The prayer music is on in the background and the sun is not friendly today as my darling husband has left for work and my one and only son has gone off to school and work. It gets lonely here at my grandpa’s chair, though my to-do list is ever growing and my arms are often sore from typing all day long. But I can’t help looking at my teacup doggy and thinking she’s all I have today.

What’s wrong with us these days? There’s a complete ignorance of what’s real and what’s not… I know God is here, right beside me, so why feel this way? Why feel as if He’s here but too distant to actually make us feel cared for?

All this loneliness is not really true. Just as the oxygen is freely breathed in by us all, God is there, available to everyone.

Few can hear and feel Him though. This is one of the worst mistakes we make.

The single woman looks around the church and because she doesn’t see anyone suitable she immediately thinks she’s wasting her time. The wife goes home after a heartfelt prayer for her family in the church and after finding her husband drunk again on the sofa, she thinks God did not hear her. The young unemployed woman who has been fighting to make a career for herself, never receives that expected call that she has prayed so long for, and feels like giving up on her faith.

We say we believe but deep down, we want to see to believe—but that was never the way God performed miracles; that was never the way He taught us to use our faith. As long as we keep on with this small and insignificant need to see Him in our lives, we’ll keep on feeling lonely and unheard because with God, it’s not about seeing but about believing. The less you see, the more you should believe.

He has given me four great seasons so that I’d enjoy each one differently… He has blessed me with a spouse that also honours Him and a son that is likely to grow up and do the same. He has given me the privilege of serving Him all day long and to help me feel cared for when my family is not around, He’s given me a pet. But above all, He’s seated on my desk right now, looking at me in a way no one else is ever capable of doing, and using me to write this to you.

Whenever you feel lonely, remind yourself that you’re not. Whenever you doubt that He’s heard you, remind yourself that He heard you before you even opened your mouth.

In Faith
Cristiane Cardoso