Today I have just learned devastating news: one of the students at my university committed suicide. This is tough because I knew this student, and I worked with him. He was outgoing, funny, and always the life of the party. 

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This is the second time this semester on my campus a student has taken their own life, and there is something so somber about when a person has hit a place in their life where they believe they are better off no longer being on this earth and it would be best if their demise came at their own hands. 

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Suicide rates have increased among young people within decades, and while bullying and social media do play a role in bringing a person down to a dark place, I believe the problem runs much deeper and it is so much heavier and bigger than we could ever imagine. 

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During this time, all I feel that I can do is to not only let the people I come in contact with how much they are loved not only by me but by God but to pray for all of this young tormented souls. I do believe the devil is trying to infiltrate my generation through the torment of the self, bringing people into an unthinkable mental state where the only option is death. 

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So reader, I ask that you pray over all of the souls who are in need of God's love and strength and I ask that you show God's love to everyone, not just those who you are close to, or those who are similar to you, but to all who cross your path. 

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As this verse says, we may be deteriorating and struggling, but we must remember that God's love can carry us when we no longer have the strength to take another step forward and our knees buckle under the immense weight of our trials. 

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~Sincerely, Marie