When I think of my friend Marsha, I am eternally grateful for how she truly changed my life. I would not be where I am or the person I became without her impact on my life. When I walked into a new Life Group one Saturday night after church now many years ago, she stood up front behind a podium and shared an update on her involvement with the prison ministry and asked for specific prayers. Her humble sincerity really struck me, as tears streamed down her face while she talked about her gratitude to God for choosing to work through her, despite all her mistakes in life. She was real. I knew that first night that I wanted to get to know her more.
Soon after, we signed up to be part of a small growth group/accountability group that would meet in homes about twice a month. I was so excited to find out that she and her husband were part of my group, along with three other couples that would become like family to me.
One night in the early stages of establishing that growth group, we met at another couple's home for dinner. As we ate, we went around the table answering a spiritual question about ourselves. "Tell us about your spiritual walk right now."
Well, that shouldn't be too hard, right? Do I keep things simple here, tell the "church girl" answer, or unload the truth about the realities of my broken marriage and all the anger and bitterness that still ate away at me every day. The past that I still couldn't get past, even after we moved and left it 2,000 miles behind.
By the time they got around to me, I knew I had to open up. This was a safe place. "Well, I spend time in Bible study and prayer journaling every morning, but honestly, I feel dead inside spiritually. I'm stuck. We came to Texas not too long ago with a broken marriage, and I'm still struggling to put it in the past and move forward."
She looked across the table at me and locked eyes with mine. She knew my struggle from experience, and somehow we just connected. She pulled me aside later and told me she'd been in my shoes and felt the way I felt. She told me how her life changed after reading The Power of a Praying Wife and learning to pray effectively over her husband every day. It was more than a book. It gave her a new lifestyle that healed her heart in ways she didn't even know she needed to heal. As she healed, so did her marriage.
A few months later, I decided to give it a try. We'd just bought our first house with a big front porch, so when summer came along, I sat outside on my front porch every morning and read through that book--and prayed. And then when I finished the book, I put paperclips on the specific prayer pages and continued to pray them. Stuff I'd never thought of praying over my husband before. And little by little, day by day, the anger and bitterness I'd held onto for so long literally started to melt away. I saw my husband with new eyes as God helped me see him the way He does.
Then I bought more Scripture prayer books and started to pray Scripture prayers over my son, my family, my friends, my workplace, and myself every day.
Before I knew it, I'd cultivated a life of prayer that I'd only dreamed of having, and I saw God answer me so very tenderly, faithfully, and specifically in so many areas of life that summer. My front porch became my sanctuary where God met with me each and every day. Learning how to cultivate a life of prayer changed me forever.
And it all started with my friend, Marsha, who changed me forever--and the lives of every person I pray for. She inspired me, she challenged me, and she loved me.
That growth group became like a second family to me, as we continued to eat many meals together in each other's homes, got together for dessert and coffee, shared each other's burdens, read Scripture together, and prayed together. Marsha, especially, was my biggest support and encouragement throughout our first adoption process. Little by little, though, we all went our separate ways, as each couple moved away and then we, also, moved to a different campus for our church much closer to home. We all kinda lost touch with each other except through a Facebook post here and there. We met up for lunch with another friend a few years ago, and Marsha shared about some neurological problems that she was experiencing that had really affected many areas of her life. I kept her in my prayers, but we sadly fell out of touch again shortly after.
On May 30th of this year, I got an unexpected call from a friend from that group.
"Did you hear the news? Marsha passed away yesterday."
My heart sank, and my thoughts immediately went back to that dinner around the table when she connected with me. I couldn't help but thank God for the years that God brought our paths together and for the way she changed my life. Though we fell out of touch over the last five years or so, she still continued to affect me. That's the kind of friend that I hope I can be to others, the life I hope to live out just as she did, humbly and transparently seeking Jesus and pouring out His love everywhere she went.
Due to COVID, they weren't able to have a funeral or memorial service earlier, but they finally celebrated her life today, two months later. What a beautiful tribute to someone who loved Jesus with her whole heart and lived every day passing on that love to everyone around her--even as her disease took more from her every day, even while living out the rest of her life in a nursing home. She never hid the mistakes of her past--they were her testimony to how God can redeem anyone and anything. They just made her love Jesus even more. That's what made her so special and what made her stand out above the rest. In touching and changing my life, she continues to touch and change every person that I get the privilege to touch and change in my own circle of influence.
Thank you, Marsha, for opening your heart to me and teaching me the healing power we find in prayer. I am so happy to know you are fully healed and get to be in the presence of Jesus every day now.
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