Can you remember a time when you were "the new kid on the block'"?  Perhaps you had just started at a new school or began a new job.  What emotions did you experience in that new environment?  Excitment, fear, confusion...?  In the midst of all that you experienced, I can imagine for most of you there was loneliness too.

In the last 15 years, I have lived in four different countries on four differenct continents. While these moves have brought many amazing opportunities, they have also presented many challenges.  The great opportunities included heaps of new experiences, learning new cultures, making new friends, going on adventures, seeing breathtakingly beautiful scenery, and trying different foods.  But as I said, these moves also brought challenges.  There are two that stand out most.  First while it can be fun and exciting to make new friends, it can also be difficult and take a long time.  Second, it is often hard to be away from family and friends.  Both of these have contributed to times of real loneliness in my life.  

But something that I have learned about loneliness is that though the experience and emotions that it can bring are real and can be painful, something even more real is God's abiding presence.  Since I have a relationship with God through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I am never truly alone.  God has promised to never leave me nor forsake me.  So even when I am alone, I am not alone.  My closet, dearest, and most constant friend is always with me.