When pianist Marcus Stanley started his career playing for some of the biggest names in the music industry, all he cared about was the money and fame that went with it.
"I was not focused on the people," he told CBN News. "I was not focused on the message. I was not focused on Christ. I was really focused on just making it—being a musician, being a popular musician, and playing for a great artist. Oh yeah, the money, too. That would probably be No. 1 'cause it was fast money."
He got to travel around the world and live extravagantly, and Stanley felt like he was on top of the world.
But everything changed one night back in April 2, 2004, when he was walking to a store and realised he did not have his wallet on him.
"I turned around and started walking back to go get my wallet and I saw these guys standing on the corner that night and they were watching," he shared. One of the men then approached him and told him to "roll out." He pulled out a gun from his jacket and shot Stanley.
When he fell to the ground, the man shot Stanley seven more times up close. "When I first saw the flash I didn't know I got shot," Stanley said. "I just remember hitting the ground and then when he stood over on top of me, that's when I saw an angel get in front of me. And I remember it because I didn't have time to think about that. It was an instantaneous thing."
He added: "It was probably—I mean I'm 6 foot 7—and the angel was probably like 7-foot something. It was just a transparent figure. I couldn't tell if it was a male or female. I didn't see wings or anything like that. I saw it was clear, transparent and it was in front of me."
Stanley said he immediately knew it was an angel because of the protection given him. The angel even crossed its arms in front of him, but his assailants did not even see the angel. They stood over his body, laughing and thinking they had just killed the musician.
Stanley had little strength left in him but he still managed to dial 911. He prayed that he would survive, but things looked really bleak for him.
"It was like a movie. You see that stuff in a movie. You see the light up. You see people see their life flashing before their eyes. It was like that for me except that I started thinking what would happen if I did die. And I was like nobody's going to know what happened to me," he said.
When he was brought to the operating room in the hospital, he saw the same angel. The angel said nothing, nor did it do anything except nod its head, but Stanley felt comforted as the doctors reattached his colon, removed half his stomach, spleen, and half of his pancreas.
"I had some very intensive surgery. There are certain things about my body that are not the same," he said. Stanley survived, but he spent several months in rehab just trying to walk again. He also suffered nerve damage in his right arm, which left his hand numb.
Stanley resorted to pain killers just to seek relief, and even though he is grateful to be alive, he wallowed in depression and his relationship with God was still shallow at best.
"I got to a point when in desperation I was like, 'I can't do this anymore.' And that's when everything changed for me as far as me pursuing, saying, 'I need Jesus.' Took me a long time to get there," Stanley said.
It was only when he focused on his relationship with God that Stanley began to heal—not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well.
He now goes around the world sharing his story, and even though he still plays music, his priorities have changed.
"It's not really about the music," he explained. "It's more about what God's done in my life and I aim to make him famous at everything I do and to show His glory."
