Week of Hope

MARLENE HORTON
My name is Marlene. I was raised in Streator, Illinois. As a child with 8 siblings, we never went to church, although my parents were baptized and married in a church. We lived two blocks from a church and I remember going there maybe three times during one summer.

I was raised by strict parents. So I wasn't into drugs or smoking or anything really bad. I got married when I was 18. My husband, however, did grow up in a religious family. They went to church Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, Wednesdays and also went to church camps.

But as a married couple, we never went to church. I had a son 23 years old and a daughter 25 years old. Our children wanted to go to Sunday school and church with their paternal grandmother. So we let them. That lasted about 1-1/2 years. Then they quit going.

When our son was in 8th grade he hung around a boy that went to a church so he could play Church League Basketball. He invited my son to go to that church also to play basketball. Within a year my son was saved and had a call on his life to go into the ministry. One year later, our daughter wanted to start going to church there, so we let her. She also got saved.

It was when my husband's job was in jeopardy that I stared to talk to this man named "Jesus" whom I knew nothing about except that he changed the lives of my son and daughter dramatically. I asked Jesus to please save my husband's job and don't make us move. I had lived in Streator all my life and I was scared to go anywhere else. I told Jesus if he spared my husband's job I would start going to church. Approximately a year later I started going with my children and at the ago of 39, I was saved.

I didn't think my life was that bad. I was happily married, my husband had a good job. I cussed, but I didn't think anything I said was that bad. I drank occasionally and I gossiped a lot! When I got saved, I felt so guilty about some of the things I said about one of the cheerleaders my daughter cheered with in high school that I wrote a letter to the girl and apologized to her. God made me realize that when you gossip about others, you hurt Him, because they are His children also.

I don't cuss anymore, I don't use His name in vane and I never drink at all. I look forward to going to church on Sunday to see my church family and to spend time with God and worship Him. A year after that, my husband started to attend church and rededicated his life to Jesus. He is an elder in the church and I have coached the Quiz Team at our church for about 9 years.

My life has changed in so many ways. I don't worry about money or my husband's job because God will provide for me. Since I asked Jesus into my life, He has given me many blessings. I have been married for 30 years, I have been blessed with 2 great children that never gave me any problems in their high school years. My son went 2 years to a Bible college and my daughter graduated in June from a the same Bible college and will be a missionary in the future. My son-in-law is also a missionary and I have been blessed with a Grandson.