Loneliness During the Holidays




Loneliness During the Holidays
Pastor Adrian Rogers

"For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling." Psalm 116:8

I believe that the holidays are the most lonely time of the year.

Everywhere you look people are told they're supposed to be happy and they realize that they're not. They see everybody else acting happy, and they feel so lonely. Just walking through the mall can make you feel lonely.

But Jesus has said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5).

When I'm discouraged, His presence sees me through.

When I'm lonely His presence cheers me up.

When I'm worried, His presence calms me down.

And when I am tempted, His presence will help me out.

Write down the last portion of this devotional thought and personalize it. Now use it as a prayer of faith and trust.

For more from Love Worth Finding and Pastor Adrian Rogers, please visit www.lwf.org.





"Loneliness and the feeling of being

uncared for and unwanted are the greatest poverty."

Mother Teresa

He Understands
by Max Lucado



Cries of loneliness. Tune out the traffic and turn down the TV. The cry is there. You can hear their cries. You can hear them in the convalescent home among the sighs and the shuffling feet. You can hear them in the prisons among the moans of shame and the calls for mercy. You can hear them if you walk the manicured streets of suburban America, among the aborted ambitions and aging homecoming queens. Listen for it in the halls of our high schools where peer pressure weeds out the “have-nots” from the “haves.”

Many of you have been spared this cruel cry. Oh, you have been homesick or upset a time or two. But despair? Far from it. Suicide? Of course not. Be thankful that it hasn’t knocked on your door. Pray that it never will. If you have yet to fight this battle, you are welcome to read on if you wish, but I’m really writing to someone else.

I am writing to those who know this cry firsthand. I’m writing to those of you whose days are bookended with broken hearts and long evenings. I’m writing to those of you who can find a lonely person simply by looking in the mirror.

For you, loneliness is a way of life. The sleepless nights. The lonely bed. The distrust. The fear of tomorrow. The unending hurt.

When did it begin? In your childhood? At the divorce? At retirement? At the cemetery? When the kids left home?

Maybe you have fooled everyone. No one knows that you are lonely. On the outside you are packaged perfectly. Your smile is quick. Your job is stable. Your clothes are sharp. Your waist is thin. Your calendar is full. Your walk brisk. Your talk impressive. But when you look in the mirror, you fool no one. When you are alone, the duplicity ceases and the pain surfaces.
Or maybe you don’t try to hide it. Maybe you have always been outside the circle looking in, and everyone knows it. Your conversation is a bit awkward. Your companionship is seldom requested. Your clothes are dull. Your looks are common. Ziggy is your hero and Charlie Brown is your mentor.

Am I striking a chord? If I am, if you have nodded or sighed in understanding, I have an important message for you.

The most gut-wrenching cry of loneliness in history came not from a prisoner or a widow or a patient. It came from a hill, from a cross, from a Messiah.

“My God, my God,” he screamed, “why did you abandon me!” (Matthew 27:46)

Never have words carried so much hurt. Never has one being been so lonely.

Out of the silent sky come the words screamed by all who walk in the desert of loneliness. “Why? Why did you abandon me?”

I keep thinking of all the people who cast despairing eyes toward the dark heavens and cry “Why?”

And I imagine him. I imagine him listening. I picture his eyes misting and a pierced hand brushing away a tear. And although he may offer no answer, although he may solve no dilemma, although the question may freeze painfully in midair, he who also was once alone, understands.

From No Wonder They Call Him the Savior©
(W Publishing Group, 1986, 2004) Max Lucado



Nat King Cole with Natalie Cole - The Christmas Song


1 comment:

Andrea said...

Merry Christmas and GOD BLESS!

Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin