For the Lonely One
“Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.” Psalm 73: 23
Throughout my life, I’ve had the gift of really wonderful and special friends, but there have been very real, very hard seasons of loneliness too. Whether it was feeling left out from a sleepover, or starting a new college class with no one I knew, or devastatingly losing a friendship I thought I’d have forever, the ache of loneliness is one I can still feel in my gut. If you feel it today, know my heart hurts with you.
There’s no easy way or a pretty bow to wrap around the situations where we find ourselves feeling left out, lonely, or less than, but there is a promise from God: even in the hardest seasons where it seems like we have no real friendship to fall on, God is with us and watching over us.
I can remember clear times walking down the halls of my high school or climbing the hills of my college campus, tears stinging my eyes, praying and asking God to send me someone or something in the moment, to send me a friend. And sometimes he did. Sometimes someone would call right at the perfect moment, or when I got to my next class, I’d have a great conversation that made me feel better, but sometimes there was just peace and an assurance that no matter what my outer circumstances looked like, God was with me and for me.
Psalm 73 brings me so much comfort because it reminds me that God is always right there with me; He’s steady, never leaving, holding onto my hand as I go through the highs and lows of each day. Even when I feel like I’m a mess, He is never leaving. His love for me is unconditional. Even when I feel left out and rejected, I’m always chosen and accepted by him.
If today is a hard and lonely day, if you find your heart aching as you read this, know I am thinking of you and praying for you, asking God to bring you peace, comfort, and tangible friendships.
One of my favorite promises I’ll leave you with is from Psalm 68:8: “Those who are without friends, God puts in families.” You might feel lonely, but you belong to the great big, messy, beautiful family of God. It’s where you fit in exactly as you are, and I’m praying that if you need them, God would send real, tangible people to be that family to you.
You are loved today, lonely one. And you are not alone.