Silence (at the expense on our health) is suicide

Suicide is a sin

Jesus came down to free us from sin

Therefore, I can count on Jesus to tell me when to speak up!

I wanted to go back to philosophy 101 with this gracious deductive reasoning on salvation and freedom from unspoken barriers in our lives.

(This is written specifically for people who are already aware of mental health resources.)

Why is it such a trend to talk about “breaking down barriers…” “Eradicating silence on oppression…ect…”? Because we are in the generation where our eyes have been opened about silent killers among us. We are realizing that our parents, great grand-parents had some things they lived through that were so cruel, if they were allowed to talk about openly or with professional help, they would have lived a much better life or died much later or lived a healthy life.

So now the other aspect of living in a time, where stigmas are being revealed and broken, is that we are becoming much much aware of the resources in our community to help us overcome our issues. Thus, when we are aware of these resources, yet decide the slow death of silence, it is safe to call this a slow suicide.

On this month dedicated to suicide awareness and prevention, I think about all of the people who are suffering in silence: People whose health will be affected by their silence; whose life will take a left turn because of their silence; whose children will be negatively influenced by their silence; whose family will be broken because of their silence; whose life will be shortened by their silence.

I have this image in my head of a suicide train with a long line of people with duct tapes over their mouths. SLOW SILENT SUICIDE!

This image gives me chills because my greatest flaw is that I was born a fixer. I see brokenness as an opportunity for something new and beautiful because I have been on both sides and learned the difference. When I see people suffering in silence, I become restless to find out how I can make this better.

However, the more I pray, the more God is selectively telling me to leave people alone! I have to say, I have not been a great student, but I am learning and improving every day.

This suicide train, however harsh this image may feel, cannot stop without the effort of the people on the line. It is a harsh reality, a hard pill to swallow but it’s the honest truth. You can advocate, educate, counsel, comfort until the end of time, but the decision to get off the line is up to the person on the receiving end.

So what can we do when we cannot get them to the doctors’ office or convince them to get off the line?

We pray for them!!! Do you have any better idea? I don’t.

God is the maker of men, the readers of hearts and the holder of all lives. He sees beyond your understanding and he understands all of the intricacies of these people on the line. He loves them just as much as he loves you. So we can keep them in our prayers long enough, God will unlock the darkness inside of them and open their eyes to other possibilities.

As human beings, we need to make peace with our limitations on how many people we can impact. That does not mean that we stop, now we must never stop because while we may not be able to save some, our words are getting through many others that were thirsty for our assistance specifically. All of us are assigned to specific people to impact. When you hit a crossroad with someone who is not the least impacted by your maximum effort, Go To God! Pray for them and find your peace!

love and light.