By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
What do you get when you mix a National Honor Society Student with a high school dropout? Wait there’s more, what do you get when you mix an ex-convict with a manager of logistics at NASA before adding a teenage girl and twin 12-year-old girls?
You get a family with lots of ups and downs, but a family with lots of love for each other.
Edward — known as Doc — and LaShell Amey came into their marriage with very different life journeys. Doc had grown up in Texas City and was a bit of a “terror” in the area, as he said. He grew up between his grandma’s house and his mom’s house with very little supervision. He pretty much decided what, when, where and how he was going to live.
That is, until the law caught up with him.
While in prison, Doc found salvation in the teachings of Jesus Christ and committed his life to living for a greater purpose. Once out of prison, he was engaged in church activity and held a full- time job. He founded Lost and Found Ministry to reach others like himself with the hope of a new life in Jesus Christ. He also authored a book titled Tack, Phantom to Faith a Troubled Life to Victory.
LaShell grew up in League City and graduated from Clear Creek High School. She spent her summers with family in Louisiana. She works at NASA in logistics and as her husband Doc said, “She knows where everything is, a table or chair doesn’t move without my wife knowing about it.”
She also authored a book titled, The Storm Inside of Me. Her ministry, Women Restore, is geared towards helping ladies leave their past behind and find new life in Jesus Christ.
LaShell had one marriage in her past with three impressionable daughters when she met Doc. “I was at my old church, I saw him talking to my pastor,” said LaShell of their initial contact in 2015.
Doc tried to catch her attention, but she was not having much to do with a stranger at her church. He asked around and got her name. Then he sent out a friend request on social media. For a while they exchanged messages while LaShell came to learn he was a true believer and a man of God.
“We would meet to work on the ministries,” said LaShell.
They worked together in person and over the phone, with both wondering “is this the person for me?” Neither was sure and needed a sign from God.
Doc’s sign came during a phone conversation. He suggested the ministry join the Texas City-La Marque Chamber of Commerce. “Next thing I know there was an e-mail from the chamber of commerce,” Doc recalls with a smile.
LaShell had submitted a form while they were chatting based solely on his first suggestion. “That’s when I knew she was the one for me,” said Doc.
For LaShell, it took her getting sick and needing Doc’s care and attention. “When he came into my room while I was feeling so sick, God revealed at that moment that Doc was the man for me,” she said.
From that point, they started dating, and within five months Doc proposed. They were married on April 2, 2018 with 150 guests at the Nessler Center in Texas City. Within a year, they purchased a home together.
Their story gets a little rocky about two years into the marriage. Even though they both have a strong faith in God and deep love for each other, their radically different backgrounds threatened to tear them apart.
The Ameys sought out couples’ counseling and talked through their issues. Both began to understand how their individual backgrounds had shaped them into the people they had become, and they recognized that marriage isn’t easy.
“Marriage is an act of service one to another. It’s putting your own desires to the side,” said LaShell. “We need to stay in the word of God and let him guide us in our marriage.”
Doc experienced a revelation that helped him accept his wife’s success in the corporate world. “The Lord showed me that I shouldn’t expect her to dummy herself down for me. I need to bring myself up to her level,” he said.
As they gain more confidence in their marriage, the Ameys are planning to take their ministries forward.
“We both have a heart for the youth and we do more than just preach. If they have physical needs like food we help get them food,” both explained.
They hope to expand their podcasts and speaking engagements as they strive to reach as many people as they can with the message of Christ.
