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2. I LISTEN
God’s promises are my assurance, a
solid guarantee. I read and re-read the
promises written in God’s Word and
hold on desperately to them. I listen to
what God has told me before and is
telling me again: “I’m never going to
leave you” (Hebrews 13:5), “don’t fear,
I’m with you, I will strengthen and help
you” (Isaiah 41:10), “I will teach you
which way to go” (Psalm 32:8), “come to
Me when you’re weary and I will give
you rest” (Matthew 11:28), “you’re
going to have trouble in this world, but
I’ve overcome it” (John 16:33), and
these don’t even scratch the surface.

What I Learn from Getting Alone 3. I DON’T STAY ALONE
I lean in close to the community God’s
given to me. God’s church is so much
more than a building. It’s a group of
people committed to following Jesus
and serving Him with their lives. When
I’m losing heart and wanting to isolate, I
Dear Lonely Person, fight the urge to stay home and wallow.
I show up anyway and ask for help and
encouragement from my friends who
have said, “no matter what, I’m not
As if humans didn’t have enough of a going anywhere.” I tell them what’s
problem with loneliness, the social
really going on. Through thick and thin,
distancing of the COVID-19 pandemic
we’re family.
succeeded at bringing already present
lonely feelings to the surface. I think to Loneliness can teach us valuable lessons
experience loneliness is to be human in like dependence on and satisfaction in a
the rawest sense. To feel lonely is to feel
God who never fails. Humans, even
unwanted, overlooked, abandoned, and I know He’s done it before, I ask God to
good-intentioned ones, will eventually
unloved. It’s feeling like an outcast, with teach me something in my loneliness. I let you down. But God? He never will.
no one to turn to. None of us are pray that my situation, no matter how Through Jesus, He’s offered us eternal
strangers to it, and yet it’s not easy to painful, would bring me even closer to life. Loneliness can, if we have the right
talk about. Each person’s experience of Him because I trust that He can use my
perspective, give us reason to hope
loneliness is unique, and while there’s struggles for good. Anyone who has
because it reminds us that a sinful world
definitely no quick fix, I want to been in a close friendship with another is not what we were created for, and it’s
encourage you with three things that person knows that humans are not going to last forever for those who
help me find peace in my loneliness. eventually going to fail us. So, I praise know Jesus as a friend. Steve DeWitt
God for being faithful when I, or others
published an article called, “Loneliness
1. I GET ALONE WITH GOD around me, have not been (2 Timothy Has Been My Faithful Friend,” and wrote
When I feel forgotten and left behind, I 2:13). I remember that to rely on my in it, “Every loneliness on earth is an
have to get alone and tell God how I’m friends, family, and relationships to fully internal confirmation that our greatest
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feeling. I go alone to be with Him, just satisfy me is to set myself up for relational joys lie ahead of us.”
like Jesus did in Mark 1:35. I ask for disappointment. I ask God to remind me
understanding about my situation, that Jesus alone is my answer, my With care,
A Sometimes Lonely Christian
probably while wiping away tears. Since peace, and my hope.
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desiringgod.org/articles/loneliness-has-been-my-faithful-friend WORD ON THE STREET MAGAZINE 19