's Blog

• You are invited!!!

  2008 Jan 25

  You are invited to check out the new Fast Track to Victory blog, a Christian living blog aimed at God seekers, and leave comments!
  The Fast Track blog by Cheryl Rogers is intended to encourage you as you try to know God better and walk in his promises for your life.
  Cheryl came to know God through a devastating illness. When she surrendered her life to him, he healed her!
  The Fast Track blog, like Cheryl's Fast Track to Victory book, is aimed at a broad Christian audience and is filled with spiritual insights and Bible-based commentary.
  The book is for sale in the Cheryl's Lulu store. Check out the blog at http://www.songsfromtheword.com/Site/Blog/wordpress
  
  
  

• Fast Track to Victory blog coming soon!

  2007 Dec 31

  A Fast Track to Victory blog is coming in the new year! The blog by Tampa author Cheryl Rogers will feature short and relevant biblical advice for living the Christian life.
  
  "I have designed the Fast Track blog as a free resource to keep you encouraged," Cheryl says. "It will contain regular Bible-based insights as God gives them to me."
  
  The blog derives its name from Cheryl's new book, Fast Track to Victory, A Christian Guidebook, a spiritual growth book aimed at God seekers.
  
  The book, for sale in the Lulu marketplace, distills biblical principles into 40 short, easy-to-grasp lessons intended to put you on the fast track to living the victorious Christian life.
  
  A former newspaper reporter, Cheryl came to know God later in life through a devastating illness. When she surrendered her life to God, he healed her and changed her life.
  
  In Fast Track to Victory, Cheryl shares the lessons she wished she had known years earlier.
  
  "It is my hope — and prayer — that this book will give you the bibilical truths you need to sidestep the devil's traps," Cheryl says.
  
  Sign up for the free blog at songsfromtheword@earthlink.net
  

• Download Free Preview of Fast Track to Share

  2007 Nov 17

  Now you can share a free preview of Fast Track to Victory, A Christian Guidebook, the short devotions book which can change your life.
  
  Fast Track to Victory, by Cheryl Rogers, shares valuable lessons to help you love and forgive others, deal with tragedy and death, and put God first.
  
  It encapsulates biblical wisdom in easy-to-digest portions, helping to put you on the fast track to living the victorious Christian life.
  
  Get the free preview at http://www.SongsfromtheWord.com/Textfiles/FastTracktoVictorypreview.pdf
  
  
  

• Fast Track to Victory now on sale

  2007 Nov 16

  Fast Track to Victory, A Christian Guidebook, a book targeted at God seekers, is now on sale in the Lulu Markeplace.
  The book is intended to help others know God better and walk in the victory he has for them.
  Author Cheryl Rogers, who came to know Jesus Christ as an adult, shares lessons she wished she had known years earlier — lessons like how to love and forgive others, why it's just plain smart to put God first, and the high price of pride.
  "I believe the baton in this relay of life has been passed to me," says 52-year-old Rogers. "It is time to share what I have learned with others."
  Rogers found God when she was suffering from a severe immune disorder more than 10 years ago. He healed her miraculously and changed her life.
  
  

• New Book Targets God Seekers

  2007 Nov 09

  Do you want to know God better? Do you want his victory in your life?
  
  A new Christian book targeting God seekers is slated for release later this month.
  
  Entitled Fast Track to Victory, A Christian Guidebook, the devotional features 40 quick, easy and potentially life-changing lessons.
  
  "I know what it is like to need God and need him desperately," says author Cheryl Rogers, a former newspaper reporter. "So I have encapsulated biblical wisdom into 40 lessons which will help you meet God."
  
  Rogers was miraculously healed from a medically incurable immune disorder more than 10 years ago.
  
  "There's no recipe for victory," Cheryl says, "it is a gift we must receive. This book is about helping you receive it."
  
  In the book, she shares biblical truths people often don't get elsewhere: Lessons like how to love others, why it just plain smart to put God first, and why we should avoid pride.
  
  Pastor Curt Harrison, of In his Grip Family Ministries of Tulsa, OK, describes Fast Track to Victory as "insightful and extremely helpful."
  
  "This book is the perfect tool for group or individual Bible Study," Pastor Harrison says.
  
  Fast Track to Victory, A Christian Guidebook, is planned in both print and ebook editions. The print edition will be availabe through the Lulu Marketplace. A secured ebook will able through Cheryl's website at http://www.SongsfromtheWord.com
  
  More details are available from her website, where she offers free Scripture song mp3s, Scripture art, a regular blog and podcast, and a Christian Gift Mall.
  
  
  

• Book release planned

  2007 Oct 17

  I am pleased to announce the upcoming release of a new book at the Lulu Marketplace. Entitled Fast Track to Victory, a Christian Guidebook, the book is aimed at those who want to know God, know God better, or achieve victory in their lives.
  
  The book is a compilation of my Bible columns and blogs, infused with new insights and prayers aimed at eager, ambitious or ever-growing Christians.
  
  I'm excited because I believe God can use this book to change lives.
  
  This book can be given as a gift of encouragment to those new in the faith, or who want help with life's challenges.
  
  Be sure to check back for updates.
  
  Have a blessed day!
  
