My daily prayer is that the Lord might lead me to someone who is hurting and depressed...
...someone who may even be contemplating suicide. I know how quickly the dark demons of death can slip into a prisoner's mind, making life look so hopeless, and presenting suicide as the only way out. Over and over again, they whisper, "No one loves you. No one cares. There's no hope. End it all. The world will be better off without you." Believe me, I've been there. For years, I heard the same evil voice and felt that dreadful and powerful urge to die. And, oh, how the devil would love to see one more precious soul, beloved of God, plunge its way into an eternal hell.
How many prisoners throughout the years have already succumbed to this spirit of suicide? How many have given up on life, especially during the holidays when feelings of failure and loneliness seem to press in more intensely than at other times? That's why, when I'm working in the Intermediate Care Program in the mornings, I walk by each cell and check out each face, looking for a sign, an expression, anything that might indicate that an inmate is thinking of taking his own life.
In one sense, of course, I am only another prison inmate. Yet in another, I am a minister who represents Jesus Christ and who is directed by the Holy Spirit. If I can be used by God to help save a life, that's wonderful. I just want to be there for others when they are in crisis, for this is part of what Christianity is supposed to be about.
D.B.
Note: See Suicide is Everyone's Business.
How many prisoners throughout the years have already succumbed to this spirit of suicide? How many have given up on life, especially during the holidays when feelings of failure and loneliness seem to press in more intensely than at other times? That's why, when I'm working in the Intermediate Care Program in the mornings, I walk by each cell and check out each face, looking for a sign, an expression, anything that might indicate that an inmate is thinking of taking his own life.
In one sense, of course, I am only another prison inmate. Yet in another, I am a minister who represents Jesus Christ and who is directed by the Holy Spirit. If I can be used by God to help save a life, that's wonderful. I just want to be there for others when they are in crisis, for this is part of what Christianity is supposed to be about.
D.B.
Note: See Suicide is Everyone's Business.