Episode Details

What if the created world is speaking reminders of God’s presence, healing, and hope every single day—we just need to slow down enough to notice?

What can foggy skies, dormant trees, nesting birds, and changing seasons teach us about God?

Award-winning author, naturalist, and photographer Cheryl Bostrom joins Willow for a beautiful conversation about how creation speaks daily, revealing reminders of God’s character, presence, healing, and faithfulness—even in the seasons when He feels far away.

Cheryl has spent a lifetime paying attention to the natural world. Growing up amid the forests of the Pacific Northwest, she experienced sorrow and heartbreak within her own family and learned early to find solace outside. Those experiences eventually found their way into her award-winning novel Sugar Birds, a story that explores guilt, shame, suffering, belonging, and the questions we ask about God when life hurts.

One of Cheryl’s most powerful reminders comes from an ordinary Pacific Northwest winter day. Fog may make it impossible to see the trees clearly, and thick clouds may completely hide the sun—but the trees are still there and the light hasn’t disappeared. Beneath the ground, roots are growing. Sap is beginning to move. What appears dormant is already preparing for another season of life.

For Cheryl, creation becomes a tangible reminder that even when we can’t see what God is doing, He is still present and at work.

Meet Cheryl Bostrom

Cheryl Bostrom is a Pacific Northwest naturalist, photographer, and award-winning author. Her writing has appeared in Upper Room Disciplines and God & Nature magazine, and she previously wrote for Women of Faith. She is the author of the award-winning novel Sugar Birds, The View from Goose Ridge: Watching Nature, What the River Keeps, and Leaning on Air.

Cheryl began pursuing fiction at age 60, and Sugar Birds went on to receive recognition from the American Fiction Awards, Readers' Favorite Awards, Best Book Awards, and Christianity Today.

Key Takeaways

• When God feels hidden: Remember that unseen doesn't mean absent. Just as the sun remains behind thick clouds, Go