Before this day: the story of mark and amanda

Mark and Amanda, both interns at One Hope, celebrated their marriage Friday evening, exchanging vows in a small, Baltimore backyard. As interns, they are growing in the Word and in faith, building life and leadership skills. Their desire is for others to have the same joy they now have in the Lord, and all that He has brought them through to reach this joyous day is a remarkable testimony of Christ’s redeeming work.

Before this day came into being, there was pain, abuse, depression, theft and desperation; suicide attempts, hospitalizations, addiction. There were trap houses, drug dealing, fast money; the tragic loss of a spouse, a “good life” fragmented. Before, there were overdoses, near deaths, homelessness, and the starkness of survival under a bridge. 

Before this day, there was a member of The Garden, who started a conversation on a street corner, who gave an invitation to come and hear the Gospel preached. There were tears cried in the back of a Sunday service, the realization that despite what brokenness there had been, there was hope for redemption. There was the Gospel, that although heard before, finally reached from the head to transform the heart. 

Before this day, there were warrants for arrest, meals shared, conversations, hard decisions. There was time served, detoxification, and a new desire to live not for the world, but for the glory of the Lord. 

A meal shared on the day Mark and Amanda turned themselves in, having had outstanding warrants for their arrest.

This day celebrates the union of Mark and Amanda, but it is also a celebration that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. The debt has been paid, the chains have been broken. No longer enslaved to sin, they are free to walk forward both in holy matrimony, and in the newness of life. 

“But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:17–18, 23