A year ago, Caleb Snell was severely depressed, to the point of contemplating suicide. “I don’t have a clue what I’m doing in life,” he wrote in a Facebook post at the time. “It’s my fault I’ve lost everything I love, and that I’ll die alone. I’m haunted in my dreams, so when I sleep I get no rest.”

He shared those dark thoughts because he wanted others experiencing depression to know they weren’t alone.

If you ask him today how he’s doing, he’ll answer something like “blessed,” or “highly favored.”

Caleb has become known as “the sign guy” who often stands at the intersection of University Drive and Jordan Lane in Huntsville holding poster that read “You are loved,” or “Your life has value,” or “You’re worth more than gold,” while listening to metal in his earbuds.

While the posters themselves are cheap – he keeps them in the trunk of his car so he can stop and hold one up whenever he feels like doing it – their messages are invaluable and have even saved a few lives.

The signs saved his own life, Caleb says. He even has a tattoo of the phrase “You are loved” emblazoned on his forearm.

Born into a military family in Huntsville, Caleb moved to Germany before he was two years old. When his dad retired, he happened to settle back in Huntsville. Now 27, Caleb works at a mechanical machining plant in Athens, with a second job as a server at Top Golf.

He has struggled with depression for most of his adult life, he says, but a year ago the depression had taken over his life. His plan to join the military didn’t work out, he lost a job, and he had already given notice at his apartment, so he had three weeks to move out.

“I spent three days in the darkest mental state of depression,” he says. “I was ready to commit suicide.”

One day, he was driving near that intersection at University and Jordan when he heard a voice that he recognized as God, telling him to stand on the corner with a sign reading “You are loved.”

“At the time, I didn’t know why,” he says.

Obediently, he bought some poster board and stood at the intersection every day for a week with a message for everyone passing by: “The world is better with you in it.” Somehow, by doing so, he realized the world was better with him in it.

“It saved my life,” he says. “God changed my heart and filled me with love and passion. I received healing.”

About three months ago, Caleb felt God urging him to go back out there with his signs again, which he’s been doing three or four days a week ever since.

Now that he’s in a much better place mentally, he wants to help others. His simple act has had a profound effect, he says. “God is using me to pull people out of the same predicament.”

One person handed him a note telling him they were going through “one of the roughest weeks ever” and that they had contemplated suicide that morning. “I would like to say thank you so much for being out here today,” the note read. “You are a wonderful soul.”

Caleb has the note taped up in his bathroom, he says, to remind him that he can make a real difference in other people’s lives.

Another time, a woman got out of her car, walked over to him and shared that her son had committed suicide. She told Caleb she had prayed that if God didn’t send her a sign of his love, she was going to end her own life. And then she’d seen Caleb standing there, holding a sign that says, “You are loved.”

“She said I held her life in my hands,” Caleb says, his voice choking back tears. “It was so humbling and awesome.”

He’s still trying to spread the #youareloved movement in Huntsville, encouraging everyone to perform acts of kindness, no matter how small. “Hopefully this will sweep the nation,” he says. “There’s so much hate in the world.”

And he hopes to start doing some motivational speaking to spread his message about the healing power of love. “Everybody struggles with depression,” he says. “I want to use my past to help other people. This is an opportunity to help others by being transparent.”

Caleb is now selling #youareloved T-shirts and hats. For more information, visit The Sign Guy on Facebook and follow @thesignguy256 on Instagram.