Podcast Summary: GPS: God. People. Stories.

Episode: Beyond “Walking on Water”: Megan Fate Marshman's Story
Host: Jim Kirkland (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association)
Guest: Megan Fate Marshman
Date: November 26, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features Megan Fate Marshman, a Bible teacher, speaker, and author, as she shares her powerful story of faith and transformation. After growing up in a Christian home and enduring personal failures, Megan experienced a season of devastating loss when her husband Randy died unexpectedly. Her journey—through sin, grace, marriage, grief, and resilience—demonstrates how real faith grows not in moments of strength, but in weakness and vulnerability, as she discovers hope and identity in Jesus Christ.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Personalizing Her Faith

[02:16] – [02:29]

• Megan describes her upbringing in a Christian home and how, during middle school camp, she realized her faith had to become her own—not just an inheritance from her parents.
• Quote:
  "I realized in middle school, oh, it had quickly become my parents and I wanted it to be mine... There's no grandchildren in the family of God. There's children of God." – Megan [02:16]

2. A Life-Shaping Failure: The Shoplifting Incident

[02:43] – [05:45]

• While in college, Megan, feeling “just a witness," got drawn into shoplifting and was caught. At 18+, she faced real legal consequences.
• Her mom’s grace (“arms open wide”) and the wisdom of her father's words powerfully reframed her understanding of grace and worth.
  • Quote:
    "Grace responded through my mom, through her arms open wide and me saying, I don't deserve that. And my dad poignantly saying, 'Oh, my girl, when did you think that you did?'” – Megan [03:34]
• Letters from friends and family moved the judge to assign her a unique sentence: a paper on decision-making, plus public speaking at local schools—a move that uncovered Megan’s gift for communicating spiritual truths.

3. Discovering Her Calling

[06:08] – [08:51]

• Megan’s unexpected journey into public speaking began as part of the court-ordered restitution. Later, as a camp speaker, she was mentored by Francis Chan, who pushed her to channel her gift for God’s glory, not her own.
• Quote:
  "That gift will either be all about you or it will be partnered with the Holy Spirit and it will be really significant. You've got it." – Francis Chan to Megan [08:00]
• Her experience at camp led to further speaking opportunities, writing curriculum, and working in ministry, always learning to “put the Bible at the center.”

4. Marriage, Love, and Loss

[09:10] – [12:31]

• Megan and Randy’s love story: married in 2010, learning the deep unity of marriage (“two becoming one”) over a decade.
• The sudden death of her husband in 2021 left her plunged into trauma and grief.
  • Quote:
    "I was with him, and it was hell, and it was trauma and it was pain and it was crazy, and it was grief and it was shock and it was everything. And I'm presently in the room that it happened." – Megan [10:32]

5. Grief, Faith, and Honest Lament

[11:23] – [14:48]

• Struck by the Bible verse, “To live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21), Megan reflects on living for Christ amidst loss.
• Megan shares a “math problem”: what happens to “one” when marriage is “two become one” and one dies? A friend later tells her, “Half of you is in heaven.”
• Loss refines what matters: trivial things fall away; eternal purposes grow clear.
• Quote:
  "In grief and loss... you stop caring about the things that don't matter, and you start caring even more about the things that do." – Megan [13:01]
• Raising two sons as a single mom becomes her “greatest ministry,” leaning into walking by faith day by day.

6. Faith Grows in Weakness, Not in Miraculous Strength

[14:57] – [16:35]

• Megan returns to the story of Peter walking on water (Matthew 14), reflecting that true strength comes not from “walking the miracle,” but from the moment Peter cries out, “save me!”
  • Quote:
    "He did get to his strength when he reached out his hand... that's when he got stronger, actually in his weakness, not in his walking miracle." – Megan [15:26]
• This insight reframes her own journey—“slowly watching my life just kind of sink and then find everything I needed... because I knew where to look.” [16:35]

7. Continuing in Ministry and Writing “Relaxed”

[16:52] – [17:54]

• Megan continues to speak, serve, and lead women’s ministry.
• Her 2024 book “Relaxed” grew out of her grief; she wrote “not once I figured it out, but in the middle.” Even after writing the book, true rest comes not through circumstances, but through knowing where and to whom to bring her anxiety.
  • Quote:
    "I just know where to go when I'm not [relaxed] and I know who I'm in when I am. That's it." – Megan [17:20]

8. The Heart of Transformation: Receiving God’s Love

[20:43] – [22:33]

• Megan shares a formative lesson from her doctorate studies:
  • Lasting transformation isn’t self-generated; it begins with fully receiving God’s love, knowing our identity in Christ, and allowing Him to expose and heal our shame.
  • Quote:
    "The story of my life is receiving the love of God... None of the sin will keep you away from him. And the shame that gets exposed doesn't have to be ignored in this life. It can be opened before the one to whom we must give an account... You belong because you're in Christ. You're not accepted because you've been good. You are accepted because his goodness is in you and it changes you from the inside out." – Megan [20:43]

Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Grace After Failure:
  "Grace responded through my mom, through her arms open wide and me saying, I don't deserve that. And my dad poignantly saying, 'Oh, my girl, when did you think that you did?'" [03:34]

• On Calling and Gifting:
  "That gift will either be all about you or it will be partnered with the Holy Spirit and it will be really significant. You've got it." – Francis Chan, relayed by Megan [08:00]

• On Grieving Loss:
  "Half of you is in heaven... you stop caring about the things that don't matter, and you start caring even more about the things that do." [13:01]

• On Strength in Weakness:
  "He did get to his strength when he reached out his hand... that's when he got stronger, actually in his weakness, not in his walking miracle." [15:26]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Megan’s Early Faith & Shoplifting Story: [02:16]–[05:45]
• Discovering Her Ministry Calling & Mentorship: [06:08]–[08:51]
• Marriage and Loss of Husband Randy: [09:10]–[12:31]
• Lament, Grief, and New Perspective: [12:45]–[14:48]
• Walking on Water Reflection: [14:57]–[16:35]
• Book “Relaxed” and Aftermath: [16:52]–[17:54]
• Transformative Lesson on Grace: [20:43]–[22:33]

Closing Notes

This episode, rich in vulnerability and biblical wisdom, demonstrates Megan’s raw honesty and humor amid suffering. Her story testifies to how God redeems our failures and meets us as we reach out in weakness. Rather than glossing over pain or forcing “happy endings,” Megan invites listeners to bring their struggles into the light and to receive the love and new identity found in Jesus.

For support or to learn more about faith in Christ, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association invites listeners to visit findpeacewithgod.net.