Did you know Gregg? Were you his friend? Did he make an impression on you? I have friends from all across the state of various backgrounds currently making tributes to him, but I don't recall ever having met his acquaintance. Yet, even as I read these moving tributes and vast outpouring of love, I feel a connection with him. And due to his openness I feel a shared background, from awkwardness to making everyone laugh. To 300+ $ prescription and meds to balance out chemical levels. A love for life, and for others, so vibrantly and frighteningly close to my own, that... it shakes my entire frame and soul with a most dreadful fear!
Yes, I'm getting vulnerable in this post. I'm being transparently honest here; Will I be next? I can't even imagine. Or, have I imagined... I'll admit there have been times, with increasing highs and bewildering lows, each one successively higher and lower than the one before. How could someone like him - someone like me - wind up dead, by their own hand?? No, I couldn't, I wouldn't. I'd never! Then, suddenly this stuff gets real, the Authors pen is stolen, and a final page penned prematurely.
I'm not suggesting that I'm considering or will ever consider suicide as an option. But what I am advocating is approaching this occurrence outside and inside ourselves as a time to truly question what's happening.
Were it depicted in a crime show, everyone would at least suspect the cause of death as a set up, a skillfully devised homicide, covered up and staged as suicide. This would be more believable - easier to accept. We can't believe it! All are left with a disheartening void, a hole, something missing, as our minds slowly process the news and our hearts accept the unimaginable. "I will forever treasure our times together," rings the universal cry of all who knew him, whether for a day or several years. Gregg, you were clearly loved. We do not look poorly on you for your choice. There is nothing left in our hearts but love. But oh how we all wish you were still here with us. Time to still meet and get to know you.
And so I invite you to consider.. If your loved one was on a spiritual or emotional battlefield, what is their rank? Is the Gregg (or inset victim of mental health complications here) a nobody? One doesn't have to read far into a tribute or even on Gregg's on public wall to tell he was a
What if there was an experienced military strategist, with thousands of years experience working behind the scenes? A con artist doping up powerful leaders, just a little at a time so as to go undetected. Something that causes chemical unbalances, far beneath the Armor of God that people like Gregg put on daily. What if there's no such thing as "negative self talk," but the enemy learned how to talk to this leader in his own voice? Leading him to an ambush instead of safety? And when they rose up in all their Valor to fight, they were stoned out of their right mind, chemically and lost the fight!
I'm talking mental illness. It's chemical. It's real. It goes beyond faith and jacks up will power. There is someone to blame for the increased rate of suicides. For the rise of talk spreading across all media platforms. God's using it for good, to raise awareness, to increase empathy and understanding, for every positive thing. Satan is using it to take down leaders.
Why, God are you letting these good people die!? Can't you do something about it? I bare witness that He is, through you, your compassion, your efforts to raise awareness, your goodness.
Please don't blame the wrong person for the source of all suffering! It's Satan. What, you say neither Satan, nor a loving God exist? How convenient... Do you think you've somehow outsmarted this experienced god of war, this god of all ambushes? Maybe he's learned to whisper in your ear, in your own voice too? How are your decoder expertise when it comes to spiritual discernment? How will you know.
And so I say, believe in God. Believe that He is! Believe that he IS good. Believe he is on your side and the source of ALL good! Hold on to every good thing and Trust in Him when you're not sure of your fate or the fate of a loved one. Start here, and press forward until you have laid hold onto every good thing. It will all work out! YOU can do this!!!
