How God Helped Anne Wilson Heal After Losing Her Brother | This Is My Story (gentle music)
– There is something so powerful about turning to the Lord in the midst of a really difficult season.
I grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, and I grew up in church, and I had an incredible Christian family who really taught me what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus.
I knew from a really young age that the Lord loved me, but I didn’t feel that love for the first time until I was in seventh grade.
I was on my first day of school, and I had a Bible teacher come in,
and just started to weep about talking about Jesus.
I just remember thinking, this grown man is crying over the name of Jesus.
And so everything that I’ve been taught my whole life must truly be true.
At the time, in that seventh grade classroom, I didn’t realize what God was going to do just three years later.
I remember I was asleep in my bed at home, in our hometown, and the police came knocking at our door.
It was 3:30 in the morning, and I run downstairs to see what was going on, and I saw six policemen standing in front of my front door.
I knew when I saw them that something had gone wrong,
but I just didn’t know what it was yet.
Walk into my living room, and I see my mom screaming and crying, and my dad;
I’d never seen my dad cry before, and I was 15 at the time.
So, I knew that if my dad was crying then something was really wrong.
I walked over to my dad and I asked him point blank, “Is he dead?”
He looked back up at me with tears in his eyes, and said,
“Yeah Anne, he’s dead.”
My older brother Jacob passed away in a car accident at the age of 23 years old.
(somber piano music)
I’ll never forget that moment as long as I live.
It was the moment where I was faced with a very hard decision:
Am I going to trust the Lord, or am I going to lean on my own understanding and walk out this whole path by myself?
I remember facing the doors in that room, and putting my head down and saying, Jesus, I trust you.
When I did that, I remember this heavy weight was lifted off of my shoulders, and the Lord spoke to me and He said,
“Anne, I’m going to give you everything you need to push through this tragedy and get to the other side.”
Probably day three or four after my brother had passed away, we were planning the funeral, which was so hard to do.
I go downstairs to the piano, I start playing and singing “What A Beautiful Name” by Anne Wilson `Hillsong cover This song was dedicated — to the loving memory of my beloved big brother, Jacob. Thank you, Jacob, for always encouraging us to praise God, work hard, and always be kind. We love and miss you more each and every day.
My mom comes in the room, and she’s like, “Anne, we had no idea that you could sing.
Where is this coming from?”
I remember being like, “Mom, I don’t know what this is.
I’m just worshiping the Lord, and this is just my response to the tragedy right now.”
It was almost like, when I felt the weight of the grief, and the suffering, and the depression so heavily, my medicine and my escape was to worship Jesus.
And in exchange, when I would worship Him, He would give me His peace and His joy and His rest.
So, my mom asked me if I would be willing to sing at the funeral, and I sang at my brother’s funeral, for the first time, in front of anyone.
There were over 1,200 people there.
It was packed. The church was so crowded.
It was such an incredible day, such a special time of being able to reflect on Jacob’s life.
I remember walking up on stage, sitting down at the piano, and hearing the Lord’s voice.
He spoke so clearly to me.
He said, “Anne, this is what I am calling you to do: I’m calling you to praise and worship my name.”
I think when we walk through suffering, it can be really hard to trust the Lord.
Just being completely vulnerable.
Sometimes it’s easier to turn away from the Lord, and say, “No, I’m going to go figure this out by myself.”
And the enemy will try to get you stuck in that place of self pity, and, “Oh, I’m going to turn away from the Lord.”
But there is something so powerful about turning to the Lord in the midst of a really difficult season.
When we’re walking through suffering,
we’re called to worship the Lord.
I know firsthand, from experience right after losing my brother, the only thing that brought me comfort was worshiping Jesus.
We’re called to give Him our praise in the midst of every single different type of circumstance or troubles or suffering or whatever.
And so, there’s something really profound about taking a step back in the middle of suffering and laying it at the feet of Jesus, and then worshiping Him in response to it. (sweet piano music)
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Anne Wilson sits down with Matt and Laurie Crouch on TBN’s Praise to discuss her personal testimony. Listen in as Anne Wilson shares surviving her greatest loss, her brother’s passing, and how his death led to the calling and purpose God had for her life.