Cry for Hope: 12.8 Minutes!

Sue I Side: A Cry/Call for Hope

This is a note to My Sister(s) and My Brother(s) who have felt death was their best option because Hope unborn had died. This could be you the reader or someone you know so PLEASE continue reading, either for yourself or someone you know.

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, reporting from 2013 (the most recent available) statistics, someone in the United States died by suicide every 12.8 minutes. The same report concluded: http://www.afsp.org/understanding-suicide/facts-and-figures

 ·         The highest suicide rate (19.1) was among people 45 to 64 years old.

·         The second highest rate (18.6) occurred in those 85 years and older.

   ·         Adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 24 had a suicide rate of 10.9

I write this because I know your life has value, I write this because I know your present circumstances are temporary, I write this because I know physical death is permanent, I write this because I Love You and I know Jesus Loves and wants to Love You to an abundant life right now on this Earth.

You are Loved to depths not yet known! When life has thrown you what seems like your final blow – duck, run, absorb it, seek help – BUT don't give/permit your adversity to pronounce the last word on your life, leaving all to wonder what or who you could have become. 

Don’t let us off the hook that easily, explain to us right now, how deeply you hurt, your feelings of helplessness, shame, distrust, worthlessness, hopelessness, being violated, devalued, etc. Tell us how angry you are with us, tell us of your sense of rejection, tell us how you haven’t forgiven us…tell us that you think it's impossible to forgive yourself. Tell us how your fears, your inadequacies, your secrets have you entangled in a spiral of despair.

Tell us now, let us be angry together, let us cry together, let us forgive together, let us pray together, let us heal together. Don’t let us die together because if you go, I might be alive but part of me will be dead too. Let’s strive toward life together!!  

Let us find Hope together!

In this moment where you are right now, in this season – darkness may be your tormentor yet given the opportunity LIGHT always prevails. The psalmist reminds us “weeping comes, weeping indeed endures however Joy returns, Joy will and does overcome” (Psalm 30:5).

I am praying right now for you – you might be in the throes of a health crisis, financial debt, family feuds, friends who proved to be traitors, grief, depression, etc. and you feel like giving up. What you're experiencing IS REAL don't let the super spiritual, the super motivators, the super encouragers downplay what's presently happening in your life.

In the same breath I plead with you to give Hope, Love, and Joy the opportunity to rise as a phoenix "from” and “within" your same darkness, to restore and begin filling you with wholeness. Know that pain, numbs our senses weakening our abilities to: think, see, touch, smell and taste. As a result, God’s love, grace and forgiveness may seem very distant leaving our reality clouded - filled with irrational thoughts and our understanding compromised, we reject that sweet, powerful and freeing serum called Hope. 

With despair becoming our constant companion,

darkness continues to eclipse our thirst for Light.

In these moments, God, a tried and true comforter wants us to remember God is trustworthy. Even a shaken Hope can be our buoy while wading through raging waters of challenges. In our desperation, let us summon the strength to trust that God will be our life jacket.  With a mustard seed of faith, may you find the wherewithal to swallow the serum of Hope, believing just enough in the healing power of God who promises "to lead you to quiet pools of fresh water; who gives and will give you strength anew and is guiding and will guide you in the right paths" (Psalm 23:2-3) toward recovery and release from life's disappointments and despairs. 

My plea to my sisters and brothers whose grasp on hope continues to loosen, to you who have felt/are feeling the enticement of ending your woes – I beg of you - cling to the possibility of "better days", yes, of better tomorrows.

Thoughts of suicide (sue I side)? Don't allow momentary despair to lure you out of position, you weren’t created to be your own judge or juror(y). I am crying out to you, don’t surrender to an irreversible doom. “Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers!!” 

These considerations might persist, but in their midst I fervently pray you here these words anew – Jesus says: "God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of Good News to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free..." (Luke 4:18-20).

The suffering we experience isn't meant to devour us – our trouble and pain doesn't have to diminish us. Jesus reminds us that His - purpose, promise and power is to deliver, redeem and free us. Through our struggles we can learn to see "God is a very present help in the midst of our troubles"; we can begin to feel we (human spirit) are stronger than we ever imagined; we can know there are friends, family and strangers that will rejoice with us and weep with us. We/You aren’t alone!

Every moment we hold out, God's Light continues to penetrate, break and chip away at darkness' encasement. As the light of God's love exposes our wounds at once the healing balm of Hope melds with our life's journey and begins mending our broken places. Recovery isn't absent of pain but the pain experienced can be redemptive – leading us toward our resilient spiritual selves, reclaiming ourselves as “made in the image of God, having God’s likeness and being blessed by God with purpose and power” (Genesis 1:27-28).

Hear this reminder my sisters and my brothers – you are never alone in this rehearsal called Life. You are never bound to your present circumstances. You never have to live without Hope – "We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. 

We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the Hope of living. 

We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed" (II Corinthians 4:8-9).

Life/Our journey is a process, you can succeed at every level – you can conquer every obstacle! Each day, in each moment hold on to God's promise of victory "Even when you walk through the darkest valley, don’t be afraid, for God is close beside you. God’s rod and staff protects and comforts you" (Psalm 23:4) remain steadfast and soon you will confidently say God, "I know that your goodness and love will be with me all my life; and your house will be my home as long as I live." (Psalm 23:6) 

There’s no doubt, Life can be hard as crucible steel but you can survive and defeat your every adversity.

Thoughts of/Attempts at suicide no more!

Sue I side with life forever more!

 Sue I side with Hope

Remember the depths of Jesus’ love is unfathomable and that Jesus is faithful to His promises. My sisters and my brothers, I love you and pray you experience Jesus’ Love so that in whatever you do or go through, you cling to the Hope in Christ! 

If your senses get compromised, let your cry for Hope lead you to a family member(s), a friend(s), a spiritual advisor(s), even a stranger(s), someone. Also this hotline is available 24-hours, 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

We LOVE YOU and want to LIVE with YOU!

Believe with me:

Sue I side with Hope!

“God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who hast by Thy might,

Led us into the Light,

Keep us forever in the path, we pray. . .”

-- 

INSPIRED BY LOVE, 

Pastor Marcus J. Singleton

PastorSingleton@gmail.com