In 2006, Pastor Larry Ragland was on a spiritual high, preparing for what he believed would be the greatest year of his life. “I was preaching fire,” Ragland shared in a recent interview with Charisma Media, recalling how he had been proclaiming that 2007 would be “the year of the Holy Spirit, the year of perfection, the year of completion.”
But instead of entering a season of triumph, Ragland faced a personal and spiritual breakdown that shook him to his core.
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Ragland’s world started to crumble during what seemed like a routine family dinner at Subway. After a successful ministry event, his wife, visibly distressed, broke her silence. “She just started crying,” Ragland recalls. “She said, ‘Larry, I can’t stay silent anymore. I don’t know who you’ve become.’” In that moment, Ragland learned his marriage was hanging by a thread. His wife confessed, “I love you, Larry, but I don’t know if I’m in love with you anymore,” giving him one year to turn things around or she would leave.
As the new year began, Ragland’s health suddenly deteriorated. After experiencing severe pain on Jan. 7, 2007, just hours after preaching about the transformative year ahead, he was rushed to the hospital. “They did every test in the world on me,” he said. What doctors initially thought was stomach acid turned out to be much worse—his appendix had ruptured, poisoning his body.
As the months dragged on, Ragland’s condition worsened. “I was basically going blind, and they said, ‘You have more poison in your body now than when your appendix ruptured,’” he explains. In and out of hospitals, his health, his family and his faith were all hanging in the balance.
One night, Ragland reached his breaking point. “I told God things I never thought I’d say,” he admits. He questioned why, after years of devotion, he couldn’t find healing. That’s when he heard God speak: “Now, are you done telling Me about Me? Let Me tell you about you.” In that moment, Ragland experienced a profound spiritual awakening. He repented, and a peace he hadn’t felt in years washed over him.
Two days later, Ragland was miraculously healed. His health restored, his marriage mended and his ministry renewed, he emerged from 2007 with a deeper understanding of God’s grace. “I had to hit the bottom in order to become the man that she needed me to be,” he reflects, on his restored and strengthened bond with his wife.
Ragland now shares his testimony openly, emphasizing how God used his lowest point to bring about the greatest year of his life.
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James Lasher is staff writer for Charisma Media.
Abby Trivett