About the Author: Marland May
Marland May was born in Owasso, Oklahoma. He was a fighter from birth. Weighing in at 10.7 pounds, he struggled to take his first breath for several minutes after his birth. The family had already suffered the fatal loss of a child, so his father slipped out and offered a prayer to God. "This child is yours; he's just on loan to us." The child lived and, throughout his life, continued to be a successful answer to prayer. The family lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for seven years until moving away to Paris, France, to start their next family adventure.
Marland attended the American School of Paris for the next five years, meeting kids from across the globe and developing a fondness for different cultures. His parents stressed the importance of understanding people and history, and the family toured across Europe.
After having the opportunity to live overseas, the family moved to Plano, Texas. A boy couldn't live in Texas and at least not try to play football. Marland had a very success high school career, being named one of the captains of the Varsity football team at the end of his sophomore year. He stayed a captain through his senior year. Marland had a very important decision to make. As a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, it would be impossible for him to play on Friday nights, since that marks the beginning of the Sabbath. His spiritual beliefs and secular world clashed against each other. It was an easy decision to make, but a hard choice to live by. Despite conversations with players, coaches, high school administrations, friends, family, Division 1 college recruiters, and retired NFL athletes, Marland decided that he had to stay true to his beliefs.
Over the next few years. he attended different public universities while struggling with faith and football without understanding the pastoral calling on his life. At 23, he graduated with a Bachelor's in Theology and a minor in biblical languages from Southwestern Adventist University. Over the next 4 years, Marland worked as a counselor and mentor for college students. He is both a national and international recognized speaker, preaching, counseling, and sharing the love of God with students across the nation.
In the summer of 2006 Marland married his college heart throb. A beautiful girl from Iowa. Eager to please his wife, the first two years seem to float by on clouds with perpetual sunshine. The next three years was torture riddle with, depressions, anger, doubt, disbelief, pain, betrayal, and suffering. In the fall of 2010 He enter the darkest days of his life. Battling between giving up or fighting knowing that winning wasn't possible but praying for a different outcome. A week before Thanksgiving exhausted and weak the once happy couple separated, and 3 months later were officially divorced. The road to recovery seemed impossible. There were deep lacerations on his heart The deeper the pain the greater the struggled which means the more magnificent is God.
Marland founded Recovered ministries in 2011 with four specific messages of hope: Recovered, meaning found; Recovered, meaning healed; Recovered, meaning Redeemed; and Recovered, meaning re-clothed. His first book, 7 days of pain teaches how to heal from pain God's way. Marland is a charismatic and energetic man of God who is learning to be a tool in God's toolbox.
7 days of pain is a biblical principle that I discovered through an intensely difficult time in my life. I gravitated toward the stories of David and Job because, in a week, they both seemed to have endured the impossible and were healed through it. I wanted desperately to recover and move past the dark years. I had to ask myself extremely difficult questions in order to heal. Why did this happen to me? What is it going to take for me to be free? Is God torturing me? Why won't He make it stop? David's suffering was brought about by his pride, much like my own. God had to work hard in breaking him down because his pride had crept into every corner of his being. Job took comfort in his unblemished relationship with God, much like I did. He questioned God's judicial right to cause him this pain. All he wanted was for God to explain Himself, just like we do.