“Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.” Psalm 68: 5-6

Loneliness is a terrible state of mind. For those reading this message today who have been in that lonely place, I don’t need to tell you how harmful it is. It’s a state of mind and soul sickness that can happen to anyone. Some, like myself, have felt that loneliness for years on end. I had 2 parents, 2 sisters, a wife, 3 kids, a career, and 2 cars in the garage; yet I felt like I was missing something. We can have family and friends and people who love us, but we can still be lonely. That’s what happened to me—I had great things in my life but something kept gnawing at me in the form of a question: What am I missing? There is a type of loneliness caused by the absence of something so vital, so precious to our existence that if we fail to tap into it we will continue to have this sense of loneliness and emptiness, no matter what or who we have in our lives. From adolescence, through my 20’s and into my 30’s, I had this gnawing sense that I was alone; I was missing something. I can remember thinking, “there has to be more; what is it?” 20th-century psychiatrist Carl Jung came up with a great definition of addiction (to self, sex, relationships, chemicals, or whatever) in a conversation he had with an alcoholic. He likened addiction to a void, an emptiness that one will try to fill with any manner of means to achieve a sense of fullness/belongingness/completeness. But the only thing that will fill the void is spiritual in nature. At last, I found the answer to my loneliness. We need God; he is the answer, he fills the void. As He welcomes us into his family, we need not be lonely anymore. God will put people in our lives to help us walk through our hurts, habits and hang-ups. Join a church family, come to Celebrate Recovery any Friday night; you will find a recovery family that is safe and ready to help you. You don’t have to be lonely anymore.

God loves you, Jesus died for you, His spirit lives in you! Say Yes to Jesus and live Love!

Dana Cramer // Celebrate Recovery at Crossroads Church