How the Potter’s House got Started

Cherrie Burdeshaw, Founder of Potter's House For Women

Cherrie Burdeshaw,
Founder of Potter’s House
For Women

Years ago, the desire was birthed in my heart to have a Christian home for troubled women. As I ministered in the jail, I would see ladies get out and come right back in, like a revolving door. I could see their desperate desires to live for the Lord, but, with no one to help when they got out, they could not make it. A mountain of difficulties faced each woman on the outside: probation fines; DUI schools; fees for getting driver’s licenses reinstated; no job and no vehicle with which to look for a job or to get back and forth to work; often no place to live; etc. Therefore in hopelessness, the ladies would again succumb to the same lifestyle. And, of course, this always broke my heart and increased my desire to do something to help them!

Then, in the year 2000, my 90-year old Christian Mother went home to glory. As a result, I received an inheritance and began praying about what to do with it. I didn’t want to put it in CD’s and just draw interest for my husband and myself. I wanted to help people with it. My husband suggested that I buy a house…and whamo… the Potter’s House was born! (Jeremiah 18:1-4)

From that day to this, I have something to offer these ladies who are serious about getting their lives right with God. I offer them a place to live, a place of peace and joy, a place where they can be separated from the hectic, ungodly, secular world, and a place where they can learn about the Lord Jesus Christ and grow in their Christian walk.

Being raised in the country,out in the sticks, on a farm, I was accustomed to being around animals. I especially loved cats. And quite often, the female cats would have a litter of kittens under the barn and I could not find them until they were about grown.

By that time, the kittens would be totally wild. That would bother me, because I wanted those kittens, who did not trust humans, to know how much I loved them. So, day after day, I would go outside and sit. I would throw food toward the barn…first, from a long way off… and the kittens would run out and get it and run back under the barn. Each day, I would throw the food closer, until finally it was right between my legs. Then, when a kitten would run up to eat it, I’d grab him, hold him away from me, and allow him to scratch and thrash until he got worn out and would quit. Then, I would pet him for a long time and he would be tame from that time on.

One day, the Lord showed me that He was preparing me, as a child, to just hold on to these wild ones who have no trust, who’ve been hurt and scarred…to hold on and let them scratch and thrash until they finally quit and are able to realize that our Lord Jesus Christ wants to love them through me.

Today, I have many “kittens” whom the Lord has tamed through His love, mercy, and compassion that He shows through human vessels. I give Him all the praise and glory for His unfailing love toward those whom the world has often given up on.