Write the Vision
Teachable Woman Podcast
Episode Title: Write the Vision
Date: January 31, 2026
Hosts: Rev. Michele Owes & Rev. Diana P. Cherry
Introduction
In this powerful and timely episode of the Teachable Woman Podcast, Reverend Michele Owes and Reverend Diana P. Cherry welcome listeners into the new year with wisdom, clarity, and spiritual grounding. Rather than focusing on traditional New Year’s resolutions, the conversation centers on God-led vision, lifelong obedience, and purposeful living. Drawing from Scripture—particularly Habakkuk and Genesis—the hosts encourage believers to write the vision God gives, make it plain, and walk it out with faith, flexibility, and trust in the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Show Notes
1. Moving Beyond Traditional New Year’s Resolutions
The hosts clarify that they are not opposed to planning or goal-setting, but they caution against limiting growth to calendar-based resolutions. Creating long, pressure-filled lists tied to January 1 can be overwhelming and discouraging. Instead, they emphasize God-directed vision that transcends seasons and years, rooted in obedience rather than self-imposed timelines.
2. “Write the Vision and Make It Plain”
Using the biblical mandate to write the vision, Reverend Owes explains the importance of clearly recording what God instructs us to do. Vision must be understandable—not only to us, but also to those who may come after us. A God-given vision provides direction, continuity, and purpose, allowing others to “run with it” when they read it.
3. Resolutions for Life, Not Just a Year
Reverend Diana P. Cherry shares her personal “Resolutions for Life,” which include loving God, obeying God, serving God, glorifying God, serving God’s people, never conforming to the world, and maximizing time in her body. These principles guide her daily life and spiritual walk, serving as a reminder that true transformation is ongoing and deeply spiritual.
4. Letting God Lead the Plan
The discussion highlights the danger of becoming so committed to personal plans that there is no room for God to redirect us. Reverend Owes emphasizes that God’s purposes and plans—plural—are where provision, protection, promotion, and peace reside. When we insist on leading ourselves, we risk frustration and missed opportunities for divine alignment.
5. Dominion, Productivity, and Universal Purpose
Reverend Cherry teaches from Genesis, reminding listeners that all mankind shares a universal purpose: to be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, and take dominion. Being fruitful means living productively and adding value to the lives of others. Dominion is already given by God—it is not earned but walked in through faith and obedience.
6. Faithfulness Across Generations and Seasons of Life
The hosts stress that “multiplying” does not only mean having children—it includes spiritual reproduction through godly living and witness. No matter one’s age or stage of life, there is still a “finish” within each believer. Reverend Cherry’s decision to return to college at age 82 stands as a powerful testimony that God’s work in us is never over.
7. Stewardship of Time, Space, and Calling
Practical wisdom is shared about staying engaged, avoiding idleness, and stewarding time well. From decluttering homes to pursuing education, the hosts remind listeners that boredom is often a signal to refocus on stewardship. The episode also highlights Reverend Cherry’s new book, A Woman Directed by God, emphasizing obedience, wise counsel, and living fully surrendered to God’s direction.
Summary
This episode of the Teachable Woman Podcast challenges listeners to rethink resolutions and embrace a God-centered vision for life. Reverend Michele Owes and Reverend Diana P. Cherry call believers to lifelong obedience, spiritual productivity, and faithful stewardship—reminding us that God’s plans are timeless and His purpose remains unchanged. Whether through writing the vision, walking in dominion, finishing what was started, or allowing God to direct every step, this episode encourages listeners to live intentionally, obediently, and boldly for the glory of God.
Teachable Woman Podcast
Write the Vision
01/31/2026
Rev. Michele Owes: [00:00:00] Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Teachable Woman Podcast. We're excited to be back with you today. I am Reverend Michele Owes. I am with Reverend Mrs. Diana P. Cherry, author extraordinaire. Together we are Teachers of Good Things. Mrs. Cherry, please say hello.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Hello, podcast, family and happy New Year to you. I pray that God has blessed you mightily that all of the desires of your heart. Have been met this new year and I pray that you'll continue to serve him, to love him, strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, walk before him all the days of your life.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Happy New Year and welcome to the podcast.
