Ministry Training Opportunity
My name is Shary Sheppard, I am 61 years young and have been married to my husband Peter for 42 years. We raised 3 wonderful children and I now have 15 Grandchildren and one Great Grandson. All of my children have blended families but to us a Grandchild is a Grandchild, a gift from God.
I was not raised in a christian home. In fact my Dad was an alcoholic and having been raised very strictly in the Lutheran church had turned away from the Lord. I however was blessed to have a babysitter who was Baptist I think. She led me to Jesus at 4 and I gave my heart to Him. I took my self to church and my brothers when we were all very young. I kept going to church and living for Jesus and that did make me an outcast many times growing up. At the age of 16 my parents and one of my brothers were killed in an automobile accident. I spent 3 months in the hospital and Jesus never left my side. After coming home I went to live in a Foster Home and they were Christians. I then started going to the Catholic Church because it gave me what I needed at the time and the Lutheran I was raised in did not. Jesus kept me out of drugs and alcohol, so I was very blessed.
My husband was not a Christian, even though he told me he was before we married. Our life together has been full of turmoil and anger. He says he has accepted Christ now and it is not for me to judge. I raised our children in the Catholic Church and kept seeking the Lord. In the 90’s I had my eyes opened by a wonderful friend who introduced me to an Open Bible church. It was wonderful to learn about the real Jesus and what He already did for me.
I have been seeking the Lord’s face for many years now and He has brought me through many trials. I continue to pray and to learn. I love to share Jesus with friends and was searching for a way to have more knowledge to share. I have close friends that have spoken to me about being a minister so I started to research how to make this happen. I found Christian Leaders Institute and even though the devil has been tossing things at me for months I am finally finished with the Christian Leaders Basics Certificate. I thank God for this ministry training opportunity for me.
I am disabled and get a very small disability check. My husband is a logger or works construction. All that means there is little money to pay for me to go back to school. So when I found CLI and this ministry training opportunity online. It was perfect for me. I have prayed about this for a very long time and God showed it to me. My husband and I talked it over and even though he would rather I found something that would get me a paying job, he is supportive in my calling. I always tell him….God has a plan and He will show the plan when He is ready but I have to be ready also.
My church attendance has been spotty since I stopped going to the Catholic Church. I have attended several churches until I see that they are not really teaching from the Word of God. I have not forsaken church though because I watch faithfully several ministers on TV. I know that I need a local church that I can gather together with and I have hopefully found one recently. The fact that my husband will still not attend church with me will not slow me down. The Lord does have a plan.
My dream for the future is to have more confidence in mentoring the people I have met on Facebook who are in great need. I am also open if the Lord’s plan is to send me some place else to plant a church. God knows His plan and I only need to rest in His love and listen.
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