One time my daughter Sarah said to me, “Mother, you know at camp this year, I went forward because I felt like I didn’t have the assurance that I was saved. But I don’t want people to know about it because it could look bad on us.”
I said to her, “Sarah, I don’t care how it looks. The important thing is your relationship to God. It really doesn’t matter what other people say. It matters that we please Him; that’s the most important thing.”
And I believe the same thing about our home relationships. It doesn’t matter what people say. It matters whether we please God, and there is only one way to please Him – by faith in His Word.
We must look to what God’s Word says about our situation rather than what we see happening around us. Frequently, when everything is going wrong in our family relationships we tend to look for someone to blame. “What’s happening in my home?” we ask. “It’s my wife! If she weren’t such a nag, we’d have good family relationships.”
Or we say, “It’s my husband! If he weren’t such a bum, we’d have a marvelous home.” Or perhaps, “It’s that rebellious son (or daughter) of ours! If it weren’t for him, we’d have a peaceful home.”
We always like to put the cause of our disharmony in the home on some other member in the family. But the Bible teaches us that we set the atmosphere in the home, and we do that by taking the Word of God and praying and confessing it for our home.
You are the one to set the atmosphere in your home – not your mate, not your children, and not the devil. Don’t say, “Well, it’s circumstances.” You have power over circumstances!
by Harrison House Authors
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Marilyn passed away peacefully at her home on April 25, 2026. But before she graduated to heaven, God told Marilyn not to be buried with her mantle. Instead, she was to pass it on to all who were willing to receive it. Marilyn obeyed this directive and spent decades developing, discipling, and commissioning partners and team members. Because of this, when Marilyn slowly stepped back from active ministry in her 90s, she did so with peace and confidence. Marilyn knew that what God had started would be carried into the future by faithful hands on whom a portion of her mantle rests.
A large portion of Marilyn’s mantle also rests on her granddaughter, Isabell, who stepped into a powerful teaching ministry with Marilyn in 2023. Isabell brings both reverence for the foundation that has been laid and a God-given ability to preach the Word in fresh, effective ways. Along with Marilyn’s ministry team, Isabell is powerfully walking into the future, using decades of Marilyn’s teachings—thoughtfully curated and digitally restored—to expand the reach of her grandmother’s ministry through modern platforms, international outreach, and the daily television program. Marilyn’s powerful teachings are currently being translated into multiple languages that will reach people around the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ in their native tongue.
Marilyn’s vision to cover the earth with God’s Word is still alive and powerful today. Her ministry is continuing to walk through open doors, taking the gospel to nations that desperately need to experience the miracle power of the Word of God and reaching future generations with the hope of the gospel.