NASHVILLE — “I love you, Daddy.” “I’m so proud of you.” Melissa Page Strange had written the sentiments on yellow sticky notes to her father Frank Page, hiding each separately in boxes of books she helped him pack during a move. He would discover them more than a year later while settling in his office as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, months after Melissa had committed suicide at age 32.
“Oh, how I missed my little Melissa in that moment,” Page writes in “Melissa, A Father’s Lessons from a Daughter’s Suicide,” which was released June 1. The book arrives as the Christian community is becoming more aware of mental illness within the body of Christ, the same year Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren lost his son Matthew to suicide at age 27 after a lengthy battle with mental illness.
In “Melissa,” Page shares his story of love interspersed with Scripture, biblical wisdom and advice for families dealing with suicide and potential victims contemplating the act.
“I hope that the readers will grasp the realness of the story, the admission that no one is perfect as well as the correct theology that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ,” Page said.
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