How I Overcame the Second Leading Killer of Youth Today
My counselor shared with me these thoughts:
He told me that God was truly a God of grace.
We tend to think of God only in terms of performance standards. We must work for his love. We must earn his favor. However, the God revealed in the person of Christ is one of unconditional love and unmerited kindness. It's not that God's grace nullifies his commandments, but because of Christ's work on the cross our guilt and shame is absolved completely and forever.
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God's grace empowers us to rise above the slavery of our brokenness and live in the liberty of a righted mind and spirit. The same grace that saves us for heaven sustains us for life. I learned I could rest in God's grace.
He told me that I was very important.
People in the mental health field will often stress that every person needs to have a strong self-esteem. Youth musing suicidal thoughts typically feel worthless in some way.
My counselor told me that I was so important my Maker had me in mind before he laid the foundations of the world. He said the message of the Bible revealed that God decided in His providence that his plan would be incomplete without me.
What spectacular worth! What stupendous meaning for life!
He told me God had made a great sacrifice to ensure my membership in his family.
Few feelings are as overpowering to the person thinking about suicide than the feeling of loneliness. You feel that you don't fit in.
My counselor said that God loved me more than I could ever fully comprehend. He sent his own Son, Jesus, as his liaison to find me and redeem me. Because of Christ, he said, I was part of a royal family. I would always belong to God, and no matter what was happening in my life, the living Jesus would always be with me.
He told me that God was in control over all my circumstances.
Despair is the great persecutor of the suicidal.
My counselor said that for reasons we may never understand, God allows troubles and tribulations. Nevertheless, God promises to those who trust him that he will never allow any trouble into their lives that he will not overrule for their good.
In the moment of my greatest pain and misery, these words brought me hope and stayed my hand from taking my own life.
Although I didn't lay out each of the Bible verses that substantiate these points made by my counselor, they are still undeniably not simply his words, but God's.
Whether an adult or teen, if you are thinking about suicide, it may seem as though your world is impossibly bleak. But take it from someone who has been where you are, God is the God of the impossible, and he still has great plans for you.
Reach out for help. Don't give up. Look to Christ. Despite how you may feel, if you will trust him implicitly, things will get better.
