From the archives of Evelyn Roberts
About six weeks after the accident that took the life of our daughter Rebecca and her husband, Marshall, I realized my strength was gone.
One night after I had gone to bed, I was reading the Bible, as is my custom, and a Scripture just seemed to jump out at me. It said, The joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10). I laid the Bible down and said aloud, “Lord, that’s it! I don’t have the strength because my joy is gone. Where is the joy in my heart that I usually get from You?” Then I began to ponder joy. What brings joy to me? Music! Why, of course. I hadn’t been listening to praise music.
All of my life I have loved music, especially sacred music. Anytime I felt lonely or depressed, I could turn on the stereo and play hymns and feel such joy that depression would fade away. In fact, it was through music that I had decided to give my heart and life to Jesus.
In a church service one night a young lady played a hymn on her violin and sang a song that went something like this: “Jesus went a little farther. His disciples went to sleep, but He went all the way to Calvary for me.”
In my mind, I caught a glimpse of Jesus trudging up Golgotha’s hill carrying a heavy cross for me — all for me. I’d never felt such love before, and it moved me to love Him back and commit my life to Him.
Suddenly, I realized that since the accident, I had turned off any kind of hymn or sacred music. Every time I heard them, I broke up and just couldn’t stand to hear them. Then I realized how cunning Satan is. I had allowed him to steal from me the very thing that brings me joy; and since I had no joy, I also had no strength.
The next morning, I turned on records, tapes, the radio—anything that had spiritual music, and my strength and my joy began to return.
