Loneliness: It's Real

"He alone is my rock and my salvation;

He is my fortress, I will never be shaken."

- Psalm 62:2

As I was doing my nightly reading in Psalm, this particular one struck my heart. I am currently on my third week home, and I have dealt with an immense amount of loneliness. I have been surrounded by my amazing family, so what else could a girl really need? I have been so thankful for the opportunity to recharge with the people I love most, but my mind seems to wander about the "what ifs."

Some examples:

- What if I came home and my phone was flooded with texts from my high school friends asking me to hang out?

- What if things could've been different for me?

- What if I would've been living a completely different life had I not chosen the path that was destined to be lonely at some point?

And of course, the golden question:

-What if I didn't have to feel so lonely?

These "what ifs" are somewhat inevitable when you choose to follow Jesus. My junior year of high school I chose to completely surrender everything (and I mean everything) and follow Jesus, no matter the cost. I found myself so lonely that year and at the beginning of my senior year, too. Now that I am home from my first semester of college, I feel as if I am reliving that loneliness. For what reason, though? I keep asking myself if this is really something I should get so hung up on. The answer is simple: when you follow Jesus, you will never truly be alone. Loneliness is a feeling that results from not being a part of something. The cool thing is that we are always a part of something big when God is involved. Therefore, we shouldn't have to live in loneliness; we were created for so much more.

As I reflect on myself and what I have been feeling lately, I can so clearly see that God is using this time of loneliness to bring me closer to His heart. How cool is it that we serve a God who desires to be so close to us? As I was reading Psalm 62, the Lord made it so clear to me that He IS my rock. He IS my fortress. He IS my salvation. There are the limits and then there are the absolutes in this life, and God's promises are the absolutes. There is nothing questionable about the fact that He IS every single thing we could ever hope for or imagine. As long as you hold onto that truth, you will truly never be shaken. At the end of the day, I have started to believe that loneliness is more of a fear than it is a feeling. As humans, we fear being alone. But, hey, Jesus went alone into the wilderness. If He is the one who empowers us, then we can make it- persevere and fight the good fight!

Friends, loneliness is a real feeling (one that I have known too well), but it doesn't have to be. You can choose to sulk in the feeling of being unwanted or you can rest in the truth that He IS.

I pray that this speaks to you as it did to me. If you are struggling with loneliness or anything unrelated, please shoot me a message or give me a call. I do not have all the answers, and I don't claim to, but I do have my own experiences that God has guided me through.

I pray blessings over you today and every day!