Uninvited By Lysa TerKeurst Book Review
I am no stranger to feeling less than, left out, and lonely. Growing up I didn’t have many friends. I was never the cool kid. I was bullied in Junior High and High School so, even then I felt the sting of rejection. I’ve always wondered if people like me or are just being friendly.
Whenever a rejection happened to me it just pointed me to the fact that I was right and the person never really liked me or loved me in the first place. Over time I kind of gave up on friends and social life. I turned to food and then drank to help me soothe my aloneness. Now of which I know I was dancing with addiction. Or at least flirting with it. I was turning to things outside myself and outside of a higher power to help ease the immense pain I felt that I kept so well hidden.
Rejection can be one of the hardest things to face. Whether it is from friends, family, or even strangers. Now that I’m getting older I realize how important friendship and community actually are. We can go through life alone but that is not what God wants for us. That is not what God wants for me.
I could relate to many instances in the book. The feeling of losing a friend even if the person was not really a friend, to begin with. A few years ago pre-COVID I had joined an online meetup group even then trying to get out and meet other women I still felt like I was being rejected. I met a few people who I thought I could actually be friends with. Of course, then COVID happened and this past year was a hard year for me mentally and emotionally so it was hard for me to reach out to anyone. When I finally did reach out to someone I really wanted to be friends with I was ignored.
This devastated me more than I expected it to. Being rejected by someone who knows me is hard but being rejected by someone who doesn’t know me hurts just as much.
I recently signed up for an app that is similar to a dating app but it is for friends instead. I quickly got friendship matches but the conversation either fizzled out or no one responded back to me. Those old feelings and thoughts of I am just not good enough and no one likes me came flooding back.
This morning I was praying from Uninvited. The prayer was exactly what I needed to hear this morning. “With You Lord, I am not afraid. Your shelter and shadow comfort me in my loneliness.”
Even when I’m lonely and/or afraid I am never truly alone. I have a source that comforts me in my times of loneliness, and fear, and helps me to dry my weary eyes. Whatever you call this source or higher power it is available to you as well. You are never truly alone even if the sting of loneliness is upon you.
