I guess when you are still processing something heavy, it's difficult to find a starting point.
So I'll just write and see where God takes me.
Behind the brightest smiles, you can also find the most broken of hearts. There is so much more going on in people's hearts and minds than they often let on. Sometimes they ask for help...but sometimes they don't.
And sometimes there is nothing you can do.
But looking at the bigger picture, maybe there is something you can do.
Our family has had two great tragedies in the past year. My cousin took his life in June and my aunt, his mother, took hers this past Monday. This has been devastating. It is so difficult to process. It's unfathomable. The three surviving children are amazing in how they have handled this great loss - the strength and grace they have shown is astounding. But these three, and their amazing families, understand.
Perhaps they don't understand in the sense that they have walked the same difficult paths of their mother and brother. But they lovingly understand the struggles that both of them dealt with in this life.
Overwhelming grief and sadness, broken hearts, insurmountable depression, loss of hope, tired of trying, exhausted by life's devastations...
And this is where I think we can all take steps to make a difference.
Understand. Don't judge. You know that whole, "...walking a mile in someone else's shoes"? There's a reason that phrase came to be. Because we don't know what the other person is going through, what their heart is feeling, what their mind is struggling with. We are not all built the same. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. So we can work on being understanding.
There's a part of me that wants to yell: TALK ABOUT IT!! There are still such stigmas surrounding depression, anxiety disorders, panic attacks, emotional breakdowns. But if we talk about them, share our struggles, let people know they are not alone in their battles, maybe we start to make a difference, maybe we teach the teens how to cope with stress and anxiety, maybe we begin to forge hope in people's lives that if she can overcome it or if he can learn how to deal with it, so can I.
And then there is a word that one of my brothers brought to the forefront of my mind earlier this week: be intentional. Text, call, visit, be thoughtful, don't ignore the promptings of your heart to talk to someone in your life. Be intentional in communicating, not only in contacting them, but in what you say as well. Build up. Encourage. Be the bringer of hope. The world needs more hope.
Hope. That word is the meaning behind life.
I don't know where you find hope, but I'll tell you where mine comes from.
My hope comes from a Father in heaven who has a place reserved for me, a place that I don't deserve. Yet He loved me so much that He gave me the most incredible gift: grace. He took away all the undeserving parts of me and gave me the gift of heaven.
This life here on earth is difficult. It is riddled with the results of our sinful natures. But we are here for a time, until God determines it is time for us to join Him. I choose to live a life of gratitude. I live with purpose, knowing that God has me here for His reasons, even if I don't always understand them. I choose to live a life filled with the hope of heaven, a place where sin and sadness will be no more (and where there will be all kinds of amazing candy and no cavities, according to my children - seriously, sometimes kids "get it" easier than we do!)
Life is bigger than just here on earth.
That's where I find my hope.
Spread that hope.
KC
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