Meet Andrew Marsh

My spree of sin began on July 8, 1987. Twenty-four years later, my addiction to selfish desires held me captive in an extramarital affair for nearly a year. As my marriage was surrounded by God's people, I was crushed by the weight of my sin. Paul described the law as revealing the extent of our enslavement to sin—a power that was broken by Christ.

I spent many years trying to be "good enough" for the God of the universe (crazy, I know). This eventually sent me angrily in the opposite direction. I thought if I wasn't good enough for God, He wasn't good enough for me. Later, a hopeless drug addiction would bring me back to the foot of the cross in desperation. As He did in restoring Paul's sight, God broke years of addiction in an instant. This was enough for me to begin to try to understand who God is. The old habit of trying to fix myself and be enough continued to draw me away from God's truth.

In 2012, my desire to feel good enough led me into an affair. God's all-powerful grace began to bombard my life through my wife, God's Word, community, re|engage (Watermark's marriage ministry), and a daily pursuit of understanding. Long obedience in the same direction began to reveal REDEMPTION! The guilt and shame I had been carrying my whole life had been ignoring the cross. I believed in the resurrection, but failed to comprehend its power and intention.

Romans 8:3 says, "For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh." Today, like Paul, I am a servant of Jesus, having experienced an unforeseen, sudden, and startling change that resulted from an all-powerful grace. It was not the fruit of my reasoning or thought, but occurred so that my life might be a vessel for others to know God. I don't always feel redeemed, but God's Word is nevertheless true. Our lives have been transformed through no credit of our own. God's rich mercy, despite our sin, has redeemed us. GLORY TO GOD!