Loneliness

Loneliness...

easy to understand the meaning, difficult to overcome. Being lonely is not unknown to most of us. I know that even with my husband beside me, being surrounded by my family, I still feel lonely at times. The topic was brought up in church last Sabbath. All the different types of loneliness, how we handle loneliness, and what the bible says about loneliness.  One particular passage really spoke to me. It reads different in other translations of the bible but this is by far my favorite translation:

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁵ Let your ^[a]character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God]^[b]Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor ^[c]give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, ^[d][I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsakenor ^[e]let [you] down (^[f]relax My hold on you)! [^[g]Assuredly not!]

Kind of reminds me of The Pride & Prejudice movie;

• 1. Mr. Darcy: You have bewitched me in body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you.

It's just such an intimate, powerful verse. It speaks to so many things. But especially loneliness, it is what the bible battles loneliness with. The world fights loneliness with money, shopping, sex, etc. Faith is Gods weapon.

For me loneliness leads to depression. It's easier to isolate myself than to put myself out there and open to rejection. A double edged sword really. Isolation makes you alone. Being around people can subject you to rejection and judgment bringing with it a sense that no one understands you and in turn loneliness. Honestly it's a struggle for me. Loneliness is dark place. It's filled with self doubt, shame, superficial clutter, and its not from God. The hardest thing for me to remember is I am never truly alone. God is with me, understands me, and will never leave me. Of course it's hard to remember that when loneliness has it's grip on me and my faith in God is not physically there to shake me out of it. Then again, that is what makes faith so powerful. That I don't have to see it and still can deliver me from my darkest places.