Feb 20, 2023
Kimberly Hobbs
Welcome to Empowering Lives with Purpose. And I'm your host,
Kimberly Hobbs. I'm the founder of Women World Leaders. Ladies, we
are so happy that you have joined in today. Ladies men may be
listening to everybody's welcome. But we are just glad you're here
to empowering lives with purpose through women, world leaders.
Today, I'd like to welcome our guest, Marli Brown from
Michigan.
Marli Brown
Hi, so nice to be with all of you. I'm so grateful for this
opportunity. Thank you, Kimberly.
Kimberly Hobbs
Oh, you're so welcome. And it's just been a pleasure getting to
know you, Marli. And as she's come in two women were leaders to be
a part of this ministry. We're so happy to have her and today we're
gonna be talking about saved what now? And sometimes some of us are
just stuck in life, right? We are. We know Jesus is our personal
Lord and Savior. But what do we do with that? Where do we go from
here. So today's conversation is going to be talking about that.
And Marlene is going to share a little bit about her life as well.
And what she has done as she found Jesus as her Savior. So we
believe that we're here to inspire you and strengthen you and
encourage you. So that's one of our purposes. But we know God's
Word says that God is working in you, giving you the desire and the
power to do what pleases Him. So there is a purpose for your life
once you come to know Jesus as your Savior. That Scripture is found
in Philippians 213. And God also says that were his masterpiece,
were created a new in Christ Jesus to do the very good things that
he planned for us long ago. So listeners, there is a plan over your
life. God has a plan for each and every one of you. So as we start
to share about saved what now just listen and just see if God
promised your heart in any way. Just listening to what Marley has
to share. I want to share a little bit about who she is first
before we get started. Marley is a gifted speaker. She's an author
and a musician with an a unique style of communication. She's a
dynamic storyteller using humor and everyday situations to describe
the love, mercy and grace of God. Marley grew up in Michigan. She
earned a BA in psychology and was ordained with the ECA. Marly has
been married for 34 years and serves with Randy her husband and a
full time worship concert and speaking ministry. She has a book out
called riding shotgun, which recounts her eight year journey of
living on the road with her family in an RV. I'm sure she has a lot
of stories about that to share
Marli Brown
You end up with some stories.
Kimberly Hobbs
Yes. So today we're going to talk about saved what now? And what
does it take to claim Christianity everybody? Have you really
thought about counting the costs as a teen Marley was saved and she
knew Jesus, but she was not by any means a sold out Christ
follower. So Marlee, can you go into sharing a little bit about
your story?
Marli Brown
Well, sure, I grew up in a pastor's home. My dad was a pastor of
Westlands churches. And, you know, I was told that I gave my life
to Christ at five years old, I don't remember that. I'm sure
they're not lying to me. But I certainly don't remember that was
not a life changing situation for me. But I certainly grew, I was
so blessed to grow up in a Christian home, where I was continually
told about the love of Jesus, and my parents lived that out before
me. And so growing up with a church, I remember April 4 1984, I was
a sophomore in high school. And I, I just knew, I mean, either
going to believe this and live this or forget it. I've got to do
one thing or the other. And, and it really how I understand it. And
I don't fully understand you, but I just think that that was the
time that Jesus became a word of my life where I said, Okay, you've
saved me, my sins forgiven. I understand that in my head. But now I
want to experience you as my Lord. And what does that look like?
What does that mean? How does my life change? And so it was
11:20pm. I remember going to my dad and saying, Hey, I need I need
some help here. I need to, I need to take the next step. There's
got to be something more. And so we just knelt together and I just
you know I really told the Lord, I want a relationship with you. I
want something more. And so that's, that was the pivotable, the
pivotal turning point in my life where I think I met Him as
Lord.
Kimberly Hobbs
Amen. Amen. Do we want more? Are we looking for more? Through our
relationship with Jesus? I hope we are and that that's beautifully
said you wanted more. And so you gave your life to Jesus. So what
happened in the following years, Marley? How did that play out in
your life? When you you did seek Him you followed after him? Talk
about your college years a little bit. And when you met your
husband, because we were sharing about that off screen before and I
thought that was very interesting, what you shared about that?
