Fear not

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.
Isaiah 43:1

Abandoned. Neglected. Alone.

Many of us share these painful struggles…..feeling abandoned, feeling neglected, feeling alone. And many of us have struggled with these feelings since we were small children. People growing up in a dysfunctional family often feel their parents never accepted them. Many struggle with the feeling that they can never be good enough to receive the attention they needed from their parents. Maybe we feel rejected or abandoned by our friends or the people we work with or other important people in our lives. Then thoughts pop up in our mind saying we don’t really belong to anyone. We are alone and no one cares.

Humans have a deep desire to belong. We need to be emotionally bonded with other people. Social isolation can be very painful. As a child we may have experienced social isolation. Social isolation is a painful experience many Deaf and Hard-of-hearing people feel. We try to be close to others but often that meant we experienced unhealthy control, abuse, rejection or loss. We may have withdrawn to protect ourselves, but that only made us feel worse loneliness and fear.

God comes to our lonely, anxious hearts and whispers our name. God says "I see the fear you have of closeness and the deep desire you have to belong. I (God) have come to comfort you and to meet your need. I(God) have been seeking relationship with you. You belong. You belong to me. You are my child."

We might feel afraid of the invitation to belong to God. We might feel afraid because we expect pain and disappointment, over-control and rejection from God. But gradually, as we continue the healing process, we can allow God to meet this deep need. We can allow ourselves to belong more and more to God.

Help me, God, to allow myself to belong to you.
Thank you for calling me by name.
Thank you for saying to me “you are mine'.”
I want to belong to you, God.
You are the best doctor. Please help me cooperate with you as you continue the process of healing me emotionally.
Heavenly Father, Please remove my fear.
Give me the courage to belong to you.
Amen