داستان رهایی کشیش لوکاس یقنظر از افسردگی پس از مرگ همسرشان
Rev. Luke is sharing that he is the son of Brother Seth, who is the founder of Holy Spirit-filled churches in Iran. When he was only 3 years old, he was baptized in the Holy Spirit. He was only 10 years old that he lost his mum to cancer. She was a lady full of spirit who would see visions from God. When he was 13 years old, he led a church meeting in a church in Isfahan. When he was 19 years old he was elected as a member of the board of directors and a treasurer of the Assemblies of God council in Iran and he served there for 11 years. One year before the revolution he started a magazine called eternal life publication. Five years after the revolution over one million Christian literature and gospels were distributed in Tehran and other cities under his supervision.
He later got to know his future wife, Angel in the Sunday school of the Church. He fell in love with her when he was 13 years old. He prayed about it for 7 years. When he was 19 years old, he proposed to Angel. They got married when they were 25 years old. They lived together for 30 years. The fruit of their marriage is 3 children: Patrick, Pauline, and Melody. He has 2 grandchildren from them.
Many years ago when they were living in Los Angeles, Rev. Luke heard the news that his wife, Angel was diagnosed with breast cancer. She undertook all the necessary treatments including chemotherapy and a couple of difficult surgeries. She remained very strong in her faith during that time and she was serving God. She had the gift of prophecy and she was full of the spirit of God and practiced other gifts of the spirit such as gifts of knowledge and wisdom. She managed to recover from this cancer.
Unfortunately, years after she had recovered from breast cancer, she was diagnosed with bone cancer this time. Despite taking all the possible treatments, cancer spread out and she went to be with the Lord in August 2008. Hundreds of thousands of people in over 40 countries were praying for her healing but God’s will was to take her up to Him.
Rev. Luke testifies that as hard as losing Angel was, he never complained to God. He trusted his faithfulness. He never questioned God about it. Some tried to comfort him at the time by telling him that he would find the answers to his questions when he goes to Heaven. He would tell them that he does not need any explanation from the Lord about what happened to his wife. He believes that God knows the best and his plans are perfect.
Losing Angel physically was very difficult for him. He had known her for 45 years. A prophet from Australia told him: “it is as if they have chopped off your arms and feet and you have to continue living.” Deep down he would rather go and be with the Lord, however, he did not want his children to lose their father too.
But for about 16 months, he was crying all the time. He had gone into the darkest depression pit. He kept crying out to God during that time. The most important thing that helped him to deal with his depression due to the loss of his wife was clinging to God. He did not let go of God’s presence for a second. He was only able to read psalms that were prayers of cry to God during that time. He believes that God’s presence was the main thing that helped him to get out of the pit of depression.
The second thing that helped him at that time was the support and help of the family and the support of some close friends. A brother and a sister in Christ never did let go of him during the 16 months. They kept hearing his stories and kept praying for him. They would take care of him and cook for him.
He testifies that he never condemned nor criticized God or others about the situation. He believed it was nothing to do with God that he had to go through that suffering. He believes that we live in a fallen world and we will face troubles whilst on this earth. He believes that God is there in the depth of our problems.
He refers to the story of Lazarus in the gospels. When Lazarus died, Jesus witnessed the sorrow his sisters were going through, and he cried. Our Lord sympathizes with our pains and cries with us. However, he is able to do much beyond crying with us. He believes that it was only Jesus who was able to drag him out of the pit of depression.
He reminds everyone that as it says in the gospel of John if we listen to God’s word and we follow his commandments he will be our friends. He is praying for those who go through depression by saying the following:
“May the Light of Jesus shine upon you. Stick to Jesus. Stick to the word of God and to the prophetic words God gives to you in different ways. Don’t let go of Jesus. He won’t’ let go of you either. I pray for God’s blessings to be upon you. Amen”