The angry, condemning voice was replaced by God's loving, tender one, speaking softly to my wounded soul. As I listened, I understood the roots of my depression reached to the core of my spirit and my entire life had been based on a lie.

I had worked so hard to hide my inferiority, but I was not the worthless person I had always believed I was! I was the handiwork of the Creator of the universe, created in God's image, a beloved child of the King.

"Yes, my daughter, I love you, I will not forsake you," He said gently to my wounded soul.

I began to discover it was not a number on a scale determining my value. My achievements did not matter. My lineage or who I was did not determine my worth--Whose I was did. I belonged to God.

God told me He had a plan for my life, a future full of hope. He said, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart ... and [I] will bring you back from captivity" (Jeremiah 29:13–14). He fulfilled His promise. Within three months of my initial meeting with Berys, the depression was gone. I never had another electro-convulsive treatment. I never returned to the psychiatric ward. I no longer needed medication or the care of a psychiatrist. Five and a half years have passed and I remain free from depression and from anorexia nervosa.

For my daughters, my husband, and me, it has been a wonderful "forever."

I spent thirty-five years looking for fulfillment and value in all the wrong places. My quest almost killed me, but God used it to transform me, to turn my life around. Finding my true identity was the key to unlocking the heavy door to the dungeon I had been imprisoned in for nearly a decade. I have learned peace and contentment cannot be found in work or wealth, or even weight. By discovering the God-given worth, inherent in us all, I was lifted out of the dark pit of depression to stand in the glorious light of His love. God took my crown of bones and replaced it with a crown of life.

Excerpted from:
God Allows U-Turns for Women compiled by Allison Bottke (with Cheryl Hutchings)
Copyright © 2006; ISBN 0764201808
Published by Bethany House Publishers
Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.