You might be feeling lonely if… I may not be an expert on loneliness, but it feels like I’m becoming one. When you sit in your parked car for sometimes five minutes or more, hesitating to walk across the parking lot to your temporary home because you know the four walls will shout that you’re all alone, then you might be feeling lonely. When the air feels like its crushing you and the silence - the absence of noisy children - is deafening, then you might be feeling lonely. When you feel like you’ve been squeezed out of the lives of those most important to you, the ones you love the most, and you check the phone, the mailbox, or even facebook for some sign of messages or calls that never come, then you might be feeling lonely. When the tears come with unwelcome frequency in waves day after day, then you might know how painful loneliness can be. It’s something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy ~ to feel that even death iteself can become an attractive alternative to what seems like endless suffering, however dark and unwise you know that is. If you or anyone you know is going through something similar, this may be why God has been sending me the recent messages I’ve also been relaying to you, in hopes that my own painful journey will benefit you or someone else. At the very least you can know there is someone out there who knows how you feel, and cares enough about you to share these kinds of things openly, including such recent revelations and the ones that follow ~ “special deliveries,” from the great Comforter of our souls. They are from Him to you as well, if you need them and sense God speaking to your heart as you read these words. You see, in many ways God tries to show us that all of the pain we sometimes have to go through doesn’t end there. Death does have to be what ends our great suffering. Our troubles, no matter how devastating, are often just the beginning of something very significant in life, like birthpangs of new adventures ahead. Much of the pain we go through marks a turning point. We may not see what’s just around the bend, but since God wants to be intimately involved in our lives, and gets involved when we seek Him, something new and wonderful is bound to happen. He’s proven this to me so many times it’s predictable now. For instance, even before I was a follower of Christ (I believed, but didn’t follow Him), God showed me His mercy and love when I was at the deepest, darkest place I’d ever been. I became gravely ill at the same time a dream I’d had for many years was finally crushed beyond hope. I cried out to God over and over that if he was real, to please show himself. Not long after, perhaps a week or so later, He led me on a magical adventure to do something I’d also always wanted to do since a child ~ catch a wild bird of prey out in the wild (ask me about the hawk story if you’d like to read it sometime). That whole enchanting day was an incredible answer to desperate prayers and I never doubted God’s existence or love again. God has shown His love and support in many remarkable ways since then, but just last Sunday I was feeling especially lonely and painfully lamented that I didn’t have anyone to hug. As I tried to decide whether to go meet God at the Rainbow River or at church, I felt a tug to go to a certain fellowship, and so I did. Amazingly, the worship songs were all about how much God loves us. I quickly knew our heavenly Father sent me to the right place. And as soon as we had the break before the sermon, two lovely ladies gave me very warm and squishy hugs! I knew those hugs were from God, who found someone with skin on them to express His own love to me. Then the message Ken Brown delivered started with this: “Your destiny and your identity determine your stability,” and went on to discuss how we should react when the storms of life come. If the storms are from God, then we need to rest in the boat like Jesus did (Luke 8:22-25), trusting God for His safety and goodwill. If there is destruction and signs of enemy attacks, then we need to have faith and command the storms to be calm, bringing peace with the faith and authority God has given us in the name of Jesus. This message sparked me to write the facebook status I posted yesterday, which was also a kind of complementary follow-up from my previous status. Starting to see a common thread? Then later Sunday night after 10:00, I was coming back from a movie with my brother and nephew when my brother noticed someone sitting on a very dark street corner, seemingly distressed. I turned around and we found a lost, beaten, crying homeless woman who desperately needed help but was lost in every way. I was able to take her someplace to get her some help, and prayed that God would carry her the rest of the way to home and safety. Our loving Father was showing me that sometimes the best way to find comfort for our own souls is to help and comfort someone else, using the love and guidance he brings us along the way. And that is also why I’m writing this for you today. If you’re not lonely now, perhaps you will be someday and you’ll remember these words and be blessed. If you are lonely now, let these words strengthen, comfort, and lead you to the “God of all comfort” who longs to show His great love for you in neverending ways. All you need to do is invite Him into your life, keep seeking Him through the storm, and He will soon shower you with special blessings uniquely designed and orchestrated just for you. Then mark my words, someday when the storm blows over, and maybe even before, your suffering is going to result in something beautiful and wonderful, like finding a field of flowers in an unexpected place. God is going to give you someone to help, to comfort, to strengthen, and to let them know that God loves them in a way you never could before. They may not believe it because you say so, but they may just believe it because you’re showing them He does. After all, you’re the one with skin on. Jesus no longer walks on the earth as He once did. His own great suffering is over and the “joy set before Him” (Heb. 12:2) of seeing you reborn, set free from the old chains, and being filled with His light and life is both a present and progressive reality. You are His hands and feet now. We are the only physical presence He has left on the earth. And great trials will come to us all. But may the “joy set before you” help you to endure the hard times, lift you up so you can rise and shine (Philippians 4:4-9), and become a blessing to many others along the way. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (2 Cor. 1:3-4)
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 16:41:37 +0000
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