It seems like lately I’ve had a lot of people approach me with this kind of thing. I guess that I’m glad that they are coming to me because I can sincerely empathize with them.
I want you to take note and see that I used the word empathize rather than sympathize. There is a distinct difference. Sympathy means that somebody can feel sorrow for you, and understand that you are upset. While empathy means that they have felt or are feeling what you are going through.
I was messed up as a teenager. No, I wasn’t into drugs alcohol, or caught up in promiscuous sex, but I was a depressed mess. I could never shake the feeling that I was slopping through a mire of a life that nobody could possibly understand. Nobody could reach me to take my hand. My friends had no clue, and my family was even more clueless. There was literally not a single person who could understand a loneliness like I was being kept in a black box. I was sitting in a dark prison that the keys had been thrown away to just contemplating how bad my life was.
I didn’t realize that there was hope beyond anything I could have hoped for. There was a light that was so bright that it hurt to look at at first. I was afraid of the darkness that I still held within me. It was kind of like when somebody turns on your bedroom light in the middle of the night, and you can’t open your eyes all of the way.
When I saw the fullness of Truth that Jesus offered…no, when I accepted the fullness of Truth that Jesus offered, I wept. What else could I do? After years of sitting in my black hole, I caught a glimpse of a pin light. After coming to the realization that I needed Christ in my life if I was ever to survive, I might as well been walking on the surface of the sun. Jesus came to me. He was willing to climb into that dark box and sit with me. He sat with me and held me until I was willing to come to Him. He was the one the reached down and pulled me from that mire. I kept on looking for people around me to pull me through the mire, when he reached down and pulled me up and out. I had my focus all wrong.
I realized after a few years of being a Christian that God must have something amazing planned for my life. If I went through such a horrid personal hell He must have saved me for something worthwhile. He saved me from the emptiness and loneliness, and even from me taking my own life.
If you answered yes to either of the questions at the beginning of this novel, you can make it through. I’ve been through an incredible journey that started right where you are. I do encourage you to talk to somebody that can help you. There are people that genuinely care about you that would do anything to see you smile. More importantly, God wants to see you smile. Now I want you to go to our music section at http://www.cheerupcharlie.com/music/ and listen to the song More. More is a love song from Jesus. He loves you more than you’ll ever know.
As you read this know that I will be praying for you. And yes, I mean that. I will pray for everybody that reads this and has been affected. Hopefully this has meant something to you, and maybe even opened your eyes. I love you all. Peace.

Through our risen Lord,
Seth