Rev. Michele Owes: Amen. That's a good word, continue. It's something that my pastor is teaching on right now, and it really gets you right where you live. Let's you know whether or [00:01:00] not you've been too comfortable in your continuance, and I am a tad bit guilty, so I am really enjoying this. this lesson that we're learning now.
Rev. Michele Owes: Alright, on our last podcast we talked a little bit about, making New Year's resolutions, and I wanted to, to be sure that we had an opportunity to clarify that just a bit. I wanted to make sure our listeners understood that we weren't saying that we don't have plans. And we don't make or have goals for our lives or, or even a to-do list for that matter.
Rev. Michele Owes: But what we don't do is, let the clock roll around to January the first every year, and then make a list of things that I'm gonna do, quote just for that year. It puts a lot of pressure. On an individual, and sometimes the list is way too long for us to even be able to tackle it all. Kudos to whoever does and who can.
Rev. Michele Owes: It's just not something that we do. But we do have goals and we do have [00:02:00] plans for our lives, and the Bible tells us to write the vision and make it plain so that he who reads it can run with it. So we have to write those things out that God instructs us to do. Make the plans to do them, and we have to.
Rev. Michele Owes: It has to be plain to us so that when we read it, we understand it, and anybody who picks up the mantle after us the same. So we just wanted to clarify that.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Right. I think that, in speaking about resolutions, the most important thing that we can do is resolve to serve God. More reverently to love him more dearly and to walk more uprightly before him and not to let anything, the trials, the tribulations or whatever might come our way. In fact, I'm going to, share seven things that I have in the book that I wrote. I was, this is my resolution for life that I will love God, obey [00:03:00] God, serve God, glorify God, serve God's people. Never conform to the world, never conform to the world, never conform to the world. And as
Rev. Michele Owes: That's 5, 6, 7, and eight, huh?
Rev. Diana P. Cherry My husband, my husband used to say that the tape's not stuck, the record's not broke.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry And then number seven, maximize my time in my body. And I think that
Rev. Michele Owes: Yeah.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry are great life, resolutions and that's how I live my life. And that's how I start every day of my life, thanking God for the day, thanking him for life, health, a strong body and a sound mind. I pray every day that every thought that I have, that every word that I say, that every deed that I do will bless magnifying and glorify his holy name.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry So that's Deanna p Cherry's Resolutions for Life.
Rev. Michele Owes: Okay, so Mrs. Cherry is saying she has [00:04:00] liked resolutions, not new year ones. Understood Completely. and I think that's wonderful. It is important to know that God has mapped out our lives and what is required from us is obedience, and we can spend a lot of time mapping out the life that we want. Per se, and then end up being somewhat disappointed because it doesn't turn out the way that we thought or the way that we planned, but oftentimes it's because it wasn't his plan.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Mm-hmm.
Rev. Michele Owes: And so giving God room to. Lead us and guide us and direct us according to his will is really important. There are some people who make, plans, decisions, resolutions, and it's, I'm gonna do this. And they're, and they're so stuck in what they have decided to do that God can't get them to do anything.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Yes.
Rev. Michele Owes: And so that makes life very, very difficult.
Rev. Michele Owes: It makes it hard, [00:05:00] because we're, God. Where God is leading and guiding us is the purposes and plans. And notice I said purposes with an ES on the end and plans with a S for our lives. And therein is the resources. Therein is the protection. Therein is the promotion there in everything we need is where he's leading us.
