.

The third suicide in a month.

The words keep playing in my mind. How desolate is an area where there are three suicides in one month. An area as small as ours. Lives of young people. Young people that had a future. And on top of that, I think about all of the attempted suicides that occurred.  It is talked about as commonplace.  It is sad that the word suicide is used among young people here as even an option.

The signs are everywhere. Pictures in facebook or as personal imagines on messaging accounts. In the faces of those on the streets. In the way that kids talk about suicide, being a bother to others and their futures. The number of young folks that are leaving illegally to the states – weekly. There is a lack of work. A lack of options for the future. A lack of hope.

Without Jesus.

And yet we fight this battle daily here. The upside of hope. Trying to instill a life with Jesus. A life of hope. A life that shows something different. A way to provide for families.

I fight. My heart fights. I listen. I remind kids of hope.

With Jesus.

Because the desperation is real. Because the darkness around suicide often clouds a teen’s thinking so that they can’t see a life any other way. And they can’t comprehend a different life with Jesus either.  I asked some students this week why they think this is happening so common here and they talked about how you can make the decision so quickly – without even thinking.  And also about the lack of help here.  The lack of those willing to support struggling kids.  The combination of the two has not given this area a reprieve.

I cling to a message that I heard from a youngster this year. He had the courage to get up in front of his peers and talk about how he turned his back on God. How he walked away from what he was taught and what he knew. How he was living a different life. And yet Jesus pursued him and he realized that there was really only one way. He gave up all that he was caught up in and pursued Jesus back. And to me it was encouraging to see his courage to speak to his peers – and to speak out against the drugs and alcohol and suicide in this area. To look at his peers and say that there is hope.  To look to his peers and ask for forgiveness for going against God’s ways and not being who God intended for him to be.

Because there is hope. When we allow Jesus to pursue us.

And so this is my prayer for this area – that hearts would turn away from the cry of desperation and turn towards pursuing truth. Would you pray for this area. Would you pray for the youth. Would you pray for the women that have been left with their children.  Would you pray for healing within families.  That all could ee something different for their futures. That the  young people could see the hope that lies in their generation.