{"id":4928,"date":"2024-02-17T16:32:31","date_gmt":"2024-02-17T16:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/?p=4928"},"modified":"2024-02-17T16:32:31","modified_gmt":"2024-02-17T16:32:31","slug":"overcoming-loneliness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/february\/overcoming-loneliness\/","title":{"rendered":"Overcoming loneliness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I’m not alone.<\/h2>\n

There is an epidemic that has been around before COVID-19 titled “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,<\/a>” finds that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, about half of U.S. adults reported experiencing measurable levels of loneliness. The damage it can produce is equivalent to 15 cigarette a day.  And it warns that the physical consequences of poor connection can be devastating, including a 29% increased risk of heart disease; a 32% increased risk of stroke; and a 50% increased risk of developing dementia for older adults. But the bible tells us that we are not alone, and it gives us the assurances that we need to deal with loneliness. Take for instance what the Prophet Isaiah says on God’s behave “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;”(Is41:10). And in the Psalms David said that though his mother or father would leave him God would take him up (Ps27:1). But God puts us in the company of his people, so that we are not alone and are able to combat against loneliness, for example, to Adam he made Eve (Ge2:18). Luke tells us that we are surrounded with a great cloud of witnesses, letting us know that we are not alone in this journey (He12:1). <\/p>\n

Psalms 142:4-7<\/p>\n

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4 <\/sup>I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.<\/span><\/p>\n

5 <\/sup>I cried unto thee, O Lord<\/span>: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.<\/span><\/p>\n

6 <\/sup>Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.<\/span><\/p>\n

7 <\/sup>Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

David found himself alone in a cave while he was being chased by king Saul. God had taken the kingdom from the king and had given it to David, and because he was afraid of losing it, he sought to kill him. There are many things that make us hide in caves, like David did. For David, he did not want to harm the king (1Sam24:6), so he ran and went into the cave. Persecution is one reason why some people go into caves, but for others it could be the death of a loved one, the way the look, relationships, abuse, and the list goes on.  The fact is that once you are in a cave, because no one wants to join us there the effects of the cave creep in; cold, fear, and loneliness. Because David had a relationship with God, he turned to him with his cry. Every believer knows that God is our ever-present help (Ps46:1). But one thing happens when because of loneliness we call on God, and that is that he places us in the company of his people. <\/p>\n

For example, when Paul was stoned by the religious people and left for dead, the disciples surrounded him, and he rose and continued in his quest to preach the gospel (Acts14:19-20). David’s prayer was for God to deliver him from that cave of loneliness, and God did just that. He began to send other criminals and bandits that became David’s might men, and God surrounded him with these righteous converted men. <\/p>\n

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Isaiah 41:10<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

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10 <\/sup>Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Psalms 27:1<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

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The Lord<\/span> is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord<\/span> is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?<\/p>\n

Genesis 2:18<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

18 <\/sup>And the Lord<\/span> God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Hebrews 12:1<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
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Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

1 Samuel 24:6<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

6 <\/sup>And he said unto his men, The Lord<\/span> forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord<\/span>‘s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Psalms 46:1<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.<\/p>\n

Acts 14:19-20<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

19 <\/sup>And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. <\/span>20 <\/sup>Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Spanish<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m not alone. There is an epidemic that has been around before COVID-19 titled “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,” finds that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, about half of U.S. adults reported experiencing measurable levels of loneliness. The damage it can produce is equivalent to 15 cigarette a day.  And it warns that the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-february"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4928"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4930,"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4928\/revisions\/4930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}