Rev. Michele Owes: But sometimes when we want to lead ourselves so steadfastly, we don't give God an opportunity to move in our lives. And so, I just wanted to share that tidbit with you for today.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Amen. And the other thing we shared when we were talking privately is the fact that sometimes resolutions can be overwhelming can cause us to think that we have failed in an area. And that's generally because we're doing, trying to do things in the power of our might and not in the power of his might. And so if you make a resolution and you [00:06:00] fail in, reaching every goal that you set, don't be devastated by it. You still have life. And my seventh thing was maximize the time in our body. So you've still got time. Which is something else that my husband used to say all the time. We got time. You have time, so don't let anything. Any, plan any goal that you have. Don't let anything devastate you or cause you to lose focus on, plan for your life. And, we have to bear in mind that we have a universal purpose. Now, we might have individual purposes, but there is only one universal purpose and it's given to us in Genesis, and I'm dealing with it in the new book that I'm writing.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry What to do before you say I do. And, the purpose for all mankind is that we would be fruitful. We would multiply, we would replenish the earth, and we would [00:07:00] take dominion. God gave us that in Genesis, so don't let anything take dominion. have dominion over you. The word of God says, we have dominion. We don't even have to work for it.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry We have dominion. All we have to do is walk in it. And I like to remind us always that we have a universal purpose and we don't need a lot of books on the purpose of mankind and all that stuff. Just go to the word of God and be fruitful, multiply. And replenish the earth, and we know that be fruitful. It means to be productive in your life. to the productivity in the lives of others, and make sure that whatever you do, you are striving to leave a deposit in the earth for the next generation, and that is the universal plan. gave us in Genesis for all of mankind. Now we can make our little plans and do this, that and the [00:08:00] other, but always focus on what God did for us in Genesis and walk in the plan that God has for us.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Amen.
Rev. Michele Owes: Amen. And I just wanna add. That the being fruitful and multiply. Multiply does not mean you have to give birth to children. I just want to say that you are reproducing after your kind. You are a believer in Jesus Christ, and so because you believe others ought to believe in your sphere of influence because of the life that you live before them, the witness that you share on a day-to-day basis, others ought to begin to believe.
Rev. Michele Owes: And so we are multiplying.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Yeah.
Rev. Michele Owes: So it doesn't necessarily mean you have.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Means to add to the productivity of the lives of others, you be productive. And then you add to the productivity to the li in the lives of others, and then you make sure that you leave a deposit in the [00:09:00] earth for the next generation.
Rev. Michele Owes: Amen. Amen. And that's important. there's so much happening in our world today and, and it's so different than generations ago, I would say. And it's different from anything that we've seen, but we do serve the same God and he has the same answers. For today, yesterday, and forever more
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Mm-hmm.
Rev. Michele Owes: he's already solved the, the issues he has the answers to the problems and what is required of us is a willingness to obey.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Yes.
Rev. Michele Owes: And the will to continue,
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Yes.
Rev. Michele Owes: that is our key job, and that that ought to be something that we plan every year to be better in terms of our obedience
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Yeah,
Rev. Michele Owes: better in terms of our willingness to stay and continue in the things of God.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry right.
Rev. Michele Owes: of us have served. The body of Christ longer than we have to serve left.
Rev. Michele Owes: unless [00:10:00] we live years beyond what we, what we think, right? So, I mean, if, if we're in our, our fifties or sixties or seventies or even eighties, I don't think we have that many years left to do it again. So, we want to obey God now.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Amen.
Rev. Michele Owes: to be willing to serve now,
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Right,
Rev. Michele Owes: while there's life and breath in us,
Rev. Diana P. Cherry right.
Rev. Michele Owes: like your comment on, what you do with your time.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Yeah.
Rev. Michele Owes: And Mrs. Cherry has kicked out two books, and it was, is it one year? In one year?
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Two years. Mm-hmm.
Rev. Michele Owes: It's been less than a year. Right. Okay. One book a year, then let, let me put it that way.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry About that. Yes. About
Rev. Michele Owes: Okay.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry year.
Rev. Michele Owes: And that's, that's a beautiful thing. Now, but that wasn't anything that Mrs. Cherry ever made a resolution about. Matter of fact, it was the founding Episcopal pastor that was [00:11:00] going to write some books,
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Amen.
Rev. Michele Owes: yet it is Mrs. Cherry who was inking, their life, right? And so, and hers. So this is what we're saying about the fact that we can't plan so heavily that God can't speak to us about what he wants us to do because it was never her plan to write.
Rev. Michele Owes: It was never our plan to have a podcast, and yet, we are here doing what the Lord would have us to do. And, you should know that before every podcast we pray and we invite the presence of the Holy Spirit. Into the podcast, we ask God to lead and guide and direct us on what we say. We help him to know that we cannot do this without him.
Rev. Michele Owes: We recognize that it is the spirit of God that draws you to listen to this podcast, and we don't wanna take a chance on giving you our opinion when we know that the spirit of God really wants to make a deposit in your lives. [00:12:00] And if he's trusting us to co-labor with him in doing that, we don't wanna do anything else.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Amen.
