Article By Angela Davidson // EEW Magazine

Popular Christian blogger and podcaster, Dianna Hobbs, may be a well-known encourager of women around the world. But that doesn’t mean discouragement hasn’t touched her own family.

During her Thursday, July 26th broadcast of “Your Daily Cup of Inspiration,” she told thousands of listeners she affectionately refers to as her “Daily Cup family,” that one of her younger siblings, Alesha Tyson, once battled depression and tried to end her life.

“Several years back, Alesha was in a very bad situation in her life. Some devastating things happened to her,” said Hobbs, who got permission from Tyson before disclosing the information.

“She grabbed a bottle of pills and began swallowing them. She wanted to do whatever she could to end the pain and suffering.”

In 2015, more than 44,000 Americans died by suicide. That translated into one death every 12 minutes according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Research shows that overall suicide rate have spiked by 30 percent over the past 15 years. Some say it is a public health crisis.

Thankfully, Hobbs says, God intervened and did not let her distraught relative, a gifted singer, songwriter and Christian playwright, complete what would have been a fatal mission.

“As she was in the middle of her suicide attempt, she says she had managed to swallow so many pills, but there was one bitter pill that got stuck on her tongue. And the taste of it was so unpleasant, it activated her gag reflex and she began vomiting—something that saved her life,” explained the Empowering Everyday Women Ministries founder.

By sharing her story, Hobbs is hoping to encourage others who, like her own family member once was, may be contemplating ending it all.

“The enemy would love nothing more than to see you give up,” Hobbs said while broadcasting from Empowering Everyday Women Ministries studios in Buffalo, New York. “That way he could wipe the earth clean of you and blot out the purpose for which you were created, by convincing you to throw up your hands and say, ‘I’m done with this.’

“But God is sending this message to you today to tell you like I told you in yesterday’s podcast, He is not through with you yet.”

Listen to the full podcast below.

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