Are You Emotionally Isolated?

Do you know the feeling of your world collapsing? Losing a job or the death of a loved one can suddenly plunge your life into darkness from one moment to the next. Then someone embraces you, and you catch a tiny ray of light - the kind of comfort for which we have no words. We are social beings who thrive in the company of others, which is why loneliness is so painful.

Changes in jobs, arguments, or illness can lead people to isolate, and this loneliness makes everything around us quiet. Too quiet. We seek out noise, recognition, and interaction on social media, all to avoid confronting our loneliness and the pain associated with it. Maybe there's no one we can meet up with in the evenings, but when we scroll through the news feeds of celebrities or acquaintances, we feel like we're part of their lives. However, that feeling disappears when we create and post, and no one reacts. Suddenly, the lack of likes from strangers makes us feel unliked and unseen. Even though from the outside we seem fine, emotionally, we're suddenly sitting in a leper colony - alone, sad, hurt.

Leprosy was highly contagious, and to prevent its spread, the afflicted had to maintain a distance of at least 7 feet from other people. All others could see was the disease and their fear of contagion, not the affected person. But then Jesus came. He saw the person behind the illness and decided that the neighbors and former friends should see their beloved son again instead of a repulsive disease. He healed him. Just as Jesus went to the leper, he enters our loneliness and heals us. He sends people who are there for us, who see our pain, and who give us the embrace we so desperately need.

Next Step: Ask God to tear down the walls in your heart and make you vulnerable. This lays the foundation for an honest and loving relationship, and God can and will fill you with his love.