“When I look back over my life, it brings tears to my eyes. I can see now what I couldn’t then: God’s passionate pursuit of me.
“I grew up in the country in Washington. My parents were building our home when a woman from another small town stopped by and invited us to Vacation Bible School at her church. My mom said that the invitation was an answer to her longing to be connected to a church and to know God. But my dad took the family car to work every day. The woman said, ‘If you’ll volunteer, we’ll come and pick you up every day.’ For two weeks, my mom, sisters, and I went to that little church, and that’s where our family’s journey with Jesus began.
“I don’t remember the details of Bible school itself. What I do remember is being drawn to God through the teaching. It’s not that I recognized my great sin at that young age, but I knew my need for Jesus. One lesson especially stuck with me from Psalm 23. I knew I wanted to follow Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
“I made several professions of faith as a child because I thought maybe I hadn’t done it right. I had a mentality that it all depended on me. One day, sitting at our kitchen table with my mom, she said, ‘Marcy, you can pray out loud right now with me, and then you will know for sure that he has forgiven your sin and made you his child.’ And I did. That’s where my relationship with Jesus began—through the simple, faithful pursuit of a mother, a neighbor, and a God who would not stop pursuing me.
“When I truly grasped that Jesus gave his life to give me his life, that he forgave me forever once for all when he died on the cross and rose again, I wanted to follow him. Our little church had a strong heart for missions. I was a little girl, but I felt like we were part of God’s work. Even then, I felt drawn to serve the nations.
“When I was sixteen, I met my future husband, Larry. We shared that same call to missions. We married a few years later and eventually felt led to serve in Central America. We applied to serve in a mission that worked in that area of the world.
“After we were accepted for service, the mission asked us to serve in a town called Choluteca, Honduras. We had already decided we could never go there. It was so hot! But as we prayed, God changed our hearts to realize that he wanted us there. So, we packed up our two young children and drove down to Honduras.
“It was as hard as we thought it would be, maybe harder. I didn’t have a consistent time with Jesus, and spiritually, I was dry. One night, I remember asking myself, ‘Do I want to be here?’ The answer was no. ‘Does God want me to be here?’ Yes. That moment changed everything. I realized I was resisting God’s plan for me. I repented, and it changed my perspective. That season became a defining moment, helping me learn what it looks like to be a follower of Christ.
“After thirteen years in Honduras and El Salvador, we returned to the States. It was hard. We had changed, the culture had changed, and we now had two teenagers and a preschooler to navigate this new world.
“But in that season of disorientation, God began to do some reorienting in my life. He showed me that because my father, as a parent, was harsh, authoritarian, demeaning, and unsafe to me and my siblings, it was difficult for me to feel safe, known, and cherished by Father God. Through this realization, God drew me into his lavish love and deepened my understanding of grace. I realized I had been trying to measure up, to perform better, living as though my acceptance depended on my effort. I had begun by faith, but like the Galatians, I thought I had to walk by performance. God gently showed me that it was a proud, idolatrous belief.
“The truth I came to rest in is this: Christ is my life. My identity is something I receive from God, not something I achieve. My relationship with God is not achieved through disciplines; it is received. That understanding has changed everything.
“Coming to Watermark years later reinforced that truth. I’ve had the joy of serving in Spanish Equipped Disciple and helping lead the Spanish Women’s Bible Study. Every week, I get to sit with women and remind them of these same truths.
“When I think about God’s faithfulness over the years, one word comes to mind: persistent. My Good Shepherd has been so faithful as he guides, guards, corrects, and loves me.
“If I had to summarize my life and faith, I’d say it this way: I’m joined to Jesus, by grace and by faith. I get to enjoy Jesus and live in dependence on him. And I get to join Jesus in what he’s doing to reach others. Jesus lived the perfect life I couldn’t, died the death I deserved, and rose again to give me his life.
“Now, everything I am rests in him. Because of that, I can say with full confidence, through decades of change, he has been faithful. And he always will be.”