We Are Never Alone

Comfort and Hope for the Lonely Seasons of Life

By Penny Noyes

I was lonely. That realization struck me when my friend mentioned feeling alone in the midst of the busyness of life. Why would she feel alone? I knew she had a flexible job, a supportive husband, and great kids, plus I was her friend. And why did I understand how she felt, not in a casual I-know-how-you-are-feeling kind of way, but in a socked-in-the-gut understanding that came as soon as she said the word?

“Lonely” isn’t a word I have spent a lot of time with. I asked Jesus into my life at a very young age, so for as long as I can remember, I have known that I was never alone. I boldly traveled the world knowing He would never leave me. I knew if friends betrayed me or ditched me, He was always faithful.

I dug deep to remember another season when I had felt deeply lonely. I went back to my sophomore year of college. My fifteen-year-old sister had died only months before. When the fall semester started, I was in a place that I loved, surrounded by people who were great friends, but I was desperately lonely. I knew my friends cared for me, but none of them knew what I was going through. My world had changed. Though I was confident that my sister knew Jesus and I would see her again one day, my heart was ripped open by the hole her death had left.

I realized my friend and I were lonely, not because we didn’t have great friends and family, but because over the past year, we both had lost a part of ourselves. We both were mourning the death of someone very dear to us who grounded us, encouraged us, and listened without judging. Someone who had been a rock in our lives, who was a part of our routine, and who had made us who we are. When we lost them, we lost a part of ourselves.