Hello brother, I stumbled upon your newsletter while trying to find some non-COVID related accounts for my feed. I’ve read your last two articles and I recognize a lot of my life and believes in your words.
I’m having a hard time thinking of a good approach for what I want to tell you here, so I’m just starting to write and see what comes.
My wife and I have two kids and we are living a privileged life. Also we have learned to thank God for it but I have no idea where blessing ends and privilege starts. But it’s not as if we have it all. My wife is suffering from depression, ptsd, and a lot of anxiety. A few months back a lot of fear was added to that, like all day long, as if a bear is behind you every moment. So we’ve been getting a lot of therapy for her (1.5 year now) and for us both to help us manage everything, especially with the kids.
Of course we have been praying that God would bless therapy, not expecting a miracle but hoping for slow recovery through therapy.
Recently we went to New Wine, a Christian summer conference in the Netherlands. Imagine putting up a tent and living in it for a week with all the anxiety and fear every day from the minute she woke up, it was almost unbearable for my wife. So after a few days of camping, singing praise, listening to the Bible and different speakers, my wife said to me: I would like to just have a few happy moments this week.
And the next day things changed a bit, there actually were happy moments for her and the day wasn’t that heavy. So she submitted a testimony on a form somewhere thinking it was for their website or something, but then got a call if she would like to be on the stage to tell what happened. So she did and said on stage: God does not heal everyone, but He will find you where you are and He will be with you in your troubles. I’m still going home with ptsd and a lot of anxiety, but I did experience God sitting besides me giving me some happy moments.
But that was not the end of it. When the week ended we had to break up the camp, travel home, clean up everything, and we knew it would be stress, panic attacks, crying and all, just like when we arrived to set up the camp. Only it didn’t go like that. And while we were telling each other how well it went and that that was so unexpected, she told me that she went to ministry a few days before to have people pray with her, and they prayed that God would lift the fear from her. And the people praying with her encouraged her to give her fear to Jesus, only she didn’t know how to do that. So they asked her: where is your fear, and she said: it’s a backpack with stones. And then they suggested she would take two stones from the bag and give them to Jesus. So she threw out two stones.
She didn’t think too much about it after that moment and the week went on, until we noticed how much she was changed when we were packing out tent to leave. And although we’ve been expecting it to return, it’s a few weeks now and it is still gone.
And then I read your question, if God still intervenes when you pray. Or that the prayer changes us. Now when I compare the result of years of therapy to one prayer, I know that that was not the prayer changing the one who is praying, but Gods healing power through prayer.
And because what we experienced was so fitting for your question and it was so coincidental that I read it, I took it as a sign to share the story, so here it is.
Thanks J. You always manage to make me smile, think, and reassure me that either we're all normal or we're all nuts but that's probably OK.
Hello brother, I stumbled upon your newsletter while trying to find some non-COVID related accounts for my feed. I’ve read your last two articles and I recognize a lot of my life and believes in your words.
I’m having a hard time thinking of a good approach for what I want to tell you here, so I’m just starting to write and see what comes.
My wife and I have two kids and we are living a privileged life. Also we have learned to thank God for it but I have no idea where blessing ends and privilege starts. But it’s not as if we have it all. My wife is suffering from depression, ptsd, and a lot of anxiety. A few months back a lot of fear was added to that, like all day long, as if a bear is behind you every moment. So we’ve been getting a lot of therapy for her (1.5 year now) and for us both to help us manage everything, especially with the kids.
Of course we have been praying that God would bless therapy, not expecting a miracle but hoping for slow recovery through therapy.
Recently we went to New Wine, a Christian summer conference in the Netherlands. Imagine putting up a tent and living in it for a week with all the anxiety and fear every day from the minute she woke up, it was almost unbearable for my wife. So after a few days of camping, singing praise, listening to the Bible and different speakers, my wife said to me: I would like to just have a few happy moments this week.
And the next day things changed a bit, there actually were happy moments for her and the day wasn’t that heavy. So she submitted a testimony on a form somewhere thinking it was for their website or something, but then got a call if she would like to be on the stage to tell what happened. So she did and said on stage: God does not heal everyone, but He will find you where you are and He will be with you in your troubles. I’m still going home with ptsd and a lot of anxiety, but I did experience God sitting besides me giving me some happy moments.
But that was not the end of it. When the week ended we had to break up the camp, travel home, clean up everything, and we knew it would be stress, panic attacks, crying and all, just like when we arrived to set up the camp. Only it didn’t go like that. And while we were telling each other how well it went and that that was so unexpected, she told me that she went to ministry a few days before to have people pray with her, and they prayed that God would lift the fear from her. And the people praying with her encouraged her to give her fear to Jesus, only she didn’t know how to do that. So they asked her: where is your fear, and she said: it’s a backpack with stones. And then they suggested she would take two stones from the bag and give them to Jesus. So she threw out two stones.
She didn’t think too much about it after that moment and the week went on, until we noticed how much she was changed when we were packing out tent to leave. And although we’ve been expecting it to return, it’s a few weeks now and it is still gone.
And then I read your question, if God still intervenes when you pray. Or that the prayer changes us. Now when I compare the result of years of therapy to one prayer, I know that that was not the prayer changing the one who is praying, but Gods healing power through prayer.
And because what we experienced was so fitting for your question and it was so coincidental that I read it, I took it as a sign to share the story, so here it is.
I will pray for you and God bless you!