When he fully accepted God into his life, Richard Marque wasn’t sure what God expected of him but through his life experiences, the message was clear.

“I didn’t know what he expected of me,” the Plaquemine native said.

Marque struggled with both his faith and his personal life, succumbing to alcohol addiction at an early age. It wasn’t until he met his wife Beth, a New Iberia resident since 1976, that his life started to change. The two have been married for 23 years.

“My family grew up with God, but I didn’t have a relationship with Him,” Marque said.

Around the age of 43, when he and Beth married, they built their New Iberia home together. At the time he was searching for God. It wasn’t until one night in 2004 during a Bible study with a neighbor that Marque began to see and understand God.

Marque said that during that night, he was being led down a road of salvation and everything finally clicked for him.

“The light came on immediately,” Marque said. “At the time when I was reading those verses, I knew what God wanted and expected of me to get to Heaven. That night, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.”

When Marque fully accepted God at 58, he said he knew how much Christ loved him, so it was time to give back to his Savior.

Marque’s past struggles and his love for Christ helped give him an opportunity to help others with Celebrate Recovery, a Christ-centered,12-step recovery program for anyone struggling with hurts, habits or hang-ups of any kind.

“We got into serving and serving became a big part of our lives,” Marque said. “We knew we had to give back to Christ.”

It was in 2016 when he started to help with Celebrate Recovery at Highland Baptist Church.

“It was life-changing and it gave us an opportunity to share Christ with others and tell them what He’s done in our lives,” Marque said. “I knew the best way I can serve Christ was to bring the good news of the Gospel to others.”

Since he became a Christan, Marque said discipleship has always been a big part of his life and he loves to share the Gospel with others.

In 2010 Marque was diagnosed with cancer at the base of his tongue and was given a feeding tube in 2017. In March of this year, he received a laryngectomy. While he’s now unable to serve others with Celebrate Recovery anymore, it’s his hope that his story will reach someone else who has struggled in their life.

According to Marque, the Bible tells people that God is love and the connection between his life and the birth of Christ can be connected, especially on Christmas Day.

“When you think about, who would send their son here to God for us and why would He do that and the only reason why, is He loves us so much,” Marque said. “Jesus brought us the good news when he was born and throughout his life, he showed us how to live.”

Before Christ left this earth He taught his disciples about everything that is in the Bible and his commandment and Marque, throughout his time as a Christian, wanted to do.

“And that’s what I’ve been trying to do,” Marque said. “Is to spread the news.”