Rev. Michele Owes: wanna do.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Amen. And that's sufficient. I am so busy now I'm. I've just enrolled in college. I have my student ID number. They are still evaluating. They're still evaluating, they're still evaluating my transcript and, they haven't come up with a decision of. know how many courses I'll need for an AA and how many courses I'll need for the bs, but my plan is to go ahead and get the BS that I didn't finish as I wrote about in my book. so I stay busy. I don't understand people who say they are bored, they have nothing to do. F
Rev. Michele Owes: Yeah.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry to do something. think about your house. If there's a junk closet, declutter it. Get rid of the junk. You're not a junk person. If there are drawers that haven't been cleaned since the year, 0, [00:13:00] 0, 0, 0, 0. those drawers. there's a garage that you no longer can put your vehicle in because of your personal junk, declutter it. So there is always something to do, and if you don't have the physical strength to do it, then put aside a couple of dollars every week until you can save, $5,000 and hire somebody, maybe a, a nephew or a cousin, or a next door neighbor or somebody. That's, that's the kind of plans we ought to be making, is to make our lives better, make our
Rev. Michele Owes: Students.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry better, make our homes more livable and more
Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry us to enjoy. And again, on a personal note, I just had an opportunity to redo, an area that used to be my office. And I was saying jokingly to my son, I said, this might be my quarters over here, and I'm okay with it because I'm aging. I'm 82 and a half years old, so I have to [00:14:00] think about the fact that God has blessed me with great health. And longevity and strength and sound mind, but I don't know what's gonna happen. So I, I make those kinds of plans and, and you can't plan for a part of your house to be used for you if it's totally piled up with boxes and junk. some
Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm. That's right.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry have boxes from where we move 15, 16, 20, 30 years ago. So there are things to do to keep you busy. declutter
Rev. Michele Owes: Yeah.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry my drawers. I don't like drawers being dirty. I don't like a junk drawer, so even my junk drawer is organized and I'm certainly not perfect in doing this, it keeps me busy.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry It, it makes me happy to see things straight and organized. So don't ever say you're bored. There's no
Rev. Michele Owes: Because there's always something to do.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Exactly.
Rev. Michele Owes: I, I wanna, we look, we have to rewind. You just threw [00:15:00] something out there and rolled right over it, like it had no significance. You told us that you have enrolled in college to finish your degree. You told us that you have your student ID number. You told us that they are reviewing your records to see what you have.
Rev. Michele Owes: Roll over, something like that. Now, if you were 18 years old and you were just headed off to college, maybe, but no, not at this tremendous stage in your life. This is not something you roll over. So we just wanna pause right there just to say what a tremendous blessing it is. That you have the presence of mind to finish what you started,
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Yeah.
Rev. Michele Owes: you're not going to let what happened in the past, wait, let me finish this sentence.
Rev. Michele Owes: Not gonna let what happened in the past derail your future, that there's still a finish in you. And it doesn't matter how old you are, [00:16:00] there's a finish in us and all of us should take some time to dust off. The US that we allowed to be buried by the issues of life, and let's get the finish out. I was going to wait until our next podcast.
Rev. Michele Owes: I'm just gonna introduce it now. Mrs. Cherry has finished her second book and it's called A Woman Directed by God. She's going to tell you where you can get it because eventually, I hope she says it's going to be our website, so that you, when you're there listening to the podcast, you can just click. But the honesty, the level of honesty, the forthrightness of heart, the openness, the no condemnation in Christ Jesus, the all of it, it just warmed my heart.
Rev. Michele Owes: It just, I mean, I've always known you to be a great woman of character, but this, this clued us into things and your history [00:17:00] that we would not, we would otherwise not know. and then your ability to take wise counsel when it came to you. And I think that was one of the things that impressed me the most, that someone came to you about something that they saw or viewed about the situation you were in and gave you sound advice and you thought it, and I thought that was beautiful.
Rev. Michele Owes: So. There's so much on these pages, there's so much on these pages, and it's an absolute poor, it is an absolute poor. And then you gave us words of wisdom. After you poured, you shared with us what we could do if we had a child who had this situation or what we could do if we found ourselves in this situation.
