Lonely women have trouble making and keeping friends. Here are five practical solutions to loneliness.

Loneliness comes in as many flavors as ice cream. (It just tastes like mud.)

Single women who feel lonely in their singleness. Married women who feel lonely in their marriages. Women who feel lonely in their infertility. Widows, single moms, women with illness (physical or mental), women whose jobs transplanted them to another part of the country far from family and friends, women who feel lonely in their shame, their fear, their anger, women whose friend has betrayed them.

Here are 5 practical solutions to loneliness. I’ll add more this week. 🙂 If you have a specific question about friendship, please contact me.

1. Do not give in to self-pity. Self-pity is a perfectly natural emotion but it cripples. At first self-pitying thoughts are comforting. It is a false comfort, creating more loneliness.
2. Believe what God says about you. Don’t listen to the lies the world tells you. Don’t listen to the lies you tell yourself. Believing lies leads to greater loneliness.
3. Draw close to the Lord. Among the many ways to draw near to Jesus: Listen to praise music; read Scripture and think on it, asking God for wisdom in applying it to your life; pray; belong to a Christian fellowship.
4. Get a physical exam by a medical doctor. What does this have to do with loneliness? Maybe nothing, maybe a lot. If you have a physical condition that zaps your energy, then getting care may make friendships easier.
5. Take a risk and show love to others. I remember when our family moved to a new town and I desperately wanted to make friends in my new church. For a month or so the church ladies talked to me, then nothing. Back to their cliques and saying “Hello” to the people. Feeling lonely and deserted, I prayed, “Lord, make the church ladies show me hospitality and friendship.” I looked in my concordance for a verse to nail the church ladies and I found it: “Practice hospitality” (Romans 12:13). Guess what? Our great God handed the verse to me. I impressed on my heart, “Lucy, you show hospitality.” The word “shock” doesn’t begin to capture my surprise. The next Sunday I began to reach out to the church ladies even though I was the new one.

Psst. . .Did you read my short post featuring a friendship song by Nichole Nordeman and Amy Grant? Click here.

A Friendly Question: Can you share a practical solution to loneliness? Please do.

You Are Blessed!