Loneliness

How to break cycles of loneliness and depression

Written by Yvonne Galindo

I wrote in my previous blog “Intimacy I” with regards to being a single Christian Women in the church today and your relationship with Christ. It’s no surprise that more and more people define themselves as being lonely. Some suffer from loneliness because of losing a spouse or child. In most cases it’s divorce; someone you have been intimate with for years of marriage and then one day the happiness you both have shared is gone! I believe we use the word lightly, and don’t realize loneliness can be a serious ailment for some. Loneliness will manifest itself in many forms like using drugs to try to cope with your depression which sometimes can lead to suicide. This truly saddens my heart because I experienced the loss of a loved one who truly suffered from loneliness and depression. It’s not that she wasn’t loved it’s because she never loved herself or forgave herself for her past mistakes. Women not learning to love or forgive themselves are a number one cause of loneliness in the church.
Mother Teresa said it best ~ the most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved ~ anyone who has been divorced knows the feeling of inadequacy or feeling incomplete and unloved which sometimes can lead to unhealthy relationships. I myself have experienced feeling incomplete and unloved, because of those feelings I made some BIG mistakes, some that I have learned from and others I have regretted terribly. I needed to stop looking for someone and find myself in Christ. I needed to seek Greatness and find the good in myself by the renewal of my mind-Rom 12:2. It was a difficult process and I learned to place all my desires before God; to pray about them and trust God to give them to me if and when they’re right. Remember place all the good, bad and the ugly in His hands. There is no room for shame at the altar of God.
The story of your life has many chapters. One bad chapter doesn’t mean it’s the end of the book.

For more from Yvonne, visit her blog.