June 17, 2024 8:00 pm
Holly Cooke didn’t have one single friend when she moved to London for a job. Her weekends felt miserable. The city itself tops the list for feeling blue—with fifty-five percent of Londoners saying they’re lonely, according to a global survey, compared to just ten percent of residents in neighborly Lisbon, Portugal.
For connection, Holly defied her fears and formed a social media group called The London Lonely Girls Club—and some 35,000 have joined. Small-group meetups every few weeks offer park picnics, art lessons, jewelry workshops, dinners, and even outdoor exercise sessions with puppies.
The challenge of loneliness isn’t new, nor is the Healer of our feelings of isolation. Our eternal God, wrote David, “sets the lonely in families; he leads out the prisoners with singing” (Psalm 68:6). Asking God to point our way to Christlike friends is a holy privilege and, thus, a request we can freely take to Him. “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God, in his holy dwelling” (v. 5), added David. “Praise be to the Lord; to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens” (v. 19).
What a friend we have in Jesus! He grants us forever friends, starting with the glorious presence of Himself every moment. As Holly says, “Friend time is good for the soul.”
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Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Our reading titled, Friend to the Lonely, was written by Patricia Rabon. Holly Cook didn't have one single friend when she moved to London for a job.
Her weekends felt miserable. The city itself tops the list for feeling blue, with 55% of Londoners saying they're lonely, according to a global survey, compared to just 10% of residents in neighborly Lisbon, Portugal. For connection, Holly defied her fears and formed a social media group called the London Lonely Girls Club, and some 35,000 have joined.
Small group meetups every few weeks offer park picnics, art lessons, jewelry workshops, dinners, and even outdoor exercise sessions with puppies. The challenge of loneliness isn't new, nor is the healer of our feelings of isolation. Our eternal God, wrote David in Psalm 68, sets the lonely in families.
He leads out the prisoners with singing. Asking God to point our way to Christ-like friends is a holy privilege, and thus, a request we can freely take to him. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling, added David. Praise be to the Lord, to God, our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. What a friend we have in Jesus. He grants us forever friends, starting with the glorious presence of himself every moment.
As Holly says, friend time is good for the soul. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Psalm 68 verses 3 through 6 and verse 19. But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God.
May they be happy and joyful. Sing to God. Sing in praise of his name. Extol him who rides on the clouds. Rejoice before him. His name is the Lord. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families. He leads out the prisoners with singing.
But the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. Praise be to the Lord, to God, our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Let's pray. Dear Jesus, when our hearts feel lonely, please lead good friends to us and remind us that we are never truly alone because you are always with us. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening today. My name is Joyce Dinkins, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-06-17 20:11:34 / 2024-06-17 20:13:01 / 1
