A Hallelujah Through the Fire

A Hallelujah Through the Fire

A Monthly Sermon for Able by Grace Ministries

Sermon Inspiration

This sermon of inspiration for today and this month comes from the song Hallelujah by Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll.

I’m listening to this song as I write this message — and I’ve been thinking about it for weeks and weeks.

Not casually.
Not in passing.

But deeply.

Because this song doesn’t come from a place of easy faith.
It comes from lived faith.

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What This Song Is Really Saying

When the song talks about having been “through hell and high water,” it’s not poetic exaggeration — it’s testimony.

It’s the voice of someone who has:

• struggled

• fallen

• questioned

• survived

And still chooses to lift a hallelujah — not because life is perfect, but because God is present.

That’s the kind of praise Scripture talks about.

Isaiah 43:2 says:

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you…
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned.”

Notice God doesn’t say if you go through the waters.
He says when.

And for many of us in the disability community, those waters came early.

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Why This Song Hits Different for Us

For us, “hell and high water” looked like:

• doctors’ rooms

• chronic pain

• being misunderstood

• being prayed over instead of walked with

• smiling on the outside while hurting on the inside

Some of us learned how to praise God while hurting — not after the pain ended.

And that’s why this song matters.

Because it reminds us:

Praise doesn’t cancel pain —
it coexists with it.

Psalm 34:19 tells us:

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

Not few.
Many.

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My Hallelujah Didn’t Come Easy (My Testimony)

I want to be transparent with you today.

In 2018, I went through one of the darkest seasons of my life.

On the outside, I was smiling.
I was writing.
I was functioning.

But on the inside, I was battling depression so deep that I didn’t want to live anymore.

That year:

• I went through a painful breakup

• I almost got sued by a publishing company for writing that was rightfully mine

• and I was told I would never make it in the industry I loved most — writing

And that sentence nearly broke me.

Because writing wasn’t just a dream.
It was my calling.

I questioned everything — except God.

I stayed.

Even when staying hurt.

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The Ring of Fire

Looking back now, I understand something I couldn’t see then.

God wasn’t punishing me.

He was refining me.

Isaiah 48:10 says:

“I have refined you in the furnace of affliction.”

That fire burned away:

• fear

• doubt

• approval-seeking

• insecurity

And it shaped obedience.

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Fast Forward — Look What God Did

Fast forward to today.

I am:

• a minister

• an Amazon best-selling author

• a woman who no longer questions God’s faithfulness

I don’t question Him anymore.

I thank Him.

Because that fire led me to:

• my career

• my calling

• my voice

• my fiancé, Cody

• and a life that is beautiful — not because it’s easy, but because it’s God’s way

Even my body is not forgotten.

After years of being dismissed, God led me to an orthopedic doctor who specializes in cerebral palsy — a reminder that God cares about physical healing too, not just spiritual survival.

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A Word for Anyone in the Fire Right Now

So hear me clearly:

👉 Don’t let this hell get you down.
👉 Don’t let the noise pull you away from Jesus Christ — our one and only Savior.
👉 Don’t let depression win.

Let Jesus win — right alongside you.

Your hallelujah doesn’t have to be loud.
It just has to be honest.

And one day, you’ll look back and realize:

The fire didn’t end you.
The water didn’t drown you.
It prepared you.

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Closing Prayer

Lord,
We bring You the hallelujahs that were born in pain.
We thank You for meeting us in the fire and carrying us through the water.
Teach us to praise You not only for what You’ve done —
but for who You are.

And when we don’t have strength,
be our strength.

In Jesus’ name,
Amen.