HOW CAN SHARON SERVE YOU OR YOUR MINISTRY?
“Healing” is my word for 2022.
this year
I choose to read my favorite
passages from books
on Wednesdays at 10 am
just because they nourish me.
I choose to eat my morning oatmeal
out of my favorite bowl
and not keep it on the top shelf
for special occasions
because I don’t want to ration
I choose to wear that sweat that I love
but thought made me look fat,
because our bodies hold us
and how we treat them tell an
an important part of our stories
about acceptance, grace, and beauty
I give myself permission to keep healing
and admit I need to keep healing
because I’m coming to believe I’ve spent
too much time investing in outer-work
while God is longing to do inner-work
I choose to let go
really let go
of fixing other people,
forcing connection.
I choose to nourish
what is willing to grow
I choose to be grateful
for the deep well that is within
that has taken years to dig and fill
and can be given away
in a sip or gup in a few seconds,
and I choose to be grateful
for those who are wells in my life –
willing to give away sips and gulps
when I so often find myself
so thirsty
I choose to walk forward
one step at a time
following the One
who for the joy (meaning me – of all people)
set before Him
endured, sacrificed,
stormed the gates of hell,
became the resurrection
and resurrected me
this year
I choose
to practice resurrection.
Sharon is a sought-after speaker for conferences, retreats, seminars, classes, trainings, or workshops. She loves to speak any where in the world — to a group of 2 or 2,000. Sharon taught as Adjunct Faculty at Reformed Theological Seminary, Colorado Christian University, Denver Seminary, Denver University, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology in both under-graduate and graduate counseling courses. Other subjects Sharon loves to speak on include the courage to abandon ourselves and belong to each other; addiction and life beyond addiction; finding the landmarks of faith, hope, and love in our stories; knowing your sexual ethic – for adolescents, adults, and parents; healing trauma, and self-compassion for caregivers.
Sharon also provides individual counseling for adolescents and adults on a weekly or bi-monthly basis or in the form of intensives (3-4 days of hard work, blood, sweat and tears that is oh, so worth it!). Intensives can include EMDR, somatic therapy, and psychodrama. Call 720-530-1225 for scheduling and pricing.
Sharon lives in Lone Tree, Colorado and is finding freedom and adventure in the empty-nest years. She loves to travel, read, listen to music, watch baseball (go Rockies!) and spend time with her friends.
“She packed up her potential and all she had learned, grabbed a cute pair of shoes and headed out to change a few things.” Leigh Standley
FAVORITE BOOKS:
BOOKS THAT I LOVE: Love Does, Everybody Always, The Obstacle is the Way, Recovery – Freedom From Our Addictions, Secrets of the Vine, The Tender Bar, The Bright Hour, The Surrender Experiment, Higher is Waiting, Whisky Words & A Shovel, Running Red Dog Road: And Other Perils of Appalachian Childhood, Recovery, White Privilege, Alexander Hamilton, Small Great Things, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Sing Unburied Sing, Little Fires Everywhere, Undefended.When Breath Becomes Air, Milk & Honey, Hidden Wholeness, How To be Here, God and His Sexy Body: The Story of Adam and Eve, Falling Into Goodness: Lenten Reflections, Straight Pepper Diet, Hillbilly Elegy, Wishful Drinking, Blackout, The Poems of Hafiz, Immortal Diamond, This Day, The Gift of Addiction: How God Redeems Our Pain, Scary Close, The Crossroads Between Should & Must, Discovering the Magic of Tidying Up Your Life, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Chasing the Scream, Pornland, The Body Keeps the Score, Trauma and the Heart of God, God Made All of Me: A Book to Help Children Protect their Bodies, A Scandalous Freedom, Three Free Sins, Ragamuffin Gospel, Telling Stories, To Be Told, Beautiful Boy, Broken, All is Grace, Why I Stopped Going to Church, Abba’s Child, Dance Lessons for Zombies, Addiction & Grace, The Good & Beautiful Life, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, The Spirituality of Imperfection, Julian of Norwich — Showings, Welcome to My Country, Ruthless Trust, Lost & Found, Hope Again Darkness: The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an Age of Anxiety, Three Free Sins, All That Is Bitter & Sweet, Traveling Mercies. Holy Hunger, Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up, Drinking: A Love Story, The Tragedy & Comedy of the Gospel. Any poetry by Mary Carr or Gerard Manley Hopkins.
