Girl Listen Up Podcast: Friendship Episode
I am one of the hosts for our Girl Listen Up Podcast where we want to talk about the challenging situations we face in life. In one of our episodes, we talk about friendships and our personal experiences with them. In the episode, I share how I went through a season of loneliness. Since someone out there could relate to my story, I wanted to go more in depth to encourage you.
I honestly didn’t even start to feel a sense of loneliness until my junior year of high school. Ironically, that is the same time I started to take my faith with God seriously and really wanted to pursue a relationship with Him. Let me preface by saying I did have a friend group and they did help me in wanting to have an intimate relationship with Jesus. As time went on though, I started to feel like I didn't really fit in with the group. They were a tight knit group and had known each other since they were young. Joining them with only two years left of high school when I didn't even go to the same school was difficult. I did have a good friendship with one person who felt the same way and we became close. Unfortunately we went to different colleges and my family moved. We ended up losing touch.
I thought college was going to be great. I always heard that people made their lifelong friends at college and didn't even really keep in touch with their high school friends. I was ready to meet new people and make those lifelong friendships that I was seeking. Well my freshman year of college came and I felt like the process repeated itself. I had a friend group and I thought this was it– this will be my friend group throughout all of college and maybe even after. But as time went on, it started to fall apart and I ended up alone. I tried multiple times to find a friend group but I still never fit in. At this point I gave up and found myself isolated in my dorm room not wanting to leave except to go to class.
In this season I would talk to my mom almost everyday and everyday she would point me to Jesus. What I learned from her was that I was going through this season of loneliness and isolation for a reason and every time I found myself isolated, I needed to open God’s word and be in prayer with Him. I wish right then that all of my problems were solved instantly, but they weren't. In reality it took time. I struggled with my own feelings of being alone and wanting to choose to spend my time with God instead of trying to distract myself with other things.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11-13 ESV
Looking back, it was not lost on me that when I actually wanted to start to pursue a genuine relationship with God is when I experienced this season of loneliness. God took away all my distractions so I would focus only on Him. As a result, not only did I draw near to Him, but He began to prepare my heart for what He was sending me out to do a couple years later. When I started to rely on God wholeheartedly, He was faithful in return! The spring semester of my freshman year God provided me with a lifelong friend and it turned out she lived near the place my parents just moved to in Texas! Then my junior year I made more lifelong friends that I am so grateful that God has blessed me with!
This season of loneliness I went through was a transformative moment in my life. I saw that God was there for me during a difficult time in my life and that I could rely on Him. Through this season I now know, by experience, that God will be there for any situation that I may face!
