Today we get write to the point with Marissa Shrock. I actually will be reviewing her book on this blog next week and I can’t wait to tell you all about it 🙂
Tell us about yourself, where are you from, how long have you been writing?
I’m a middle school language arts teacher who was born and raised in Indiana. I still live there.
I’ve been writing professionally for seven years. I’d always written in a journal and enjoyed writing an occasional story, but I didn’t start learning the craft until seven years ago when I enrolled in the Christian Writers Guild Apprentice course. After completing that course I took the Journeyman and Craftsman courses. The lessons I learned helped me achieve my dream of publication. Unfortunately, the guild has since closed.
How did you come to know Jesus as your Savior?
I grew up with parents and grandparents who modeled what it meant to have a relationship with Christ. When I was young, I accepted Christ as my Savior every time I heard someone lead a salvation prayer just in case my salvation hadn’t stuck the time before.
I made a public commitment the Easter I was thirteen. At that time I fully understood what it meant to know Jesus as my Savior, and I became serious about reading the Bible and growing in my faith.
Tell us about your latest book(s). What do want your readers to take away after the last page?
My young adult novel, The First Principle, is a futuristic story about a teenage girl who must comply with her country’s 
mandatory pregnancy termination law for underage girls or run away and seek the help of an underground rebel group that’s planning a revolution.
There’s a lot that readers can take away, but the most important is that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). In addition, following Christ comes with a cost that may impact family relationships (Matthew 10:34-36).
How often do you blog and what do you cover in your blog?
I blog two times per month on the subjects of faith, reading, writing, and teaching. Every once in a while I write about trips and give travel tips for the destinations I’ve visited.
Can you share with us a favorite book you have read?
My favorite is L.M. Montgomery’s The Blue Castle. The heroine lives an oppressed life until one day when she learns she’s dying. She makes up her mind to stop living to please others. The changes that come about in her life are both humorous and profound.
Can you share with us a Genesis 5020 in your life?
If you’d told me at 20 that I’d still be unmarried at 34, I probably would’ve taken a dive off of a cliff. A lot of people assume everyone who is single has a gift or a calling. While some singles do, I don’t believe I’m one of those people. Instead, I believe singleness is a trial God is allowing in my life.
I think there are many Christians who are single because we live in a morally corrupt culture, and Satan is waging a war against families. A healthy family begins with a man and woman who have a Christ-centered relationship. Therefore, I believe Satan does his best to keep Christian men and women from finding each other and creating godly homes.
The good news is God is more powerful than Satan. I believe Satan has intended my painful years of singleness for harm, but God has used them for good. God has drawn me close to him, taught me the importance of waiting on his timing and direction, strengthened my faith, and has guided me on a path that lead to publication. Eight years ago, I never would’ve dreamed I’d have a published novel.
Thank you so much for sharing that, I believe a lot of singles need to hear that message and I’m so glad you can find the good in it.
Do you have a life and/or a ministry verse?
Isaiah 64:4 is special to me because of my years of singleness and what God has taught me about waiting on him.
Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
Where can we find you on the web?
Thanks for sharing with my readers and being so open with us. We love hearing from new to us authors. I know God will continue to guide and direct you steps. Be blessed!
Genesis 5020 