A Family Shame?

There's a family I'm thinking of and praying for that probably doesn't read this blog.  I'm reaching out to them privately, but I don't intend to draw their attention to this.

They've had a child attempt suicide.  Their son survived, but with serious injuries, and he's going to need a lot of physical recovery and rehabilitation before they can even start addressing the psychological and emotional issues.  I can't tell you names, of course, but you might pray for them?

They're going through a horrible time right now.  Their Christian faith is strong, but still, they're exhausted and bewildered.

And, they're a little ashamed of talking about it.  I don't know, maybe they feel like this is some sort of failure?  I intend to respect their privacy and I'm not going to pry beyond what they're comfortable sharing, but it makes me sad that, with all of the other burdens they're carrying right now, they have to bear the weight of shame.

Social Hurricane went through a pretty rough patch a few years back, and would still be the first to tell you that she has some issues to work on, but she's doing HUMONGOUSLY better now.  But she made a couple of suicide attempts, thankfully neither of which resulted in any major lasting injury.

We've done lots of things wrong.  But one thing we did right--from the get-go we decided that we weren't going to be ashamed of this.  Our daughter had some legitimate psychiatric issues and was in need of medical treatment, and there was absolutely no reason we couldn't be open about that and seek the prayer and emotional support of our family and friends.  We figured that a little bit of truth was better than a whole lot of rumor and responded accordingly.

And we've never regretted it.  It was much easier on her, and on us, to have the facts and the situation out in the open.  It was easier to deal with medically, socially, and relationally with everyone--we didn't have to hide anything.  It's amazing how freeing that was.

I'd encourage any of you, dealing with personal or family issues like this, to realize that there's no need for shame or embarrassment.  It's easier to get help and be helped if we can be honest with one another about the burdens we carry and the troubles we face.

I hope all's well with you out there, friends, and God bless.