Shirley Bertholf

Hi!  My name is Shirley Bertholf.  I have been married to my wonderful husband Kirby for 41 years now.  Our four children, three girls and a boy, are all grown and married and have given us 7 grandchildren.

My husband and I were in the Christian ministry for 35 years with the Free Methodist Church.    Though we have taken early retirement from active ministry, our passion will always be to do all we can to help people come into the kind of relationship with God that we were all designed to experience.  We have exchanged our pulpit for the marketplace, but our goal is the same.

Since retiring from pastoral ministry, I have become an independent agent for United First Financial, a company with an innovative program called the Money Merge Account, which enables its clients to eliminate all their debt in a fraction of time with little or no change to their lifestyle.  After having worked in the ministry for so many years, I knew that I would not be content with any job that didn’t significantly impact people’s lives.

Confucius said, “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life!” Well, that is what I have found with United First Financial.  Every morning I wake up excited and eager to begin my day.   I know, as a UFirst agent, that every time I sit down with a client, I have the potential to literally change their life in a number of ways.

I am also a professional vocalist.  Since I was a child, I have loved to sing.  As a 6th grader in a small country school, I was required, along with all my other classmates, to prepare a solo for a contest between students in the area school districts.  At that time, though I loved to sing, I had never dreamed of performing a solo, but I won that contest and it began for me what has been a truly wonderful journey,  encouraging and blessing people through music.

When I graduated from high school, I traveled doing sacred concerts for the summer in several Midwestern states.  Since then, I have sung literally all over the USA, Canada, and even a couple other parts of the world, performing sacred concerts and providing music for all sorts of occasions, including retreats and conferences.  I’ve had the privilege of recording two albums.  It was thrilling to know that no matter what kind of activity I was presently engaged in, I could, at the very same time, be touching someone’s heart through my music by way of my recordings.

I’ve also had the opportunity to speak for various luncheons, retreats, and conferences through the US, Canada, and Guam.  This has been a special delight, because it gave me the chance to share the insights I feel God has given me over the years of walking in relationship with Him and studying His Word.  To sense that what I have to share has been used by God to profoundly impact another life is gratifying beyond measure.

I’ve had opportunity to write a series of discipleship booklets, which, though not published, have been used by many to encourage new believers in Christ to grow in their faith.  For several years now, I have also written a weekly email devotional entitled Thoughts to Ponder, “From God’s Heart to My Heart to Yours”.

I am a trained in Theophostic Prayer Ministry and have been thrilled to watch as God has released a number of people from crippling bondage to misconceptions and lies associated with traumatic experiences in their childhood.  That is a ministry I hope to spend more time with in the months and years ahead.

My life has been filled with a lot of joy, plenty of heartache as well.  But through it all, and probably because of it all, I have matured as a person, grown in my relationship with God, with my husband and kids, and with the people whose lives have intersected mine.  I invite you to be part of my journey through this blog and celebrate life with me.