If you were to have asked me this question before, I would have quickly screamed a big "NO"!
Four years was a long time to be in the condition I found myself in. As a born-again Christian never did I imagine it was possible for oppression to bend me over like the woman in Luke 13.
Disappointment, discouragement, and dissatisfaction led into depression. Along with it came anger, bitterness, and resentment . I had a wounded spirit and my soul was tormented. I was cloaked with heaviness and no longer was I able to lift my head nor my hands towards the LORD. Instead my head hung low and my hands hung at my side clenched with defeat.
I slowly became numb. I lost my intimacy with the LORD. No longer did I hunger or thirst for the Word of God. I no longer had words to utter in prayer. I was depleted and everything inside me dried up: my passion for the LORD, hope for ministry, and the desire to live!
Every Sunday, I put on my "all is well" mask in hopes that my condition would not be seen by others. The last thing I needed was the critical and judgmental comments that comes from "well meaning" sisters and those who want to slap a scripture on my wounds. However, there was someone who saw my dry bones. His name is Jesus. Just as He took notice of the bent over woman in the synagogue, He took notice of me.
He delivered me from the spirit that oppressed me and I was set free. I then entered a time of inner-healing and restoration. It was a very long time and in the midst of that process, one night as I slept, I was awakened by His voice. He was prophesying over me "ARISING, ARISING, ARISING!" He breathed the breath of life and as it entered me I felt my spirit coming alive and arising with newfound hope and purpose. He revived these dry bones and now I have been commissioned to do the same for others who have become spiritually dry.
My pain unfolded into purpose and truly it exceeds the pain! Seeing others set free, made whole and arising with purpose is well worth it all!
Now if you asked me "Can these dry bones live? I can quickly scream YES!!!!!! I lived and so can you! I am declaring "women arising".....
"ARISE [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you - rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!
~ Isaiah 60:1 Amplified