Rev. Michele Owes: Or, I just wanna say it's beautiful and it's a champion's job and I'm, I'm so excited about the fact that you not only finished this for us [00:18:00] 'cause it's for us. You didn't write it for you, you really wrote it for us. But in addition to that, you're going on to finish the things that you started. It's an inspiration to me and I know, I know it is for anyone else who's listening.
Rev. Michele Owes: So thank you so much.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Praise God. Well, the most common, comment that I get about the book is that people say exactly what you just said, and in addition, people often say that they feel like they're sitting. On a sofa sipping coffee or tea with me while I'm talking to them personally. that's
Rev. Michele Owes: Yeah.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry because that was the, the, desire of my heart. eventually would like to read the book myself and do my own audio book with my voice because of that comment that people make. once I learned enough about what. To do and how to do. I plan for the book to be on Amazon and I plan for the book, to be the auto, the Kindle thing, whatever that is. [00:19:00] But these things take time and I have limited IT knowledge, so I'm gonna work through young people who know. and know my story, but the book will eventually be available on Amazon right now. If you want to get it, you can. if you know my personal information, my telephone number, which I've been advised not to give publicly, but if you know my telephone number, you can Zelle the cost of the book, which is $28 plus shipping is usually about $4. You can sell it to me I will mail you the book. the other way to get it is through the, from the Heart Church Ministry website, ft hcm.org. it'll, it should, I think a thing will come up to say different choices you can make you choose the bookstore. Then you can order it through the bookstore from the Heart Church Ministries.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry They have it there. And I will do my best to get it on this [00:20:00] podcast. And also, personally, you can get it through me and I'll mail it to you. So I hope that's sufficient information. That's all I have right now.
Rev. Michele Owes: Outstanding. Outstanding. That is wonderful. Well, we're going to in our next podcast. Just go over some of the excerpts from the book, small excerpts. We're not gonna tell you enough that you don't have to buy the book. You would just really be missing out not having it. But we're gonna go over some excerpts and, Mrs.
Rev. Michele Owes: Cherry's gonna share some comments about her thoughts as she was writing those things. But you don't wanna miss a woman directed by God, by Reverend. Deanna Cherry. People always ask me, do you always have to say p? I was like, yes, I do, because it flows together.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry yeah, it, it does. My husband, used to call me Dippy, DPY, because my maiden name was young, so when we first met, he started calling me Dippy. And so now, most of the time when I sign things, just an [00:21:00] initial, of course I do DPC and
Rev. Michele Owes: Uhhuh
Rev. Diana P. Cherry me as DPC, so that's
Rev. Michele Owes: right, right.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry share that the title came from, a scripture that, God gave me one day walking to work.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry And that's Proverbs three, five, Xes five through seven. But, it says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. not onto your own understanding. In all of your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your path. And that's why I say every morning I ask God to lead God and direct me every word I say.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry Every thought I think, and every deed that I do, that scripture. Was a part of our calling into the ministry and it's been a guiding force in our lives forever. And looking back over seekers of righteousness, the one, one of the first pages, I put that scripture in there. So it's just a part of my life.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry It's a part of how I live my life. [00:22:00] It's a part of who I am, and it has just been a guiding, A hallmark for our ministry. And, and so when I got ready to title the book, I had written a lot of the book before decided exactly what I should call the book. And then eventually, because the first book was a woman who served. this book was woman directed by God. And I think that that is. The most, accurate description of me and how I live my life.
Rev. Michele Owes: That's wonderful. That's wonderful. And so we don't want you to miss it, so don't forget that you can go to ft hcm.org. Look for the bookstore. You're going under Reverend Cherry's name, and you want a woman directed by God. Praise the Lord. Well, this is going to bring this podcast to a close, and stay tuned for our next podcast because we are going to be talking about some [00:23:00] excerpts from the book.
Rev. Michele Owes: Remember to continue to pray for us. Mrs. Cherry and I have life challenges as we all do, so if you don't hear from us, it's not that we're not trying. We have a challenges. So that means it's time to pray. Well, God bless you. We love you. Thank you for being with us on this podcast.
Rev. Diana P. Cherry God bless you.
Rev. Michele Owes: BYE.
