By Movieguide® Staff
Author and speaker Megan Fate Marshman recently shared the unlikely way she got into public speaking.
“How did I become a speaker? I got caught. I was guilty, loved at my worst and then gifted to discover my best,” she said during an episode of Sadie Robertson Huff’s “WHOA That’s Good” podcast.
Marshman shared that, as a teenager, some of her friends began shoplifting. Even though she knew it was wrong, Marshman eventually caved to peer pressure and took part in stealing. She was caught, arrested and given a court sentence that involved speaking to high schoolers about decision-making.
“I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m good at that….and I really care about it,’” she told Huff of that lightbulb moment. “‘I can really help people.’”
Related: Granger Smith Reflects on God’s Grace: ‘Righteousness Comes From Grace Alone’
Marshman added, “It was so fueled and so blessed because I understood grace tangibly.”
Speaking to Outreach Magazine about this moment, Marshman explained, “The best part is here I am now, and I’ve been humbled enough to know how little I actually know about grace and its power. I saw it when I was little. I saw it from my youth pastor who invited me to serve the church instead of just ditch it. I now see God’s grace in everything.”
“I could continue through all these pivotal moments, but I feel like the through line of all of it is just God’s grace landing me in my mom’s arms [following her arrest], because I didn’t deserve it in the same way that I never deserved my faith. Then to discover my greatest gift being God’s grace and that he gifted me to communicate it. I’ve basically been doing so ever since.”
She also shared some advice for anyone looking to get into public speaking — “When someone comes up and says, like, ‘I want to become a speaker. How do I get there?’…almost always, my go-to is ‘serve the church.’ Because hopefully, if you end up doing what I do, hopefully, you’re doing that exact same thing.”
Marshman encouraged people to serve in children’s and youth ministry and to connect with people any way they can.
“Be a really great listener,” she said. “You’ll be able to speak to people’s hearts because you’ll know them.”
Marshman recently celebrated the reprinting of her book Relaxed: Walking With the One Who is Not Worried About a Thing.
“I’m stunned and deeply grateful…not because of the number, but because the numbers have faces and stories and hearts. Each one represents someone invited to trust the Lord with all of it,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “Thank you for helping these words go where they need to go.”
Marshman’s story is a reminder that faith can find us, even in our darkest moments.
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