Marli Brown
Yeah, well, you know, I certainly in the years to follow, didn't
live a sinless life. I don't think any of us have. And it certainly
was a a, you know, progress of learning how God wants us to say no
to are flush and, and seek him and all things. But interesting, my
parents when I was about 10 years old, encouraged me to pray for
the man that I was going to marry. And you know, I talked about
this in my book at 10. You don't want to sit next to a boy, let
alone pray for him. And you know, you just thought that they were
stinky and engrossing. And but they said, No, you trust us. And so
I began praying for my husband at 10 years old. And I remember my
first prayer for him was that he wouldn't stink, and he would be
very good looking. That was the all encompassing prayer apparently
Kuva laid at that time for the man that I was gonna marry. But it
was this incredible springboard to learn how to communicate with
the Lord about things that were gigantic in my life. And then
things that were just so small and seemingly insignificant, but
really weren't to the Lord. And so I really learned how to talk to
God, like I'm talking to you, because I didn't know how to put it
into church terms that I wanted for this man that I was going to
marry. And I really wanted him to, like nice shoes. What do you do
with that in church, you know, that was so important to me as a
teenager. And so, um, did just talk to God about everything. And I
remember getting serious about my prayers and saying, God, if he's
a musician, help him to practice well and develop his craft. Give
him a heart after you that he would use everything in his life and
all of his giftings and his abilities for you. So I always tease
Randy, my husband was trained as a classical pianist, and he's
very, very gifted. They wanted him to be a concert pianist. And he
said, No, I want to go into ministry. But he's obviously got that
gifting. And so I've always teased him and said, Whatever you can
do on the piano, it's because I've read for you. It's not all the
years of practice, it's because I prayed for you. Um, so my, my
senior year of high school, I decided to enroll at a nearby Bible
College. And I really felt a pull towards ministry. And so I went
to audition for the current PR traveling music team. And the
current team had to be in that those auditions. And so I walked
into this room with six other people and a prof sitting there. And
I took one look around the room and I saw this guy sitting at the
piano, and I knew that's him. That's the man I've been praying for,
for the last, you know, eight years. And I just, I don't know. I
mean, I obviously didn't tell him that for a long time, but I think
God just melted our hearts together. And, and I prayed for him so
much and talked about him so much that I just recognized him. And
right Lord was gracious enough to point him out to me, you know,
so, funny enough. I went home, my sister also attended the college,
I went home and she was home for the weekend. And she said, how did
your audition go? And I said, it went terribly. I sang horribly,
I'm sure didn't make it. I said, But I met the band I'm gonna
marry. And she said, at the school, you met the man, you're gonna
marry what's his name? And I said, I have no clue what his name is.
But he's a piano player, and he's gorgeous. And he was, he's tall.
And she said, That's Randy Brown. That's my piano teacher said
Honey, you don't have a shot. So when I was walking down the aisle,
and my sister was my maid of honor of course, I looked at her and I
gave her that sister. I told you so look.
Kimberly Hobbs
I'm sure that was a great moment for you. Victory Yeah, moment of
victory. So Oh, yeah. So you shared with me that you did marry
Brandi. And that was awesome. God brought the two of you together,
you recognize him because he was everything you prayed for, right?
That's why it's so important. Ladies Pray, pray, pray. God hears
every prayer we pray, and he wants to give us the desires of our
heart. And
Marli Brown
One of the most important decisions you're gonna make in your
lifetime because it literally who you marry, who you yoke yourself
to, you are becoming one with and it is right, critical that you
choose someone who loves Jesus, like you or more than you,
Kimberly Hobbs
Amen. Amen. Good word. So you met Randy, you're in college, but
both of you are not spiritually mature yet. And you end up getting
married. So now ladies are probably thinking about their life and
how they're relating to you a little bit, some, some may, some may
not. But when you need to know where to begin, God does speak to
us, ladies. He says it in His Word that seek His will. And all that
you do, and he will show you which path to take. That's proverbs
three, six. So So Marlene is going to tell us about the decisions
that were made together as husband and wife to take you into
serving Jesus FULL TIME wholeheartedly. Can you talk about that
right now? A little bit?
Marli Brown
Yeah. You know, when Randy asked me to marry him, my first question
to him was, you're not going to be a pastor, right? Because I don't
want to marry a pastor. I broke up with guys because they said they
wanted to be a pastor. So I was serious. I did not want to marry a
pastor. I wanted to marry someone who wanted to be in full time
ministry, but not pastoral ministry. And Randy assured me I am not
called to the pulpit. I'm not called to pastor a flock, but I
definitely am called to full time ministry. Great, we're on the
same page. God can use us as a team, let's go forward. And we've
been married about nine years. And he was on staff as a church at a
church as a worship pastor and associate pastor really in charge of
worship. And that was fine for me, because that was different. It
wasn't pastoral in the pulpit. And he came to me and he said, I
need to talk to you. He said, I, I really believe the Lord is
calling me to be ordained as pastor. And I told him, I said, Hey,
we had a deal. But I fully, fully agreed that God was leading us in
that direction, because here's the thing, especially in ministry,
when God leads one, he's got to lead the other, you've got to go to
God to be in agreement or just doesn't work. And throughout our 35
years of ministry, to congregations all over the United States, we
have seen so many pastoral couples, where one did not want to be in
ministry, and it was tragic. It was just really tragic and hard. So
I knew that God was calling him and we were on the same page. And
so he was ordained and, and really served that local church for a
while in that, you know, in a kind of a associate position, and,
and it just worked really, really well.
