period of time. When that happens, I begin to pay attention because God is telling me something. He was telling me quite simply that He had chosen me… thus, the choice for my Nevada license plate.
Actually, He has chosen everyone. The difference is how we respond. I responded by accepting His call and I respond daily by making choices “for life”.
We also have the power of life or death in the words we choose to speak – to ourselves and others. When someone shares a dream, we can give it life or we can kill it with our words. When someone wrongs us, we can respond likewise or we can change the pattern. We can encourage or we can demean. We can act with kindness or we can be rude. We can compliment or we can find fault. The choice is always ours.
I don’t live a perfect life, but I live a chosen life. The choices I make determine much of what happens in my life. If you want to have “control” of your life, do it by choosing life over death with each choice you make. Whatever is beyond our control is still affected by the choices we make in dealing with each particular circumstance. That is true control. Regardless of whom else we share our lives with, we have to live with ourselves, and making choices for life makes that much easier.