This week, I want to introduce to you one of my writing mentees, Cherie Denna, and her journey to writing and publishing her new book Beloved Outcast–A True Story: The Quest for True Belonging.
When I was first asked to mentor a Memoir Writing Clinic at Mt. Hermon Christian Writer’s Conference, I have to admit I was intimidated and hesitant. I loved Mt. Hermon and had attended for 10-years, each year learning more about the art of writing and was honored to have the opportunity to be on the teaching staff. It’s where my first trade book, Dear God, They Say It’s Cancer: A Companion Guide for Women on the Breast Cancer Journey, was discovered and published by Howard Books, now a division of Simon & Schuster, with future published books to follow.
Mentoring is my passion and various aspects of my life story run through all my books, but I had never actually written my own memoir. I knew God was asking me to step out of my comfort zone and take on this new challenge. I researched how to teach and mentor on memoir writing, which is really just telling your God story while applying writing skills and techniques.
Five mentees were assigned to my Memoir Writing Mentoring Clinic and four of those future authors who had never written before are now either published or in the process of being published. I’m so proud of all of them. I knew when I heard Cherie Denna’s traumatic, heart wrenching, and powerful story of God rescuing her by His grace and mercy, her memoir would be compelling and glorifying to God.
I thought the best way to introduce Cherie and her story would be to share with you the Foreward below that I wrote for Beloved Outcast: The Quest for True Belonging, which just released February 14, 2024. Her editor decided not to have a foreward in the book, so it wasn’t included, but parts were used as endorsements.
Foreward by Janet Thompson for Beloved Outcast
I first met Cherie when she enrolled in a Memoir Writing Mentoring Clinic I was facilitating at Mt. Hermon Christian Writers’ Conference in Felton, California. As the five participants took turns sharing their stories, I knew Cherie had a unique story that needed telling, as did the others. It was an exciting time brainstorming and sharing ideas of how to communicate their amazing life experiences for the enjoyment and wonderment of future readers.
Cherie’s vibrant smile, kindness, gentleness, and obvious love for the Lord was a testimony of God’s healing forgiveness and redemption as she often through tears and embarrassment told us some of the devastating and demoralizing times in the life of a child born into the world of outlaw biker gangs. I can only imagine the internal turmoil she encountered reliving those experiences in writing Beloved Outcast: The Quest for True Belonging, but I’m so glad she took the time to carefully, skillfully, and honestly take the reader through the raw and raunchy times that repeatedly drew her back into a life she knew so well, yet earnestly wanted to escape.
Beloved Outcast had me turning the pages to see how Cherie would overcome the challenges and struggles of her inherited and familiar biker blood. Even though I knew her story, I didn’t know the details that she shares on these pages with honesty, humbleness, and ultimately, holiness.
Cherie’s book is more than just a tell-all of a traumatic childhood that influenced bad decisions and addictions throughout her earlier life, it’s the story for anyone who wants to break free of the strongholds of the past and become a new creation in Christ to live with purpose the life He has planned for all of us.
It’s a story of hope, perseverance, love, and determination to create a better life for herself and her child with the realization that all things are possible through Christ who gives you strength to go on when you want to give in and quit. It’s also a story of God’s second chances. How He never gives up on His children who seek to experience the life of serenity and peace they so desperately desire and ultimately find in a relationship with Jesus.
Forgiveness played a big role in Cherie’s life starting with forgiving herself, which only came through realizing and accepting God’s forgiveness of her sins and past. The freedom of her soul that she experienced allowed her to ask forgiveness of those she’d hurt and forgive those who hurt her.
Beloved Outcast skillfully shares the journey and quest for true belonging that Cherie thought she might never find. You’ll probably need some Kleenex as you’re captivated and encouraged by this remarkable tale that reminds us that God never gives up seeking and saving the lost.
I can see the scenes of Beloved Outcast someday in a movie of intrigue, pain, trauma, survival, love, rescue, relapse, and eventually complete surrender to the One who offers a secure and safe home in the family of God to all those who feel outcast and unworthy.
Well done Cherie Denna! I’m privileged and honored to be your cheerleader and mentor in sharing your incredible story of your quest and discovery of true belonging in identity in Christ, not in your past.
