15 Apr

Friendly Neighborhood Insomniac - Part 3

posted by Daniel Blackaby

Over the past two weeks, I’ve shared how I reached a breaking point with my insomnia and how God responded in a miraculous way. However, despite feeling His comfort, I still couldn’t sleep at night. For three months I waited on God to cure my insomnia. I knew God cared about my situation, but I saw no reason why He wouldn’t help me. Then youth camp came along and put everything into perspective!

To cut through the awkward silence of our first nightly church-group sharing time, I spoke up, “Hey not to sound like a broken record, but my insomnia is as bad as ever. Could you keep praying? Maybe God will take it away…”

“I need to share!” came a soft voice from across the room, and I turned to see who had interrupted me. It was a sixteen-year-old girl who had attended youth group off-and-on. She continued…“This past year has been the hardest of my life. Between a sticky family situation, an unhealthy dating relationship, and running with the wrong crowd, I drifted far from God. One night I came home really late from a party, slightly drunk, and feeling miserable. I seriously considered taking my life. I logged onto MSN and noticed Daniel was the only one still on. We weren’t friends, but I needed to vent. I started unloading all my anger, but slowly our conversation shifted back to my faith. Though it was almost 5:00 a.m., we met in person. By the end of that night, I had rededicated my life to God. If Daniel had not been awake, I would still be running from God – or dead.”

She had barely finished when a guy spoke up: “I’ve also had the hardest year of my life. Situation at home hasn’t been good; been into bad stuff—I couldn’t take it. I strapped ice bags to my wrists and planned to end it all, but I felt I needed to at least tell someone. It was 4:00 a.m. and I didn’t know who to talk to. Then I remembered Daniel would probably be awake. Sure enough, he answered the phone right away and we talked all through the night. We met for breakfast the next morning, and here I am. I can say for sure that if Daniel had not been up that night, I would be dead.”

Speechlessly, I watched a domino effect take place. Three more youth shared how they had reached their weakest points at a time when their pastors, parents, and friends were all asleep, but I had been awake to help them!

I’d been praying for God to remove my burden, but he had bigger plans than that. He used my lowest moment to do His greatest work through me. Have there been trials in your life? Has God seemed to ignore your prayers? Maybe He wants to do a significant work through you. If I had my own way, I would have slept at night; but the testimonies at camp proved it’s not about me. I am blown away that God would use someone like me in such a powerful way. Ironically, my sleep has improved immensely! Hopefully, God has moved me to the day shift!!

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, and those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

Filed in: Prayer, Responding to God

About the Author

Daniel Blackaby is a junior in college, living in Simpsonville, SC. His biggest passions in life are music and literature. He plays guitar in a Christian rock band and also plays bass guitar, drums, and keyboard.

Apart from playing music, Daniel loves to listen to all types of music and has over 700 CDs on his iTunes. He admits he’s a huge nerd who loves to read and enjoys collecting classic literature. He loves to hang out and have a good time, but his primary goal is to try and live life to the fullest and glorify God in everything he does. You can contact him by email at boonster11@hotmail.com.

Read more about Daniel here.