About Lisa Gilbert Martin
Hey y’all!
I’m Lisa Gilbert Martin, a 63-year-old newlywed who’s in love with God, marriage, and, oh yeah, that husband of mine, Mark.
We live with three doggos and two and a half cats, depending on which semi-stray is hanging around outside. We also sometimes entertain a box turtle looking for love and cat food, a possum who seems very judgmental about the brand of cat food, and a deer eyeing our newly planted flowers inside our backyard fence.
Mark and I love camping in our tiny “no you can’t stay with us” 22-foot travel trailer. We are (well, Mark is) renovating my parents’ old home, and we will be moving into it soon! I love gardening, even though I have a semi-brown thumb. Plants fear me, but I keep trying, despite them attempting to hide from me in the garden section. I’m also the person at parties on the floor with any and all animals, so if you want to say ‘Hi,’ just look down!
I lived a mostly secular life, in the world and of the world, for most of my life, and I was saved at age 40 by the grace of God and the Left Behind series by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye.
I once read, “If you can’t be a good example, be a horrible warning.” As my life is becoming like the end of a toilet paper roll spinning rapidly toward the cardboard tube, I’d rather direct others to the “good example” side. I do this by writing little stories about common situations, sprinkled with nostalgia, some tears, and humor, always pointing to Jesus. By the way, He was our matchmaker!
I was born in a town called Macon, Georgia, home of Jason Aldean, Otis Redding, the Allman Brothers, and Little Richard. (I was destined to marry a music man, and so I did at the ripe old age of 60, for the first and last time.) I lived in Macon for over 20 years, then spent another 20 in Atlanta, before returning to Macon for the past 20. I don’t plan to move back to Atlanta, and I’ll be 80 when my next move date comes, so I’m a little nervous. But hey, as the Apostle Paul said, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.”
But as Kenny Chesney sang, “Everybody wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to go now.”
The flesh is weak, but I am enjoying married life! God is good!
Why Do I Write?
Several decades ago, I got brave and decided to attend a church service. The roof, despite my lack of church-ing, did not fall in.
As I entered the church, someone handed me a huge palm leaf. Everyone inside was waving branches and shouting something. I didn’t understand what was happening. I left. You don’t know what you don’t know.
But at age 39, I was saved. Following Christ was the best decision I ever made. I wasn’t a churchgoer, and I knew nothing about what ‘saved’ even meant, but I knew something had changed. I felt this weird sense of joy. But I didn’t know what to do next.
I was obsessed with learning more about Jesus, and I found a book by Billy Graham titled The Holy Spirit. I figured I could trust him! I went home and read that book repeatedly. I learned that the Holy Spirit is real and that He lives inside me! That’s who I had been hearing from in my thoughts! Wow, wow, wow! I was baptized a few months later, and my whole family came up to see. I was and am so grateful for that day.
I moved back to my hometown a couple of years later, and despite the joy I felt, I fell away from my faith and made bad decisions.
But by God’s infinite grace, I came back, got married, and am now clinging to Abba’s leg like a toddler.
So… Why do I write? Gratitude.
God never forgot me. And He didn’t forget you either.
