I’m away this week, taking a break from blogging to spend time with family, and am delighted to welcome friend and fellow blogger Stacy Edwards here today, to talk about women and why we crave community.
I’m not a woman who makes friends easily. You won’t catch me at the MOPS meeting on Monday night. I’m never early to Bible study, or any sort of meeting, because the thought of small talk terrifies me. I’m the lady that is constantly staring at her phone as if an important text may come at any moment. It isn’t that I’m rude – just hiding. I am the one who bought the lie that, because I am an introvert, I’m okay being alone.
It worked for a little while. A girl can keep herself pretty busy with a home and a husband and four little babes. Then, life happened. Depression. Cancer. Divorce. Job loss. Wave upon wave of pain washed over my family and those I loved. Suddenly, I was the woman crying in the shower and struggling to get through the day. Alone didn’t seem so great.
I began writing about pain and loneliness on my blog and was inundated with women saying, “Me, too.” Turns out, there are a lot of lonely women out there crying in their showers. Too many.
I began to realize that we were created for community. You and I were fashioned for fellowship. It was never God’s plan that anyone should live in isolation. Life happens to us all. This world is broken and no one makes it through without getting cut on the jagged edges. If we are not careful, however, we become completely wrapped up in our own pain. We begin to believe the lies that evil whispers in our ears. You know the ones.
No one is suffering quite like I am right now.
Why is everyone else having an easier time?
No one would understand.
I can do this on my own.
Oh, that serpent is a smooth operator. He wants you to gorge yourself on your own pain until you have no room for anything or anyone else. He knows that, if you are totally focused on you, then you won’t notice that poor brother or sister struggling to make it through their own day. He wants you too full of your own misery to have room for any compassion for someone else. He loves to see people in isolation.
Dear friend, he knows that one lone person is fragile. He knows that if you and I band together, however, then we can lift each other up. We can link arms and stand strong. We can remind each other of the goodness and greatness of our God.
I won’t pretend to know what you are dealing with today.
Depression.
Loneliness.
Illness.
Loss.
Divorce.
The list could just go on and on couldn’t it? I don’t know what you are facing today. I don’t know what that thing is that makes it seem like a chore to even get out of bed. But, this is what I know.
Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. – Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
We were made to lift each other up. All of us need the prayers of our fellow pilgrims to lift us up. Do not let Satan isolate you in your pain. Don’t let him isolate someone else in their pain. Let’s all look around us and see who has fallen and needs to be lifted up.
We can walk this thing out together until He comes.
You are so very loved.
Stacy Edwards (@sjedwards) is a trucker’s daughter and a pastor’s wife. She is a writer and a homeschooling mom to four fabulous little girls. Stacy blogs at Servant’s Life where she uses her words to point others to the hope and encouragement found in Christ. If you need her, she’s probably hiding in the bathroom.