Deus Misereatur

Suicide: Understanding and Intervening by Jeffrey S. Black My rating: 5 of 5 stars This short read is helpful for caregivers, pastors, friends and family of someone who has voiced suicidal thoughts or seems strongly moving in the direction of ending their life. Jeffrey Black gives several useful explanations as to the inner workings of someone who may be suicidal, and a few beneficial ways to engage them and seek to help them. This is a guide for the non-professional, and the author has listed several of the indicators that a person may be genuinely suicidal. Unfortunately I felt like some of the marks are missing. The pamphlet would have been even stronger if it had listed out more signs. Here are the standard symptoms (some of which are listed in the booklet and some that aren't): (1) Excessive sadness or moodiness. (2) Sudden calmness after a period of depression or moodiness. (3) Withdrawal including the loss of interest or pleasure in activities the person previously enjoye...

O Lord, we lift up our voices with the Psalmist (Psalm 28) and in the name of your Son, Jesus our Lord: To you, O LORD, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary. / O Lord God we pray for and with those who are bearing heavy strains from work or joblessness…; from disease and disorder….; from cracked up and crumbling marriages….; from rocky and wrecked families….; from darkness and depression….; from agitation and anxiousness….; hear their plea and hear us as we join with them. Like the blind man who came to Jesus, the woman with an issue of blood who snuck up on Jesus, and the Canaanite woman who pleaded with Jesus on behalf of her daughter; may they hear you say “ Great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire ” and be refreshed and restored! Do not drag me off with the wicked, ...