A Prayer for When You Feel Alone
By Molly Law
"Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted." -Psalm 25:16
Loneliness feels like the worse thing in the world, and it is something we all, at one time or another, endure. Loneliness can manifest itself in a variety of ways. Someone can be surrounded by crowds of people or with their family and friends and still feel lonely. The reasons can be numerous — whether they feel like they don’t belong in that group, going through a season of change they feel the people around them won’t or can’t understand. Or loneliness is when we are physically alone and no one is around us. Some people find themselves isolated through no fault of their own.
There is loneliness felt when someone desires to be loved by a romantic partner and that answer to prayer is delayed. It can be amplified when surrounded by happy couples, seeing their love, wedding photos, vacations, etc. spread all over social media. It can be felt when someone is childless, longing to be a parent and seeing their friends having healthy, happy babies. There are so many ways and reasons to feel lonely, and in those moments, life seems hopeless, dark, and sometimes not worth living. That is a lie from the enemy.
Loneliness is a tricky emotion. On the one hand, what you feel is totally validated. No one can take away your feelings. On the other, loneliness, if left to fester, can lead to false ideations and actions that can be harmful. Loneliness can also cause us to bottle up what we are feeling. The lie that this feeling tells is that no one knows but us is going through this and that no one will ever understand. But when we have the courage to reach out to others, we will certainly find that we are not alone in our feelings — that someone else feels the exact same way.
Although we may feel lonely and are not ready to share with anyone how we feel, we are still never truly alone. There is One who promises to be with us always. When Jesus ascended into heaven, leaving his disciples, his friends — he didn’t leave them alone, he left them with someone who would never leave them, someone who would live inside them forever — the Holy Spirit.
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). Throughout Scripture, God promises us that he is with us — we do not have to be afraid or feel hopeless.
Let’s Pray:
Dear Lord,
I’m feeling lonely today, and I don’t know why. I’m feeling hopeless, alone, and scared. I feel like there is no one to talk to about this. I feel like the only person in the world who feels like this. I don’t know how any way else to feel.
Please be with me. I know your promise. I know you will never leave me — that you will strengthen me. I pray that you’ll surround me with your peace and with your Spirit. I pray for the strength to open up to my loved ones about how I feel. To find a support group with people who are going through the same thing. I pray you relieve this feeling.
I pray for those who don’t feel like they can open up to those around them, who feel like they won’t be understood or can’t be themselves. I pray for those who feel like something is missing in their life — that the world is revealing that they are the only ones to not be married, have children, have a dream job, etc.
My Father, thank you for your overwhelming presence in our lives. Thank you for your peace and understanding. Thank you for providing us with your Spirit who will indwell us until we see you face to face. Thank you for giving us friends and family who love and support us. Thank you for giving us the courage to seek comfort in our loneliness when the enemy tries to deceive us that this is not possible — that all is lost. Thank you for your truth.
We love and trust you, our King and Shepherd. Amen
Photo credit: ©SalemDesign/BethanyPyle
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Molly Law is the former Editor of C.com. She has a Master of Arts in Publishing Studies from the University of Stirling, UK, where she studied and lived for a year in Scotland. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English Professional Writing from Gardner-Webb University. Her editorial career includes Senior Editor of a bimonthly magazine for the nonprofit ACA and Editorial Assistant at Luath Press in Edinburgh, UK. She enjoys reading 18th-century British Literature, creative writing, and traveling.
Editor's Note: We're proud to announce we've just launched a new nighttime companion to Your Daily Prayer: the Your Nightly Prayer devotional. You'll soon be able to subscribe to receive Your Nightly Prayer via email, or as a podcast, but for now you can find it on the website at crosswalk.com/devotionals/your-nightly-prayer. We hope it's a relaxing and soothing way to wind down your day with rich meditations on who God is.
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