Jenna’s inspirational story of hope:
”When I was 15 years old, I suffered from severe depression after losing two people to suicide within a very short time frame. Though these were not friends, they were individuals who I cared for deeply and the deaths came as a complete shock. I was at a very young age and could not understand what was happening. I then began to suffer from severe depression myself and depression can be such a liar. Depression will trick you into thinking that things will never get better and leave you with feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. That is exactly what happened to me during the darkest time of my life. When I went to sleep one night, in the same saddened and discouraged state I was always in at this time in my life, I had a dream that changed everything. You may be familiar with Rachel Joy Scott, who passed away in a shooting in 1999. She was known for her compassionate and forgiving nature, which I felt inspired by. In this dream,, Rachel and I were going on several adventures, things that I love doing/have always wanted to do such as sledding down a snow covered hill and having the time of our lives. It was the friendship that I didn’t have that I desperately needed. A best friend. When we got to the end of the dream, there was something chasing us. We were in a school building and we got to the exit sign and I told her that it was our time to run, to escape freely. When I told her that, she looked at me sternly and said ”This is my time, not yours. But I will see you again someday when it is your time and we will continue our beautiful friendship”. I cried tears of joy and shock that something so rare and beautiful could have happened to me, that I was saved by someone in something that felt like much more than a dream but an actual experience with a best friend. With that being said, there is time for you to change and it really won’t be like this forever. There is a world of people who love and care about you and a sea of experiences of beautiful moments that you have not yet experienced. You owe it to yourself to experience them. Romans 8:18 The pain that you are experiencing cannot compare to the joy that is coming”.
Jenna
