Day 3 - National Suicide Awareness Week

*Note: I am going to try to do posts each day this week (no promises) with information that I hope will be helpful concerning the problem of suicide. If you have not already done so, please read my initial introductory post on the topic for my background and a way that you can participate in helping to address this awful problem that devastates so many lives.

Also, if anyone reading this has his or her own blog, I would be grateful if you might be willing to do a post sometime this week mentioning the week (feel free to link to my blog if you want). Most people don't think of suicide beyond the occasional publicized celebrity death, but when it happens to someone you love, you too would wish more was being done to help those who fall into such deep despair. A post this week can be a small step in helping with that cause.

I am going to do one more post here concerning a book that I have read on the topic of dealing with the suicide of a loved one. There are many books and articles I have read, but this book and the book I mentioned two days ago are the ones I have found most helpful.

Both books offer very good and very helpful advice for those who have found themselves in the depths of this trial, but as a person whose faith is very important to me, I felt the one area the first book lacked was a bold and honest look at the difficult questions that come up for those who believe in a God that we say is good and loving when something tragic such as this happens. The first book is admittedly written to a very broad audience and does an admirable job of offering hope to both religious and secular alike. But because its stated audience is different, it very naturally is more delicate in its approach to religious topics.

Finding Your Way After the Suicide of Someone You Love by David Biebel and Suzanne Foster, on the other hand, is straightforward about the fact that it is written to an audience that holds to a faith in a God as generally defined by the teachings of the Bible. So, if that is not your background, this book may not be as palatable to you, though I think the tenderness and compassion with which the book was written would be appreciated by all.

But suicide does, for those who are people of faith, bring up some very difficult questions that cannot be answered by a pat on the back and some trite religious catchphrases. And, Biebel and Foster handle this in a real way, without glossing over the intense emotions and anger that can very naturally arise within the heart of someone who goes through this seemingly senseless devastation. Thus, I believe this book is essential first reading for a person in grief who is searching for how tragedy can co-exist with the belief in a God who loves those in pain.