Biography

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Marie was born to write, but it would take one horrific event to send her into full-time writing. When her youngest child was taken, her world turned upside down. Grieving with her husband and older children, she wondered how God could allow this to happen. Yet in the sea of pain, her family witnessed God’s unending love and purpose.

She began praying about what to do with her life. The answer to her prayer was a podcast announcement that missionaries were needed. Marie trained and became a missionary with Global Media Outreach. Within the first few months she had spoken with over 300 converts to Christianity in countries all over the world.

Another of the purposes she found was that many people she knew became Christians as adults, and had never attended Sunday School. That left a gap in their ability to understand sermons that referenced other Bible characters such as Joseph, Moses or Abraham. She started recording a YouTube channel to help new, adult Christians learn the Bible quickly.

Bible Stories for Adults was born.

Marie started recording with a shaking voice and bad self-videography. As she put it, “I was practically hyperventilating.” She kept the series a secret, but soon her secret project had amassed over a million views.

Marie knew that there was more for her to do.

She could see God comforting her family, making them stronger, and she began work on a book to teach others some of the things she had learned about God's goodness. That book became the Amazon best-seller, Ten Day Bible Study.

Through the loss of their child, she watched her family and church grow in ways it could only do through pain. Still, she knew that God had more for her to do.

She began to see other people's pain differently and her eyes were opened to high rate of suicide and homelessness within the LGBT community. What could comfort someone who was hurting? This began her journey into the Bible for verses that would offer comfort, hope and love to those within the LGBT community. Following a strict set of standards for biblical accuracy, verses not taken out of context, and translations that conveyed the clearest meaning, God’s Love for LGBTQI was published.

Marie’s writing had just begun. Her next project was a book for anyone wanting a better life, titled Changing Your Life in Just Ten Days. Over 10,000 people have picked up a copy of Changing Your Life in Just Ten Days through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, iBook and Nook.

Then, Ten Day Bible Study was translated into modern Greek, and began being used by missionaries in Greece.

Marie’s next project would pose the biggest challenge. Could she lay her family’s ordeal out for the world to see?

A very private person, she wanted to anonymously write a how-to guide for families trying to survive the loss of a living child. But she realized that in order to promote the book, she would have to put herself out there. As she started to reach out to parents and experts in the field of grief, alienation, loss, reunification and private investigation, the project grew much bigger.

The result was a comprehensive survival guide for parents with children missing from their life. Strength for Parents of Missing Children: Surviving Divorce, Abduction, Runaways and Foster Care provides insight and direction for anyone going through hard times and looking for answers.

• UPDATE, Marie's child was returned safely on April 1st, 2019.