This past summer, my neighbor down the row chose suicide. My kids called him Mr. Joe. We saw him walk down the row every day. My kids would occasionally take brooms over by his patio to sweep the excess water into the drain after he'd wash down his patio. Once he dropped off a kids book at our house that someone had given him that he thought the kids would like.
I didn't really know anything else about him.
What I do know about suicide is that it is the end result of depression. You become so alone, so despairing, and so without hope that it appears to be the only available option. Death is death by suicide.
I was in a place of critical depression; and I feel lucky, blessed, beyond grateful to have found hope. I heard a talk this summer by at guest speaker at Mosaic who said that God was motivated by the you you could become enough to create you (Jeremiah 1:5). The God who can create galaxies took a moment to see who I could be and decided it was worth it. I was worth it.
It's hard when you're depressed to believe that anyone could love someone like you. Isn't loneliness what I deserve? No. And because I am of worth to God and loved by Him, I am worthy of love from others.
So I fight loneliness. I fight rules that commit us to lives of solitude. I fight for community. I fight for hope.
So today, fight for your friends. Fight for your neighbors. Depressed people don't talk about depression. You never know who is slowing drowning themselves in despair and loneliness. They need you. They need Jesus. They need love and acceptance in their brokenness. They need your Hope.
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| #TWLOHA |
To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire, and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery
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