“...her dearest wish is that the FOUNDATION
and its good work will never end.”
J
onathan’s self-inflicted death was a horrible blow to his parents. The only
reason Lynn says she survived is through the mercy of Jesus. “I just poured
myself at His feet and hung on to him. Every day I would visualize Him propping
me up on my feet and girding me up for the day. My husband Gary (Jonathan’s
stepdad) was always having a word for me and reminding me that this separation
is temporary.”
As painful as Jonathan’s death was, Lynn was determined to bring something
good from this tragedy. God’s new calling on her life: raising awareness for teen
suicide, the third leading cause of death among our youth. In fact, she and her
spiritual friend Minnie believed Jonathan had a special call on his life, and when
this happened both strongly felt God’s call on his life would be manifested through
his death. “That grieved me greatly because it was not what we expected. But I
held onto the gratitude that I had,” says Lynn. “I knew the Lord had him and he was
better with the Lord than with me. And so I promised the Lord for however long I am
here that I would be obedient to whatever he placed in my path and led me to do.”
Lynn created the Jonathan C. Smith (DBA The Jonathan Foundation) to reach
out to troubled teens. The first kids she reached out to were 60 teenagers at a
local behavioral inpatient clinic. She had “a crushing need to mother Jonathan,” to
continue doing the everyday things for him she was used to doing. God told her that
many of these kids were without mothers, and that they were her chance to continue
expressing motherly love.
But providing the love and emotional support 60 children need soon felt overwhelming. At first, Lynn didn’t know how the Foundation would cover all the needs and
then God inspired her to start the Adopt-a-Teen program, whereby individuals or
Sunday school groups could sponsor teenagers by giving them letters of encouragement and sending them gifts on special days like birthdays and Christmas. She
created a Facebook page and had 60 sponsors within the first two weeks.
God also called on her to begin giving speeches at schools to direct attention to
teen suicide, a calling she initially didn’t want to accept. Then she remembered her
promise to be obedient to anything He put in her path. She contacted the Florence
School District and offered to do a presentation. Within two days she had three
requests from area schools to speak.
Today, The Jonathan Foundation is going strong. Lynn has a Facebook page,
“Mothers Against Suicide,” with 500 supporters and counting. She says her dearest
wish is that the Foundation and its good work will never end. In fact, her 6