Power of a Praying Woman 10/17/06 9:02 AM Page 104
104
The Power of a Praying Woman
there were countless times I would get up in the middle of the night to sing or speak praises to the Lord in order to get rid of it. I had gone to several doctors about it, but the medicine they gave me only seemed to cover up the problem. It was always still there when the medicine wore off. I’m not saying that people shouldn’t take medicine if they are depressed. I’m saying it didn’t solve the problem for me. I had suffered from depression from the time I was a young child and was locked in a closet by my mother. The hopelessness, futility, and sadness I felt about myself and my life made it hard to get through each day. I needed an infusion of the joy of the Lord, and that’s what praising God did for me. When I praised and worshiped God, it was like being hooked up to a spiritual IV. As long as I had my heart and eyes lifted to God in worship and praise, the joy of the Lord poured into my body, mind, soul, and spirit and crowded out the darkness and depression. It worked every time. I started buying praise and worship songs on tape and later CDs. I played them in the car as I drove, in the bathroom when I was drying my hair, in the kitchen as I was cooking, through the house when I was doing housework, or at my desk when I was writing letters or going through the mail. Sometimes I would sing along to them, but other times I would just let the music play through my mind and spirit. It amazed me that confusion, oppression, fear, or anxiety couldn’t exist in the heart of a worshiping child of God. Eventually, I got free of depression completely. Nothing we do is more powerful or more life-changing than praising God. It is one of the means by which God transforms us. Every time we praise and worship Him, His presence comes to dwell in us and changes our hearts and allows the Ho ?7?&?BF?6?gFV??B???BF?V???F?v?FWfW"?Rv?G2F?V?F?&R?