Kimberly Hobbs
Right, right.But I know I know, you talked about that. Your husband
wanting to be ordained, threw you for a loop because of what you
had said before. I don't want to marry a pastor, I don't want to
marry a pastor. But that was your wants, not necessarily the plans
that God had for your life.
Marli Brown
The vision was so small, I'm sorry. My vision was so small of what
ordination and what God's calling on our life looked like. It was
just so small Kimberly?
Kimberly Hobbs
Yes, yes, and I can understand that, and I'm sure we can all relate
to some of those, you know, we have small vision, because we want
what we want. So we're not looking with those wide eyes of what is
God one and He is all knowing, all powerful can do the impossible.
So we're looking at of our little vision, right? spectacles and but
we all want to be confident about our decisions and our choices.
And that's important. And the Bible says that if you need wisdom,
ask your generous God and he will give it to you and he will not
rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, Be sure your faith is
in God alone. Do not waver for a person with divided loyalty is
unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed into the
wind. That's James. One, five and six. So God can change your heart
if you pray to Him in the right way that it's his will not yours.
And that's what he did with you. I mean, it was a beautiful picture
when you were thrown for that loop. And now you had to say, Okay,
now what do I do with this? You know, because you did become one.
And so how did? So how did God change that heart develop that
partnership?
Marli Brown
Yeah, you know, um, this is a really simple, simple answer. But
when you walk with Jesus, when you pursue him intimately, he'll
change your heart in any area that needs to be changed when you're
really open with him. And I think that he changed my heart through
simply, day by day crying out to Him saying, I want to know you, I
really want to know you. And so then he, he, you know, and when
you're submitting yourself, what good father doesn't help you make
a change, right? Of course, he's going to do that. So you know, and
what also threw me for a loop was a several years later, the Lord
asked me to be ordained, and that really threw me for a loop, not
to be in pastoral ministry, but to have a covering. And boy, I had
to just really wrestle through that. And, and it it was just a step
of obedience for me to do that. And so we had this, this stirring
inside of us. I remember laying in bed one night, and we were just
both laying there thinking you could hear us thinking almost and,
and I said to him, I said, set aside the mortgage, set aside debt,
set aside, the kids the house responsibilities, what do you want to
do? What do you want to do with your life? What do you want to do?
And my husband hemmed and hawed and just, it was so hard for him
to, to verbalize what he wanted to do. And I sat up and I looked at
him, and I said, it's okay. There's no judgment, say what you want
to do. And he said, Marley, I want to travel the country, and I
want to sing in churches. I don't want to be in a concert ministry.
And I said, Good, so do I. Oh, wow. That said, Okay, Lord, you have
revealed your plan for us. Now, you've got to make it happen. And
and that's walking with Jesus day by day.
Kimberly Hobbs
Amen, day by day. So I love the fact that the two of you humbled
yourself before God. It was so humbling that moment, because you
were together, you were talking, you the presence of God was there
and you humbled yourself, he, ladies listening, He wants our
surrender, He wants our surrender. It on ties god's hands to be
free to work for us when we give Him our surrender. And at that
moment, I love that you look to your husband, to ask him what what
he wanted as that, you know, leader in your home, and God had
already lined your hearts up together for it to work perfectly. So
that's what God does. And, and don't be afraid to surrender your
control. People to God's control, give him your first render, he
says, Don't worry about these things, saying, What will we eat?
What will we drink? What will we wear? These things dominate the
thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows
your needs. And I love that seek the kingdom of God above all else,
live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew
631 33. And as you were starting out in this ministry together,
Marley with your husband, and worshipping and traveling and, you
know, being in all these churches and leading people to the Lord. I
mean, how amazing is that? He gives us the desires of our heart. He
says he will give you everything you need. So Marly talk to the
woman out there right now who's made her own plan. She has control
of her life right now. But things aren't going her way. How does
she trust God she saved but what now? It's not aligning with her
plan. Something must be up. So can you talk to her right now?
