Alone isn't the same as lonely. There are times I feel lonely in a room full of friends. And there are times I am alone and very much content all by myself.

The most difficult are those moments when alone and lonely intersect. It feels like I'm strapped with weights, sinking fast toward the bottom of the ocean.

In those moments, it is difficult for me to remember that I can separate the two. That I don't have to feel lonely just because I am alone. I need to come up for air long enough to make that distinction.

Just like Jesus did.

He told His friends, "You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for My Father is with me."

I would do well to remember the same thing. Even when I am alone, I'm not... "for My Father is with me."

I want that truth to be the thing that's strapped to me today, so that the ocean I'm sinking in is one of peace rather than despair.

I want the weight of His presence to outweigh others' absence...

I want to feel not alone simply because He is with me.

He is with me.