How can loneliness be good?

How can the dreaded, L word, bring good in our lives? How can God use loneliness for His good? I'll tell you from experience:

God can use the aching of loneliness in our hearts to deepen our relationship with him.

Loneliness can come in so many different forms. I've felt my equal share of the lonely nights alone in my bed, with the covers pulled over my head, thinking about how lonely I was to not have anyone ask me to hang out at all that weekend. I've felt the hurt when nobody seemed to notice my absence, notice my presence or care about truly wanting to get to know me more. I've felt the ache of feeling like I don't have anyone that I can connect with or go to.

Recently, I haven't felt so lonely, because I've realized that proximity and activity don't always equal connectivity.

In other words...?

Just because you're busy doing things with people and "interacting" doesn't fill the ultimate hole of loneliness. I have to find a bigger solution to my problem of "loneliness".

It's Jesus.

It's so cliché. Over said. "Annoying to read."

What if we thought of loneliness less as a weakness, but as an opportunity to pursue and find Christ?

The more fully we invite God in, the less we will feel uninvited by others.

When we live from the abundant place from which we are loved, we won't find ourselves begging others for mere scraps of love.

Living loved comes from a quiet, daily surrender to the one who made YOU. It means focusing more on what the Holy Spirit is whispering to us, more than what the flesh is screaming at us.

We can find Christ and live loved in the slower rhythms of life by abiding, delighting and dwelling in His presence. How beautiful it is to slow down and take a minute in the midst of a fast paced world and realize we tie our identity to unchanging circumstances and find ourselves more reliant on God instead of our emotions.

Emotions such as; I feel so lonely.

I feel unloved. That I don't measure up to that girl.

We must start to think as loneliness as a gift. The conversations I have with the Lord in my loneliness always lead to me to more intimacy with Him and more compassion for others.

We must realize first that there is usually some element of protection wrapped in every rejection. In the midst of loneliness, there is often a purpose behind why God is doing it, and I must personally learn to trust him.

The best place to go during a time of loneliness?

God, I don't understand your goodness to me. I thank you for the protection that is a part of this rejection, even when I can't see it. I trust you.

Ultimately no person can fulfill the loneliness inside our hearts. Maybe you have a best friend or a boyfriend or both. But even when we do have these friendships in our lives, we can still feel lonely. It's a message that maybe our fulfillment can only come from something bigger.

From an identity that is tied to Christ and not unpredictable and ever-changing circumstances and people. And when we start to ask,

Is God still good to me?

We must answer:

He is still good. I must trust God to be God and trust that he orchestrates and sees and knows things I couldn't possibly know or understand right now.

And we must always fall back on his faithfulness and live a life loved.

did you like this post? check out Lysa Terkeurst's new book Uninvited, where I got the inspiration for this post!