When Something Horrible Happens

I have something very sad to write about today. Your prayers on this situation would be greatly appreciated.

Yesterday, while at work, I noticed I had 5 back-to-back missed calls from my sister. My immediate thought was that something happened and she would no longer be allowed to go with me this weekend to my friend's going away party and lingerie shower. She left me a voicemail, sobbing, asking me to please call her back that she didn't know what to do. I became concerned at this point, but since she is 16 I thought it could just be some teenage girl drama. This is what I hoped anyway.

Quick back story-- my sister lives near Atlanta (4 hours from me) with her dad (we have diff dads), his mom, his girlfriend, and his GF's 2 kids who are 13 and 17. The girlfriend and kids have been living with them for several months and my sister has grown very close to them, even to the point of referring to the kids as her brother and sister.

Okay, back to yesterday....

I called her back and she told me that her dad's girlfriend had killed herself that morning. She hung herself in the garage of the house, and my sister's dad found her there. Thankfully none of the kids found her like that. But still. How horrific and awful. The kids are staying with their aunt, and my sister is with her aunt & uncle right now. She had to talk to police yesterday and answer some questions. Everyone is obviously very upset. I can't even imagine what they are going through. My heart breaks for them.

When my sister told me, she said, "I don't know how I'm supposed to handle this." And I don't know either. I'm training to be a counselor. We even just talked about suicide in class last week. But it's totally different a) when it's first-response and not discussion of the past and b) when it's your little sister telling you. I didn't know what to say. I just tried to listen and let her talk, but mostly she just wanted to cry. I asked her some questions, but beyond that didn't know what to do or say. Any other situation she has called me crying about I can sympathize with her pain, but still feel confident in saying that everything will work out and it will be okay. I can't say that about this. Even though things will get better, now is not the time to say it. She needs to mourn and process and grieve.

This is shocking and horrible. I didn't want to necessarily spread the dirty laundry around, but I know I have some Christians who follow and could join me in praying, and this blog is about my life. And sometimes part of life is just figuring out what to do when something horrible happens.