Lessons from Loneliness

Finding yourself on the other side of the planet, and being able to count the number of people you know on your hands is challenging.

God created us in His image, in His likeness. He is all about relationships, thus we are wired to desire a relationship with Him and with each other. Friends and family are important, more so than we realize at times.

Being alone a lot the past few weeks has made me realize how important friendships are. Being lonely is horrible, in my opinion, but through the loneliness I've experienced the past few weeks I've learned a lot.

A Treasure... True friends really are a gift from God and should be treasured. I've come to have a new appreciation for the friendships I have.

Perspective... Through the times of being alone I believe I can now relate better to people who are alone for much of their time and also suffer from depression (not saying I'm depressed, I just feel like I can understand it better now). Most of my life I've been around people a lot and had at least a few friends around me for a good portion of each day. I'm realizing that a life without that is very challenging.

Provision... I've been praying for friends, and asking others to pray for this as well. To be honest, I really haven't made a close friend since I've been here. However, God has provided. There's been several times I was feeling very lonely and one of my friends from back home, or someone else who is serving overseas, will start chatting with me on Facebook, Gmail, or Skype. It's been incredible how the timing of it all has worked out.... I've really been praying that God would send me some good guy friends who I can hang out with. Guys just need to be around guys sometimes. It's funny because I have two really good guy friends who are both serving in Africa. One of them was a fellow intern from South Africa and another I met at Pre-field Orientation this past summer. The three of us are in similar situations, we're all lacking those guy friends in our lives. We haven't really found those friendships yet, but we've all had times to catch up with each other and/or other friends back home. It's not a person in your physical presence, but it's what we needed. It's what I've needed.

Priorities... Another blessing that has come out of this period is the time I've had to spend with Jesus. To be completely honest with you, I haven't been taking advantage of it like I should. There has been a lot of wasted time, but there's also been some great times of prayer and journaling. God's using this time to prepare me for something I think. I'm not sure what, but I know this is happening for a reason.


Truth be told, I like to be busy and have lots of work to do, but in this season it's not the case... Before I came to Wales I really thought about why I was coming and I came to the conclusion that the ultimate reason I was going is that God wanted me to come on an adventure with Him so we could fall more in love. It's not about the number of people that will come to our church, the help I can offer the missionaries I work with, or even the people who will get saved. Ultimately, God wants me here so I can know Him more. I know this sounds selfish in a lot of ways, but God is jealous for us. He wants us! And maybe I just need a slap in the face at times to realize that. God has called us to do good works and to serve, but that comes after the relationship with Him. He is my priority and my everything.

I may have days where I honestly don't have anything that I have to get done, but if I simply spend the day walking around taking in God's beauty and talking with Him, that's all He could ask of me for that day. I have to get my mind around the fact that my worth simply comes from the fact that Jesus loves me, and I can do nothing to earn that love or make it stop.

Even though I absolutely hate not having much to do, and I hate being lonely, I'm very thankful for the past few weeks. God is teaching me things, most of them I'm probably not even aware of!


Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you find yourself in a similar situation I hope you can gain something from this post.

God bless!