Marli Brown
Yeah, that's such a good question. Because I think you go back to
the verse that you just quoted, you said, it gives us the desires
of our heart. I think we've misunderstood that verse to mean if I
please the Lord who gives me what I want and what I think that
verse really means. The closer I get to the Lord, he actually takes
his desire and he places it in my heart, his desire for what he
wants for me. So I think to the woman who is really struggling, I
think you go back to that moment and you say God, when I gave If
you my wife, I said, I'm going to lay my agenda down. I want what
you want for me. And I asked you to place your plan, placed the
desire of your heart in the mind, so that I'm actually desiring
what you want, and then helped me know, they helped me to walk that
out. Because we all know it's in the walking out of what God wants
that man, that's where we grow, because there are challenges. And
it's hard. And it was not easy in especially in those first years,
little kids life, we just got turned all upside down. And there
were not easy answers for anything. And our, our faith muscle was
stretched. We thought the point of breaking in it wasn't God was
with us the whole time. But it was also fun. And it was exciting
and new. And so it was all of those things kind of mixed together.
But the excitement of saying, God, what do you want for us? Now we
want to do that. And to be so excited for that. You know, I
remember when I was growing up, and I would pray and I would say,
God, will you carve out a niche for me that I fit into, I want to I
want to use my life to serve you. And I can't imagine myself
sitting in an office desk. I can't imagine that. I'll do it if you
want. But I just I feel that you've got something different for me.
And wow, did God answer those prayers?
Kimberly Hobbs
Amen. Yeah. Amen. Wow, he did. And he started putting things into
your heart, as you said, what now God, you know, I know you. But
Randy knows you. You know, you were immature. But he brought you to
that maturity through asking him what you're
Marli Brown
And the fighting. I remember the just that wrestling, I say
fighting but it's more of a wrestling with yourself and with
circumstances and situations. I remember. Our first year when we
were in concert ministry was just one test after another. We were
actually in Florida. And we had no money. And we had no concerts.
And we believed God had called us to go on this tour and nothing
worked out. Like was planned. Nothing worked out, like we thought
it was going to and it was just difficult. It was hard. And we're
looking at these two little kids thinking how are we going to feed
you? And I remember going for a walk by myself and just crying out
to the Lord. And I said, God, what if we've made a colossal
mistake? And the Holy Spirit was so present? He said to me, Marley
with me, what is the colossal mistake? That I can't redeem? Wow,
that's Kimberly, it took this backpack of rocks off of my
shoulders. And I went back to where we were staying with no clear
answers. Circumstances hadn't changed. I had no more money in my
pocket. I had no more concert scant scheduled. The same two little
faces are looking at me. But it's...
Kimberly Hobbs
Those were a lot of what now? Moments, right?
Marli Brown
Yeah. But God reminded me what now I'm with you. That is his answer
for everything. I'm with you. So I think when we give our lives to
Christ, we have a choice. Are we truly going to become disciples,
because the people that sat at Jesus feet and said, We want to be
your disciple? And he said, Hold on. You go back and you read it.
He says, You can't be a disciple without counting the cost. Nobody
goes to war without counting the cost. Nobody builds a tower
without you have to look around either. What is this going to cost
me because Kimberly, salvation is completely free. But discipleship
cost you EVERYTHING. Wow, you want to become a disciple. You have
to give up everything. You have to give up your agenda. You have to
give up the pain of your past, you have to lay that down because
you are not going to be I am not going to be the kind of minister
of the gospel of Jesus Christ that He wants me to be. If I am not
willing to lay down the hurt, the pain, the betrayal, anything that
was done to me anything that I've done my sin, gonna lay down my
fear. I'm gonna lay down everything before him so that we're truly
focused on his plan. That's what's next. God, what do you have for
me? I don't want you know, I think I think we talked about this. I
love leaving people in a prayer of salvation. And I think it's
crucial. There's a lot of controversy over that right now. I've
heard different pastors speaking out about that. Oh, Um, that's how
we talk to God. And when my husband asked me to marry him, I had to
give a yes or no. He was waiting for an answer. And God is
literally doing that. Will you be Botros? To me? He's, he's waiting
for a yes or no. That's a prayer. But I think, what what God's
really calling us to is relationship. I'm really quick, the the
woman who was bleeding for 12 years, when Jesus, she gets healed.
And then Jesus says, Who touched my role. And he basically calls
her out, he could have let her go, it was an embarrassing situation
than living a life of isolation, right? But he calls her out. And
everybody was pressing around him, you know, and the disciples are
probably thinking, who's not touching you, everybody's touching
you. But it keeps He keeps looking around for. And she finally
comes forward. And it says she was terrified and trembling. Because
she's breaking Jewish law. She wasn't supposed to be out there.
