From Depression to Finding God’s JoySample

Made for Freedom

As I was beginning to heal from the grief of losing Kisha, my friend Janine, one of my background vocalists, shared a story about something that had happened when I was in the dark.

One day, she and her daughters had noticed a beautiful moth on the outside of their front window. It was trying to break free from a spider’s web. It flapped its wings, but the harder it tried to get away from the web, the more stuck it became. Suddenly, a giant spider began moving along the web, coming to devour the moth.

Not wanting her children to witness the moth’s untimely death, Janine began frantically banging on the glass, hoping the vibration would lead to its freedom. Janine told her story with her expressive voice: “That set the moth free, and it flew away!” She paused. “I feel like the Holy Spirit said, Disa. It was a testament to me that God hears His kids!”

As Janine told me that story, I became emotional. Almost a year had passed since that event. And during that time, Janine had traveled on the road with me when I was at my lowest point. Little did I know that as I lay in my bunk on the tour bus, Janine would be right outside my curtain, figuratively banging on the bus in prayer. James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” God heard my friend’s prayers for me and answered in powerful ways.

God freed me from the darkness like that moth Janine freed from the web. Psalm 40:1-2 became my heart’s cry:

I waited patiently for the Lord;

he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand.

God desires true freedom for His children. And He is the only One who can provide it. When I was stuck in my sin and shame from the past, God heard the prayers of my friends and made way for me to come out of the darkness into His glorious light.

Getting Real

• What role do community and prayer play in embracing true freedom in Christ? Who can you intercede for today? Who can you ask to pray for you?