Dear Friend,

I don’t even know how to begin this blog post, for every time I try and force the thoughts in my brain to jump onto the paper I come up blank. It has to be something real and genuine and filled with what God has been teaching me, but I don’t even know where to begin. Like a good maid of honor speech, you definitely don’t want to start it off talking about yourself or your lack of words. It would probably be more appropriate to say something along the lines of:

I am a hopeless romantic.

Often accused of looking at the world through rose colored glasses, I waltz through life imagining all the best case scenarios, only to find myself disappointed with reality. I heard it said once, though, that when you look to the problem (life/sin nature) to solve the problem (life/sin nature) you are going to come up empty and unsatisfied. You must instead learn to look to the solution (GOD, sorry, didn’t mean to shout in your brain. I mean God) to be fully satisfied. How do you do that? I am so glad you asked.

You must learn to fall in love.

Now, I’m not saying you’re going to go to your singles bible study at church, find a good-looking guy or girl and make eyes at them. Calm down. That’s just looking at the problem to solve your problem. Let me explain in simple terms.

They say admitting you have a problem is the first step. Go ahead, try it.

I am lonely. I am hurt. I am a fallen, broken person. I am feeling a little empty on the inside.

Okay, so what are you going to do about it? The temptation is to reach out and fill the void with whatever can give instant satisfaction. A relationship. A conversation. A big massive pity party (those are always fun).

It’s like drinking coffee. You’re a little tired and you want to wake up and put the sparkle back in life so you reach for a nice hot cup of caffeine. Boy does it feel good when it’s going down and coursing through your system…but a couple hours later your spike wears off and you reach for a second cup to make the headache go away. Sound familiar?

Let’s change up that story a little bit. You’re feeling a little lonely and your mum is busy when you go to make a phone call. You sit on the edge of your bed and you look over at your phone. A wave of temptation washes over you and you reach out for it. Seconds, minutes, hours later you regret it.

The temporary pleasure dissolved into an aching void. You fall into the self-destructive cycle of filling the emptiness of your heart with the emptiness of the world.

Yet if you persist there is a lasting joy – a full surrender – a hope and a passion. It’s hard, incredibly hard, yet undeniably worth it. You must push through all of the hurt, and cloud, and ache and reach for something beyond your limits. Something that takes time and effort and work. Yet something that delivers you from all your fears, something that requires you to depart from evil and do good; to seek peace and pursue it. Something that enables you to taste and see that the LORD is good and blessed (word meaning ‘happiness many times over’) is the man who trusts in Him! (Read Psalm 34)

Dear heavenly Father, I come before you tonight, longing to know you intimately. I’m lonely and homesickness and fear is starting to creep in. Please help me overcome all of this. To instead surrender fully to you, to believe what your Word says:

The Lord God in your midst,
The Mighty One will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love
He will rejoice over you with singing.
(Zephaniah 3:17)