Me and Who ElseSample

Reality is nicer than the lie

“Daddy, I am so lonely. I don’t think anyone loves me.”  

I spoke these words sitting at the grave of my father at the age of 16. I lost my dad to a  heart attack when I was 9. Since then my mom took care of me. As a school teacher, she did her best to bring me up with love and care. But no matter how much she did, I always felt lonely. I saw my friend’s dad buying stuff for my friend and I always questioned why I couldn’t have the same stuff. "Why can’t I have the same happiness as my friend? Why don't I have my dad? Why do I have to go through this? I am lonely."  

So to cope, now and again, I would go to my dad’s grave and cry.  

The devil has a way of taking our minds on a detour to think about things or people we don't have and thus make us feel miserable and lonely.  

In the Garden of Eden, while arguing with Eve in Genesis 3, Satan distracts Eve’s mind towards that one thing, that one fruit, that God did not want them to eat. And all of humanity fell because of that. Eve, for that moment, forgot everything that God had entrusted into their hands and started focusing on that one thing that God did not give them.  

The devil uses the same strategy in our lives today. He sends our mind on detours to focus on the things we don’t have at this moment.  

This is the trick: at first, you feel you don't have it, then you start feeling like you never will never have it, and then by the time he's done with you, you're feeling lonely and miserable, as if your whole happiness depended on it.  

But when I got to know Jesus, I realised that though I don’t have my dad with me, I have a God who had now become my father.  Though I didn’t have the stuff other people had, I had a mom who loved me and gave me her best. Slowly, I started seeing that God had given me a whole lot of things and relationships which I cherish even today.  

More than all of that, I have Jesus who has His eye on me.  

When you feel lonely and broken. Do these 3 things:  

1) Resist: Resist the thoughts of loneliness planted by the devil. Read James 4:7  

2) Remember: It is not only important to resist the thoughts which make you feel lonely, but to also fill your mind with the right kind of thoughts.  

Make a list of things God has given you (people, things, talents) and be thankful for them. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:18  

3) Repeat: Keep repeating and renewing your mind with the 1st and 2nd process. It's a good habit to practise.  

Praveen Anand Raj  

Pastor