Today we have a guest post from my friend Natalie Marie encouraging all those contemplating suicide that they are loved and valued and worth fighting for. Sometimes the hardest people to fight for is ourselves, and I know that a lot of chronically ill people struggle with mental illnesses as well. I’m getting this up a little late for suicide prevention week, but just because the week is over doesn’t mean the need for awareness and encouragement is gone.

Trigger Warning: poem mentions suicide in a round-about way.

Dear fighter

You are seen. You are loved.

You aren’t alone, but known from above.

Your struggle is real, but you are here

I see you. I love you.

Drop the pills, release the knife 

Don’t kill yourself, don’t take your life!

You belong in this story

Not erased from history

Dear survivor

I know the pain, I know the guilt

The thought of ending it all, and how it felt

But you matter, 

You make today better

The struggles will come, and you will fight

You know how to fight the darkness of the night

Put a semicolon where that period should’ve been

Your story doesn’t have to end.

Dear warrior

You have survived

You know how to fight

You have battled the terrors of the night

Pass the baton, continue the race

Weather the storms other people face

Take your scars, share them proud

Be the lifeline that you have found.

To read another of Natalie’s guest posts on R535, check on this one on finding healing and freedom in full surrender. God can use our brokenness for His glory when we accept His grace.