God promises that you’ll never feel alone. He hears you and will fill that void.
SHAUNA: Hi there! I’m Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope with a poignant story from Joni.
JONI: It happened at one of our Family Retreats. I sat on the camp porch trying to console Jennifer, a 26-year-old woman with cerebral palsy. Earlier in the day a few volunteers at our retreat had mistakenly tried to send her to the “children's group.” With her girlish grin and her short blonde hair, Jennifer actually looks like, well, like she’s ten years old. And it wasn’t the first time it had happened. Over recent years, many people took her for a child. And Jennifer sat there with me, overcome with discouragement, and told me, “Joni, I don't have any friends. I'm so lonely.”
I couldn't imagine her emptiness. And there are so many like her. Countless people in the Bible, like her, cried out to God. One person wrote in Psalm 25, “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.” Another Bible writer used a picturesque desert scene, and wrote in Psalm 102, “I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof.” There’s that word again, “alone”. And how many lonely people have read Ecclesiastes 4:11 and sighed where it says, “If two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?”
Maybe you identify. Maybe you’re the sort of person who has little or no contact with other people. Perhaps you are elderly and living a solitary life; you seldom get out, you have few visitors. Or maybe you are an international student who really struggles to fit in; or you could be single and all of your friends have either married or moved away. Or maybe you are like Jennifer, perhaps an accident or injury has isolated you and you find yourself living a solitary life with few friends, if any.
But you know there’s a different kind of loneliness. Maybe you rub shoulders with plenty of people all the time, but you have no intimate contact with them. The few people you do know never seem to include you in their inner circle. You never get invited to social events. Your Christian witness doesn’t encourage or impress them, or anyone else. It makes no difference whether we are actually alone or simply lonely; if we get the feeling that our pains and sorrows are worthless, it can drive us to despair.
Well, let me share with you the verse I gave Jennifer that day on the porch. In Hebrews 13, God says, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Wow! It’s a promise he gives his people over and over, especially to Jennifer and lonely ones like her. Psalm 10 says that he hears the cry of those who hurt, who are afflicted and alone. After our talk, Jennifer and I prayed and asked God to fill her void. And what do you know, three weeks later, Jennifer had signed up to volunteer at a local center for kids with cerebral palsy. She told me with a smile that it was her job now to go from crib to crib and pick up the little ones and, as she put it: “just love on them all.” Jennifer found the answer to her prayer and her loneliness, and it was that God wanted her to love others with her sort of disability. Oh friend, nothing fills a lonely void quite like getting the focus off of yourself and on to God, and then on to someone else in greater distress.
SHAUNA: Listening friend, if you’re lonely or know someone who is, go to joniradio.org today where you’ll find more of Joni’s timeless encouragement. You’ll find radio programs, resources, and biblical hope for your heart. And while you’re there, be sure to let us know how we can pray for you. Remember, that’s joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends