As we become parents, we begin to see a tiny glimpse of the true love the Father God has for us. Our children made me aware of this truth because I realized they completely accepted me just as I was. I don’t have to perform for them—they love me anyway.
Our children have a way of making us feel loved no matter who we are or what we do or don’t do. The love from our children is irreplaceable, yet the love of the Father God is greater still.
God brought me to a beautiful understanding of His unconditional love during the pregnancy of our third child.
When I was pregnant with Gabrielle, our daughter, I was confined to bed rest for seven months because of complications. For the first time in my life, I couldn’t travel and minister (or do housework either!) so I was forced to “rest.”
You see to me, just sitting still before the Lord seemed so unproductive. I couldn’t imagine God ever being happy with me just lying there not producing—much less wanting me to just be still and know that He is God (Ps. 46:10).
I had lived my life trying to be productive to please everyone around me, including God. I had not grasped the truth that God loves me regardless of what I can or cannot do for Him.
I had planned constructive tasks to do as I lay confined in bed such as writing a book on our children. Yet as I tried to accomplish those things, nothing would happen. I couldn’t get started. My creative juices just wouldn’t flow. I couldn’t seem to get it together.
Finally, I went to God and He began to talk to me (He would have talked to me earlier, if I had gone before Him instead of trying to make things happen on my own.)
He told me He wanted me to rest before Him. He was not impressed with my schedule, nor was He moved by my “busyness.”
The Father began to impress upon me that His love for me was not measured by how much I did for Him. He loved me if I never did another thing for Him. God loved me if I couldn’t do anything!
You must be thinking that any idiot should know this. But for some reason, I had lived for God and loved Him all these years, teaching everyone else that God’s love is unconditional—yet it never dawned on me that I really didn’t believe God’s love was unconditional for me.
I thought I had to do all that was humanly possible for Him to continue to love me and use me for His kingdom. What a revelation to finally comprehend God’s love for me. The Father God loves me. He loves me!
From then on, I spent many hours every day alone with my Father God. All I wanted to do all day was read His Word, talk to Him, be quiet before Him, and just simply rest in Him.
Oh, how good it felt to lie in His arms and know He loves me and likes to be with me, even more than I like to be with Him.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Harry and Cheryl Salem are ministers of the gospel. They are parents to sons, Harry III and Roman. Roman has married a beautiful young lady, Stephanie, and she has become their daughter-in-love. Healing and restoration have come full circle for the Salem family with the miracle birth of Roman and Stephanie’s baby girl, Mia Gabrielle. She is named for their daughter, Gabrielle Christian, who is in heaven since 1999. Their latest joy will be arriving in March 2017 with Roman and Stephanie’s second miracle baby of restoration for the Salem Family!
The Salems have seen the altars flooded with people receiving salvation, with countless re-dedications, with miraculous healings and with bodies, lives, marriages and souls being restored because of His mighty anointing!
Cheryl was crowned Miss America 1980, but tremendous adversities nearly ended that dream before it began. As a young girl, she survived a horrific car crash that cracked her back and crushed her left leg, resulting in a physical handicap and over 100 stitches in her face.
Eleven years old, poor, crippled and scarred… but a miracle, too! This was the outlook Cheryl chose, as she had been told that she might not ever walk again. But walk, she did! And she walked the runway in Atlantic City, against all odds, all because of Jesus.
Harry’s father passed away when Harry was 10 years old, leaving him with a mandate to be the man of the house, to never cry, and to take care of his mother and sisters. This challenge caused Harry to excel, but to also grow up with a cautious outlook on life.
He quickly made a name for himself in the corporate world, becoming a major executive before the age of 30, but he knew that there was more. He and Cheryl met, married and started their family, but it wasn’t until the mid-nineties that Harry had an encounter with God that changed him forever. He let go of the pain of growing up without his father and the stress of the mantle that had been placed on his shoulders at such a young age. He began to trust God – and he has never looked back.
Cheryl has recorded numerous music CDs, the latest being I Am A Worshiper. The most popular worship music she has released over the past few years are the four prophetic CDs of healing and restoration. Her prophetic flowing style on both the keyboard and vocally of the Book of Revelation and the Book of Proverbs are fast becoming the most requested music CDs! She and Harry have co-written 36 books with topics ranging from Mourning to Morning to Entering Rest – Be Still. Their book, We Who Worship, is designed to bring the reader into a deeper level of purity and intimacy with God in worship. Their marriage books Two Becoming One and Don’t Kill Each Other! Let God Do It! are great books for couples to read and are also used for couples Bible studies together.
Salem Family Ministries presents We Who Worship Gathering annually, a worship event, which includes worship, dance, art, musical theater and drama. They are walking out the Lord’s plan set before them for School of Worship, intensive training sessions, where the Salems teach, impart, and personally work with students to help them grow to the next level in their worship life and ministry.
Both Harry and Cheryl are sought-after ministers, who speak in churches and events across the nation. Harry has a heart for men, preaching and teaching on overcoming issues in life. Cheryl is a popular preacher at ladies events, encouraging women to reach their godly potential, but the focus of Salem Family Ministries is to take this unique, tag-team style of ministry into churches, two by two, to reach families for God, one by one.