Have you ever felt so lonely, you were numb?
When all the hurt, confusion, despair, and longing grew so intense, it turned into an aching emptiness?
Have you wondered what use it is to be alive?
Have you heard the seductive thoughts that tell you you're better off dead, or the whisper that people would finally notice if you were gone?
Have you known darkness so deep, it felt like no light would ever penetrate it?
I have.
I know what it's like to be forgotten. I know how it feels to be devastated, isolated.
Pretty hopeless, right?
Did you know Jesus felt the ache too? He faced ultimate rejection from his father, and his friends. (Matt 26:36-46, 27:46)
Christ gets how it feels to be desperately longing to be noticed and known by someone.
He is empathetic towards us. Empathy comes from a background of knowing. Empathy has experienced your pain. Jesus didn't just experience our pain, he came to redeem it.
He saw me in my isolation. He sees you in the confusion and loneliness.
He longs to sit beside you, to hold and cry with with you. He aches to share your pain.
It hurts Him when you don't.
He wants to hold your hand, and drive away the darkness. He wants to save you. He died so that you wouldn't have to.
Please don't give up. I've come so close to surrendering, so many times. Jesus has held me back. He's holding you too, stretching out His scarred, strong hands to guide you away from the cliff's edge. He's smiling at you, inviting you to join Him in warm, sweet light.
Life is so much better in the Son.
