September is officially suicide Prevention Month. Regardless of the month, suicide is always a relevant topic, unfortunately. It’s the 10th leading cause of death in the nation. Suicide wrecks over 44,000 families every year. For every single completed suicide, there are 25 more failed attempts. That is over 1 million attempts every single year! Friends, you undoubtedly are connected right now to someone in the throes of life and death, even unbeknown to you.

Imagine! This life is a precious gift from a Creator whose valuation of us is enormous. And yet thousands of people every year are convinced, through heartache and hopelessness, to relinquish their future. Today, Steve and I want to use our platform on Life Of The Family to illuminate this area for as many families as we can. We spent some time this week speaking with Rachel, a friend of ours, who faced this battle as a young adult and is ready to share her story.

If you haven’t noticed, Steve and I have a passion for our family. We keep an eye trained on our own, like investors monitoring the stock market. Our family is our life, our heritage – our future – being built right now. As such, it deserves top priority and the best of our energy.

The foundation of the life we share with our children is our own faith. We want Adrienne and Addison to serve God with us, of course. But more than that, we want them to do everything with us – travel, exploring, hiking, movie nights, and projects. As I once told a friend, “We had them to have them.” The life we are leading we lead together as a solid family, headed in the same direction. Our kids will gain autonomy and independence, but the commonalities we develop right now will keep us connected our whole lives. To Steve and I, this is the very essence of family. I missed it growing up, but now relish the chance to establish it purposefully.