sincere thoughts
Forgotten. Ever felt that way? What about lonely? Ever feel lonely? Lonely. Where you feel like no one on this planet would give two craps if you weren't around? I have lived through seasons of loneliness and simply feeling forgotten. It is rough...
We can feel especially lonely when we are struggling. When we go through hard stuff very few people will walk with us. It seems like everyone wants to be around those who are succeeding and sharing in the victory and happiness, but very (let me emphasize) VERY few people want to walk with us through depression, grief, or loss. Don't believe me? Want proof? How many people LIKE a Facebook status when someone pops out a new baby or gets married - TONS! How many LIKE the status if you post on how sad you are, or that you feel lonely. Mmhh, mmhh, point made. Not that Facebook is the right place to spew our stuff, but I do understand why we do it. When we post stuff like that, we are trying to put it out there that we're needing someone to encourage us, connect with us, or sympathize with us - I really do get it. Psalm 34 says God is close to the brokenhearted. John 3:16 says God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son. Deuteronomy 31:6 says God never leaves us nor forsakes us. For all you iPhone people out there - not everyone has 25 notifications when they check their phone at break time at work. Most times there are no notifications on my phone. Makes me feel forgotten some days. So I did something to remind me about how much God thinks about me. When I was in Honduras I took a picture of the sand, really close up. I made that picture my home screen picture on my iPhone. So when I hit the home button, I see the picture of the sand. When I have no notifications, I only see SAND. Why? Because the Bible tells us in Psalm 139 that God is familiar with all of our ways, and that He thinks about us. Verse 18 says that God's thoughts are vast, and if we were to count them, that they'd outnumber the grains of sand. MORE than the sand grains. WHAT!? He thinks of me A LOT. So to encourage myself I put that picture there to remind me. Yes, I feel alone a lot, but I remind myself that I have a Heavenly Father who thinks of me all the time, and loves me fiercely. That dumb sand picture reminds me I AM LOVED and THOUGHT OF... So the next time you become uniquely aware of loneliness or feeling forgotten, remind yourself: I am not alone. God is here with me. He thinks about me all the time. He loves me. He has a good plan for me. And he works all things together for good for those who loves Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) Friend, if that is you, if you feel forgotten or alone, listen to me: you're not alone. You may not matter to the masses, but the most important thing you need to know is the truth: YOU MATTER TO GOD.
0 Comments
Sometimes it is easy to believe that life will never change; that life will inevitably stay the same. Especially when you're unhappy. Feel unhappy stinks. Like yesterdays socks. Stinks. As much as I'd like to void it from all humanity, it IS part of life. Looking on the bright side, being unhappy makes us appreciate happy moments so much more. Sounds cliche, but I have lived it. It's true.
The last time I was over the moon happy was about a month ago. It wasn't because I won the lottery or anything. It was because God showed me His intentions towards me. He revealed His love for me. It had been years since I had really felt His strong presence...so loving, so accepting. Those years without sensing God had been the darkest years yet. When I say dark, I mean dark. Without the presence of light and goodness, what else do we have? What is the alternative? Nothing I ever want to experience again. I honestly saw no way out. It stunk. I was very unhappy. Then after a freaky turn of events, I ended up in a country I had no plans on being in...and it was there that God showed up. And showed up big. It took seven full days to full break through the sadness, but God did it. A full week to crack through the hardened shell of a person I had become. I figured it would be where I would live the rest of my life, but God had other plans. (as He often does) Here I was. Broken before God. But felt loved and perfectly held by Him. This was definitely the place I wanted to be. I was so much happier. I had this sense that everything was going to be okay. Life changed for me in that week. My perspective changed. Life went from upside down to right side up. So hang in there. If you're going through "it" right now, keep holding on. God hasn't forgotten about you. He still loves you. He is working. And soon you'll be able to see what He had been planning all along. |
blogA place to share my insights and thoughts about life. Archives
August 2018
Categories |