Following closely behind prolonged illness is extreme loneliness. Even when family members, visitors, kind healthcare professionals, and friends are nearby, a feeling of loneliness can prevail. Sometimes when the road to recovery is long or when recovery doesn’t seem possible at all, we think we truly are on our journey alone.


But the Lord assures us that He is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. And when we think no one else could possibly know the agony we are facing, we look to Jesus, the “man of sorrows,” the one “familiar with suffering,” the one who was “stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted” (see Isaiah 53). He was crushed for our sins so its weight would not crush us. The loneliness Jesus endured brought us His gracious, saving love.


I’ve spent a lot of time begging for my cancer to pass. I’ve begged for strength and for things to go back to “normal.” The best I could ever want is right with me. When I seek Him, I lack no good thing
(see Psalm 34:10).