You serve a God who will never leave you alone. You are not forsaken in any situation or at any moment in life. He is with you; what glorious relief!

Whenever your heart tries to convince you that you are all alone and that no one cares about you or your life, you must choose to believe the truth of the Scriptures rather than the instability of your feelings. When it comes to loneliness, you must open your Bible and agree with the Word of God and not with the emotions that threaten to alienate you.

Jesus really is your best friend, so feel free to talk to Him anytime ... or anywhere. Share your heart with Him and then listen for His loving response. When you begin to respond to Jesus as you would to a friend, your loneliness will slowly begin to ebb away.

In my seasons of loneliness, I have reminded myself numerous times that there are at least two tools that will help me walk through the door to God's undeniable presence: fellowship and worship.

Matthew 18:20 teaches that when believers are with each other, He is with them also. If you want to spend time with God, try spending an evening with a group of people who love Him.

The second way that lonely people can place themselves in the direct presence of the Lord is through the choice to worship. God dwells where praise is full and strong! If you long for your loving Father to make Himself known and manifest in your life, then you should spend time worshipping Him. The Lord shows up when a man or woman of God rises above events and circumstances with a heart that is overflowing with pure worship. If you deal with loneliness, turn up the worship music and then lift your hands in the air, because He is there!

How wonderful it is to know that Jesus will never leave us or forsake us. The assurance that He is always with us just might be the loveliest and most comforting promise in the entire Bible.

But honestly, there have been situations where I felt isolated and just needed another person to touch me or say a kind word to me. Please don't misunderstand me. I certainly had the sweet reassurance that Jesus was indeed with me. But oh, how I longed for just one empathetic squeeze of the hand from a friend who cared about me.

My prescription for your lonely soul is this: Make an assertive and definitive attempt to reach out to someone else at least once a day. Passivity is not a remedy for loneliness.

You will no longer feel abandoned if you can learn the secret of being assertively friendly when everyone else is merely passive or having a cheerful, positive heart when everyone else seems uninterested. Remind yourself every day that love is something you do, not something you feel. If you can reach out in love and kindness to someone every day, regardless of how you feel, it will change your life.

One of the amazing aspects of your life as a woman is that God wired you for fellowship and for companionship. It is not a sin to desire close friends who will cheer you on through life—it is part of what makes you a glorious creation of the Father.

"When He sent the crowds away, He went up into a mountain by Himself to pray. And when evening came, He was there alone" (Matt. 14:23).

At times, Jesus sent the crowds away for His own benefit, and it seems reasonable to me that He might do exactly the same thing from time to time in the lives of His children.

As we learn from the example of Jesus concerning the opportunity of loneliness in the life of a believer, we must observe what He did when He, too, was all alone. It seems to me that Jesus was in the habit of proactively being alone so He could spend time in prayer. I believe we should imitate everything Jesus chose to do during His time on earth, and if it was beneficial for Him to choose to be alone in order to pray, it will be beneficial for us to do the same.

Do you find yourself in an interval of life when you are often alone? Then let me just encourage you to use those uninterrupted hours to pray to the Father. This time of seemingly arid living can be turned into a thriving garden of the Lord's presence if you will only choose to pray.

Often, during such periods, instead of praying, we prefer to binge-watch Netflix, read the latest romance novel, talk endlessly on the phone or complain on social media. What if God has wisely appointed you to a season of solitary living so you can grow closer to Him? What if God has sent the crowd away from your life so you are able to experience breakthroughs and miracles in prayer? What if you will never experience the true love of the Father unless you actually spend time with Him?

Now, when you choose to pray, not only will you bask in the loving arms of the one who created you, but you will also move heaven and earth! What better way to spend your time than to partner with God to make a difference in the world while on your knees?

Days and even years of solo moments are never wasted when we choose to pray.

We often mistakenly identify a season of loneliness as a time of insignificance rather than an opportunity to wield the greatest significance of our entire lives. There is a divine assignment with your name on it that loneliness is not able to erase. While you are feeling alone, you can either alienate yourself—or you can fulfill the plan of God for your life.

Carol McLeod is an author and popular speaker at women's conferences and retreats, where she teaches the Word of God with great joy and enthusiasm. Carol encourages and empowers women with passionate and practical biblical messages mixed with her own special brand of hope and humor. Carol has written 11 books, including Significant, StormProof and Guide Your Mind, Guard Your Heart, Grace Your Tongue. Her teaching DVD The Rooms of a Woman's Heart won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award for excellence in religious programming.

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