Josh Marshall said he was raised in a non-religious family, always believed there was a God, but had “a troubled youth.” He was caught up in drugs and crime, which led him to Teen Challenge, where he “found Jesus in the Bible.” But he felt something was missing, so he left.
He eventually met “a living saint,” now his wife, Emily. Today, the couple have 1- and 2-year-old daughters. But Marshall said instead of being grateful and engaged with his family, he lied to his wife about his problems, which included smoking cannabis daily and gambling. His wife asked him to start reading the Bible.
One day, Marshall listened to a sermon on YouTube on “the holiness of God,” which included a Bible verse that changed his life. He recalled that experience during a recent interview with “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley, saying in part: “Woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts.”
“I was overcome by the perfection of God, literally brought me to tears,” Marshall said. He heard God quietly speak to his heart with a message of “You are headed to hell,” but not in a condemning way, he said. Through his own actions, Marshall said, he was choosing hell willingly. “I felt an invitation that he was always there, ready to forgive me. And I just had to reach out,” say a prayer of surrender, give his life to God and seek repentance.
Marshall understood the experience as realizing “the perfection of God,” where before, he compared his life to his friends, family, neighbors.
“I never actually sat down and compared myself to God,” he said. “The only way you can become holy, … comparable to God, is with his help, with his guidance, his Holy Spirit,” Marshall said.
Today, Marshall is a parishioner of St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park. He said he knows how far he falls short and that he needs God in his daily life. “I need to be converting every day,” he said. “The conversion never stops. And I realized that finally.”
To hear more details of Marshall’s conversion story, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which debuts at 9 p.m. Dec. 9 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM and repeats at 1 p.m. Dec. 10 and 2 p.m. Dec. 11.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Jeff Cavins, an author and creator of the Great Adventure Bible Study Series and the Bible in a Year podcast with Father Mike Schmitz, who discusses the School of Discipleship offered through the Archbishop Flynn Catechetical Institute; and Father Tom Margevicius, director of worship for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who presents his latest Mass Class.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at https://anchor.fm/practicing-catholic-show.
