Calling Home

A few days ago, this overwhelming feeling of being alone just hits me.

I wasn’t alone at all. In fact, I could’ve turned to the left and seen my aunt sitting soundly in her recliner, playing one of her regular fruit smashing games on her phone. And if I would have stood up and walked ten or twelve steps to my right and around a corner, there my aunt’s long time friend would be watching the news like every other day.

I wasn’t alone at all, so why did it feel like I was?

The reason hit me sometime last night while I was reading my daily devotional. It was one about calling on the Lord constantly, whether you’re in trouble or not, and BOOM, right there in front of my eyes was the answer. 

I just stopped reading. Realization dawned on me like a solid slap to the face. I wasn’t really feeling alone at all. I was missing someone. And when I say missing someone, I actually mean someone that I’ve never met in the flesh.

I was missing Jesus.

This may sound completely insane to some, but to me it isn’t. Missing Jesus feels almost like being alone and homesick at the same time. In a way, it’s like my soul recognizes where it belongs and it knows who it belongs to will constantly be with me and never leave my side, but, at the same time, may seem very far away and out of reach.

I wonder, as I type this, how many of you out there have felt some form of this. How many have sit and ached with a certain kind of emptiness that no worldly possession or person could ever come close to filling? How many have encountered a sense a loss, or felt a huge hole in their lives. A hole that was made only to be filled by the One who made us, by the One who gave His life as a ransom for ours.

I also wonder how many of you experience this feeling and have never met our Savior?

For me, I find that the best way to visit Him when this feeling overcame me was by prayer. Well, not so much as a prayer as it was me simply talking to Him. Sure, I didn’t actually hear any words reply back, but I felt His presence. The hole slowly disappeared.

This only solidified my realization of why I felt the way I was feeling. I think He gave me that feeling to encourage me to come to Him more than what I do. So often we put other things before a simple talk. Whether it be work, going out with friends, social media, family problems, stress, or you’re just too tired to pick up the spiritual telephone and dial home, we are neglecting to feed the soul.

We, as Christians, are supposed to pray daily. In fact, in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 it says simply: “pray continually”.

It sounds easy, but I myself know it can be quite difficult to do. We are human and we forget. Or we get busy with one of the numerous things mentioned above. But we should never be so busy that we cannot have a conversation with our Maker. And we shouldn’t rely solely on devotionals, or reading chapters from our Bibles.
 
Neither alone can substitute a talk with our Father.

With this said my challenge for the day for all Christians, or even those of you who have never met Him, is to take a step back from whatever you’re doing right this moment and just talk to God. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate prayer or a two hour long layout of why you haven’t been speaking to Him like you used to. He already knows everything we have thought, think about, and will think on in the future. He doesn’t want to hear our excuses; He just wants to hear our voice.

So, talk. Tell Him about your day, about your dreams, your best friend, a memory of a loved one He called home. If you run out of things to talk about, then just pray for your enemies, your family, and your friends. Pray for the world, our leaders, for Him to strengthen your relationships with each other and especially Him. Talk to Him even if you haven’t experienced that feeling that I have. Talk to Him even if it’s for the first time.

Do it because He loves you.

Blessings,
Tiffany Lefler