Healed From Mental Illness

by Hannah
(Australia)

At the age of 11 (when I was in year 6 at school) I had been suffering from anxiety and depression severely for about a year. I was an emotional wreckage and had self-harmed and tried to commit suicide on several occasions. There had been multiple times in hospital, countless doctors’ visits and a bunch of medications tried. It was out of our hands and out of control.

My mum was sick of it. Nothing was working. All the hundreds of dollars spent on talking to psychologists and on therapy and medications had come to nothing. We thought there was no place left to turn to.

Driving home from the hospital for the zillionth time, we saw a sign on a church. "Prayer healing service. First Sunday of the month. All welcome." We were a Christian family but stupidly it had never occurred to us to go to God about my struggles. At this point I had all but given up on God. I was willing to give this whole prayer service thingy a try because I was desperate and had no place else to turn to.

So I went along to it that week. At first it was a scary experience for me to go up the front and have a bunch of strangers place their hands on me and pray for me, yet it was completely humbling and incredible. As they prayed, I started to shake and tremble and felt really hot and then I felt God's peace on me. God had come to rescue me of little faith from my terrible bindings of anxiety and depression.

From that point on, things got better for me. I got off my medications straight away and immediately there was no need for anymore doctor's visits or other medications or therapy or anything. I am now 15 and I am proud to say that I haven't tried suicide since or had any other attempts of self-harm (although stupid me still lacks faith in God sometimes). I share my story to tell you about the incredible power of prayer. Sometimes we underestimate it, at other times we don't trust it and still other times we completely ignore it. I cannot begin to fully describe the dark hole I was in with my anxiety and depression but thanks to God I have seen the hope and glory that God brings and have personally seen the incredible power of prayer. Whatever the situation, when it seems hopeless and like there is no place else to go, go to God. He is always there, always listens and cares, and can always do something about it!!