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I invite you to walk with me, and a Shepherd/Husky named Bear, into the natural world where I took heart-wrenching problems surrounding my father’s abuse, mother’s Alzheimer’s disease, and both of their care needs.  I found courage, comfort, wisdom, and a rusty old car buried upside down on the beach that put light on the roots of abuse.  It was an awful and yet graced time when I was challenged to change and came to know love, service and forgiveness in a new way. Trauma becomes transformation, but not before I learn to dance in chains and trust in the slow work of God.

Some excerpts from my book—

I came to know:

It’s a lot easier to stay miserable than to make changes in your life.

Mystery enlightened me:

Down in the valley it looked as if my glasses were smudged.  But when I took them off I realized it was a soft mist beginning to enshroud me.  The farther down we walked, the heavier and more comforting the veil became.  Then turning a bend in the deepest part of the valley, the sun came alive as it beamed through the trees.  I caught my breath and heard my voice say softly, “Oh my God.”  (She is so beautiful in person.)  And I was infused with courage.  It was as if the sweet, seductive voice of God whispered, “Be not afraid.”


Everything became a both/and thing after I reflected on silence:

Silence is a both/and thing.  It is golden when I curb my ego and silently accept another’s shortcomings in the name of kindness.  It is a gift when it leads me to reflect on the messages in my life.  But silence also feeds abuse, and as Anne Lamott writes in Bird by Bird, “…we are only as sick as our secrets.”


Simple experiences shed light on truth:

Light snow was falling on an early January morning when I drove my car to a neighborhood service station and left it there for an oil change.  The snow stopped as I started to walk home.  Several hours later when I went back to pick up my car, I was surprised to see my footprints still alone in the fresh snow.  No one else had walked my path.


My search for truth will take you on numinous bike rides where my spirit soars, frogs talk, and my anger levels hills.  Retreat with me into the desert where chaos and myth speak to me.  Voyage into wilderness where my canoe paddle leaves imposed guilt.  Fly across an ocean to where I hear the God within us singing.  And spend a weekend in downtown Detroit where I get a grip on my complicity in trouble.  Discover what I learned from encountering my heart’s desire, and what led me to leave the church of my birth at age 60 where I first learned to talk to God.
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Philip Chard, award-winning newspaper columnist and author of The Healing Earth and Nature's Way writes, "In God Never Hurries, Marcia invites us to search for our personal truths through the lens of her own journey, one full of small but profound revelations communicated through everyday experiences and the timeless wisdom of the natural world.  As she illustrates in an engaging and poignant way, the quest for answers to life’s big questions may lead us to simpler, quieter moments where we discover once again that life is school and each day, indeed moment, has its own lesson plan.”




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