ManageYourEmotionsBook8.5x5.5_RevJULY.indd

promise from God: “IWILL NEVER LEAVEYOU, NORWILL I EVER FORSAKEYOU” (Hebrews 13:5). With full assurance that vertical connection between you and God is secure through Christ, next, give careful attention to the second factor in managing loneliness, experiencing spiritual com- munity. It begins with an awareness and understanding of the three basic needs we all possess. First, we need to be loved and to love. “Faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Nowhere is this truer than the battle against loneliness. Next, we must be understood.After all, aren’t most of us just looking to connect with people who “get us” and comprehend where we’re coming from and how we feel? And then, we all yearn to be needed.All God’s children have something to offer and contribute. Loneliness doesn’t stand a chance against someone who has found their groove and is making things better for those around them. Those who insulate and seclude themselves from others miss the joy of koinonia, that special communion and fellowship enjoyed exclusively by those who belong to the body of Christ.As an old Swedish proverb says “Shared joy is doubled joy, shared sorrow is half a sorrow.” “No man is an island unto himself.”Yes, we are our brother’s keeper. Nothing carries more significance in Christian community than service to others. Loneliness lifts like a morning fog when we lend a hand to others in Jesus’ name. While leaving England by ship, a famous British writer no- ticed the other passengers waving to loved ones on shore. He then rushed down to the dock asking a young lad, “Would you wave to me if I paid you?” Of course the lad agreed. So the writer rushed back on the ship, waving leaned over the rail, thrilled to have some- one to wave to.And sure enough, there was the young fellow waving back to him! 23 There’s no need to pay someone to wave to you, or even rent

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