  Cheryl Rogers
  

• Scripture songs: a positive note

  2006 Feb 08

  "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105
  
  By CHERYL ROGERS
  I never was very good at memorizing chunks of text, so remembering Scripture didn't come easily for me — at least not until God began giving me Scripture songs!
  It happened in the aftermath of the tragic World Trade Center attacks in 2001.
  On December 18, the anniversary of my earthly father's death, God gave me my first melody.
  My dad had always encouraged my sister and I to write songs, so it piqued my interest, to say the least.
  Well, after I sang one of the songs in my church's talent show, God gave me so many melodies I put together a CD. The songs kept coming, so I put together some more CDs.
  Do you know what I discovered? Well, it's what other folks have learned, too. Committing things to music makes them easy to remember.
  While it had been hard for me to remember Scriptures before, now I got many chunks of Scripture memorized, without really trying. Just developing the songs, I went through a phase of repetition. I would sing the song over and over again working up the melody and practicing the singing. I would work on an arrangement, then I'd practice the song some more.
  By the time the song was recorded, I had memorized most, if not all, of the song.
  I consider the songs prayers and began praying God's promises in them over my life. Sometimes the truth of God's word would manifest itself as I sang the song, or played the CD.
  One day I was walking along the beach and there was this piece of glass in my path — just as I sang "no weapon formed against you shall prosper," from Isaiah 54:17 Another day, I was driving down the interstate and there was garbage in the road. I saw it kind of late, but successfully swerved out of the way in our Miata as my Victory! CD was playing on the stereo "no weapon formed against you shall prosper!"
  Another time I was driving near our home when a sheriff's deputy pulled in front of me. He was going slow; I had to use my breaks to slow done because I was traveling a bit over the speed limit. Meanwhile on the CD player the words of my song God Will Hear Me were playing: "I will bear the indignation of the Lord for I have sinned," from Micah 7.
  I followed the deputy at what seemed like a snail's pace, grateful this time I did not get a ticket.
  A few days later, I was in nearly the same spot, with the same song playing in my CD player, and there was a gorgeous rainbow!
  Another interesting time was when I sang I Will Give Thanks to You from Psalm 30 in my church's talent show. Gosh, they gave us all thank you certificates for participating in the talent show, when I should have thanked them for giving me a chance to sing my song.
  At the show, I proclaimed healing from a goiter. (God is healing me from a failed business I started in 1990. I closed the business when I became too sick to run it. I have learned I to consider the healing a done deal — and go on with my life.)
  God has used the songs to communicate with me, to heal me, and to teach me Scriptures I probably couldn't, or wouldn't have ever memorized.
  As I was well into the recording of my second and third CDs, which I did in tandem, I realized the songs had given me a much better grip on the Scriptures than I had ever had before. I would try to explain a biblical lesson and realize I had done a song on it!
  Others have had similar experiences with Bible songs.
  "One of the coolest things Scripture songs have done for me is that I have actually heard the Holy Spirit bring these songs to my head/heart when going through various trials and temptations in life," says Timothy Harris, a partner with Ted Warren in WordSong Entertainment.
  WordSong produces Scripture songs in a cinematic style.
  "I believe in the power of God's word. If we can slip our music or rock opera into the mainstream entertainment machinery, many lives will be transformed by the hearing of God's word," says Lionel Deleon, president and founder of Messenger Project, a non-profit corporation promoting the Bible through music.
  
  
  Cheryl Rogers is a writer and singer/songwriter specializing in Scripture songs and Scripture-based columns, stories, and artwork. Free resources are posted at http://www.SongsfromtheWord.com
  
  
  HOW I BEGAN WRITING SONGS
  
  
  When we were growing up, my earthly father encouraged my sister and I to write songs. But I was never inspired.
  So when a melody came into my mind as I read from Psalm 18, on December 18 — the anniversary of my father’s death — it got my attention.
  It was the year 2001, in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
  As I read the psalm, I noticed with interest the parallels between King David’s battle and the one we faced. With help from a keyboard, I wrote out the melody and words to the song I call “My High Tower.”
  In its original form, the words were a little different and there was a timing problem. So the song sat on the shelf for nearly two years.
  As the weeks and months went by, more melodies came into my mind as I read Scriptures. They became “I Will Give Thanks to You” and “God is for Me.”
  All three sat on the shelf because of problems — and because I didn’t know what to do with them.
  All that changed in 2003 when my church held its talent show. I believed God was leading me to sing “I Will Give Thanks to You” and — in faith — proclaim my healing from a goiter.
  But I didn’t have a music accompaniment. All I had was the melody. I could come up with chords, but a full music accompaniment was beyond my musical skills.
  I needed help.
  I believed if God was indeed calling me he would provide, and provide he did. My church’s music director, Kent Smith, was not only a skilled musician, but a composer in his own right. He agreed to do a music accompaniment and invited me to the music studio he ran at the church two blocks from my house.
  When I saw what Kent could do with my simple melody, I was greatly encouraged.
  My son David and I sang “I Will Give Thanks to You” in September and it was as if the floodgates had opened. In the coming weeks and months, God gave me more and more songs.
  I asked God to tell me what to do with these songs. The same morning he gave me two more: “Consider Your Ways,” a song calling for building up the church, and “Sing, O Daughter of Zion.”
  As my church was undergoing a 40 days of Purpose campaign based on the popular book The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren, God gave me a plan for the songs. I found a website where I could post them where they could be downloaded freely by churches, and still collect royalties from those with a Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) license.
  I began putting together my own sheet music with software downloaded from the Internet. Although I would need help here also, I now had a plan and a vision for my first CD, called Victory!
  Doing the CD has been fun and the fulfillment of a childhood dream to be a singer.
  I also have been mightily blessed as he healed me from the mistakes of a failed business I began in 1990 after my daughter was born.
  Since the songs, continued to come, I kept recording. I now have three CDs: Victory!, Arise, Shine, and Bring my Soul out of Prison.
  I share the songs with you to build the church and so that you, also, may be blessed.
  — Cheryl Rogers