I had reached a period in my life when I began to think about all of the things I had accomplished and what it meant. I had everything I ever dreamed I’d want: a successful singing career, a loving husband, money to have so many things: a beautiful home, expensive cars, fine clothes. Yet, I had begun to realize that there was still something missing. But how? How could I have achieved all of this and still feel as if something was missing from my life?
This didn’t make any sense to me, so I decided that I wouldn’t tell anyone, not even my husband Billy. If I told him that my life seemed incomplete, I was afraid he might take it personally. And I didn’t dare tell my friends because they might think I was spoiled or just plain ungrateful. I could hear them say, “Well, what more do you want, Honey? I mean, you have everything!”
Billy & I had dinner one night with our friends, Frank and Bunny Wilson. Afterward, as Bunny and I were talking, seemingly out of nowhere she said, “Marilyn if you ever feel like there’s a void in your life or something’s missing, it’s the Lord Jesus calling to you.”
I couldn’t believe that she knew about my feelings of emptiness because I had told no one! “Tell me about this void,” I said.
During the next two weeks, Bunny called me every day and encouraged me to start reading the Bible, beginning with the Gospel of John. I had tried reading the Bible in the past but had never gotten very far. She told me to pray for understanding first. By now that pain was so great I was ready to do anything to get rid of the emptiness.
Two weeks later, I prayed to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. It didn’t take long for me to realize that there was a difference in the way I felt inside. The emptiness began to fade. One day I realized that the void was gone. God had replaced the pain with peace – a peace that success can’t buy.