The broken, wind-beaten trees, bud, green and bloom in their space and season. May you too, be blessed to thrive and grow beautifully wherever you are planted.

The weather was gray and misty with a deep chill on the London morning in January 2008 that Jonny Benjamin almost took his own life. A recent diagnosis of a serious mental health condition already felt like a death sentence. He climbed over a railing and sat on the edge of Waterloo Bridge, staring down at the Thames River below and willing himself to jump.

Neil Laybourn was crossing the bridge by foot on his way to work, his first week back after the Christmas holidays, when he saw a lone man about his age in a T-shirt sitting on the bridge’s edge. Other Londoners, bundled in their winter coats, seemed to be passing by without notice, but Laybourn felt pulled to check to see if the man was okay.

“Hey, why are you sitting here by yourself?” Laybourn said he gently asked.

“I don’t want to be here anymore,” Benjamin told him...READ MORE

I pray that God will bless me with new friends. I don't have any now and need the companionship and support and that I could be a good friend too. Thank you for all of your prayers.

-  Elyane F.

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