Strong faith pulls couple through storm

"It was a miracle, and we praise the Lord," Ed Marston said Friday.

The couple was barely able to get into the bathroom before the storm slammed through their home on Andrews Chapel Road south of Roseboro. "We felt this tremendous shaking, and then all of sudden, the wall just gave, and I could feel myself flying," he said. 

He and his wife, Sara, were buried in the rubble but crawled out with minor injuries. He had a cut on his hand. She hurt her shoulder.

The Marstons are active, long-time community members known for their giving hearts. They volunteer at Mintz Baptist Church, where he is a member of the choir, deliver Meals on Wheels, and Sara sews dresses for girls in Haiti.

"We try to do the best we can for people," Ed Marston said. "But I always look at it this way: I think that's what we're here for." After Saturday's storm, he slightly revised that thinking. "We're just here because He has something more for us to do, evidently."

Their strong faith will sustain them through an Easter celebration they never would have expected. 

"I still cannot believe all the people who have come to our aid – money-wise, clothes-wise, work-wise and just praying for us and helping us through it," Sara Marston said.

"We feel peace," her husband added. "God has protected us, and through it all, we're going to make it."

The Marstons may have lost their home – all that remains is the floor – but they plan to be in church first thing on Easter Sunday. They say that, if their story helps even one person keep the faith, it's worth it.