FAVORITE MUSIC:
Anything from Maverick City Music or Tribl, – from Andy Gullahorn – Everything As It Should Be, Stu Garrad – The Beatitudes, Chance the Rapper, Jenn Johnson – In Over My Head, Son of Laughter – No Story is Over, Lauren Daigle – Look Up Child, Andrew Peterson – The Burning Edge of Dawn, Scott Mulvahill – Top of the Stairs, Fernando Ortega – The Crucifixion of Jesus, Lady Gaga – Shallows, Benjamin Tod from the Lost Street Band – Using Again, Dirt On Your Hands, Jill Phillips – Lead Me Home, Avett Brothers – True Sadness), Steffanie Gretzinger – The Undoing, Audrey Assaud Fortunate Fall, Gungor, Rachel Cohen, Pete Geiger, Cedarwood Road, Missi Hale, Macklemore, Sharla Jackson, Shaun McDonald, U2, Rachel Platten, Rich Mullins, Keith Green, Of Monsters and Men, Mavis Staples, Andrew Peterson, Third Day, Metallica, John Denver, Adele, The Carpenters, JJ Heller, David Wilcox, Sara Grove, Mumford & Sons, Vignette, After The Storm – A Compilation after Hurricane Katrina, Plumb, for King & Country, Ashley Cleveland, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Josh Bales, Johnny Cash, Shane & Shane, Jimmy Wayne
FAVORITE MOVIES:
The Tender Bar, Beautiful Boy, The Courage to Love, Recovery Boys, The Anonymous People, The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, This is Life, A Star is Born, Wind River, The Judge, 13 Conversations About One Thing, I Am Elizabeth Smart, Arrival, Lion, Silence, Fences, Hidden Figures, The Mask You Live In, The Shack, Wild, Inside Out, Game-Changer, Men, Women & Children, Spotlight, The Martian, Sicario, Amy, The Stanford Prison Experiment,Working Girl, Pretty Woman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Into the Wild, Lord of the Rings (all of them), Beautiful, Chocolat, Leaving Las Vegas, Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Little Miss Sunshine, Crash, The Help
MY FAVORITE TELEVISION SHOWS:
Ted Lasso, Cheer, The Cleaning Lady, The Good Doctor, I’ve given into The Voice, 10 Days in the Valley, Making the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders (just kidding – or am I?), A Million Little Things, Alias Grace, Orange is the New Black, Wentworth, The Night Manager, The Night Of, Sneaky Pete, This is Us, Shades of Blue, Imposters, Alone, Running Wild with Bear Grylls, American Ninja Warrior,True Detective, Chopped, Masterchef, House of Cards, How to Make A Murderer, How to Get Away with Murder, Scandal, Law & Order, House, The Cleaner (cancelled), The Wire (ended), The Good Wife, Parenthood (this show turns me into a crying mess! – and now it’s over!), Breaking Bad, Dexter, Homeland, Nurse Jackie, Newsroom.
Worth checking out: Liz (http://ourunseenhope.com/); Emilee (http://ehafler.blogspot.com); G.R.A.C.E. (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, @BozT, (https://www.facebook.com/pages/…Abuse…GRACE; and Radical Redemptive Relationships: Finding True Intimacy in a False World,
Stuff Fundies Like.com, The Very Worst Missionary.com, The Liturgists Podcast, Undone Redone Podcast, http:pasapartnersagainstsexualabuse.wordpress.com, http://globaltraumarecovery.org/narcissism-and-the-system-it-breeds/, Neuroscience of Compassion: https://yo.tube/khQuZINWFRg
FAVORITE QUOTATIONS:
“The greatest enemy of the spiritual life is self-rejection BECAUSE it contradicts the Voice that calls you Beloved.” Henri Nouwen
“The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of man, because His compulsion is our liberation.” Henri Nouwen
“I guess we’re simply not meant to understand some things. Bono,of U2, says that his favorite song is ‘Amazing Grace’and his second favorite is ‘Help Me Make it Through the Night,’ and most of the time, I have to let it go at that.” Anne Lamott
“God does not take away life; He finds a way to bring the exile back.” (1 Samuel 14:14, The Message)
“Acceptance is my answer to all my problems today . . . .” The Big
Book of Alcoholics Anonymous
“No one told me that when I wear a mask, people love my mask.” John Lynch
“He was supreme in the beginning and — leading the resurrection parade — he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe . . . get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross” (Colossians 1).
“Anyone can slay a dragon, he told me, but try waking up ever morning & loving the work all over again. That’s what takes a real hero.” Brian Andreas
“He miracle came announced and in an odd package. . .it looked different than she had imagined. . .unpolished, untimely, unexpected. . .unpretentious. . .Yet it fit perfectly. Divinely constructed solely for her.” Kristin Jongen