She's not supposed to touch anybody. But she risks everything. To
touch the hem of His garment, that the son of righteousness as
healing is wings, that word wings. When you look at the original
translation, that means the hand of a garment. She's waiting for
the sun of righteousness. And she finds him and she crawls through
the crowd and she grabs his garment, and she gets healed. And then
you think Jesus is so compassionate? Why didn't he just let her go?
Why call her out in front of people? Kimberly, I have, I have
thought on that for a long time. And I really think it's a couple
of things. Most importantly, I think it's because Jesus is so much
more about the relationship than he is the miracle. I think Jesus
wanted to look in her eyes. And I think he wanted to meet that
woman, so that she didn't just grab her miracle and run. I think he
wanted her to meet him, and he wanted to meet her. And I think he
wanted this relationship thing to happen. That's what we're doing.
When we're giving Christ we're saying yes, not, not only to are my
sins are all forgiven, and now I get to go to heaven. That's
phenomenal. But we're saying yes to I get a relationship with you.
Day in and day out. I'm walking with you on a Tuesday afternoon,
when I can't pay the bills. Or when I get that terrible phone call.
I fall to my knees and I begin to worship because you're my
everything. You're my rock, and you're going to do life with
me.
Kimberly Hobbs
Amen. I believe that's our what now. And I love how you said it
Marley that we we become betrothed to our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. That's the what now is that we are connected so deeply, so
strongly. And as God says in His Word, we take up our cross and we
follow Him. We let everything behind we are betrothed to Jesus now.
And that is our what now and, and God is going to take care of you
ladies, he's going to take care of you in your surrender to serve
him over yourself. It's all about the surrender. And he's Word
says, Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessings, you
guard all things that everything that is mine, Psalm 16, five, and
he's got it all taken care of. So what now we serve Him. We give
Him our all, and he'll guard all that as yours. He said it. So let
go and let God and just remember that scriptures. Psalm 16. Five,
it's so so very important. So we have to close unfortunately, but I
just want to ask you, Marley really quick. You talked about the or
I talked about the book you had out shotgun and you think you
referred to it as well. Can you tell the ladies how they may find
you or get a copy of shotgun when you were riding in that RV all
those years serving Jesus?
Marli Brown
Yeah, I wrote the book because I literally wrote in the passenger
seat for eight years, and I get very carsick and I could not drive
a rig that big. And so I sat in the passenger seat and rode for
eight years. And so it's really my count up how God convinced me to
ride with him on that journey. And so you can visit our website,
which is Randy R, a nd y and a nd Marley and ar l. I, at at I'm
sorry, I'm getting my email address. It's Randy and marley.com.com
is our website. And then you can email us at Randy and Marley at
AOL. Yeah, and you can get us there and so
Kimberly Hobbs
And ladies, you can always reach out to us as well. If you need to
find Marley and you did quite get it and we will be happy to share
her with you. She is also now a woman. We're a leader. And we are
so grateful to have her onboard and just being part of this team of
women that gather from around the world around the country of the
United States, but we have women in so many countries. And it is
just a beautiful ministry and we would love for you ladies to
connect with us. And you can find us at www dot women world
leaders.com. There is so much for you on our website, we have daily
devotions we have the voice of truth magazine that you can read
online for free, it is beautiful, you can flip through the pages on
your computer and just see how absolutely gorgeous and filled with
God's Word that it is. It's table top quality. And you can also
request a printed copy to in the mail. There are 100 pages, it's
like just like having a book and you will hold on to it forever and
ever because it's so beautiful. But we do ask that you if you do
get voice of truth that you pass it on. It's just a witnessing tool
because it is jam packed with the gospel message of Jesus and
there's so much to share there too. And as Marley and I were
talking today about saved what now remember, it's been devoted to
Jesus surrender a life of serving Him. And women were a leaders put
out the book surrendered, yielded with purpose in November of 2022.
And this book went to Amazon number one best seller. It got seven
Times best seller. It is filled with stories of women who have
surrendered their life some through tragedy. Some you know, we
don't know how God's going to get our attention. But he wants us to
be fully fully sold out to him and serving Him. So this book
surrendered will have teaching in there it'll share stories and you
can get that on our website as well or Amazon surrendered yielded
with purpose. So in our close I just want to again say thank you so
much Marley Brown for being our guest today on empowering lives
with purpose. And ladies, today, we say from his heart to yours. We
are women we're a leaders all content is copyrighted by women were
leaders and cannot be used without expressed written consent. God
bless each and every one of you that are listening today. And
please join us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for women world
leaders podcast. Have a great day. Thanks so much, Kimberly. You're
welcome, Marley. Thank you