By Chosalin Morales, student news writer and photographer, Office of University Communications
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — “How many of you have found yourself in prison?” Shajuana Ditto asked her audience recently at Campbellsville University’s The Vine in Randsell Chapel.
Reading from the scripture of Acts 16:25, Ditto retold the story of Paul and Silas, prisoners of Philippi, who sang and prayed during midnight among prisoners who listened.
“While they sang,” Ditto said, “there was a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.”
“How many of you find yourself in prison,” said Ditto, “prisons such as depression, anxiety, worry or thinking that you aren’t good enough?”
In Acts 16:26-27, it is written that during the night prisoners were listening and watching events unfold of chains breaking and prison doors flying open that woke up the prison guard in fear.
“Be careful of what you’re listening to in this world,” Ditto said. “The enemy wants you to give up. He wants you to throw in the towel.”
Nevertheless, God is always with you in the dark and in the light — he never moves away, she said.
“If you are in prison and have been chained to depression, anxiety or suffering,” said Ditto, “remember that all you need is a little light. You might be ankle, knee or all the way deep into the darkness, but God is the light in our life.”
Acts 16:29-31 said: “The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.’”
“If you are dealing with something in the dark, it will come to light,” Ditto said. “You don’t have to suffer alone, you don’t have to be shackled by generational curses, words of negativity, anxiety, etc.”
“In fact,” she said, lay those things that burden you at the feet of Jesus. For He is the one that never leaves you. Even in moments that you feel alone it is God’s presence that is always with you.”
Ditto is a two-time graduate of Campbellsville University. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Sports Ministry with a minor in Athletic Coaching in 2009. She also earned her Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership from CU in 2013.
Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university that has enrolled up to 12,000 students yearly. The university offers over 100 programs of study including doctoral, masters, bachelors, associate and certification programs. The website for complete information is www.campbellsville.edu.