New Life Church An Oasis of Love
with Pastor Marti and Jessica McGrail
JESSICA' S STORY Jessica’s Story Only a few times in life do we ever get to meet a real life hero who, unbeknownst to most of us, provides so much through extraordinary means for others on this planet. Jessica is one of those unsung heroes. Raised as the second eldest of nine in an extremely poor and small Philippine village, Jessica was abandoned by her mother at the age of eight. Each evening she would be sent to the local marketplace to pick up scraps left behind by merchants from the dirt and mud. Jessica was forced to literally fight off other children also sent to the market to glean for scraps for their own meals in an effort to bring back as much as possible and prepare a meal with whatever she had for her father and siblings. When unsuccessful, she would suffer severe beatings as a consequence.
Living in a makeshift shack of cardboard and local scrap wood, Jessica would endure the most horrible of conditions, unimaginable to most of us. Rape, incest and beatings were daily occurrences to this little girl and when she would run for help to the local police she would time and time again be returned home for even worse punishment. When asked how Jessica survived this horrible time in her life she responded, ''It was in the SACK.'' She describes ''The Sack'' as a burlap-type bag, much like those used to carry coffee beans in. As punishment, Jessica would often be beaten and placed in the bag in temperatures upwards of 100 degrees and pulled up to dangle from a tree. It was as horrible as it sounds. Yet Jessica says that somehow ''she felt safe in the sack''. She tells the story of how one day a group of Missionaries came to their village. She recalls Pat Robertson, host of the 700 Club bringing candy and other small gifts to the village children teaching them songs and telling them stories about Jesus Christ. So, while in the sack she would recall the stories of Robertson and the others and she would begin singing the songs the missionaries taught her and the other children. She says, ''In the sack is where I met Jesus!'' Eventually, Jessica's mother, who had come to America when she abandoned her family, sent for Jessica. But, sadly, it was only to serve as a housekeeper and babysitter for the mother’s new family. After meeting Jessica and corresponding with her for more than a year, Pastor Marti invited her to come and meet some of the challenged children he worked with while stationed at the Federal Housing Authority in Long Branch, New Jersey, as Director of Pastoral Care with the Drug Elimination Program. Jessica had a special gift and bonded with children from the first meeting. She understood them in a way that only someone with a child's heart could. Eventually, Pastor Marti asked Jessica to stay and work with the children and she has been serving with the ministry ever since. Over the years Jessica has achieved some remarkable things - things that only a true hero could ever possibly do. In June 2000, Jessica fell ill and was hospitalized. She had no health insurance and was about to undergo exploratory surgery. However, the physicians could not agree on what type of surgery she needed. Was it gallbladder, liver, pancreas? They did not know. So, as sick as she was, Pastor Marti prayed over her and Jessica left the hospital and began what can only be described as a miraculous journey to recovery. One day Police Chief Joe Blewett from the Borough of Highlands mentioned to the Pastor that he had seen Jessica walking across a local bridge. When asked about it, she simply said, ''Don't believe everything you hear.'' Some months later, the police chief mentioned again that he had seen her, this time running ''backwards'' in a neighboring town. When asked once again about what the chief had seen, she replied, ''I told you, don't believe everything you hear!'' One year later, Jessica would go on to finish the Iron-Man Triathlon at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. When asked what drove her to such extremes, Jessica simply said, ''I too must make a difference in the lives of the unfortunate, this is my way of doing that.'' You see, Jessica found out, through careful research that there are still children without clean drinking water on this planet and that literally thousands of these children are dying each and every day needlessly because the rest of the world seems to be too busy to notice or care. Jessica vowed the very day she was made aware of the dilemma: ''I will drill wells - not oil for pollution and greed and luxury, but wells filled with clean water to give children life.'' Jessica, along with her other duties continues to this day to train daily beyond the understanding of most and participates in national competition to raise funds so that others too-often forgotten will at least have a cup of clean drinking water. But the story doesn’t end there. In 2000 Jessica felt the Lord calling her to return to the Philippines and she set out on a one month journey to the village she was raised in as a young child. Now all grown up, an athlete and kick-boxing instructor Jessica had nothing to fear. “Besides. . .” she said, “there is something God wants me to do.” As Jessica journeyed back to the most southern part of the Philippines in the bottom of an old steel-hull ship she became sick. She had fever, chills and was throwing up. She recalls being so weak that she couldn’t stand and she also can never forget the Roman Catholic nuns who nursed and cared for her. As the ship pulled into port it was surrounded by troops with bomb sniffing dogs searching for terrorists. Still so sick she was able to leave the vessel and continue her journey to the village. After stopping for a day in a clinic and being treated Jessica again set out to journey not knowing this day was going to be different than any other she had ever known. Although she didn’t know what was about to happen she knew something was never going to be the same again. As Jessica entered the village some of her assailants spotted her and seeing her obviously grown and returning panicked. But Jessica continued on and as she moved further into the village people were coming out to greet her, including those who harmed her years before so brutally. As Jessica stopped the men in the village looked down, some even looked away with guilt, but the Lord led Jessica to lift her hands and begin to pray. As she did, fighting back the tears of years of pain, the people in the village began weeping and kneeling on the ground and those whom had hurt her so brutally years before wept aloud, guilt ridden and filled with remorse. Jessica recalls some telling her how sorry they were as they cried out. Jessica told them that Jesus forgave them and right on the spot every one of them received Jesus as their Savior. That day an entire village became Born-Again as Jessica prayed over them. She told them “God loves you!” After spending time ministering and discipling in the village Jessica returned back to New Jersey. After serving over 16 years in the ministry together Pastor Marti and Jessica were married in 2009 and continue to serve the Lord today in a worldwide ministry reaching thousands with The Message of HOPE in Jesus Christ. SEE JESSICA LIVE RIGHT NOW TALKING ABOUT FORGIVENESS - PART 1 (To turn the background music off go to the right top of your screen and click) SEE JESSICA LIVE RIGHT NOW TALKING ABOUT FORGIVENESS - PART 2 CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT JESSICA'S MINISTRY ''WATER FOR LIFE'' |
