IT STARTS AT HOME!

I have always pursued my own interests—retreat committees, Mary Kay, women’s Bible studies, etc.  My whole ministry was reaching out to women.  Then one incredible day the Lord showed me that I was so busy helping the unsaved and Christian women grow in their walk with the Lord that I had almost lost the most crucial plan God had for me.  What was His original intent for me?  To help my husband!  He showed me that the number one way to reach the lost was to build my home and family to be a light—a beacon, shining the light of the gospel to all around.  Yes, it starts at home.

A few months ago my husband was at work struggling with some areas on his heart.  I was at home feeling burdened and sat down to pray for my friends.  After going through each one, I finally came to Marty, my husband.  The more I prayed for my husband the more my burden lifted. Needless to say, I spent a very long time on my face that night praying.

The next night, as I prepared for bed, I once again felt a heavy burden.  I immediately began praying, starting with my normal routine of all my girlfriends.  Finally, once more I came to my husband. I prayed and prayed for him that night. I prayed all that I humanly knew to pray and still the burden would not leave. Not knowing what else to do, I simply sat still before God and waited. He led me to pray for my husband in ways that I did not understand. I interceded for Marty.

This had never happened to me before and I didn’t say a word to my husband.  For two weeks, God kept me up late every night praying.  One day Marty came to me and humbly said that God was doing something in his heart, something that he had never known before.  He related that it hurt but he knew it was for God’s glory.  Then he asked, “By the way, you wouldn’t happen to be praying for me, would you?”  I smiled calmly.  “Yes,” I answered but said no more.

I was so overwhelmed that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob heard little Jackie Tadlock praying. I am married to a totally different man. It is still Marty, yet different.  God has been working. Of course the greatest work has been done, not so much in my husband’s heart, but in mine.  My husband touches more lives now than I have ever seen, but mostly he touches mine.

I think I am catching a tiny glimpse of the vision God has for me. It is to help my husband and to intercede for him. It is to be open to the King so He can show me how to pray and to turn my heart to the Lord so He can fulfill in me His heart’s desires for our home.

JACKIE TADLOCK
Leaburg, Oregon, USA