Stephen Lives! Book

"Mom, I had to get away and think because I didn't know if life is worth living..." So begins the story of Stephen - his life, his suicide, and afterlife - told in the deeply moving words of his mother. Stephen took his own life when he was fifteen years, three months, and fifteen days old, because he felt it hurt more to live than to die. Unsparing in her emotional honesty, Anne Puryear tells of Stephen's short life, his heartbreaking final moments, and her own search to understand the suicide of her cherished teenage son. In the suicide notes discovered in a spiral notebook in his pocket, Stephen promised to explain his actions to his mother at some later date. For a time, Anne didn't see how she could go on. But hers is a story of hope and healing. As Anne searched to understand Stephen's suicide, something remarkable happened: she found a way to communicate with him beyond the grave. With the power of faith and the gift of spiritual openness, Anne learned to connect with Stephen in the spirit realm, beginning a series of astonishing conversations in which Stephen answers her many questions while reaching out through her to help others in crisis. Describing the circumstances of his suicide, Stephen offers lifesaving advice for kids and parents that will prevent others from committing this tragic, irreversible act. Guided by Stephen's determination to build a bridge between the worlds of the living and of the spirit, Anne Puryear's Stephen Lives! is a journey of faith and hope, revealing universal truths of life, death, and afterlife that will comfort and inspire all who journey with them.

A spiritual counselor and lecturer shares the incredibly moving story of her 15-year-old son's suicide and her subsequent communication with him. Stephen Lives! is a journey of faith and hope, revealing universal truths of life, death, and afterlife that will comfort and inspire. 16 pp. photo insert. 304 pp. Author publicity. 30,000 print.