Day 4 - 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.

One more resource I could not fail to mention is the CD which cover is pictured above, titled Chaos of the Heart. Again, this is a religious resource, and I would say it has been the single-most helpful item I have found for this situation. Combining original music and spoken word, this CD is filled with comfort and perspective that I have not found anywhere else. There is something amazing about music, in that its capacity for holding and expressing emotion cannot be limited. No matter the depth of the sorrow or the height of joy, music can express it unlike any other medium. And the words and music on this CD masterfully weave together the pain, questions, anger, guilt, and sorrow in a very honest way, yet give the listener comfort and hope that they will not only make it through the dark valley but emerge with blessing and joy on the other side.

If you have a friend who is a person of faith who goes through the loss of a loved one to suicide, I cannot think of a single thing you can do to be more helpful to that person in their difficult journey than to give them a copy of this CD.