Have you ever thought of “loss” as “disappointment”? I never had connected those two words, but here it began—a great unraveling for me.

Have you ever thought about how Jesus prayed alone? Why was Jesus looking for solitude? I mean, obviously He was a people person right? I’ve been teaching on prayer for many years, and one thing I was known for was always giving people ‘tools’ or ‘resources’ with my teaching. I used to think the reason for that was I was a hands-on children’s-youth-type teacher, but now I believe it’s a different reason than that.

Whenever my mind wanders to places of sadness in my circumstances or fears of the unknown, this hope and promise in His Word overrides my carnality. In light of all He has done for me, how could I complain? You know that death and life are in the power of the tongue, but in your mind- your every thought- is an even greater power.

Can you sit in a room with someone, say no words, give no actions, and feel loved? This is what we run to and run away from with God. There is no greater love felt than simply being in God’s presence, could you agree? To be in the presence of another and feel love, is truly love. When there is nothing to gain from it, nothing to stoke it to keep it going, it simply is.

It is a furnace, it is in this place we face our demons. You know when you are alone, truly alone, you find out how much you can’t stand being alone. Alone with your thoughts, alone with your insecurities, alone with the realities of the parts of you inside poking their heads out to remind you that they are still there and you can’t ignore them when you are alone, just you and God. You must get around people and be busy- distracted, in order to ignore the existence of these demons.