Eric Stacy walked away from his faith in God after all the suffering he saw in combat, but his faith was restored in a most unlikely manner.
Standing waist-deep in chilly water just downstream from Tanalian Falls, Army Specialist Eric Stacy had hooked a large Arctic grayling, one of the most beautiful freshwater fish in Alaska—”the sailfish of the north” with its sweeping, colorful dorsal fin.
Army Specialist Eric Stacy and wife Liz came to Alaska with only the slightest hope for real change.
He was reeling in this prize catch one moment, and the next was watching that signature dorsal dart away, escaping beneath the cold, rushing water of the Tanalian River with the lure in its mouth.
This wilderness area, only a short hike from Samaritan Lodge Alaska, is a favorite of military couples attending a marriage enrichment week with Operation Heal Our Patriots.
Eric, who enlisted in the army in 2006 and was medically discharged in 2011, was concerned that the grayling might suffer. He had witnessed more than his share of suffering when he was deployed to Iraq. The armored vehicle he was riding in struck an IED and exploded, resulting in serious injuries. Later, two of his buddies, a sergeant and a private, were killed by snipers. More deaths in combat followed—many, many more.
“You have this vision from movies of what war is going to be like and it’s not like that,” Eric said. “As a young soldier, you can’t wait to earn the combat infantry badge, but you don’t realize the weight of that medal. You hope you don’t have to earn it again, but that’s not the case.”
Faith Lost
Even when Eric returned to the U.S., the suffering continued. “Too many guys I knew become a 22,” he said, referring to the fact that every day 22 veterans take their own lives.
Eric was far from God and suffering in his marriage with his wife Liz.
And Eric was suffering, too, from PTSD, multiple combat wounds, and the challenge of re-entering the “cutthroat” civilian world, where “daily life stressors” kept piling up. Then one of his brothers and his grandfather, who was a stand-in dad for his own father both died within months of each other. It all took a tragic toll on his marriage with wife, Liz, and their growing family.
In Alaska, God grew that tiniest seed of hope into promises that the Stacys began to embrace about God and their future.
To avoid the mounting problems at home, Eric threw himself into his work at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Virginia, which further compounded the already tense situation. They talked about getting a divorce.
“I tried to keep pushing,” Eric said. “The military instills in you that no matter what the circumstances are you keep pushing.”
But all Eric was doing was pushing Liz and his five children further away. Worst of all, he pushed God out of his life and walked away from his faith.
“I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior in April of 2005,” Eric said. “But my experiences made me walk away. I thought there’s no way that there’s someone up there listening. There’s no way after all of the suffering I’ve experienced. I didn’t believe that God even existed.”
When he and Liz arrived at Samaritan Lodge Alaska to work on their marriage, they went fishing.
An Answered Prayer
After the grayling escaped with the lure still hooked in its mouth, Eric did something he hadn’t done in a long time—he prayed: “Lord, if you’re listening to me, let me catch that fish again, because I don’t want it to suffer with that hook in its mouth. Just give me a sign that you’re listening.”
When he prayed to catch the fish a second time, that prayer was about much more than an Arctic grayling. It was a prayer of desperation for ultimate healing.
Still knee deep in the swift-moving Tanalian River, he cast his line into the chilly water again. Less than a minute later, the fly rod started to bend. He started reeling. The fish put up a good fight, but Eric eventually hauled it in.
It was the same grayling that Eric had caught earlier. The first hook was still in its mouth.
“Catching that fish again confirmed to me that God was there and that he loved me,” Eric said. “It reaffirmed everything.”
For the past 10 years, Eric said he felt like the lost sheep that Jesus talked about in the famous parable of the same name in Matthew 18. The shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to seek the one that strayed. After that wilderness fishing trip, Eric was convinced the Good Shepherd was still pursuing him.
The next day, Eric received counsel from one of our retired military chaplains at Samaritan Lodge Alaska and recommitted his life to Christ. He also recommitted himself to Liz, and they renewed their wedding vows in a special ceremony shortly before leaving Alaska.
“Liz, today I recommit myself to God, to you, and to our marriage,” Eric vowed. “I resolve to build my life and our family anew on the firm foundation of faith in Jesus Christ and His Word.”
A short time later, Eric was baptized in nearby Lake Clark. “Earlier, I walked away from God, but this week I came back,” Eric said following his baptism. “I am truly born again!”
God miraculously opened the couple’s hearts and began to transform their marriage and their lives.
