About 20 months ago I began a severe bout of depression that I had never encountered before. I was using some prescription medication, but it seemed to have little effect on me--and the effect it did have wasn't for the better either.
Unresolved hurts, injuries, and disappointments were keeping me in emotional and spiritual bondage--and I was convinced that I could be "free" whenever I wanted to be--and that wasn't anything close to the truth. Only the power of Christ could set me free, and help me love and trust Him and those around me again.
I performed all my duties (at work and elsewhere) out of pure obligation--and all the while keeping the fact of my depression as quiet as I possibly could. I even participated in local ministry meetings, and other Christian functions without letting anyone in on the fact that I was devastated on the inside of my heart.
One Sunday morning, at the end of the morning message, my Senior Pastor's wife (Chrissy Toledo) sat down at the piano and began singing this song:
In prisoners' chains
With bleeding stripes
Paul and Silas prayed that night
And in their pain began to sing
Their chains were loosed
And they were free!
I bless Your Name!
I bless Your Name!
I give You honor, give You praise!
You are the Life, the Truth, the Way
I bless Your Name!
I bless Your Name!
Some midnight hour
If you should find
You're in a prison in your mind
Reach out and praise
Defy those chains
And they will fall
In Jesus' Name!
Before Chrissy ever finished singing the song, I found myself in the front of the sanctuary, spread out on the floor, weeping uncontrollably--knowing that only God Himself could heal the hurts that I had carried--or that carried me--for so long.
The "prison of my mind" was more than I could bear!
It was that very phrase, "some midnight hour if you should find, you're in a prison in your mind, reach and praise..." I just had to surrender the pain in my heart and mind to Him--and believe that He could bring me to a place of deliverance and trust.
I just felt the Holy Spirit wanting me to share this very personal account with all of you. You can find this song on the latest CD of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, "I'm Amazed....Live."
You can also go to their website:
Praise His name today!
Psalms 34:4
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