“Billy himself struggled with depression as did Christie...”
Christmas-time is really bad for some people. You start remembering the the people that have passed and how you miss them and how you could have done things differently.
For people who suffer from depression this time is the worst in my opinion.
For people who suffer from depression this time is the worst in my opinion.
They don't even have to suffer from depression, just living alone even tho you might have siblings who traditionally invite you over for Christmas Eve dinner then Christmas day.........
You still go to bed alone on Christmas eve and spend Christmas morning and afternoon alone.........
Christmas-time is really bad for some people. You start remembering the the people that have passed and how you miss them and how you could have done things differently.
My wife's birthday is December 13. Last year we got a call from her best friends husband the morning of Dec 13th. He told me his wife Marty had died of a heart attack in her sleep. He was at the Hospital when he called me at 6:00 am. I had to wake my wife up and tell her, and then I went to the hospital to be with him. I prayed for him and stayed by his side for a few hours until until his daughter arrived.
Because of the phone call, I totally forgot it was my wife's birthday until I came home and she was crying in bed. Until that moment I did not realize that in my rush to be with Gary at the Hospital in his time of need that I had awaken her up, not with a kiss and a,
"Happy birthday honey I love you."
But istead I woke her up with the sad news that her best friend had just died and I had to get to the Hospital to be with Gary, her husband. Needless to say my wife had a terrible birthday, compounded by the fact that just two weeks earlier she lost another close friend an older woman she had really gotten close to.
I had purchased a new Van for my wife last year and was planning on giving it to her on her birthday for a present that day. I still gave her the Van later that day, but understandably it was not the special gift it was meant to be because of Marty's death.
My wife was depressed most of last Christmas, and I can see moments of her being somewhat depressed this year. She has the added problem of still recovering from neck surgery to fix a disc problem she had.
All this to say that she blames herself for not contacting Marty for almost a Month because she was sick and her other friends death whom Marty did not know. She thinks she could have made a difference. I tell her it was the Lords time to bring Marty home, and we can only live with His timing. She understands it, but the guilt will always be there because of the missed conversations, and maybe the signs she feels she would have seen.
You know what sticks in my memory more than anything else from that day?
My friend Gary who's wife died that morning was still asking nurses and doctors if they knew the Lord Jesus and if they did not He wanted to share the Gospel with them.
It is the best testament of love for God and His Son that I have ever saw. Even in his pain, sorrow, and tears brother Gary was still about our Fathers business.
I pray for that kind of awareness for the Lords will everyday. It is this kind of understanding about God's will in our lives and a relationship with God that will ultimately help those who want to end their lives get through the most difficult times they face. When we have Jesus to live for we will not want to end our lives over anything this world seems to throw at us.