Not Alone in our Loneliness | The Odyssey Online
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Not Alone in our Loneliness

It happens to the best of us, but don't let it get the best of us.

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Not Alone in our Loneliness
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The fear of loneliness is a real one and from it stems a lot of other basic feelings.

Ever get scared that you’ll end up “forever alone”?

Ever get FOMO?

Ever fall into peer pressure?

Ever feel the constant need for approval?

Ever seek affirmation?

Ever get the gut-sinking feeling that nobody else in the world gets it?

All of these derive from the fact that we are all afraid of being left alone. We’re afraid of not being “good enough” for others to like us. We’re afraid that if we stand out, we’ll stand alone.

Well- let me clue you in on something. You’re not alone. All of these feelings are so common. Except, we never talk about them for the sake of bottling our emotions and not scaring people away. Because we believe the lie that everybody is “fine” and nobody would get it if we opened up about these empty feelings we sometimes have. It’s a never-ending and discouraging cycle.

A cycle, yes. But a pointless one. Why hide the fact that this basic human emotion and fear is felt and experienced? The fear of loneliness is insanely present in a lot of lives and we must come to terms with the fact that, even if it isn’t expressed, it’s there. And, when you dive into it and cut to the core, it makes sense.

We have an inherently natural instinct to desire human connection. It’s in our DNA. In Genesis, it is written that man was created in the likeness of God. What one thing does God desire more than anything else?

Us in a right relationship with him. He desires intimate, real, open, and vulnerable relationships with us. He wants nothing more than for us to cling to Him and walk deeper and deeper with Him.

So, realizing that God, our Father, craves the same connections and has defeated the same unsatisfactory feelings of loneliness that I have and will experience is the most comforting thing in the world.

Jesus is the calm to my chaotic thought. The peace to my pity party. The comfort to my confusion. The hope to my helplessness. He is faithful even in my fears. He satisfies my heart when my mind tells me to run. He pulls me close when my mind says I’m never good enough. He loves recklessly and pursues endlessly.

My fear of loneliness and everything encompassed within has been taken to the grave and has been defeated by grace. And so has yours. Because of His fearless faithfulness, I no longer need to fear loneliness because my heart will be fully satisfied in Him.

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