I'm told I was a miracle right from the start. My parents were married for five years before my sister Raelene was born. My mother had problems conceiving and even then, she had a placental deficiency and Raelene came 3 months premature. At 2 pounds 12 ounces, Raelene fought for life in a humidicrib. It was another four years before I came along and I was also born prematurely. Slightly heavier at birth to my sister, I weighed in at 3 pounds 2 ounces and was pink as a rose. For this reason, my father decided to name me Sharon, because I reminded him of the verse of scripture in Song of Solomon "Sweet Rose of Sharon" which is also a hymn he had sung at church. Two years later my brother Craig was born, yet again prematurely and weighing 3 pounds 7 ounces. The nurses could not understand my mother's excitement and thought she had definately heard incorrectly when she said "but that is my biggest baby!". God was with us right at the commencement of conception. We are indeed miracles, all three.
On mother's day in the year of 1972, my parents dedicated my life to the Lord at the Salvation Army Earlwood Corps in Sydney Australia. On this special day, mum and dad made a promise to God, to lead me in his way and do the very best they could to keep me from the sinful ways of the world. I thank them for showing me God's love for me, and attribute their influence to the values I now claim as my own.
When I was eleven years old, I gave my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ at a sunbeam camp at Colloroy in New South Wales. I don't think I understood exactly how being saved would change my life, but I knew that I was a sinner and I needed Jesus to forgive me of my sins.
There was a time when I was asked to sing in church and I was rather nervous about this since I had an acute hearing problem and wore hearing aids. I felt like God had been telling me that the music was in my head, and not to worry to trust him. I sang the song "In my song Lord, Be Glorified today". I will never forget that experience. It was to be the theme song of my life. At thirteen years of age, on an annual hearing test, the doctors established that my hearing had been restored well enough to do away with the hearing aids. Praise the Lord! I knew deep within me, that this was God's way of allowing me to sing, uninhibited, for Jesus.
When I was fifteen I commenced formal singing lessons. I did quite well at it too, and surprisingly, learnt to read music. This was something I never thought I would be able to achieve. I went on to achieve passes with honours in London Trinity College of music practical singing examinations. My teacher wanted to put me in eistedfords, but I was not interested in competing. I just wanted to sing for enjoyment, and in Praise to God.
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