Cut or Call

It is interesting for me to think about how many times the message that God spoke through Moses in Deuteronomy 30:19 is seen in everyday life – “Today…I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” He was calling them to obey the commands that God had given them, saying that if they did obey then they would receive abundant blessing and life, but if they did not obey then they would receive destruction. Lorie called and told us about a similar choice recently. Lorie was a cutter and knew that she needed help. She had heard Dawson’s show before and this Sunday night she was determined to avoid it. She had a terrible day that day. You see, her father was an alcoholic and her mother was not around. Her father tried to keep her from everyone, never letting her leave the house except to go school. Lorie knew that she was going to graduate this year and desperately wanted to go away to college, if only to get away from her father. He refused to let her go. This frustration and feeling of being trapped, coupled with terrible memories of things that had happened to her in the past, led her to the place she had found herself in too many times before. She was going to lock the door to her room and cut. But there was a part of her that didn’t want to; that was tired of cutting and wanted to get help. This created a real battle inside her, “Cut or call,” she would say to herself. She didn’t want to hear Dawson that night because she knew that the decision would be made if she did; she would call the HopeLine to get help. Lorie sat on her bed and tried to avoid the decision: cut or call. For a while she listened to music on CDs to keep her mind occupied. After a few hours of this she was tired of her CDs and thought Dawson’s show was over, so she turned the radio to her favorite station and found out that she was wrong- Dawson was still on. God brought conviction to Lorie through the show and the decision was made to call. She got one of our HopeCoaches who, as they always do, led her to getting the help that she needed, both in the situation with her father and her problem with cutting. Thanks be to God for using a caring voice over the air and then another over the phone to lead a young girl to choosing life!