(Edit: This post was a response to Lola's comments about how the journey, and allowing others to help us through the impossible times, does bring its own light and wisdom...in no way do my struggles even begin to compare to what this man has had to go through to survive and thrive.)

I went through a period of several weeks with no money. It was during my first major bout of clinical depression. Couldn't work, my unemployment benefits had run out, and although friends were trying to persuade me to apply for welfare, I just couldn't bring myself to phone...it seemed like the epitome of failure. There were two weeks when the only food I had in my mouse-infested apartment was a bottle of ketchup in the fridge. I had no money to buy anything else. To get to my doctor's appointments I had to walk over 10K there and back.

If it hadn't been for the help from people in my life, I would have starved to death. Louis made sure I had something to eat everyday, usually by inviting me for lunch. Kate often took me out for supper. My landlord, a friend of Louis (Louis was my parish priest and is still one of my best friends), waived the rent for one month.

Finally, one day Louis marched me into his office and handed me the phone and dialed the welfare office number himself and stood there with his arm around my shoulders while I made that phone call (sobbing). Within the hour, someone met me at my apartment and then gave me a cheque for groceries, rent money, a bus pass and hope.

The rest is history. It took me a very long time, but I got back up, and although there have been a few relapses and fallbacks, I keep getting up.

This period of my life taught me more than anything else that God does most of His work through the people in our lives. There is NO WAY that I could have survived without the amazing kindness and patient help of other people crutching me all along the way.