My salvation is the best gift I have ever been given, but that does not make it easy. Following Jesus was never meant to be easy, Jesus Himself said it was not going to be easy (Matthew 8:20), but one of the hardest parts of following Jesus, and the part that is not talked about enough is the loneliness we as Christians feel sometimes from following Jesus.
While, yes, we are called to live in community with other believers there is a sorrowful truth that is the fact that loneliness is inevitable. Loneliness can be difficult. It can affect your mental health severely. Loneliness in your faith can look like a variety of things; maybe you are walking through a season of loneliness because you have just recently got saved and not many, if any, of your friends or family are saved. When you are the only person that is committed to your faith that can be challenging because as Christians, we have different morals and values than the world. As believers, Jesus invites us into a new kingdom, a Kingdom that runs differently than the world we are in that is why we are in the world, but we are not of the world. Situations like this are strenuous because this is when your faith is truly tested.
That is not the only case of loneliness as a Christian. You could be walking in a season of waiting, and while you are waiting (One of my first blogs is about waiting if you need advice on that), you feel alone in it. You feel like no one understands what you are going through, that no one cares, and there is no hope. That can be lonely.
You may be surrounded by a bunch of people, and still be lonely, that is the truth. Trust me. I have gone through multiple seasons of my life where I felt alone. I remember times in high school when I looked around my life and saw a bunch of people standing around me, but all I felt was alone and like I had to do everything by myself. Another time of my life was when I took a gap year after high school, and I was spending the majority of my time at work or traveling, and I got lonely fast. The enemy desires us to feel alone because that is when we are the most vulnerable and he can tempt us the most. Although you may feel lonely, you are never alone.
Throughout scripture we see God promise us that He will never leave or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6-8, Joshua 1:9, Matthew 28:20) That is why He sent the Holy Spirit to live within us; the Holy Spirit is our comforter, our advocate, and our counselor. One of the beautiful things about being lonely is that is when Jesus wants to meet you where you are and comfort you. Jesus knew what it was like to feel lonely, He knew He was about to go to the Cross in John 16:32, and Jesus still said, “I am not alone, for my Father is with me”.
Here are some tips for when you feel lonely, that I hope will help.
1. Find a Local Church to get plugged into
We all know that the Lord calls us to live in community as He says in Genesis it is not good for man to be alone. He has called us to do life together and to cherish one another. We need to be in community this might be the perfect time to find a group of fellow believers to do life with, to serve with, to worship with. When two or more are gathered He says I will be there too!
2. Get into the Word
Sometimes in these lonely seasons, the Lord prunes us. This a great time to go deeper into the Word and allow the Lord to speak to you. Or pick a book or two in the Bible to do a deep study on to grasp it in a new light. Right now, I am doing a study of Nehemiah and Ephesians, which I am loving.
3. Grow in your intimacy with the Lord.
I have found in my lonely seasons that it is important to go even deeper in my walk with the Lord by acknowledging His presence in all I do. Growing in intimacy with the Lord can look like just sitting in silence with the Lord and spending time in His presence. Whenever I do this, sometimes I get a word from the Lord, or sometimes I just sit in silence and love His presence. Growing in intimacy with the Lord could also just be praying throughout your day, the Lord doesn’t just want prayer to be at the beginning or end of your day, He wants prayer to be your lifestyle, as the Apostle Paul says, pray continually! Talk to Him about everything: the traffic, your dreams, how you slept, the weather your coffee order, etc. God craves intimacy with you, He doesn’t just care about the big things, He cares about everything.
4. Reach out to people you haven’t spoken to in a while.
I feel like this one is super underrated. Oftentimes we think we must wait for others to reach out to us if it has been a while, but do not be weary to reach out to someone and ask them how they are doing or maybe reach out and ask if they want to get coffee and catch up! You must act against your loneliness a lot of times, and this is a great way to do so!
I could talk about this topic for hours about the loneliness of being a Christian, but this is just a quick little sneak peek of this topic. I hope everyone who reads this has a wonderful day and remember that God has not brought you this far, just to forsake you, He has so much better in store for you. God bless everyone,
Barrett
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Psalm 23
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