Welcome to "Fan the Flame" Friday.
This is a weekly post that will be "short and sweet" (kinda like me...)
Just a word and a phrase, a sentence or a question...just a little something to "fan the flame" of your creativity!
Today's word: lonely
What does it feel like to be lonely?
Can you feel lonely when you're not alone?
How does God fill up the lonely places in one's heart?
Let me know what you think!!
"This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you…For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." (2 Timothy 1:6-7)
BLOG = "Blessedly Leaning On God!"
You know sometimes I am around people and still feel lonely and sometimes I am alone and don't feel lonely. I know that when someone is with me who understands me - I don't feel lonely. Thanks be to God! sandie
ReplyDeleteAs I was forming my answer in my head, I immediately thought about Genesis 2, when God created man and determined that it was not good (beneficial) for the man to be alone. I admit to jumping over to a word study of word "alone" used there before answering. Hope that's not cheating, but it's the basis of my thoughts here. It comes from a root which means to be withdrawn and isolated. Perfect words, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThat pretty much sums up how I see loneliness. It's a feeling of being isolated from anyone who is LIKE you. For that reason, I can feel lonelier in a crowd than I do when I'm home alone. It was what God saw in Adam. In a paradise full of all kinds of animals, there was none like him, and God saw that that was not good.
I confess, too, that I can often cause (or intensify) my own loneliness by withdrawing. I don't think that's God's way. Rather, I think we should believe that the God who formed us knows that we shouldn't be isolated and therefore formed "help meets" for us too. I'm not speaking exclusively of help MATES like Eve for Adam, but also folks who are genuinely LIKE us and can support and share our daily walk.
I think we can make a pious mistake when we try to quiet the loneliness of others or ourselves with the mantra, "With God we are never alone" as if that means that with God we are never lonely. If that were the case, then God himself would have said that in the garden. After all, He literally walked there with Adam. (Doesn't that just slay you? It does me.)
I think God fills that isolated feeling of loneliness NOT ONLY with His own Spirit and presence, but with others. To not seek them in times of loneliness is to refuse part of the gift.
Just my ever- present opinion.
Good message Debbie! Thanks!
DeleteGood grief, Debbie. Yak much??
ReplyDeleteHi Sharon,
ReplyDeleteYes I think it is possible to feel lonely, in lots of ways. Sometimes it can be because you feel alone in your ideas or feelings, that nobody can understand or see it quite the way you do. I have experienced that kind of loneliness. To turn to God is the answer and know He is beside us and will draw others alongside us too.
Blessings Sharon,
ReplyDeleteI'm lonely and I'm alone!
Sometimes I'm lonely in a crowded room, even with friends. Sometimes I'm all alone and do not feel lonely at all.
I debated whether to respond at all too... since I'm about as isolated as one can get,living alone... in a foreign country, feeling exiled, I guess that's what drives me out into the world to share more about GOD, JESUS and the HOLY SPIRIT!
LONELY=isolated, apart, separated, solitary
"what does it feel like to be lonely?"
(sigh)...
"Can you feel lonely when you're not alone?"
(sigh) YES
"How does God fill up the lonely places in one's heart?" (sigh)
God is all I have to fill my loneliness and He helps me not feel alone even when I am alone. He speaks to my inner being with His Word, His love, through the Bible, through others (like blogs) and through music... God can use this alone time to reach into the depths of our being and it can really be healthy or devastating to find yourself set apart... Jesus withdrew to be alone. (Yet I think it's not real healthy for monks to live alone all the time, even if they are communing with God, because of what Debbie shared from Genesis, God knew)
Thanks to Debbie...I had to go check this out and found LONELINESS
Bible (dot) org also shares Facing Your Feelings: Lessons in Loneliness... guess you just wanted me to search and find a resolution out of my loneliness or what God and others say about this.
What we do when alone can have an eternal effect upon our life and the lives of others - either positive or negative, depending on our degree of
self-discipline and the response of our spirit.
So, I'm off to read and PRAY, after all, it's my day set aside to pray...
Love and prayers, Peggy
ohhh, and once again it won't let me post in Google Chrome... but it let me respond to Debbie.
Gotta go sign in to IE (grrrrrr)
PERFECT SONG I HEARD as I WAS PRAYING and then it kept coming back to me
DeleteYOU and ME ALONE GOD
I believe one can be alone and not be lonely. Yet there have been times that I experienced both simultaneously. Times in loneliness have led me to not so good things.
ReplyDeleteWhat does it feel like to be lonely? T o feel lonely, is to feel totally isolated, away from everyone. A terrible feeling. Can you feel lonely, when you're not alone? Yes, no matter if there is one person in a room with you, or twenty people in a room with you, you can still feel lonely. As if you are being ignored. How does God fill up the lonely places in one's heart? He always makes you feel loved, and He let's you know, that He is with you.
ReplyDeleteI used to feel awfully lonely. It hurt so bad it made me crazy. But then....He touched me.....because my best friend...that One that always runs with me....who'se always in my corner and now...I'm never feel lonely. The neat thing is He also brings amazing kind loving people to walk with us...
ReplyDeleteI certainly think you can feel lonely with other people around. Learning to find your joy in God can be challenging, but is so worth finding!
ReplyDeleteBeing loved by God and loving others is the greatest cure for loneliness there is...
ReplyDeleteI don't recall feeling lonely very many times in my life. Maybe I'm just getting old and have forgotten. I'm blessed to have been surrounded all my life by family and friends. And even more blessed to have had God in my life all those years as well. So many cannot make any of those claims. I am truly blessed.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte