Please Don't Give Up On Life!!!

glitter-graphics.com

The following response was inspired by reading this:  CLICK ME, PLEASE!!!

The woman in this story was 91 years old--the same age as my mom will be come April 6.  However, as with myself, she'd like to know what it feels like to celebrate her 100th birthday--and, perhaps, a few more.  We'll leave here when God calls us to leave and not a moment sooner! 

However, it's not just the very elderly who make decisions whether or not to commit suicide.  It's teenagers and even younger--plus all ages between (and even after) age 91.  This article speaks the truth!!! 

I know of several cases where young people (not even 40 years old) have attempted suicide.  One of those people was someone whom I even rescued, and she and her two young daughters were so thankful that they wanted to take me out to eat with them at a steakhouse!!!  I didn't really do that much.  I was just there for them at the right time, thanks to God's leading during a random drive that I was simply taking for the fun of it.

Another incident took place over the Thanksgiving weekend.  The young lady involved wasn't quite 21 years old, and she was feeling worse than she had in her entire life, didn't know why, and wondered if she would ever be the happy person she was again.

It just so happened that this young lady was very good friends with another one who wasn't much older but had, also, been going through some conflict.  Within two years time (when she was 19 and when she was 21) she'd gone through the pain of losing her big brother and her mother.  Now, she had just gotten wind of how she might end up losing her recent promotion indefinitely thanks to how, among the troops now able to come home, there would probably be a person with seniority who would be entitled to get the job back that was now held by this young woman.  She had, in fact, already been returned to her former position.

The work had taken her nearly 100 miles away from where she'd grown up--and, now, she was starting to regret the decision to leave her familiar surroundings and simply be stuck in this job.  It gave her good pay and benefits, but how much was it really worth to be so far away from her family who would, likely, be needing her more than ever.  It would be better for her to work as a waitress about 20 miles away from home (if the restaurant still had a place for her after she had quit there for this more promising job), even if the pay and benefits weren't anywhere close to what she'd be making. 

There weren't any actual thoughts of suicide involved--but just a feeling of homesickness and regrets that she hadn't been at home more often to spend more time with her mom.

With the young woman going through her first frightening experience of depression, there HAD been thoughts of suicide--though, actually, no first-person thoughts along those lines.  Just her words that were along the lines of:

"I've always felt sorry for people who committed suicide, but I never before knew how it personally felt to have the kind of feelings that would make somebody decide to commit suicide, and, now, I do.  Don't worry!  I won't do it!  I just mean I can understand how they feel..."

I don't have to look that story up in Snopes to see if it really happened and if the woman actually did go on with her life and see things get better for her--because I know that woman personally.

When I said that this took place over Thanksgiving Weekend and that the woman was almost 21 years old, I wasn't talking about Thanksgiving Weekend 2012.  I was talking about Thanksgiving Weekend 1973.

I didn't just know that woman in the way of knowing another person--I knew her because I WAS her!  And, almost 40 years later, I'm the woman whom she became by choosing to live!

Even though I'm currently going through a pretty rough and challenging time in my life, I would say that the years I've lived since 1973 have been very happy and hopeful ones.

As for the other young woman who was a very good friend?  She was--and still is--a very good friend, but we weren't in our twenties at the same time.  She was actually in her early fifties when she told me that story to encourage me when it came to knowing that things would get better.  She told me how she had decided not to quit her job--at least, not right then--and return home to become a waitress.

Not long after that, she met this wonderful guy, and they ended up getting married and having a daughter.

I'm that daughter!

It will be 40 years for me this coming November from when I said those words and around 68 years for my mom when we were going through those challenging times--the kind of times that, sadly, make too many people decide to give up on life.

Please don't try to be "courageous," "unselfish," or whatever by ending your life, if you're thinking along those lines.  Just let people know what's going on with you.  The answer might not be an immediate one, but it will come in time.

God made you, and you have a value!  Even if you've done some things that are so nasty that you really need to spend some time behind bars, never consider yourself to be worthless.  Just pray about it and find a way for you to bloom where you've been planted.  I might be very ticked off at the decisions you've made that have hurt other people, but I'm still going to be keeping you in my prayers, love, and positive thoughts!

Mike Map Pierce--One Of My Heroes!!!

glitter-graphics.com

I needed to go ahead and post this, but I wanted to make sure that the previous one also gets read (as this blog is new and just starting to get around places, which means that it hasn't picked up much of its reading audience yet), so please click here to read A Kindness Returned.

The purpose of this blog-entry is to introduce you to a pretty amazing guy--and a former resident of my hometown of Anderson, Indiana: Michael Alan "Map" Pierce.

I met him just recently in a group at Facebook called If you grew up in Anderson, IN where he's one of the hosts. 

There's a lot to be said about Map--most of it being very positive.

For what might be said that isn't so positive, it would be some of the mistakes he's made in his past, but we've all had our regrets--if not regrets like his, still, some of our very own.  We always need to remember that nobody is perfect but Jesus.

One thing that makes him one of my very special heroes is how he was able--with lots of help from God and various earth angels sent to him at just the right time--to take those mistakes from his past and turn them into something positive.  

He has written a book of modern day psalms called Praying Poems, and I'm sharing his words here to let you know more about it...

To whom it may concern;

   I am a writer/poet residing in Nashville, TN.  I grew up in Anderson, Indiana and would like to introduce my work as a way to help understand addiction and how far reaching it effects on everyone.
   I started dabbling with drugs when I was in Jr. High and have never looked back.  When I was 17 I had my own house and started selling marijuana.  This led to others drugs and set me off in a life of addiction and turmoil.
   Another battle that I had was controlling my emotions.  There were times when I lost everyone including my family and friends.  When I was in my late 20’s my wife left with my kids and never returned.  I struggled many years, finding comfort in God.  He led me playing with my pen and paper and I found there was a little Spirit in my pen buy always fell back due to my grief.
    On December 10, 2001 I got arrested for distributing cocaine.  They gave me 16 years but I served four.  Poetry was my only escape - I wrote over 2,000 poems while incarcerated.  When I was released on August 31, 2005 I found the poetry scene in Nashville wasn’t the same as it was before my arrest.  I did manage three years of clean time until my hunger for weed hit me.  I indulged my desire to smoke pot and eventually starting drinking again.  In June of 2012 I got a citation for simple procession of less than two joints of weed.  I checked into an Out-Patient-Therapy group and started a 26-week program.  I participated with this group but would come home and drink until the last month.  I wanted the cycle to end for I didn’t want to fall again after graduation.  I joined 5 recovery Facebook groups and started going to recovery meetings.  It was the best decision I have ever made.   A few months later I humbled myself on my knees and started fully turning my life over to God of the Christian Faith.   For some unknown reason my words came out as poetic lines which led me writing Spiritual poetry.  The more I shared my poetry with my friends, the more they encouraged me to try to get this message out so I wrote a 26 poem collection of Christian-based recovery poems I call “Praying Poems.”
     I do not write these as a proud effort but I am striving to keep myself as humble as I can. The collection has true stories about my life and my experience in carrying this vision as far as I can.
     The collection is being self-published in a 40 page small book printed on a low budget.  I would like to keep this as affordable as possible.   My dream is to carry this message to as many avenues as I can possibly reach.  It has been complimented by everyone who has seen it.  One writer said it would be a great supplement for daily devotionals and will be looked at as far from the Christian Mainstream but he saw it as a modern day Psalms.  It’s not that I shared this as pride but as humbled by this collection as I can be.  I strive to think about God first in all that I do from writing it to distributing it out.  Without Him this is for nothing and I look for him in how I present this.
   The poems themselves are being published in a website formed in my hometown. connectmadisoncounty.com has them in the Faith section.   I encourage everyone to find them and let them reflect on them and what I am attempting to share.
   I ask you to pray before deciding how this affects your heart.  If you understand anything about this and know of a way I can share these poems I would appreciate it very much.  I would like to say again this is no great work by me but a humble effort to be delivered from addiction through Jesus Christ.  Addiction leads to many broken hearts and can be cured through God if only we give him a chance to help us recover.
  The book sells for $6.00 or $10.00 to ship, will consider a lower price for a quantity order.   All proceeds will go to halfway houses for I cannot accept anything for recovery
   Thank you for taking time out of your day to let me share my story,

Michael Alan Pierce  aka Map…

Feel free to share this if you are led

Here's some more information I found from Map that will show you where to send your check (book $6 and shipping and handling $4 with a total of $10 when you buy a single copy)...

As a part of my recovery I have been working hard in recovery based poetry and will release it to the public the month of February. I do not take pride in this collection; it is more of a humble offering to God for showing me a better life outside of Alcohol and Drugs. The profits will go to halfway houses in appreciation of all the help they gave me while coming out of prison. This 1st collection is a look of what it was like, the next one will be how much my life has changed.
We are asking $6 per book with $4 for shipping. Orders will be accepted January 25th. (This is not to say there will be a gathering at our residence. It is to show where you could send your check or money order to me and I will get it out before the February 1st.) If you believe in this cause like many please share this on your wall. It is a worthy cause for your timeline. $6 for the collection with $4 for shipping to Michael Pierce, 912 Spain Ave. Nashville TN 37216

One more thing...Please keep Map and his family in your prayers, love, and positive thoughts at this time, as his brother just passed away unexpectedly (for Map, that is, as he didn't realize how sick he was, as his brother didn't want him worrying about him). 

This won't be the last time I'll be writing about Map here, I'm sure, but, for now, I need to sign off...

A Kindness Returned...

glitter-graphics.com

hen you think about it, there isn't such a thing as a good deed that is totally unselfish.

Why?

Because I believe that, when we do something kind for someone else, we're left with a wonderful feeling of fulfillment--which means that each good deed we do comes with a sort of instant reward.

Therefore, it can't be totally unselfish!

However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing--in fact, I don't really see anything bad about it.  It's just a fact of life.

Many times, we do something that's both very positive and very simple such as smiling at somebody...



...and, while it feels good to us, we have no idea how SUPER good it felt to one or more of the individuals receiving such a smile! 

When I was growing up, I had several volumes of Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories, and loved reading them over and over.

One story that really impressed me was about this man whose wife and daughter had died during the year, and what was coming up would be his very first Christmas without them.

His friends were naturally concerned about him, as he seemed to have lost interest in living.

To say that he was well-off financially would have been an understatement.  He might not have been (had this story taken place here in the 21st Century) right up there with Bill Gates, but he was a lot closer in bank account to Bill Gates than he was to that of a family living on the wrong side of the tracks.

However, no amount of money he had in the bank, property, investments, etc. could fill those holes left in his broken heart that were shaped like his wife and daughter.

Somehow--even as miserable as he felt--his friends had succeeded at talking him into going to a special benefit concert to help make the lives of some of the less fortunate (financially) in his community better. 

He and his friends had front-row seats to where they were able to see the performers up-close-and-personal.

At any other time, he would have really enjoyed this, but, that night, he just wanted this to be over so that he could return home and cry himself to sleep.

In the state of mind that he was in, he might have ended up doing much more than crying himself to sleep, as he had gotten to the place where he had decided that life really wasn't worth living. 

Then, the next bunch of performers came on:  a choir made up of several of the children whom this benefit would be helping. 

Suddenly, he saw her--a little girl who reminded him so much of the daughter he had lost earlier that year.

He, likely, looked more than a little sad, and this child instinctively knew that he needed a smile, so she looked right at him and gave him one of her best.

He just melted at that point and smiled right back at her.

Throughout the rest of the time the choir was performing, the two were looking at each other and smiling.

After that, the man began to ask the people in charge of the benefit a few questions.  He left the benefit a much happier man with a new spark of hope and purpose in his heart.

Meanwhile, special things began to happen to the little girl.  Her school supplies--which also included her school lunch and milk break--were getting paid for, and she always had new clothes to wear at the beginning of each school year.

Somehow, she never made the connection between this and the man in the audience when she was singing.  

However, she became more and more confident that she could do things that had never happened in her family before such as becoming the first one of them to graduate from high school.

She even began to see college as part of her future, so she studied very hard and applied for scholarships at many colleges and universities.

Then the evening of her high school graduation arrived.

After the ceremony, a man who looked familiar for some reason but not anybody whom she knew walked towards her and her family.

He revealed that he had been her secret pal for many years and why this was so:

Because she had smiled at him and had lifted his spirits during a very sad time in his life!!!

The next thing he told her that any part of her college education that wasn't covered by scholarships was on him!!!

If I remember correctly, the name of the story I read was either called The Worth Of A Smile or The Value Of A Smile.

Now, don't expect to go down the street grinning at everybody and watching your bank account magically fill up with money, because it generally doesn't happen that way.

That wasn't the lesson Uncle Arthur was trying to teach when he told that story--at least, I don't believe so.

What I believe that he was trying to teach was that something as simple as a friendly smile had the potential to make a very positive difference in even the most troubled of lives.

There are times when the seeds of kindness you sow end up returning to you at a time when you can use them the most.

I dare you not to shed at least one tear when watching this very moving two-part episode of The Jeffersons...

glitter-graphics.com