Lord, I’m so tired of letting circumstances dictate my emotions. If I don’t get the attention I want or the affection I think I need or a hundred other little things, then loneliness sets in like a dark cloud that follows me wherever I go. It’s like a gaping hole eating away at my heart. And yet, my heart is not empty because You reside there and the dark clouds that surround me are blown away by the breath of Your Spirit so that I can see the sunshine of Your grace and favor falling on me and feel the warmth of Your love and approval embrace me.

God, help me to hold that truth in the depths of my soul. Do I lose sight of it because I spend too little time with You? Could it be that what I think of as a hunger for affection and attention is actually a thirst for Your presence? Lord, help me to seek You first and above all else. For it is You whom I want and need over anything else for You are life and love and light itself. Help me to seek You that I may find You as You have promised. I wait on You to fill me up with Your presence until I am a cup overflowing. And though the loneliness returns like all the sorrows of this world must while we are here, may it only ever draw me closer to You – You who are close to the brokenhearted. So are You near to me always and forever, my God. Thank You for loving me like no one else and for Your promise to never leave me.

Amen.