To Write Love..

September 5-11th is National Suicide Prevention week...

For the last few years I've been inspired by an organization called To Write Love on Her Arms, which has become quite the trend among teenagers, and musicians. Who cares if it's the "trendy" thing to do, if it's for a good cause. I'm glad this organization is finally getting recognition, which gives them a greater platform and louder voice to be able to help people struggling with depression, cutting, and suicide.

Working camp, and in student ministry, you just wouldn't believe the number of students I've met who are struggling with cutting and depression. You wouldn't believe the scars I've seen on these kids' arms and the pain I hear in their stories. It's absolutely heartbreaking to have a 17 year old tell you about times in her life that she felt so ugly, so unloved, so alone, that all she could do was carve physical pain into her arm, to escape the emotional anguish she felt with such intensity... and so many have stories like that.

Today, students, and supporters of this cause are writing "Love" on their arms to show their support for people who are suffering, and as I looked on their facebook page for this event, my heart was just overwhelmed with emotion. So many of those very people who wrote "love" on their arm, have scars of their own etched in to their skin. They've been to very dark places, and yet here they are offering hope and encouragement that new beginnings are possible.

As Christ followers, we all have the scars from the years we spent apart from Him, or the times we ran from Him. Sometimes my pride, my guilt keeps me from allowing others to see those scars. I choose to help people through their difficult times, without admitting out loud that their circumstance hits closer to home than they could ever imagine. How ridiculous.

I want to be a person that gives Hope. A person that shows others that I'm living proof that God is willing to reach down to the depths to rescue us, that He loves us, and that despite the dark places I may have been, I can trust that He is sovereign and I can know that everything I've ever faced is for a purpose and a reason. If I don't use those experiences to help others, to strengthen the Body, then really what was the point of it all??

To love others enough to be real and honest with them...

To love others enough to let them know they're not alone...

To love others enough to look at my past, and help someone not face what I did...

To love others enough to get out of my comfort zone, so they know they're love...

To be Christ to the world, so that they might know what Love really is.

For His glory...