January 5, 2016: Feeling Alone?

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2016 - Day 5  

Devotional Song:  … GO TO THIS LINK …  Please take the time to take in a video of the lyrics from Wayne Watson singing … Friend Of A Wounded Heart, expressing our hearts when we are lonely and feel abandoned … that our friend, Jesus, is always there, the Friend of friends, … the One Who meets us where we are.

 
Highlight Passage:   2nd Timothy 4: 16a & 17a [NKJV] …  
16 At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. 
… 17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, … 
 … Imprisoned in Rome and feeling alone.
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Highlight Context – 2nd Timothy 4:9-18 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK  …  
… The Apostle’s loneliness in prison
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Reference Passage #1 Proverbs 3: 5-6 [NKJV] …  
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. 
… Way true! … But way hard to accept at times we feel lonely.

Reference Passage #2 Hebrews 13:5-6 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …  
… Repeating from Deut. 31: 6 and Ps. 118:6, the Author of Hebrews exhorts our confidence in a God which we sometimes just don’t understand, especially when we’re feeling lonely.

My Journal for Today:  Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Tim Gustafson, took me to the true story of the Apostle Paul in his second imprisonment in Rome, shortly before his death. And we often have a mental picture of Paul being super-strong and always being able to rise above human fears or weaknesses. But as he was writing to his beloved protege, Timothy, in 2Tim. 4:9-18 [linked above], we read how Paul at one time felt abandoned by all of his former disciples; and when he wrote this epistle, as depicted in the attached photo, only Luke was there with Paul in prison; and he obviously longed for the friendship and support of other Christians he knew and loved.

 It’s tough, when we’re feeling lonely or abandoned, to have the faith to remember that Jesus is the Friend we can always count on … the One Who will never abandon us (see Heb. 13:5-6). But Paul (see 2Tim. 4:17) did remember this, likely with Luke’s help, writing to his beloved friend, Timothy, in the face of impending death in prison, how he knew that the Lord stood with Him. Paul, though feeling the pangs of loneliness, remembered that Jesus is ALWAYS as Wayne Watson sings in the linked song above, The Friend of a Wounded Heart.

My Prayer Today:  Heavenly Father, … Thank You for always being my Friend; and what a friend You are!! Amen  

Blogger Note:  Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries.  If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.