191: Marcy Gregg | Life After Losing Your Memory

Marcy Gregg | Life After Losing Your Memory

Marcy Gregg is an abstract oil painter whose work is found in private and corporate collections across the United States and abroad.

She is also a speaker who shares
her story of hope, resilience, and survival. After a coma left her with little chance of recovery, Marcy ultimately regained consciousness but lost much of her memory. Faced with the daunting task of rebuilding her identity, Marcy slowly put the pieces of her life back together, finally returning to her true passion, art.

Today, in sharing her story on stages across the nation, Marcy seeks to inspire others by finding beauty in the abstract and hope in the unseen.

Marcy and her husband, Dev, are the parents of three grown children and live in Charlotte, NC.

Learn more about Marcy online at marcygreggart.com.

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Marcy Gregg and Amber discuss the story behind her memoir, Blank Canvas. Marcy shares the fear of waking up with no memory of the last 13 years, the radical way God’s grace crashed into her world, surrendering her alcohol addiction, and how oil painting connects her to God.

Questions Discussed During Life After Losing Your Memory:

(3:55) At age 30, you went to deliver your 3rd child and life forever changed. Share a bit of that story with us.
(12:32) You eventually returned home to a life you had no memory of. What were those first few years like as you returned to mother, wife, etc?
(12:52) Eventually, the fatigue from hiding caught up to you and you turned to alcohol. Now, not only are you hiding your lack of memory, but a secret addiction. What did day to day life look like during that time?
(14:26) What’s your relationship with God like during this time?
(17:04) What happened when God came crashing into your world?
(20:31) Part of your healing journey was rediscovering your love and talent for painting? How has painting been a part of your healing journey?
(22:48) What is it about art that expands your view of God?
(24:07) Even as a renowned oil painter, you have encountered health scares that threatened to end your career. Let’s end with how you continue to trust God even when it’s hard?
(27:54) What was your hope for people who read Blank Canvas?
(29:33) How would you express the grace and tenderness of God in your life?

Life After Losing Your Memory Quotes to Remember:

“I remember waking up…But I was very confused, because there was a man standing next to me….I thought that I was 17, not 30. I had lost 13 years of my memory.”

“I did not remember anything about the children, but I knew they were mine.”

“So now not only was I hiding the fact that I had no memories, I’m hiding that I’m drinking.”

“For months when I came home from the hospital, I prayed for God to heal me…I begged him to make me whole mentally as he had physically…And he was so silent….I needed God to get into my world and do something for me. For the first time, I really couldn’t do for me, which I’d always been able to get my way out of a situation. This time I couldn’t. I needed him to fix my memories. And I was praying, God help me. Nothing was happening and I was angry.”

“I fell to my knees and at that moment…I truly surrendered my life to God. I knew that his plan for me without my memories was better than my plan with my memories.”

“I gave up alcohol that night. And the very next day, I chose to do a 12 step program….I have literally been faithful to that for years and years and years. It’ll be 25 years in December.”

“Underneath every one of my paintings, I paint scripture. That’s the first thing that I do.”

“When I’m painting, I see God differently. I see him as the master artist….My paintings have multiple layers of paint….And every layer is necessary for the next layer to make the painting what is going to be…And if I think about it, that is how God is. Our lives are like the canvas and God is the master artist. Every layer matters. Nothing is wasted. And he uses them all to make us like Jesus. So when I think about what I’m going through with my rheumatoid arthritis, or what I went through with losing my memories, or what people are going through out there, what I want to say is, no matter where you are, whatever layer you’re in, if it looks bad, it doesn’t mean he’s finished. There’s another layer that’s coming. And that layer is to make you more like Jesus, he’s not finished.”