Have you ever thought to yourself:

 

What is the point of living anymore?

 

Would anyone even miss me if I were gone?

 

Life would be better for everyone if I weren’t here.

 

I’ve made too big of a mess of things and there’s no way out of the problems I’ve created.

 

I’m too humiliated to face the world another day.

 

I don’t deserve life.

 

Life is not worth living.

 

Yesterday, I learned of another person here in Colorado who took their life. A father and husband. I don’t know their circumstances at all but I know that I absolutely HATE that someone else has to go through the hell that we’re living. I wouldn’t wish this journey on my worst enemy. I don’t pretend to have all of the answers to life’s problems. I NEVER saw this coming in our own lives. But I KNOW this for a fact: SUICIDE IS NEVER THE SOLUTION. Whatever thoughts you’re having, if they entertain the idea that the taking of your life is the answer to the problems you're facing, those thoughts are in fact LIES.

 

If you’re depressed to the point that you can’t get out of bed for days on end;

 

if you’ve screwed up royally and everyone hates you;

 

if you've embarrassed yourself and feel the whole world is laughing at you;

 

if you live with crippling guilt, regardless whether the people around you know or if your guilt is just between you and God;

 

if you live with chronic pain;

 

if your life seems like a series of one tragedy after another because of loss, divorce, wayward children, addiction…

 

WHATEVER you are facing…SUICIDE IS NOT THE ANSWER.

 

Despite what the enemy is telling you:

 

your family will NEVER get over it;

 

your friends will never move on;

 

you WILL leave a wake of destruction to every single person you know;

 

your parents/spouse/friends/children will blame themselves every day of their lives, regardless whether you leave a note or not;

 

you will leave the ones you love a shell of the people that they once were.

 

Your parents won’t be able to think straight, maybe ever again;

 

Your loved ones will have anxiety;

 

Whoever finds you and has to frantically call 911 will find you and make that phone call again and again and again and again for I’m not sure how long but for a REALLY long time.

 

This is raw friends but please hear me on this: To clean up your mess is EXPENSIVE. The bill for a tiny bathroom cleanup was $20000. Funeral expenses + cemetery expenses + hospital expenses + ambulance expenses... and yet, as huge as the financial devastation will be, it will never compare to the emotional devastation on ALL of those you love and who love you.

 

This is hard to read, I’m sure. It is extremely difficult to write but if I can save one life, it is worth saying the hard things.

 

Taking your life is not loving. Taking your life is not making anyone else’s life better. Those thoughts are lies. And this is why TRUTH is so important. Not “your truth,” not truth that depends on your mood or your feelings. Absolute truth is vital because when you’re depressed, confused, lonely, drunk, whatever it is, you can KNOW that your life has purpose.

 

Not because of feelings, not because of some religious talk for those foolish enough to believe that nonsense but because the truth is: YOU WERE MADE FOR A PURPOSE. Your life has intrinsic value because God gave you life. You are not an accident. God formed you in your mother’s womb. And maybe you think you're ugly, or you're nerdy, or you're a complete mess, maybe you are. Maybe you’re disabled or have ADHD or some life altering illness or mental struggle. Know this: God has always chosen the weak and the broken, those you would least expect to be used in big ways in His story. You might be thinking, you had me until you started talking about this foolish, religious stuff. Friends, I’m not talking about religion. I’m talking about life. God is writing a story and you are a part of that story. He will take your brokenness, your guilt and shame, your pain, your disappointments and will weave them into His beautiful story because He is the God of the broken and ugly of this world.

 

It’s drowning people who need a Savior. If you’re drowning, if you’ve reached the end of yourself, cry out to the One who hears. I know first hand He is there and He alone gives you and your pain a purpose. He alone takes away guilt and shame. He doesn’t promise to take away your problems, but He will walk with you through them all.

If you need someone to talk to, call a friend, call a teacher, call a pastor, call me. Don’t go through your struggles alone. And if you’re not in a hard season, reach out to someone who may be. Show kindness and the love of Christ to EVERYONE because you have no idea what they may be facing. Get out of your comfort zone and spend time with the hurting, the lonely, the sick, the dying. “When you’ve done it to the least of these, you’ve done it to me.”

 

And to everyone hurting, please for the love of those you care about, ALWAYS CHOOSE LIFE!

 

xo

Dawn