Sherri Burgess

I said to God, “But we were so happy. We were so happy, God.” And I heard Him say to me in my spirit, “But I want you to be holy.”

Rick and Sherri Burgess were married February 10, 1996. Although she had sought the Lord before that time, she had never truly surrendered her life to God. She said she could sense God’s presence on her wedding day and felt that she was in the right place at the right time for the first time in her life. She was baptized into Christ two months later.

She said she could feel the weight of the years filled with guilt and shame wash away in that baptistry at Lakeview Baptist Church in Oxford, Alabama. She has lived in the light of Christ ever since. Even when darkness tried to overtake her on January 19, 2008 when her two and a half year old son, Bronner, “went to Heaven,” as she calls what happened that night, she learned that God’s power is even greater in her weakness and brokenness. She sought answers from God through prayer and His Word and found them. She was certain that the answers weren’t just for her or for her family but for everyone. She said, “God had a message in the taking of my son. So many people want to know why. And He knew I wouldn’t stop searching until I had some answers. I don’t know why all of it had escaped my attention before, but scripture is filled with the teaching that those who are truly children of God will suffer in this life as He suffered. But God got my attention, and I hope that my pain can help you understand yours.”

Sherri is the author of Bronner, A Journey to Understand. She has appeared as a guest on numerous radio and television show sharing her story across the nation. She was a Women of Joy speaker for the 2017 spring season and speaks at Women’s Conferences and other church events throughout the southeast. She and Rick have also taught together at marriage conferences and other Christian events. Sherri writes a blog entitled In Between Heaven and Earth.