He Hears: Prayer Changes Things
Krista Tatlock believes God not only hears our prayers; she believes that they spur Him into action and tether us to His heart.
As we prepare for the National Day of Prayer on Thursday, May 3, one local family reflects on a recent traumatic experience that illustrates just how dependent on prayer they have become and just how willing God is to answer our prayers.
“If it hadn’t been for the power of prayer, we don’t know what the outcome would have been,” Krista said.
Krista is part of Compassion Christian Church’s Prayer Group that meets each Monday at the Henderson Campus. There are also prayer groups at each campus.
“For just a few hours each Monday, we set aside all else in our lives and give our Lord our undivided attention through praising His goodness and holiness, thanking Him for His grace and mercy and generosity, and crying out to Him for His hand to touch the lives of those who need His healing, provision, comfort, guidance, and most of all, saving grace,” said Kathryn Johnson, the leader of Henderson’s prayer team. “We seek Him; we find Him. We ask; He answers again and again and again.”
Through this commitment, Krista’s relationship with Jesus has grown, and it is this she held onto during a horrific situation last February.
The Tatlocks' son, Alexander, who is now 6 but was 5 at the time, almost died in a freak accident. Krista was standing at the kitchen window finishing the dishes while Alexander and the Tatlocks' youngest son, Gabriel, 4, played in the yard.
Alexander somehow got himself tangled in an outdoor bistro table that collapsed. By the time they realized something was wrong, he wasn’t breathing.
As Krista called 911, her husband, Jason, untangled Alexander from the table, and he was able to take a breath.
Krista’s next move, as her son lay unresponsive on the ground, was to call a fellow prayer warrior as they waited for the ambulance.
Within an hour, hundreds of people were praying for Alexander’s healing: people from the prayer group, people from Compassion Christian’s children’s ministry as well as people from other churches and Alexander’s Bible teachers and leaders.
That night was filled with worry as they waited for Alexander to have a CAT scan, and then for the results. They watched their son go in and out of consciousness, never fully aware of where he was and the fact that they were with him.
But through this time Krista felt an unexplainable peace.
“I had trust,” she said. “I truly believed that he was going to come out okay.”
As visitors, fellow prayers and medical professionals drifted in and out that night, the Tatlocks stayed focused on prayer.
“We prayed with the authority that Christ has given us through His death and resurrection,” Krista said. ”We prayed scripture over him. We prayed that God would activate the more than 30 verses that Alexander has memorized and stored in his heart and mind, for we know that God’s Word is living and brings life.”
And God responded.
In the wee hours of the morning Alexander started to speak a few words. By 4 a.m. he spoke sentences to Krista, and by 6 a.m. doctors were making special trips to see his remarkable progress. He was released from the hospital that evening.
“We told the doctors and nurses that this was a miracle performed by God, and it was only because of the power of prayer that Alexander was alive and walking out of the hospital less than 24 hours after nearly dying,” Krista said.
Alexander suffered no lasting adverse effects from the traumatic experience, and the Tatlocks will forever remember the feeling of God’s presence during the scariest time in their lives.
“We declared that the enemy could and would not have our son. We declared over and over that God is good, and that God makes all things good regardless of the outcome,” Krista said. “We trusted, we had peace, we had confidence that God was so very concerned with every part of our life, we had no choice but to believe.”
Need prayer?
Compassion Christian Church hosts an online prayer wall here, where you can post your requests and praises as well as pray for the requests of others. You can also fill out the card during any service located in the seat back of each chair and drop it into the offering plate. Members of the prayer team will pray for your request.
Want to pray?
Each campus has its own prayer team. You can learn more about the Henderson team by clicking here, the East team by clicking here, or the Effingham team by clicking here.
National Day of Prayer
12 p.m., Thursday, May 3 at the Chatham County Courthouse or
11 a.m., Thursday May 3 at the Effingham County Courthouse
Compassion Christians will join believers from churches throughout America in prayer for our nation, our community, and our world.
Share This
Do you have a story about how God has changed your life, please Share it with us.