Story Suicide Part 1: Tell Your Story. Let's Make It Matter.Smakprov

When I started to write my book, Story Suicide, I called my friend, Darlene Mayo.  Darlene is a neuroscientist and a neurosurgeon.  I asked her to help me understand all that was going on in my mind when I went with suicidal thoughts into my walk-in closet. 

Have you ever been in a ‘winepress’ kind of moment?  I could hear my children playing in the other room and I could hear my beautiful wife clanging dishes in the kitchen preparing dinner, and still, I put my belt around my neck with the intention in my mind to end it.

Telling my Story released me from the inside out. 

Read these words from my friend Darlene: 

“From a neuroscience standpoint, simply sharing your story helps you to break free from patterns in your brain that were developed in times that you suffered a tragedy. When you keep your story to yourself, your brain has a tendency to replay, over and over again, events in your life that sent you into a spiral. Then, you are more likely to stay in that tragic mindset – it colors your decisions and your future. On the other hand, once you share your story with someone, your brain releases chemicals that cause your brain to form new pathways, healthy pathways, that allow you to see your story from a different perspective that allows you to view life and your experiences through a lens of hope, rather than a lens of despair. The deeper you go into sharing your story with others, and sharing the lessons you learned from your experiences, the faster and more powerfully these new connections develop. Your brain is designed to share your story.”

God’s interruption of Gideon in his ‘winepress’ moment was so timely.  Our FATHER in heaven is always on time, even when it doesn’t feel like it.

Listen to Leeland’s hit song, “Way Maker”:

Even when I don’t see it, You’re working

Even when I don’t feel it, You’re working

You never stop, You never stop working

You never stop, You never stop working

At the moment when Gideon needed someone the most, the angel of the Lord appears on the rim of the winepress to speak into him a VALUE that Gideon could not see himself.

Stop right now and hear our FATHER say to you: YOU ARE VALUABLE.

You are WORTH IT.

You are ENOUGH.

Your Story Matters.