Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Embracing Loneliness

In the quiet, in the stillness
I know that You are God
In the secret of Your presence
I know there I am restored
When You call I won't refuse
Each new day again I'll choose

There is no one else for me
None but Jesus
Crucified to set me free
Now I live to bring Him praise

In the chaos, in confusion
I know You're Sovereign still
In the moment of my weakness
You give me grace to do Your will
When You call I won't delay
This my song through all my days

All my delight is in You Lord
All of my hope, all of my strength
All my delight is in You Lord forevermore


I am a human being.  I get lonely.  For whatever reason, I don't think it's okay for me as a Christian to be lonely.  I realize this is a ridiculous thing to think, but somewhere along the line it's become ingrained in my mind.  That makes me feeling lonely a miserable thing.  Not only do I feel lonely, but I also feel condemned in it.  I want to change this about myself.

I was recently hanging out with my new good friend Becca Christian.  We were talking about this very thing.  She said something that was eye opening for me.  I'm sure that in all my conversations with people about this subject that they've all said similar things, but for whatever reason that day the way she said it resonated deep in my heart.

She challenged me to embrace feeling lonely.  Not to run away from it (which is what I do), but to be totally honest with God and just say 'God, I love you, and I know you love me, and this is where I'm at.  Please meet me in it.'.  Now, I understand that this isn't the most mind blowing revelation.  In the simplicity of this truth of how we as Christians should deal with everything, I found myself comforted.  I don't know why I had never thought of doing this before, but I am doing it now.  Sure, I still feel lonely, but I'm not alone in that feeling if that makes any sense.

So whenever Loneliness sneaks up on me, I now give it a big ole hug and ask it how it's been instead of running away screaming.  If anything, I'm becoming more polite!

2 comments:

lauren said...

right on, sister. well-said and well-done. lots of love goes out to you from me, and you actually helped me with something completely different, but a struggle nonetheless. so thank you. <3

MaryElizabeth said...

I find that loneliness teaches me to slow down so that i am not so uncomefortable about stillness. I also find that if makes me seek out God, and the deep mysteries of life.

I love the new layout. So cute and so you!