Never Alone – The Worst 45 Minutes

I read a sad quote from Orson Welles the other day. 

“We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone.”

While this may be Orson’s self-absorbed, depressed perspective, I believe it is completely false.  Don’t believe that statement for a minute.   

When people face intense times of crisis and pain, (and we all have or will at some point), many feel an overwhelming sense of “aloneness”.  In other words, in times of death of a loved one, divorce, betrayal, loss, etc, we are tempted to say and feel - “I am all alone!”   This is a terrible feeling and causes depression and anxiety.  If left un-checked, it can lead to chronic depression and worse.

I once experienced an event where, for about 45 minutes (which seemed like 4 days), I felt terribly and utterly alone and had no hope.  I can say without reservation that it was the worst 45 minutes of my 40 years on this earth.  It was awful and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

However, through that experience, I learned some powerful things and I’m supposed to share them with you.   Here are the things I learned from that “worst 45 minutes”:

1.       I was never actually alone:  As soon as I ran to the Lord (in prayer), he began to remind me that he had never left me – not once, not for a second.  He was there all the time. One of the many amazing things about God is that he always keeps his promises.  He promises over and over again throughout the Bible that he will never leave us or forsake us.  That is amazing.  Even though you may “feel” alone at a particular time, you can know that God is right “there” standing over your shoulder.  If you will go to him in prayer, you’ll begin to understand what I mean.

2.       Friends/Family can help – One of the things the Lord reminded me when I was running to Him was that He had already provided me with amazing friends and family who were all only a phone call away.  Why had I forgotten this?!!  In fact, it took only one phone call before I had a dozen different friends and family at my door to help me through this.  Note: The reality for many is that they don’t have “blood” relatives in which they can rely.  In this case, your other friends can be your “family”.  In my life, my close friends are as much my family as my wonderful “blood” family. – (thank you God for all of them!)

3.       Pain and defeat can be turned to joy and victory –I’ve learned over the years that God can turn the worst situation into something amazing and wonderful.    He can transform the most broken of lives into a shining example of victory.  He can turn a crushed relationship into a redeemed, loving example of grace.   Basically, there is nothing broken that Jesus can’t fix.  I’ve seen too many examples to doubt His ability to make things “right” again.

The simple truth is that if you have a relationship with the Lord through Jesus, you will never be alone.  It’s a promise from God that can be found over and over again in the Bible and in everyday life.   He said it best Himself:

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” – John 14:18. 

Here’s one of my favorites:

“Be strong and courageous.   Do not be afraid or terrified…, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” – Deuteronomy  31:6

The question for you is this:  Do you have a relationship with the Lord so that you never have to be alone when crisis hits?

When the Bad Thing Happened

Have you ever heard the quote "...Into each life, a little rain must fall"?  It basically means that at some point in EVERYONE's life, something bad is going to happen.  It happens to us all.  At some point, something really lousy – crappy – crummy –awful –etc  is going to take place in your life, in my life, in all of our lives.

When this happens, you may find yourself asking this popular question:  “Where are you God and why aren’t you rescuing me IMMEDIATELY?!”  It’s a valid question.  In fact, I believe sometimes it’s a question the Lord wants us to ask.

Recently something very bad happened in my life.  The details of what happened aren’t important to this blog.   What happened as a result of the bad thing is what I want to share:

1.       When the bad thing happened I acted just like a child acts when he or she falls down skins a knee and runs to a parent to make it better.  I RAN to God.  I didn’t crawl.  I didn’t walk casually.  I RAN (in a spiritual sense) to the Lord crying (literally) begging for help.  At the time, I remember feeling terribly alone – this was completely false as I’ll discuss in a later blog.  I learned I was never alone…not for a minute. 

2.       When the bad thing happened I asked God to fix everything immediately.  Isn’t it interesting that often our
idea of a miracle or a miraculous act by God needs to be immediate?   It seems that miracles (acts of God changing things in our lives) are sometimes instant, sometimes take place over a short period of time, and sometimes take what we think is a LOOOOONNNNGGG time.   I learned that my sense of timing is not necessarily the Lord’s timing. 

3.       When the bad thing happened, I suddenly realized there were a lot of “things” in my life that had been distracting me or keeping from having a close relationship with the Lord.  When I was on my knees begging for help, I reminded myself of all the times and things I had done that drove a wedge between me and God.  I remember the little “pet sins” and selfishness I had held onto.   Those things became repulsive to me because all I wanted to do was be near the Lord.  I learned that sometimes it takes something major to “burn away” all of the junk in our lives.  It’s only when I open up all the dark closets in my life and turn on the lights to God, that I am finally in a place where he can do some serious healing and work.  I basically prayed and said “God…I’ve got nothing left…” and I feel like He said, “OK.  Now I can finally do something in your life!” – more on this in a future blog 

4.       When the bad thing happened, my family and friends responded in a HUGE way.  They responded by coming over and just sitting with me.  They responded by calling me.  They responded by texting me to check in.  They responded by bringing food over.  They responded by emailing me.  Most importantly, they responded by covering me in a blanket of prayer.  I learned that the Lord uses people in a powerful way to help in times of crisis.  I further learned how important family and friends are.  It made an impact on me that I will never forget and I have pledged to be a better friend in return.


5.       When the bad thing happened, and I had given everything over to Him, I began to see amazing changes that I honestly didn’t expect.   I learned that Jesus has the power to turn ANYTHING around.  I do mean ANYTHING.  I’ve seen it.  I’ve heard about it.  Now I’ve experienced it for myself!

There is a whole host of things that I learned during this time and I believe I will share them in future blogs.  The question for you is this:  How do you respond when the bad things happen?  How will you respond in the future when they DO happen (because you know they will)?  Will you choose to run to the Lord and have Him turn defeat into an amazing victory?  Or, will you be defeated by the bad thing and live in misery?