The Blog

Home > Current Post

Hi, I'm Mandi, founder of Damn Good Thyme. I'm so glad to have you here!

Search

Dec23— Week Seven: Loneliness

Mandi
Dec 23, 2025
3 min read

For anyone learning to sit with seasons of loneliness

jump to today's scripture

Introduction

Healing is often talked about in terms of food, supplements, routines, and protocols. Those things matter. But they are not the whole story.

Chronic illness affects more than the body. It affects confidence, identity, hope, and faith. It changes how we see ourselves and how we relate to God.

For many of us, the hardest part of healing isn’t what we eat, it’s learning how to keep trusting when our bodies don’t cooperate. It’s learning how to stay hopeful when progress feels slow. It’s learning how to feel safe in a body that has scared us.

That is why these devotionals exist.

Daily Bread is a space to check in with your spirit — not just your symptoms. It is a place to remind yourself that God is near, that you are not alone in what you’re walking through, and that healing is not something you have to force.

This Week’s Focus: Loneliness

Loneliness doesn’t always arrive loudly. More often, it settles in quietly, in the pauses between conversations, in the evenings when the house finally stills, or in seasons when life looks full but something inside feels disconnected.

It’s the kind of loneliness that’s hard to explain because nothing is obviously “wrong,” yet something feels missing.

This week, Daily Bread is making space for that experience, not to fix it quickly or explain it away, but to acknowledge it honestly. Scripture reminds us that loneliness is not a failure of faith or a sign that God is distant. Instead, it’s often the place where God draws nearest, meeting us with comfort, presence, and reassurance that we are not as alone as we feel.

Today's Scripture

Psalm 62:5-6

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

Luke 5:16

But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Reflection

Sometimes the deepest feelings of loneliness come at the very moments we are surrounded by the greatest people. This week, we are focusing more on the emotional state of loneliness, rather than the physical one, the feeling of deep, internal emptiness that so often surfaces during the “happiest” and most “joy-filled” times of the year.

So many times, we believe that the more we fill our calendars with outings, dinners, and fun holiday nights, the “happier” we should feel. When in reality, the more we fill our calendars with worldly things, the less time we tend to devote to God. Without realizing it, our schedules become full while our spirits feel increasingly empty.

Sometimes, God allows us to walk through seasons of loneliness to teach us exactly what Psalm 62:5–6 reminds us, that He alone is our rest and our salvation. There are seasons when we appear to have “everything”: plans every day, constant messages from friends, full social calendars. But if those things begin to replace our time with God rather than flow from it, He may gently strip them back, not as punishment, but as redirection.

Luke 5:16 shows us this clearly. Even Jesus withdrew from the crowds to spend time alone with God. He teaches us that the way through emotional loneliness is not more noise, more plans, or more distraction, but intentional withdrawal and devotion. Loneliness, in this way, becomes an invitation to step away from what fills our calendars and return to the One who fills our souls.

This is your reminder that loneliness doesn’t mean something is wrong with you or missing from your life. Sometimes it means your soul is asking for something deeper than noise, plans, or distraction. And in those moments, God is not distant, He is near, ready to meet you with rest, clarity, and peace that doesn’t depend on how full your calendar is.