BECOMING HIS BELOVED By Cherie Denna
Thank you, Janet, for that wonderful introduction. I want to express my deep gratitude to you for supporting my story from its inception to the moment my book was finally brought into the world five years later. I must say, joining you and your readers here is definitely a standout moment in this publishing journey.
The choice to change the title of the book was another standout moment that caught everyone off guard. When I first began journaling and blogging around fifteen years ago, I chose “Biker Blood” as the book title. My story does “take the reader through the raw and raunchy times”, as Janet pointed out in her endorsement of the book. I prayed for a name for my story that would resonate with a large audience while accurately depicting who I am today, all in honor of God and all He has done. When I landed on “Beloved Outcast,” I felt the weight of the stigmatized theme lift away.
Writing my story was a challenging endeavor, but also a significant achievement for me. This is my intimate tale of fleeing from a life enmeshed in a family of organized crime. We’re talking The Godfather meets Sons of Anarchy meets The Chosen. Why would I delve into decades of trauma? The idea of revealing family secrets goes against everything I’ve been taught as a member of the Sicilian mafia and outlaw biker gangs, where trust is reserved exclusively for those within our inner circle.
My ‘why’ for writing my story shifted when the Lord whispered to me in a dream, “Tell them.” I woke from the dream and read the entire book of Romans. When I read chapter 10, I found the verse the Lord had for me. But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? Romans 10:14-15 NLT
I could not let go of this directive from the Holy Spirit. Putting my writing on the back burner, I felt convicted in my heart to share the Gospel message, as a witness to the radical and miraculous rebranding of my soul.
The Lord’s pursuit of us knows no bounds, reaching us in countless ways. Jesus reaches into the depth of our hell on earth to make His love known. Even as a prodigal after coming to Christ fifteen years earlier, He never left me. But I had to come to the end of myself before I could see it. Living as a recluse while shacking up with a dangerous man woke me to the reality that Satan indeed came to steal, kill, and destroy everything good in my life, just as it says in John 10:10, The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows]. (AMP)
The enemy sent imposters to derail and distract me, and even silence me. Imposters manifest in our emotions, our spiritual life, and in our physical inner circle. Their goal is to distort the truth of who we are, to whom we belong, and prevent us from walking out God’s assignment on our life. And I struggled with a severe case of ‘imposter syndrome’!
Full understanding of our true calling and identity as His Beloved comes when we shed the masks of shame, guilt, and unforgiveness, and adopt the life of God’s beloved. This does not happen overnight. Becoming His Beloved is a beautiful lifelong journey.
In this world of groups, tribes, clubs, affiliations, parties, and denominations, we tend to sacrifice pieces of ourselves at the altar of belonging. If we continue to sacrifice ourselves, we will never know true belonging as God’s Beloved.
“He predestined and lovingly planned for us to be adopted to Himself as [His own] children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the kind intention and good pleasure of His will— to the praise of His glorious grace and favor, which He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved [His Son, Jesus Christ].” Ephesians 1:5-6 AMP
Get To Know Cherie Denna
CHERIE DENNA’ mission is to empower individuals to find a deep sense of belonging and belovedness in Jesus Christ in their everyday lives. Drawing from her extensive experience in women’s ministry, relapse prevention, prayer counseling, and recovery, Cherie inspires audiences to rid their lives of emotional, spiritual, and physical imposters.
Her newly released debut book, Beloved Outcast: The Quest for True Belonging, is a must-read for those trapped in seemingly inescapable circumstances who desire a victorious life of freedom. With raw authenticity, Cherie’s platform reveals the realities of living on the fringes of society, generational dysfunction, enmeshed in organized crime and the outlaw biker culture, all while following God’s call to spread the Gospel.
One of her greatest joys is to witness the power of God’s truth come alive through freedom, spiritual deliverance, and healing. Cherie’s raw testimonies of living with Complex PTSD offer hope for a future filled with peace, purpose, and belonging.
She continues to impact the world through writing, speaking, women’s ministry, and guiding individuals on the tactical steps of sharing their hard stories through storytelling and testimony. You can find Cherie soaking in “seahabilitation” at the beach with Jesus or on an RV adventure with her purpose-mate husband. She loves frothed coffee dates.
Join the Everyday Belonging Movement at www.cheriedenna.com. Follow Cherie on socials @cheriedenna.
Leave a comment here for me or Cherie about her powerful story.
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