S-S-S-Seventy, the new Seventy...who da thought. Part 1

"S-S-S-Seventy, the new Seventy...who da thought - Part 1

"Lord, Can You Use Me?"
(the answer is "YES")

Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
You have made my lot secure
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
Surely I have a delightful inheritance.
Psalm 16:5-6

Hello...it's me.
A week after turning seventy, I was asked to speak to over a hundred ladies at Red Bank Baptist Church on the theme, "Lord, Can You Use Me?" Afterwards, I asked the Lord, "did you use me?"

Why is it that after we study and pray and do everything possible to share what the Lord has given us, our insecurities try to steal our joy?  I should be used to that by now.  After all, I am seventy.  I'm sure some of you have experienced this, so that's why I'm going to share--in a nutshell--two reasons that keep me from saying yes to God when he has a great--and sometimes scary--plan for me.
(taken from my somewhat organized notes).

The #1 reason is FEAR.  There are several kinds of fear. One is the fear of stepping into the unknown.  Oftentimes Jesus has asked me to come out of my comfort zone in order for me to totally rely on him.  Now, I know there are several of you who are saying, "I don't need God's help; I can do it myself."  That's nice, but I assure you that there will come a time when you will hit a brick wall, throw up your hands, and humbly admit, "God, I think I need your help on this one."

Fear of man will paralyze you.  When I was in eleventh grade I took a speech class because I loved to write and wanted to learn how to write formal speeches.  What I didn't know was that I had to give a speech from what I wrote.  The thought of speaking in front of a room filled with varsity football players made my head spin and my stomach churn.  My sixteen-year-old body was experiencing fear in the first degree.

After giving a successful speech, still standing in front of al of those cute football players,  I fainted and woke up underneath a table with Toby-the-darling-quarterback holding my hand.  Embarrassed is putting it mildly.  At that moment I resolved never speak in public again.

Well, God had different plans.  Throughout my life I have been asked to speak, share--whatever you want to call it--to various groups...Singles Ministry, Bible school classes, women's groups (USA and international), garden clubs, assisted living, where several dozed off within 5 minutes (great for the ego), book clubs, book conferences, and book signings.  Each time I speak I recall one of my favorite verses to overcome my fear of man: 

He gives power to the faint and 

to them that have no might he increases strength.  

Isaiah 40:29

MS Restoration sailing over the Pond (Atlantic) from Seattle, WA to our first port, Stockholm, Sweden

Personal fears cause stress, anxiety, and illness.  After spending a week working on a WWII ship in Seattle, WA, I knew God was asking my husband and I to volunteer for a 14-month term to be part of her maiden voyage.  After saying yes to God, I suddenly remembered, "Eeek!  I can't swim!"  Fear hit me like a mighty wave.  I began plotting how I could get out of this situation until the Lord gave me two comfort verses:

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you... Isaiah 43:2

Thus saith the Lord, which taketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters...Isaiah 43:16

MS Restoration's maiden voyage '95.
Arriving in Sochi, Russia after my heart attack in Athens, Greece

FEAR struck me in Athens, Greece 
when I was experiencing what I later discovered was a heart attack.  
After living on board this old ship that was ready to sail to the Black Sea to 
transport Russian Jews to Israel, this old gal was determined to sail to Sochi, Russia. 
I would not fly home.  
Why? Because God's Word says:

My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart,

and my portion forever.

Psalm 73:26

I will share the #2 reason for not saying yes to God in my next blog.  Can you guess what it might be?  I will share some personal examples on this hot topic.

Until then, wherever your feet may take you,
I wish you oceans of blessings

Read my book for details of my travels
www.sharonleaf.com

A Special 'Thank You' to my readers...

Christmas 1994 on board WW2 ship MS Restoration
Stockholm, Sweden

Christmas is here and I want to take a moment to say a 

warm, heart-felt thank you to all of you out there in Lady Leaf Land 

who have bought and read my book, 

LADY and the SEA.* 

There are too many of you out there to thank personally, 

but you know who you are.  

