Day 40 - Loneliness

Isn't it funny that you can have a house full of people and still feel lonely? Or you can be completely by yourself and feel full of love and joy. I don't get it. But obviously loneliness isn't only about your physical state but about the state of your heart and soul as well. I have a full house so I don't experience the physical act of loneliness often. I do experience the spiritual and emotional state though. Loneliness usually ebbs and flows with my stress level. The more stress I feel, the more I isolate myself and hold in my frustration and worry. Suddenly I not only feel alone but I feel alienated. The worst part is that I do it to myself!

When I was reading old notes I saw ones specifically about loneliness and how God can relieve it because He is always with us. All we need to do is to trust him....

~ Trust Him to help us out

~ Trust Him to calm us down

~ Trust Him to fill us with hope

~ Trust Him to see us through

Loneliness rarely travels alone. It's always accompanied by other emotions like fear, anxiety, worry, abandonment, shame and hurt (I'm sure we could list a lot more). Any of these sound familiar? These are all emotions that can be calmed with FAITH. If we have FAITH that there is a purpose and a reason, then we can keep moving forward with confidence and HOPE. The more confidence and HOPE we have, the easier it is to choose JOY. The more JOY that we have, the less lonely we feel.

So what do we do when we feel lonely? We need to put our TRUST in God, that he will get us through whatever physical or emotional state we are in and then we need to choose to have JOY in our daily life.

"I will lie down in peace and sleep, for though I am alone, O Lord, you will keep me safe." Psalms 4:8