I stumbled upon this video years ago, probably listening to videos of Yolanda Adams singing. And I’ve listened to it several times since that day and every time single time I hear it, it hits me, hard. The honesty with which she tells her story is so powerful and so necessary.
“God delivered me from a very abusive marriage and I’ve been going all over the country expressing real vividly how it happened. I used to be ashamed of my testimony. God showed me one night after I came into the hotel room after I had testified. I was crying, first of all, because of the shame. God said, ‘I allowed you to go through that, first of all, not that it was my will for you but you chose this man over my will.’ He said, ‘I kept a protective hedge of fire around you simply because I can use you more now than I could have ever used you had you not gone through that storm in your life.’ And now I go all over the world and I tell people all the time if God speaks, listen first ask questions later. Because if you listen to the voice of the Lord you won’t have to deal with what I dealt with.
And I hope that through my testimony, anybody in here that’s being physically abused, that’s being emotionally abused, whether you’re a man or a woman, trust me, God does not want you in that situation. And when I sing songs like, “Let Thy Will Be Done,” it’s not a play thing with me. I know what it’s like to be outside the will. I know what it’s like to feel the presence of the Lord just move away for a moment. The day I walked down the aisle when they opened the door, God told me at the door, ‘Don’t do it.’ I had paid so much money. The church was filled. The hotel had been paid for. All of that stuff had been paid for. The Lord told me right there at that door, ‘Don’t do it.’ When I made that first step, it was as though the Lord said, ‘Okay, you chose him over me.’
I stand here tonight, having been thrown across a room, having been punched in the face—but let me tell you how good God is. When that man’s fist came toward my face, he could not hit me in the face. I know it was nothing but the hand of the Lord that moved that hand over like this because he only grazed the side of my face. And when he picked me up… to throw me onto a marble floor… not a bone was broken. Nothing physically was wrong with me. That’s why I know…I will go to my grave knowing that God keeps angels…Hallelujah!”