Marion turns her life around through faith

Nikki Marion, pastoral assistant to Rev. Drew Hayes at The People's Church, is a living miracle; an example of God's power to change a life completely. The difference between Marion today and when she first stepped through the doors of People's Church is like day and night.

Today, Marion is an invaluable member of the staff at the church, but when she first visited the congregation a number of years ago, she was tormented with addictions, depression, and constant thoughts of suicide.

Born in Long Island, New York, Marion was raised by parents who were no strangers to rough living, both mother and father involved heavily in drugs and alcohol.

"I was a Daddy's girl and I would spend a lot of time with my dad in the bars when I was little," Marion said. "I guess I kind of grew up in bars. Drugs and alcohol were always around, and I saw it all when I was growing up."

By the time Marion hit her teen years she was running the streets and began doing drugs and alcohol herself. She became pregnant when she was 16, and the father wanted nothing to do with the baby, or, as Marion soon found out, babies. She was pregnant with twins.

At 17, she married a man who was getting ready to go into the U.S. Navy. He wasn't the father of the twins, but he took in the little family as if they were his own. The couple later had a son together. The family found themselves living on Naval bases in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia, but Marion divorced her husband when she was 21.

It wasn't long until she started using drugs and alcohol again on a regular basis. She and the kids moved in with a man that was a drug dealer. She was using just about any kind of drugs she could get her hands on.

Not long after that, Marion met another man through a friend. He wasn't a drug user, and they got married soon after meeting each other. Husband number two was verbally and mentally abusive of Marion and the children. She soon had enough of the abuse and took the kids and left her husband, moving to Florida to be with her father and step-mother.

However her husband followed her to Florida and convinced her that he would change. They took the kids and moved to Texas to be with her husband's father.

Marion was drinking heavily during all of this, and when the abuse started again, it was worse. She finally took the kids and left her husband again; this time she ended up in Shelbyville where her mother was living. That was in the summer of 2002.

"I met a man who told me I needed to talk to Jesus and trust Him to help me through my troubles," Marion said. "So I prayed one night, and I told God I needed his help. I told Him that I never believed in Him before, and if He was real he was going to have to show Himself to me. I told Him I needed his help. The next morning I woke up with a peace and a faith that God was going to work it out for me."

Marion never went to church as she was growing up, and for most of her life she considered herself an atheist, thinking she was the center of the universe. But things changed for her in Shelbyville when she cried out to God.

Marion soon moved away from her mother's house and into a place of her own after getting a job at a home supply store in Tullahoma. She started attending First Baptist Church where she was baptized.

But, Marion had a hard time connecting with people in the church and she stopped attending. She soon found herself getting back into drugs. In a matter of time, she sunk into a deep depression.

"I went through a terrible period of insanity. It was just horrible," Marion said. "Someone came and took me the hospital. I had friends that were taking care of my kids for about a year and half during that period. I attempted suicide on three different occasions. And I really felt trapped."

In October 2004, Marion's mother told her she saw in the Times-Gazette that Rev. Drew Hayes was starting a new church. Marion knew she needed God's help, and so she went with her mother to the new People's Church . She filled out a prayer card that morning during the service, and that week Pastor Hayes contacted her.

Marion made an appointment to meet with the pastor and she opened her heart to him, telling him all about the things she had been involved in over the years.

Hayes gave Marion some suggestions for some people to see for counseling and support, and before long she started attending the 12 step group Celebrate Recovery.

"When I got involved in Celebrate Recovery, God began convicting me and I began changing my ways," Marion said. "I gave it all to God. I just released it all to him -- the loneliness, the depression -- everything. And things began to fall into place in such wonderful ways.

"I prayed one night and asked God for a better paying job or a better place to live. The next day I got a phone call from Jim McBride at Habitat for Humanity. He called to tell me that I'd been approved for a Habitat house. I was so happy.

"I was volunteering to help in the office at the church and in February 2006, I started working at the church as the secretary. Everything was coming together."

During this time, Marion studied and got a GED, doing so well that she qualified for grants and scholarships to go to school at Motlow.

"I believe God gave me that to give me hope," Marion said. "Never in my wildest dreams did I believe that I could go to college. I went for two semesters and I actually did pretty well."

By November 2006, Marion and her children moved into their own home provided by Habitat for Humanity. She is thrilled to be a homeowner for the first time in her life.

In July of this year, Marion was promoted at the church and she became the Assistant to the Pastor. The church hired another woman to take her place as secretary.

"In this new position I'll be meeting with new converts and coordinating small groups," Marion said. "And I will just assist the pastor however I can."

Marion realizes that one of the biggest and most important steps she has taken since becoming a Christian was to get involved in Celebrate Recovery.

"The most meaningful spiritual growth steps I've taken have been in Celebrate Recovery," Marion said. "If a person applies those steps and does what the Bible says - it works! I've been clean and sober for more than two years, and that's the longest since I was 13. Right from the beginning it gave me something to do, it gave me accountability. It's awesome to know that people are praying for me and believing in me."

Nikki Marion will be sharing her personal testimony this Thursday night at 7 p.m. at the Celebrate Recovery meeting. The meeting is open to the public and meets at the People's Church, located at 1890 Madison St.