by Matthew Crouch
“Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?” — Isaiah 43: 18-19 (NKJV)
Not long ago we had a great sit-down visit on TBN’s Praise the Lord program with Louie Giglio about his new book The Comeback: It’s Not Too Late and You’re Never Too Far. Louie pastors Passion City Church in Atlanta and has also helped hundreds of thousands of young people to know and love Jesus through his Passion conferences across America. The point here is that Louie is a solid, Godly Christian leader with a dynamic ministry that is impacting the world with the Gospel.
But none of that prepared him for the devastating period he faced in his life a few years back, that took him to the very bottom physically, spiritually, and emotionally. “I reached a breaking point in life,” he told us, “and my brain shut down.” He went on to explain that “it knocked me over into a hole I never dreamed I’d be in. I’m a very positive person, a person of vision, a person of faith, a person of great ambition, and a person who has seen God do amazing things. I wouldn’t characterize myself as a candidate to end up where I ended up. But I fell into a hole of depression, of darkness, of worry, doubt, despair, and even doom…. I went into a very low, dark place and stayed there for quite some time.”
Louie emphasized that he knew God, he knew Scripture, and all the right answers, “but this hole I fell in was deeper than all the right answers. I really needed a miracle of God to walk out into the light again.”
As I sat there listening to Louie’s painful story of depression and hitting the bottom, I found myself thinking about why this prominent, esteemed pastor and Christian leader would open up with such transparency about this agonizing and incredibly difficult time in his life. Here he was sitting next to Laurie and me, recounting in detail to an international television audience about a dark chapter in his life that he very well could have kept hidden from view.
As it happens, Louie explained his reason in a way that put it all in powerful perspective. Noting that God’s grace and mercy led him back into joy and peace, Louie said that “now I have two options: I can either hide that story under a bushel, and say, ‘I don’t want to talk about that. It’s embarrassing. That makes me look weak. Who wants to follow a leader who walked through something like that?’ Or I can do what the Scripture says. Psalm 118:17 is such a powerful confession: ‘I will not die, but I will live, and I will declare what the Lord has done.’”
That is the essence of a true “comeback,” said Louie. “Every person who is in Christ has a miracle comeback. We were dead in sin, but now we’re alive.” He added, however, that “our comebacks are not just for us. Our comebacks are the stories by which God transports hope to people around us.”
Because of what God brought him through, Louie has been able to share his story with tens of thousands of people, and encourage them that despite their own obstacles, loss, compromise — the brokenness and pain every person faces at some point in life — God has a new beginning, a fresh start, a “comeback” that guarantees them a future and a hope.
“God is the God of the ‘Comeback,’” said Louie. “You’re not too far, and it’s never too late for God to do a miracle.”
Pastor Louie has a lot more to say about the “Comeback” that you won’t want to miss. Check out our entire interview with him below.