I run across people at the market, social events, and of course all the emails, 

telling me how much you loved my novel, based on my true story.

I can honestly tell you that writing LADY was a 

Labor of Love.  

God has taken me to over fifteen countries 

where I have had the honor to meet the most loving, sweet people 

(Russia, Siberia, Latvia, Estonia, Turkey, Israel...just to name a few), 

so I wrote about my life's journey up until 1995.

The beautiful woman I inspired
to take a risk and be gutsy!
2013

As I mentioned in my last blog, I entered my 500-word essay in the

"Have you inspired someone to take a risk and be gutsy?" contest.

I won!!

  

Have you ever inspired someone?  

You might not ever know about it in this world.  

The only reason I know is because I asked on Facebook and 

Regina responded immediately.  

WOW!

So I'll share my story, "I Inspired Someone to Take A Risk and Be Gutsy!"
to remind you that there is
someone watching and listening to you. 

It was 1991.  

I was forty-four, happily married, and co-pastoring a large singles ministry with my husband, Rob.  Did I mention this was my third marriage?  

I'm not proud of that fact, but life's journey isn't all glitter and happiness.  

With four grown children between us and three grandsons, 

I wasn't prepared for God's gutsy request for us to leave California to 

attend an international Bible school in Sweden...for a year!  

How could He ask me to move when my daughter was about to deliver my first granddaughter?  Besides, we loved pastoring our singles ministry.  

Well, not our ministry...God's ministry.  

Over a hundred singles of all ages showed up every Friday night for fellowship and to 

worship the Lord, 

not to mention the summer and winter camps, sprinkled with fun ministry outreaches.

After much prayer, Rob and I made the decision to lease our house, sell our cars, 

take a sabbatical, and leave our family behind.  

We had no idea how we were going to financially pull this off, 

but we experienced--step by step--when we say yes to God, He will meet our every need, 

from Rob finding leather gloves hanging in a tree as we 

traveled home on a bus one freezing December afternoon, 

to a surprise January birthday gift from my California friend, 
a check in the exact amount needed to purchase a pair of much needed snow boots 
(thank you once again, Shirley).

Returning home was like starting over--

new jobs, buying a used car, putting our house back in order, 

and paying off a credit card that helped take us to Israel and Siberia after graduation.

From the beginning of this journey, 

there was a twenty-three-year-old single woman watching, praying, participating.  

Although Regina's job didn't pay much, she sent us a monthly donation of a hundred dollars.  

Like us, Regina wanted to experience God in a new, fresh, and powerful way, 

so I encouraged her to stretch her faith and experience the unknown.  

In other words, take a risk and live a gutsy-for-God kind of life.

Rob helped Regina get her finances in order, 

so in 1992 she quit her job, packed up and moved to Sweden to 

attend the international Bible school.  

And God supplied all of her needs.

When people ask, 

"Why did you go all the way to Sweden for Bible school?" 

I simply answer, "Because God asked me to go."  

Sweden was a door for me to walk through that 

led to many other gutsy doorways.

People ask Regina why she went all the way to Sweden and 

her answer is the same, but she adds, 

"there was this gutsy woman, Sharon Leaf, who inspired me 

to lose sight of my safe shore and dive into a new ocean."

I didn't know this until I placed a message on my Facebook page, asking, 

"Is there anyone out there who I inspired to take a gutsy risk?"  

Within minutes, Regina answered.

Today, Regina is still inspiring!

End

LADY and the SEA
My legacy

Again, thank all of you for the kind words you've given me after reading 

LADY and the SEA.  

Now, pass the book along to someone who needs to 

find hope for their forgotten dreams.

I wish you oceans of CHRISTmas blessings and a Happy New Year!

www.sharonleaf.com
Available on www.amazon.com, Ebooks, and my website.