Well hello ladies! My
name is Kelly Cheshier. I was born
October 27, 1977 in Birmingham, Alabama.
I grew up in a wonderful, godly home with parents who faithfully taught
me the Word as well as living it out in front of me. At a young age, I remember my older sister
telling me that I needed to pray this prayer so that I could go to heaven. Naturally wanting to do whatever she told me
to do, I did! This went on day after day
until I had probably prayed that prayer 100 times! When I turned 11, I distinctly remember
feeling conviction over my sins. I knew
that I had never personally trusted in His shed blood for me. I was trusting in a prayer to save me. But it is not a prayer that saves you! It is only through Jesus that we can have
salvation! So, on April 9, 1989 I
repented of my sins and accepted Jesus’ gift of salvation for me. What a glorious day that was!
During High school and a few years after, God began to show
me how to have a personal RELATIONSHIP with Him. My friends began to get married one by one
and I wanted to be married! I wasted
several years of being discontent and jealous.
But God was so gracious to show me that apart from Him, I would never be
content. I HAD to put my satisfaction in
Him alone and oh…what wonderful years those were when I stopped looking at
myself and started fixing my eyes on Him!
In 1999, I felt a tug on my
heart to pursue missions so I began attending Southeastern Bible College in
Birmingham. I was sure that God wanted
me to start an orphanage in the jungles of Africa so I worked hard to complete
a double major in 4 years: Elementary education and Bible Theology. (Little did I know that years later, I would
have my own little orphanage…my own children! Ha!)
While at college, I met a girl from El Dorado,
Arkansas. She and I became fast friends
and one summer she invited me out to work at her home church’s summer
camp. It was there that I met him…..oh
my….Jacob Samuel Cheshier. He just took
my breath away by all the character qualities I saw in him that week. We spent a lot of time talking and I came
home telling my mom that I would marry him one day. He was dating another Kelly at the time (He
didn’t realize then that he was with the wrong Kelly!) so he didn’t pursue
anything with me. God told me to close
that door in my heart and to trust him.
A year later, Jacob emailed me saying hello and wanting to
see how I was doing. I was shocked! He was no longer dating the “other
Kelly.” So we began corresponding via
email. He was a senior at Louisiana Tech
and I was a senior at Southeastern. We
were 6 hours apart. On July 19, 2002, he
was in Birmingham for a wedding and we spent the day together. That night, he asked me if I would consider
pursuing a relationship with him. I told
him he had to talk to my dad 1st!
He did and my parents gave their blessing. Thus began our long distance relationship
that God blessed! I have a book full of
sweet and mushy emails that we wrote back and forth and even snail-mail
letters. (These were the days before
cell phones were so big!) On March 5,
2003 Jacob told me he loved me for the 1st time and then followed
that with “Will you marry me?” After
nearly screaming, “YES!” we kissed for the 1st time! I was 25 years old and had NEVER kissed a
guy. It was definitely worth the
wait! Then on July 19, 2003, exactly 1
year later we committed our lives to each other on our wedding day. And God continues to bless and bless and
bless.
Jacob was offered a
job with Eastman Chemical here in Kingsport.
So we left our families and started our new journey. 2 years later, we welcomed our first born,
Ethan, into the world. Then for 4
consecutive years, we had 3 more babies!
Sadie, Ruthie and Camden! It is
crazy but we would not trade it for the world!
God gave me a desire to work with children such a long time ago and He
has seen fit to bless me with 4 children of my own to instill love in their
hearts to reach a hurting world. I am
living out my dream of being a wife to my best friend and a mommy to the 4
greatest kids on earth!
We began attending Indian Springs Baptist church 9 years ago
and became members in 2004. A year ago,
God burdened Jacob and me with a desire to reach our community for Christ. He put a call on our hearts for the Glenwood
community. We began attending the
Glenwood campus last May and it has been such a blessing to see God working
mightily there! I teach the 3rd-6th
grade girl’s Sunday school class and am the children’s choir director. Jacob continues to lead the praise band at
the contemporary service. God is
bringing people to our church, hungry for His word and hungry for love.
I tell Ethan often, before he walks up into the bus each
day, “Love God and love others.” I want
my life to be a channel of His selfless, unending, patient love to everyone I
see. .
I wanted to be married so badly but He wanted to become my everything.
~ Submitted by Kathy Neal
ISBC Women's Ministry
Communications Coordinator
