Never Alone

To every lonely heart,

Your heart may ache tonight.

You may feel alone.

Lost. Hurt. Broken.

Like no one cares or no one sees you.

I hope to remind you of this one thing tonight; you are not alone.

He is with you.

Much closer than you think.

Emmanuel.

Meaning, "God with us."

He sees you today.

You are not forgotten.

Last January I had the chance to visit an orphanage in Haiti full of children who were rescued child slaves. I told those sweet children about the darkest day of my life...when I wept and no one heard. I told them about how I thought that I was nothing...not even worthy to keep living.

Before I left that day I hugged one of the girls and I just felt my heart whisper, "Don't let go until she does." That sweet, lonely child hugged me and would not let go. We embraced for twenty minutes or so. I stroked her hair and rocked her and told her she was lovely and beautiful and wonderful. I don't know about you; but I have never been so lonely that I willingly hugged a stranger for twenty minutes. Friend, perhaps we don't know what true loneliness is.

Months later, I stood on a boat in Cambodia on the Mekong River. On the boat with me were seventy-five women who made their living selling their bodies for sex. That night I told them my story. They wept. Even though our lives are so different, that night we found a common ground. The heart can be a lonely place, it longs to feel a sense of belonging...of being wanted, needed, and most of all loved.

Today, you may find your heart ring hollow... Empty. Lonely. Hurting.

Dear one, you are not alone.

God came to earth and that's what Christmas is all about.

Open your heart to Him.

He is with you.