In a video posted Tuesday by Kyle Winkler Ministries, a young man named Jamil says he planned to commit suicide before God led him to discover Winkler’s videos. Winkler, an evangelist, frequently preaches about spiritual warfare and renewing your mind, and Jamil says it was the encouragement he needed to break free of hopelessness.
Jamil says his battle with depression intensified after his father and aunt both died within a three-month period.
“It was a lot to deal with at that age,” Jamil says. “I felt like I was stuck in a place of grief. I felt like I was in a depression. I didn’t know it was a depression back then, but I was just in this low state of mind every day, waking up not wanting to be here but not understanding why. This is around the time that I came across Kyle Winkler, and I remember him always quoting [Scripture] and saying ‘Tell the devil to shut up,’ and I remember him teaching about how to transform by the renewing of your mind to begin to speak life over your situation. Because I was in a depression and it was real, real, real bad … all the way to the day that I actually had planned to take my life. Thankfully, [through] Kyle Winkler and his videos, God was able to intervene and I changed my mind and I’m so thankful about that.”
Jamil says many people who deal with suicidal thoughts are really dealing with a lack of hope in their lives.
“A lot of people that are suicidal feel like there is no hope,” he says. “They feel like life is over with them for them, and when you’re waking up every day without a purpose, that is a scary feeling. That is a lonely feeling.”
Watch the full video testimony here.
