I am a friend of God.

Have you ever been surrounded by hundreds of people and yet felt alone?

That's how I've felt many times since moving to Salem. 

I went from seeing my friends every single day at school, eating lunch at a table with 10 other people, literally hundreds of people I'd seen every day for the past 4 years to a school where I could count the people I knew on one hand.

If you know me- you know I like to talk.

 A lot. 

Suddenly, there's no one to talk to. I go to class, I eat lunch alone, I go to another class, I go home. Repeat.

I was lonely, I was angry, I was homesick. 

Since when was making friends this hard?

Why didn't anyone like me?

What was I doing wrong?

When there's no one to talk to, you begin to realize that everything you say really isn't that important after all and that talking just to hear yourself talk is pointless. You start to see that wanting everyone to listen to you is a very self-centered way to live your life. So instead of just yelling louder, hoping someone will hear or notice you, you stop, and you shut your mouth for a minute.

 And when you're finally quiet you can finally hear the voice of God. 

Then you realize that there's been someone to talk to all along. Someone who loves you unconditionally. Someone who has been reaching out to you all this time. Someone who you were too busy running your mouth to pay any attention to. 

Sometimes you have to be separated from all the other relationships in your life to see that you've been neglecting the one relationship that actually matters. 

When you fill your life with friends, social events, and get togethers; when you turn to friends and family for a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen it's easier to forget how much you need God. 

But once you start seeking God first and foremost, once you run into His arms, you'll wonder how you ever thought you needed anyone else. 

So when you feel like no one is listening- maybe it's time to stop talking and instead turn your eyes and ears toward Heaven and find a friend in the one who will never leave you nor forsake you. 

Hebrews 13:5New King James Version (NKJV)

5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

John 15:15New King James Version (NKJV)

15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Psalm 46:10aNew King James Version (NKJV)

10 Be still, and know that I am God...