About Marywinn and her family

A Story of God’s Grace

College Sweethearts

Marywinn was born and grew up in Savannah, Georgia. She graduated from Savannah High School in 1963 where she was a majorette for three years. The band and core of majorettes went to many parades in the state and to Miami Florida, where the core of majorettes learned difficult routines for their football games for 3 years. Also, they were invited her senior year to march in the Orange Bowl Parade in Miami, FL.

She spent a year and a half in nursing school before she changed her major. She married her college sweetheart December 24, 1966 and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in education where she studied speech pathology from the University of Georgia. They promptly moved to Hilton Head Island in June 1968. She taught in the Beaufort County School System at Hilton Head Island and Bluffton, SC, as a speech pathologist. They lived there for 18 years when they moved to the mountains of North Georgia. In the middle of these years, we took a two year sabbatical to study God’s Word at The Evangelical Institute of Greenville, SC. After moving to the mountains in January 1986, they bought a chicken farm that had 8 working chicken houses where they raised thousands of chickens per grow for 8 years.

Raising Orphans in Russia

They went to Moscow Russia in October 1994, where they helped to raise 5 Russian orphans ranging in age from 6-8 years old. These children lived with them in their apartment as if they were their children. After leaving Russia due to medical problems, these orphans came to stay with them for 9 summers after that time for 3 months yearly. One child lived with them in the mountains of north Georgia a complete year and the next year another did the same. While in Russia these little children were so very precious that we adopted them in our heart as our own. One has come to visit us in the states twice with her children. What a privilege God bestowed upon us! We are still in vital contact with them to this day.

Also, while in Russia, we met a Liberian girl that came to live with her aunt in Moscow. Her aunt was a medical doctor. This girl came to Atlanta to attend high school for one year. We were able to visit her and have her come to our farm. After graduating from high school, she attended college. During this time, she came to live with us and we adopted her in our heart! She now lives in the Atlanta area with her husband and three children.

Mother, Grandmother, and Author

My motivation in life is to learn the Word of God so that I could minister to women and children through my adult years. My husband and I both have taught children through our married life and have only recently retired from teaching Children’s church in 2020.

God has led me into a new minister during the last 7 years. God put it on my heart to write a book in 2013. I resisted this idea for three years, telling God He had the wrong person. I am ashamed to have to admit that, but that was a “way-out” thought that I had a hard time accepting until God let me know that He would be writing the book through me! I started writing my first book, My Precious Shepherd, in 2016 and published in 2017. It is comprised of short stories of our life during the time of college, marriage, and God leading us to Hilton Head Island where we were the original vision for the Hilton Head Christian Academy. Also, we were on the ground level of starting Grace Community Church on the north end of the Island. The book is on sale at Amazon.

My most current ministry is The House of Manna at our church for the last year and a half. I write weekly tracts to be placed in the food boxes to go out to people that need food. The message is different each week. I have done many series of tract in that time period. Because of that, last January, God laid it on my heart to make a booklet of each series during this year. I have had them printed in a shiny cardstock booklet to be used in a small group study or given out as tracts. The two that are presently printed are Five Benefits of Being in God’s Word and Nine Confirmations of Who is Jesus? I have another ready to come out called The 8 “I AM” Statement of Jesus found in the Gospel of John.

Seventh Mark of the Lamb

The Seventh Mark of the Lamb is found in Colossians 3:12-17—others! Put on the New Man which is—Kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing and forgiving one another. Put on love which is the bond of perfection and let the peace of God rule in your hearts! Jesus forgave the people who beat, crucified, mocked, and ridiculed Him!

Sixth Mark of the Lamb

In Matthew 16:24-25,the Sixth Mark of the Lamb involves denying your selfish desires, being truly committed to doing God’s will even in the face of death, and never denying Him to save your life! We cannot love the world or people more than God! God expects us to pledge our whole existence to His service.

Fifth Mark of the Lamb

In Matthew 20:26-28 Jesus encourages us, “Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be our slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) If you see something that needs to be done, do it! Do not wait to be asked.