I've been waiting to post this so as not to cover up anyone else's requests. But I think that I really have to pay attention to my inner sense of urgency to bring Jonathan to this group for prayer. You're a powerful circle of prayer here, and Jonathan needs serious healing, today.

Jonathan is my Godson. He's in his early 20's, and I've known him since before he was born. I love him so much, which is why it hurts so much to know that he's seriously suicidal right now. He just got released from hospital, where he's been under suicidal watch for the past 2-3 weeks.

I won't go into all the details, but this boy has had a very sad life, and has struggled with depression since he was about 8 years old. It's amazing and miraculous that he's managed to pull himself this far. But he's finding it almost impossible to move beyond his miserable past...I doubt that he's known much genuine joy in his life and so he probably cannot imagine that it's out there to be found, much less actually possible for himself.

He needs new hope, new courage, new purpose and maybe even a new heart, since his has been shattered over and over again by the circumstances of his young life.

Please keep my beloved Jonathan in your prayers. He lives so far away from me and I'm not able to spend time with him or be of much practical help to him. He lives in a rural, fairly poor area and has very limited access (and no funds whatsoever) to professional help (his GP sees him once a month!) So he needs help and money (preferably a source of income) as well.

For those who have read "Eagle", you might be interested to know that Jonathan was one of the people I wrote it for. He was always in the back of my mind. I sent him a copy, but his mother, who I also love and admire for raising four children on her own in dire poverty, pretty much ended up "hitting him over the head" with my book, using it to try and make him "snap out of it" and "pull his socks up". Needless to say, my book didn't have the tender impression that I always meant it to have, especially for him.

Anyway, long-winded again, but I know what an incredible power house of prayer we are here, so I commit Jonathan to God through your awesome prayers! Thank you!

[ November 14, 2005, 07:17 PM: Message edited by: Eagle Heart ]

I will be praying for Jonathan.

My prayers are with Jonathan, too. I've been that suicidal route. Sometimes I think the effect on those who have to stand by and watch someone they love suffring is even harder.

I will join the others in prayer for Johnathan. And for you. I'm sure you have been a blessing to him.
smile

Eagle,
Our prayers and positive thoughts will be with Jonathan. It is wonderful that he has you to care about him this way. How rural is he? Would he be at all interested in education? Incredible grants, loans, and scholarships are available out there. And once he was involved in a shcool, that might give him access to mental health professionals. Just a thought.

Fifty

Dear Eagle: I'll be praying for Jonathan. God cares for each person as if it were the only one. It is good to know that he understands each and every hardship or circumstance we face.

I pray that Jonathan will find a reason to live far more powerful than anything else: the love that God has for each of us and how special we are to him.

God bless you!

Eagle, I will surely add Jonathan to my prayer list. The first thought that comes to mind is some kind of support from a youth leader. Sometimes it takes only one person to befriend these young adults and give them a little glimmer of hope that can grow through their relationship. Just a thought...

Thanks all for your prayers and concern. I appreciate it, and trust that our combined voices will surround Jonathan with God's loving healing presence.

There are so many issues he's dealing with, and I just can't go into it all here. But I'll try to answer the questions as best as I can.

Fifty, VERY rural. Poor fishing village where the fish have all disappeared. No source of income. As for education, he barely scraped through high school. In fact, he dropped out mid-grade eight, due to severe depression, anxiety and inability to keep up with the homework load. My husband and I implemented a scheme where we literally bribed him to go back. We had him send us his report card every term and we sent him a cheque for the amount equalling his highest mark. He excelled at gym, and usually got 95, so after every report card we sent him a nice big cheque for that mark. It was brutally hard for him, but what an incredible accomplishment for him when he finally graduated from grade 12...lots of money in THAT cheque, because he had that 98 plus we gave him a huge bonus for graduating.

We told him we'd support him through post-secondary school, but do I think he'll ever want to go back? Only if it was a trade school. He just doesn't have a clue what he wants to do, or what he can do. He's always wanted to travel, but got a police record in his early teens that now prevents him from leaving the country...which adds to his despair and the feeling that there's no way out of his poverty and miserable (to him) situation. We tried to convince him to go into the military, believing that the record could probably be pardoned, since it was incurred at such a young age. But he has one of the most gentle, sensitive souls I've ever met...he takes in strays, be they people or animals, and cares for them with what little he has. I personally think that his ideal lifestyle would be either a fisherman (but boats and licenses cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and besides, there aren't any fish left) or a hermit, living in a little cabin in the woods where he could eke out a living doing - and that's where we stop - we don't know what he would want to do or can do. He has to figure that out. I think we'd go so far as to buy him the property if we believed that he had "found himself" and would do something purposeful with it.

Dotsie, he had a Big Brother when he was younger. We don't know what happened, he's never spoken to any of us, but something did, and it was enough to make him mistrustful of that kind of help again...but I've been praying that the right person(s) WOULD come into his life and help him the way he needs to be helped. But it's a dead-end village, it would take a miracle for that kind of miraculous thing to happen...but then, we DO believe in miracles, don't we!

[ November 15, 2005, 12:50 PM: Message edited by: Eagle Heart ]

Eagle,

Jonathan is so lucky to have someone like you in his life. My heart goes out to you all for a positive outcome to this.

Eagle, Rural outport is a hard way of life as it is and a moratorium on fishing makes it even harder.
I owned a grocery store and was doing quite well...until the downfall of the fishery. People 'rough grubbed' it after that and some even compared it to the depression. I got out of the business before it cost me.
I am praying that Jonathan is on God's miracle list. I'm sure he is.
chick