During my teenage years, I went into a terrible depression. My father was a minister and I had been saved as a young child. There was much prayer for my healing of this depression, but not seeing the answer come, my parents took me to doctors for any help they could provide. I was medicated with prescription drugs and had regular counseling, but nothing seemed to help. The drugs prescribed were very strong and the doctors said I would be addicted to them the rest of my life.
After several years in the depression, I began to feel that God didn’t hear our prayers and quit going to church. I had left home and lived quite a distance from my family, but decided to move to live with my parents again. My mom asked me to go church with her again one more time, so I did. At this service, the young evangelist had never seen me before, but somehow as he ministered, he began to “draw my picture.” I knew God was speaking to me very directly and I must respond. I went forward for prayer and as he prayed, the minister said God was showing him that I should not take another one of those drugs I had become addicted to. Instead, he said whenever it was time to take the medicine, to raise my hand and to call on Jesus. I followed the minister’s instructions and amazingly every time I called on Jesus, I would fall asleep for a few minutes and then awaken fully refreshed, not needing anything. After about a week of doing this, my body had gone through withdrawal from the drugs and I was totally free of them.
My family began attending another church where the pastor had the gift of faith. I asked if I could counsel with him, and he already knew I needed some extra help so he agreed to meet with me for a counseling session each Saturday because I was away at college during the week. The depression was still with me; I could hardly ever laugh and did not have positive thoughts at all. The pastor gave me the scripture, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Romans 14:17). He was explaining that I already had joy inside of me because I had received the Holy Spirit. So, this depression did not belong to me.
One day at school as I was walking down a sidewalk, a positive thought came to my mind. I was so shocked, I stopped on the sidewalk — I did not think like that! The next Saturday at my session with the pastor, he said the very words of that positive thought that had stopped me on the sidewalk. When I told him I had had that same thought that week and it stopped me on the sidewalk, the presence of God came into that office and I, who had hardly laughed in five years, began to laugh from deep down inside. I saw a great light above me and I began to worship God in the laughter! I laughed for about forty-five minutes until I was truly “drunk” in the Spirit. During that amount of time, my brain was completely changed! The depression was totally gone and I had joy unspeakable. My thought patterns were forever changed! I had had the best of doctors and strongest medicines, but they had not helped me. God, in forty -five glorious minutes, had delivered me from depression!
