Hope for the Hopeless

[carp614]

God has done a lot of work on me recently. I have been working hard to make my life point to Jesus. I volunteer with my daughters and work hard to show anyone who is paying attention that God saved me and changed me. God has beaten addictions and selfishness out of me and I am so on fire with gratitude that it leaks out into every interaction I have with people. I’ve become intentional on social media as well, making clear to anyone who will listen that Jesus is the reason they see what they see in me and anyone who wants it can have it too if they are willing to repent and turn their life and will over to Jesus.

About a month ago, in one week, two friends committed suicide. They could have reached out anytime they needed help, but they would not be dissuaded. They both had strong personal relationships. They were not isolated. They had support. They were tethered to people who deeply loved them and regularly showed them God’s love. They had family’s counting on them. They had every reason to live, but nothing would dissuade them from their path.

This morning I was driving to work and I heard Danny Gokey’s song “Haven’t Seen it Yet” and this lyric just completely wrecked me:

Don’t ever lose hope, hold on and believe
Maybe you just haven’t seen it
Just haven’t seen it yet
You’re closer than you think you are

I have been where these guys were. I know what they were thinking. I lived it for years. I couldn’t see how close God was. But when I called, God kicked through every barrier I had put between us and helped me to close the door on that kind of thinking.

These guys, my friends, were so close! It was right there, inches from their grasp…and they either didn’t see it or didn’t think it mattered.

I have been so convicted about this. It has made me feel really desperate to show people God loves them. For years now, God has been trimming things out of my life that don’t point to him. That process seems to have accelerated recently. I’ve been bolder, less afraid to tell people the Truth.

I used to understand how people could have everything this world has to offer and yet still lose hope. I used to know what they was like. Now I find that I can’t relate anymore.

How could my friends lose hope? Why couldn’t they see God loved them? How do you reach someone in this state of mind?

I’d love to know what you think…

but mostly I want you to know that God absolutely loves you no…matter…what.

 

[mnphysicist]

Your post parallels what a pastor friend of mine once said...

And then a few years later, he attempted suicide, and fortunately was not successful.

As far as How could my friends lose hope?
In my pastor friends case, rescuing folks from the WTC post 911 was a pretty traumatic situation. Pastoring a toxic church after that didn't help either, getting fired from said church, loosing his medical insurance, and then being subject to massive medical malpractice didn't help either.

Why couldn’t they see God loved them?
They probably did, my friend knew this, believed it, preached it, and lived it. Within ones Christian walk, sometimes God seems to be very close, and at other times, God will seem to be very distant, and no amount of trying to force the issue will change it. Even in distance, faith confirms that God loves us... but sometimes life circumstances get to be far too much to deal with even for the extremely devout.

How do you reach someone in this state of mind?
Be there for them, pray lots, and then its in God's hands. In my friends case, were it not for folks being there for him, he'd no longer be here.... and when he woke up in the ER, he was really angry at them for intervening. It took a couple years for those relationships to be restored.

He once again understands...

Hopefully such a path is one you will never experience.