In the summer of 2016, right before my sophomore year of high school, my parents gathered my sisters and me in the living room to tell us they were getting a divorce. My emotions were mixed: shock that I hadn’t seen it coming, confusion as to why, and, most of all, overwhelming anger.
I am grateful that during this time, I was surrounded by a strong community of believers. The night our parents told us about the divorce, friends came instantly to pray over us. They prayed that our hearts would heal in time and that we would experience God’s peace.
I wanted so badly to be okay with what was happening, but the anger in my heart consumed me. I relied less on God, isolated myself from friends and family, and allowed my anger to turn into self-hatred. I believed the lies of the enemy and fell into a deep depression that led to self-destructive behaviors. I was turning my back on the One who loved me most, the One who was trying to answer those prayers for peace. I wanted to get through the anger on my own, but strength alone does not ease a burdened heart.
Yet, through it all, God never abandoned me. The anger lasted a whole year until I attended a church camp I had grown up going to. On the final night, we had prayer stations. God put it on my heart to pray for peace and to release my anger to Him. On my knees, I pleaded for the bitterness to be taken away, for God to free me from depression, and for my eyes to be opened to Him.
That night, God fulfilled His promise of peace. He pulled me out of the darkest valley I had ever been in. He breathed new life into me and showed me what it meant to have true joy in Him. He filled me with an overwhelming peace I had never known before, taking the burdens I had insisted on carrying and placing them on His own shoulders.
God is a God of resurrection. He doesn’t just heal our wounds, He restores what was lost. He took my brokenness and created something new within me. Where there was anger, He planted peace. Where there was despair, He gave me joy. Where there was death, He brought life. He is the God who raises the dead to life.