I am going to commit suicide!

Dear Pastor,

I don't know where to start. First of all, I want to commend you for the good work that you have been doing. I am a 17-year-old girl. I have been through a lot. I am fed up of life. Many times I go to bed hungry. I have just left high school. I have been successful in six CXC subjects. I am a very intelligent young woman. I would love to be a criminal lawyer or a politician, but I don't have the money to attend college or university. My parents do not have the money to send me to college. They are poor; my mother owes seven months' rent. She has three of us. The landlord wants us out of the house. We get calls from him very often, but my mother cannot leave because she has nowhere to go.

People tell my mother bad things about me and that I have a man. She ran me out of the house. I slept at a friend's house. I just can't take this anymore. I ran away two times. I tried to hang myself four times and I took a lot of pills to end my life and my struggles. My father is very abusive, verbally and physically. If he hears that I have a boyfriend, he would beat me to sickness.

I really need help. I beg for help from you. I feel as if God has forgotten me. I desperately need a job so that I can send myself to college. If anyone can help me with a job, I would be grateful.

I am suicidal. The next thing I am going to do is to end my life. I will run out into the busy road or drown myself. I am tired of my struggles. I can't take it anymore. If I don't get any help, I am just going to take my life. Please help me. Please read my letter, please. I look forward to hearing from you.

S.H.

Dear S.H.,

Thank you for writing. I am glad that the Lord has spared your life and that you have not been successful in committing suicide. I understand that you come from a poor family, and that you have suffered parental abuse. However, I want to assure you that God is able to help you. Perhaps you are feeling depressed at this time and you believe that all hope is lost.

I assure you that if you trust God, he would deliver you and give you the desire of your heart. You have six CXC subjects; you did not say what they are. However, I want to encourage you by telling you that you have done well. I would like to know what are the subjects, so that I can give you some guidance. You are an ambitious young lady and you should not believe that because they are unable to pay for you to attend university, that all hope is lost. You should be able to receive help from the Students' Loan Bureau. I would urge you to write me again and let me know more about yourself, including your grades, etc. Your father needs to understand that beating you is not the way to give you guidance. And if you have a boyfriend, beating will not get rid of him in your life.

Perhaps your father and mother mean well, but they are going about their role as parents the wrong way. I don't know if you attend church, but I want to assure you that the church can play a great role in helping you. Perish the thought of taking your life. What you need to do is to turn over your life totally to God and He will give you

victory.

Pastor