-Holding Out Hope-
You may have heard the saying, “Man can live 40 days without food, 4 days without water, up to 4 minutes without air, but he can’t live 4 seconds without hope.” I’m not sure if that is completely true, but probably not far off the mark. One thing there is no shortage of is hopeless, hurting people.
I’ve had to encourage many who have lost hope & are in utter despair to the point they wanted to end their life. While I’m no licensed counselor, I’ve tried to encourage them that life is definitely worth living. When we focus on our problems & difficult situations it makes a sort of tunnel vision that blinds us from the rest of the good stuff. We only see the bad. The trite saying is true: ‘suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.’
In my own family I’ve had two extended family members commit suicide. Depression is no laughing matter (no pun intended). I won’t bore you with stats, but suffice it to say there are scores of people who question if there is a reason to go on in life.
One thing I try to encourage is involving oneself in the lives of others. Helping those who are less fortunate or in desperate need helps us refocus our hearts on helping rather than our own hurts. Granted, there are real life issues we all need to face, & burying yourself won’t make them disappear, but it does help us when we help others.
I have so many sad stories of people who felt they had no way out but to end their life. Another sad truth is that when life doesn’t make sense people often turn away from God. At a time when one should be turning more for His help, people often blame God for the situation. It’s from the false assumption that we can fully understand all of life & its outcome & that God is not acting in our best interest. Rather than to lose faith when we can’t see the proverbial ‘light at the end of the tunnel’, it is a definite time faith is needed. The writer of Hebrews says this about faith & hope:
"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." Hebrews 11:1 NLT
If you feel you have no hope or feel overwhelmed with your life, please feel free to call. My policy is to freely help with a couple of ‘counsel’ times & if it is beyond me I will definitely connect you with a qualified counselor who works on a ‘slide scale’. Those of us in ministry had always rather try to encourage folks before they are sitting with a gun to their head in the middle of the night, distraught & irrational, or calling with their stomach full of pills. If you feel hopeless I’m here to hold out hope to you. Simply contact me.

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Dave Jackson-Campus Minister djackson@absc.org cell 870-217-937