Prayer request

Please pray for a friend of mine in Charlotte, N.C., who -- for at least the second time in her life -- may have attempted suicide.

I got a cryptic text message from her about 11 p.m. Sunday -- I don't remember the exact words, but it was something like, "Thanks for always being my friend. Love ya. Bye." At first I thought she was just saying goodnight, so I texted back, "Love you too. Sleep well." Then she texted, "Vry long sleep, but thx." The "long sleep" and abbreviated words concerned me, so I asked her whether she was OK, and she said only, "No." I then asked her to call me or let me call her, and then I did call her after 5 minutes when she didn't respond. She didn't answer, so I left her a voicemail message saying I'd call the police in 10 minutes if she didn't call me in that time. She didn't, so I did -- and in that time, I also found a couple of cryptic posts she had left on Facebook around the same time she first texted me.

The police would only say they got another call about her well-being, and sent officers to her apartment. They referred me to county medic, which would only tell me that they transported a psychiatric-call patient in her community to the hospital. Of course, I want to drop everything and rush to Charlotte, but that's as much as I'm going to find out tonight.

My friend is employed, but is struggling financially. She's going through an ugly separation/divorce in which her estranged husband has threatened to rape and murder her, but she won't call the police because she doesn't want to make it worse than it already is while she's working quietly to get full custody of their son. She suffers from multiple sclerosis, which has her in pain daily and makes some days nearly impossible to function. And she has bipolar disorder, which can literally make her happier than Tigger one minute and sadder than Eeyore the next. It was a major factor in her suicide attempt 12 years ago, and apparently has been building in her to another psychotic break last night.

I hope she or one of her family members will let me know more Monday, and I'll pass along what I find out.

In the meantime, she needs our prayers. Thanks.

UPDATE: The hospital released my friend into family custody about 15 hours later, so maybe it was a suicide threat and not a suicide attempt. She still needs prayers, though.

AND ANOTHER THING: I hope it serves as a reminder to those of you who live your life through social media, and treat it like it's a game or a joke. It is NOT! There are genuine hearts and emotions behind those keyboards. And those people need YOU, not your 140-character Twitter updates -- or if you're on Facebook, your quiz results, application invites, etc. with those status updates.