The In-Between: A Journey from Darkness into Light

By Marnie Williams

The In-Between is a story that will have you laughing, crying, and on the edge of your seat all at the same time. Once you have started to read this book you wont want to put it down.

There are some stories that inspire the reader with hope, courage, faith, and compassion, and this is one of them. Life started off full of promises for Marnie Williams. However, the wrong choices led her down a dark, dangerous, and terrifying road to destruction.

Marnie was working toward her dream of competing at the Olympics, but life had other plans in store. By age twelve she was taking drugs, and by thirteen she was pregnant. She developed anger issues.

Marnie eventually married Ryan, who was also on drugs.

The downward spiral continued, leading them further into a life of drugs and violence. Marnie ended up in deep depression. The only answer seemed to be to end it allto take her own life.

But God had other plans

If God was willing to take on Marnie in her condition, you have to believe that there is truly hope for everyone. It doesnt matter who you are, where you have been, or what you have done. God never gives up on us, and we are never too far from his reach, never too far from his love.

Walk with Marnie and Ryan through the pages of this true story, on a journey that took them from deepest darkness into his glorious light.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781490818580

Marnie Williams

Marnie Williams is the leader of the young adults group at C3 Church in Bowral. After sharing her testimony at church in 2012, she has had the privilege of travelling to share her powerful testimony. Marnie lives in Bowral, Australia, with her husband and four children.

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Copyright © 2013 Marnie Williams.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com  The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture is taken from GOD’S WORD®, © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group.

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WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN: 978-1-4908-1857-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-1859-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-1858-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013922053

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/02/2013

Contents

Foreword

1    And So It Begins…

2    The Fighting Lifestyle

3    Pregnant

4    Party Days

5    Heaven Sent Me An Angel

6    Life with Ryan

7    You Want To Go … .Where?

8    The God of Coincidences

9    Looking to the Future

10  And the Winner Is …

11  You Can Run but You Can’t Hide

12  The Accident

13  The Move and the Wedding

14  A Wrong Turn

15  The Last Straw

16  The Light at the End of the Tunnel

17  Doctor Jesus

18  He Turns Bad to Good

19  Reunited

20  Back Home

21  Drugs Are A False Hope

22  Israel

23  He Makes All Things Wonderful

24  Be Born Again

25  Words of Hope in times of Need

A Special Thank You

About The Author

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, says the Lord, "who is and who was and

who is to come, the Almighty."

Revelation 1: 8 (NIV)

Foreword

M y name is Jackie Losurdo. My husband Nick and I are pastors of C3 (Christian City Church International) Bowral where the Holy Spirit led Marnie to and where she would encounter Jesus.

She had been coming to Church for a few weeks, always sitting in the back row where she thought she would not be noticed and where she thought she could make a quick exit if she needed to.

I hadn’t spoken to Marnie, I knew nothing about her except she was this blonde girl who was coming to Church with her mum and one day I would get the chance to catch up with her.

It was a good day in the house of God, the worship was wonderful and the presence of God filled the auditorium. As we were worshipping, our assistant pastor Ian jumped to his feet and said he had a word for someone; that they needed to cry out to Jesus, and that they needed to call on Him now.

As he finished talking someone started to cry out Jesus I need you, I need you, are you real? I need you. I need you now, Jesus I need you.

This person was crying out with such desperation in her voice, with such pleading. Everyone who sat in church that morning cried with her; the plea for Jesus to help her was heart wrenching and very real. This wasn’t someone who was crazy, or trying to get people’s attention, this was a young woman wanting so very much to encounter Jesus. She needed Him and wanted to meet Him. And she did!

I met Marnie only days after her encounter and we became very close. For four weeks she isolated herself from the world to hear from Jesus and be healed. We would get together to pray almost every day. God had brought Marnie and me together for this time as He restored her life. The Presence of God around Marnie was incredible. His Holy Spirit weighed heavily upon her, and she was in love with Jesus.

People often would tell Marnie that she should calm down. She came to me one day and asked me, Do you think I should calm down? I told her, No, I’ve never seen anything like this and no one can get in God’s way. I was so aware that Jesus was working with Marnie that I didn’t want anyone or anything to stop what God had started. Marnie was bold and spoke with confidence of all that Jesus was doing in her life. People felt uncomfortable with this enthusiasm for God.

Jesus had filled Marnie with His Holy Spirit and was now at work in her life healing her, teaching her and restoring all things to her.

Marnie’s story is all about coming out of the darkness, encountering Jesus and being restored. Her passion and her story will inspire you to seek Jesus and give you hope. What God has done for and through Marnie can only be described as a miracle!

1

And So It Begins…

I was blessed growing up with two older brothers, a Christian mum, and a dad who wanted what was best for his children. My mum was very excited when I was born. She finally got a girl! Mum thought that it was going to be wonderful to do all the girly things together.

Boy, was she wrong!

I just never was going to be the pretty frills and bows type of a kid. When I was four, she dressed me in a cute little tutu and took me to my first ballet class. I was not happy! When we got there, I stood with my arms folded and an angry face while yelling, I am not doing it!

When I got home, Mum said to my Nan, She just stood there. She refused to do ballet. She didn’t want anything to do with it.

I was crying.

Nan picked me up and sat me on the kitchen bench. I remember blubbering through the tears, It’s not me, Nan. I don’t like the stupid bow!

I was pointing to my shoes and telling her how much I hated the outfit. I said, Nan, could you cut the bows off?

And she did.

Taekwondo

Every week, my brothers would go to taekwondo. I would plead with Dad, Can I do it too?

I’d nag him. Endlessly.

I’d watch my brothers go off to training, being awarded belts at their grade tests, and I’d say I wanted a belt too. I wanted to be like my brothers. I looked up to them. I would go to their grade tests and watch them fight. I’d spend my time trying to copy them as I jumped on chairs and did the splits. Finally, Dad relented and let me join up. I was almost five years old at that time. I was so excited!

I loved fighting. It became my favourite sport.

I reached black-belt level when I was only twelve years old – the youngest black belt in Australia at that time. I am still very proud of that achievement.

Hardworking Parents

Dad and Mum owned a successful Thai

Reviews for The In-Between

[jude · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A beautiful story written by a beautiful soul. Well done Marnie. God bless ??Jude