I feel alone

Even though he never won an NBA championship, many say he was one of the best players ever. He played for San Diego, Milwaukee and San Antonio, and his name was TERRY CUMMINGS.

He often spoke about the incomparable importance of his relationship with God and of regularly reading the Bible.

In one of his last interviews he explained: "If it hadn't been for God, I would have chosen the wrong path when I was young. One of the greatest problems for young people is loneliness."

Adults don't understand. They have their priorities, work, and relationships established, and barely have time to feel lonely. When you are young and you have your whole life in front of you loneliness is not unusual, sometimes it is your constant companion.

It is hard for others to understand you; they know your doubts, your anxieties, and your problems, but sometimes you feel as if you are the only one in the world!

God is no stranger to loneliness. When Jesus was on earth, he experienced loneliness and isolation.

He spent whole nights without any companion except prayer, and entire days surrounded by people, but very few of whom really understood him.

As a final test, Jesus went to the cross and suffered the abandonment of God in our place; it was an ordeal that no other person in history has suffered. And he did it all because he loved you and me.

At times we forget that to love means to be vulnerable. When we commit ourselves to love others, we expose ourselves to suffering as well. It is not possible to love without suffering.

When you love, you can't avoid your heart being affected in some measure. But having said that, we also know that it is impossible to love too much.

God has promised that His love will always be available to us in the midst of our loneliness. It's almost impossible for us to understand it completely - but God loves, feels and understands all that we live, feel and understand.

In the same way God joins us in our sufferings and feels our loneliness; there is no biblical, historical or personal precedent to make us imagine that God would leave one of his children alone.

Actually, the opposite is true! The Bible is full of verses that assure us that God is with us, that he is with you. It would be good if you would read some of them today because God is going to 'have springs burst forth' in your loneliness.