In spite of how we have been told that our world is shrinking and becoming interconnected, more and more people are experiencing deep isolation and loneliness. Yes, we negate this by tallying our likes or followers or by engaging in mind numbing activities, but this allusion of connectedness is not true intimacy. How many of us have someone who will regularly hear the thoughts of our heart? 

The author of the Little Prince narrates his journey of searching for someone who can understand, yet everyone he encounters is focused on their own goals and interpretations of life to the extent none were able to step into his world to understand him. This loneliness, felt even in the midst of people, can feel like being stranded in the Sahara Desert without water.  Although you learn to learn to engage in superficial conversations, a part of you inside is untouched and fading because no one will step into your story.

He asserts that most people do not have a single true friend because friends cannot be bought in a store (or ordered on-line).

Even in the midst of people, a spirit of isolation pervades.

Isolation is produced by what we are thinking as much as our circumstances. The more I believe the lies that “I am unlovable; I am insignificant,” the greater isolation I will experience.

Sometimes the heaviness and darkness of this world seems overwhelming, and the enemy may tempt us into believing we are all alone in this dark, cruel, and uncaring world- that is a lie! Psalm 34:18 tells us the Lord draws near to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Hebrews 13 says Jesus will never, ever leave or forsake us. Romans 8 assures us that nothing in all of creation can ever separate us from the deep love God has for us.

Recently, I read about an amazing feat in World War 2. My husband, the history major, was of course familiar with this, but I was not. The Germans had stranded the British forces at a coastal French town called Dunkirk. They were isolated with no way out until England called for a day of prayer. Then every small and larger boat was appropriated for a rescue mission to bring the isolated back. It wasn’t done by the huge naval vessels but by individuals who were willing to see a need and meet it with the resources they had. 

Let us unite in prayer to come against this stronghold of isolation perpetrated by the forces of darkness. The light of Christ shines into the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome.  Consider how you can use your small vessel do what you can to reach someone who is isolated. Like the boats at Dunkirk, thousands of vessels bound by a single cause rescued the isolated and returned them to safety.