Photo Credit: StarliteGeneration

In a world surrounded by people, both in tangible-time and through our electronic screens it is a bit amazing that we could ever fill alone, but alas we do. Perhaps not everyone, but I know I have experienced my fair share of the emotion through-out my years on this globe, sometimes even when I am in the thick of a crowded room. Loneliness seesawed with depression are noted markers of those who attempt/commit suicide. It is noted that suicide is the 10^th leading cause of death, and that approximately 45k people pass by this method every year (Source: AFSP). It is hard to imagine that there is no one alive right now that hasn’t experienced suicidal thoughts, attempted it, known someone who has tried, or unfortunately succeeded. While I cannot say for certain that everyone has a flesh and blood human that they can trust and turn to (though it is my hope that they do), I do know that there is One we can all always talk to; the One who formed the world. He is omnipresent (aka everywhere, all the time), omnipotent (all powerful) and omniscient (all knowing), and desires to be reconciled with you through Jesus Christ.

My mom is one of those women of faith who talk out loud to Father God. She doesn’t do it for show, she does it because she wants to carry on a conversation just as if He is sitting in a chair right beside her. She can be found through-out the day (or night) just speaking about life, thanking, praising, or requesting. Sometimes it isn’t much a calm dialog, but one of her crying out in pain (truthfully), but I know this He listens and brings her comfort. I commend her for this, it is not something that I have yet embraced as my default mode, I am more often the silent, mental conversationalist. She has suffered many trials and tribulations in her life, she says that God is the author of her overcoming and surviving it all, and that talking to God as such, is just what is natural, “After-all He is here with us”, she has said.

She embodies the point of this writing in full, we are not alone, regardless of what may come across our minds or what we may see with our eyes, there is a God out there that loves us, that loves you, and He is available for you to bare your burdens to. Here are a collection of verses, here is another set, and yet one more grouping for good measure that you can read, meditate on, draw encouragement from in your time of need to escape the clutches of this emotion.

There is a song by former girl group BarlowGirl, “Never Alone” that came out in 2004 that I used to play and sing along to on repeat whenever I was dealing with this. Full disclosure, I got my copy that was burnt to cd (now lost) via Limewire, but thankfully there is Youtube, so I share it with you now. May it bring peace and joy to you as you listen to it. May it warm your heart, regardless of what season or space you are in, may you have hope for the days and years to come as you read these words. May you find strength though the One who gave you the ability to stand!

Thanks be to You Father for all You have done. Through forming the world, to giving us salvation through Jesus Christ, to His peaceful Spirit that resides in the world and within those who believe. Because of You alone shall we be able to stand the test, the long haul. While we may not always get things right, Your love is always RIGHT THERE, never faltering and never failing. In Jesus name. ❤

“The battlefield is in the mind”, commonly heard quoted from Charles Stanley and Joyce Meyer.

It has come to my realization that there are only two main categories of people, but then we all get jumbled back together again. What are those two main categories? That would be those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior and those who haven’t. Sure when one turns their life over to Christ things about them change (or should), but likewise aren’t there nonbelievers who are kind, compassionate, extremely thoughtful of others and seek to do good? Sure. For as it is noted in Romans “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” and though you may try to be perfect in your daily thoughts and actions, at sometime you will fall again. However, the act of imperfection is not that the topic at hand; it is rather the mental trick that is used against us when we fall that is.  

What would that trick be? I am reminded of the phrase that Luna Lovegood spoke to Harry Potter about Voldemort in The Order of The Phoenix , “Well if I were You-Know-Who, I'd want you to feel cut off from everyone else. Because if it's just you alone you're not as much of a threat.”

Simple stated it is that nagging notion that when we think, do or feel something “bad”/imperfect that we are an isolated – weird failure, that no one will understand, and henceforth are alone in this life.

#1 As children of God, once you have accepted Jesus as your personal savior, the Spirit of God (for reals) comes and resides in Your being. Henceforth, right off the bat, you are not alone. You can ALWAYS talk to God (and He understands you more than you understand yourself, trust).

#2 There is an estimated 7 billion people in the world, you mean to tell me that you are the only person who has ever thought this thought, done this action or felt this feeling? Highly not likely (ok let’s just say impossible really), so know that you are not alone on a large human-network scale.

#3 Everyone should (and if you don’t then feel free to reach out to me) have someone they can speak to, in a safe, nonjudgmental fashion. No, not everyone is going to agree, but that is where common respect comes in – sometimes people just need to be heard and not talked to.

So rebuke the lie, YOU ARE NOT ALONE regardless of WHAT you are going through (as this lie doesn’t just extend to behavioral fallings).  

Dear Heavenly Father,

We thank You for the truths You have given us and the wisdom You allow us to reach, in Your time on Your accord. May we not get caught up in past, current or future failings, but ever remembering that forgiveness is REAL and that we are NEVER alone. May we be not a stumbling-block for others, but lead, guide and uplift them towards/to You, for we wish no one to be forever “lost” and suffer damnation. Strengthen us dear Lord, as trying times are ahead of us all. In the name of Your son, Jesus Christ we pray ><>

SiC <3