IT IS WELL // DEVO

One of the hardest things my wife and I have had to deal with is the combining weight of emptiness and loneliness that comes with ministry. One of our first steps of faith was riddled with loneliness because we were so detached, geographically, from the community we were serving. There was a tension It wasn’t always like this, but the honeymoon stage of ministry quickly dissipated around year 2, and those drives home were filled with prayer and crying out to the Lord. The loneliness turned into emptiness as we put together a plan to make our escape through the cracks of what was now a very large church. After spending some time training some people to take our place, I made a phone call, and it was over. It was then that the loneliness and emptiness took a turn for the worst as their close friends, doubt and depression, came on the scene.

Friends, I have heard of many followers of Christ experiencing the same thing. From not ever speaking to those who they locked arms with for the Gospel. To the deep wounds of erasing someone completely from their lives. Feeling forsaken by a co-laborer in Christ hits deeper than the worst betrayal an unbeliever can conjure up.

Dear me,

There is a deep hurt that you have yet to publicly communicate. A knot in your stomach that will probably never go away. A closure that you desperately desired, but will probably never get. Do I have your attention?

Have you found yourself still seeking out the attention of those that hurt you? Trying to desperately get their recognition? Desiring everything to be normal again? Wanting your friendship restored? Yet, they don’t even know that you exist or care to reach out to see how you are doing?

No, they didn’t abandon your friendship because of worldly desires, as Demas did with Paul, and that truth hurts more because they should know better. Friend, the truth is, you may never get the closure you desire, and that truth is the greatest closure you can ever receive.

Soul, I want you to know a couple things. One who has placed their trust in God, has a greater friend, a greater companion, a trustworthy Savior named Jesus. In your loneliness, your emptiness, the confusion that leaves you dumbfounded, ask the Lord to be nearer than ever. Be satisfied in the truth that He will never leave you hanging, on read, with unsatisfied hopes of a response. He is Immanuel, God with us, God with you, God near you. Be at peace child, you are loved and known by the God who came near, and that value is unmatched by anyone or anything.

Love you,

You are Known.

wrote this to me. I need to know this more than anyone.