Facing It Alone

There will be times every day when we have no choice but to face and do things alone. There are tasks nobody can do for us. There are feelings nobody can feel for us. And, when we lie down at night, it is only our own head that hits the pillow with an array of thoughts and emotions. Nobody can really take our place. We really feel it during those more monumental moments when: Nobody else is going to deliver our baby. Nobody else is going to feel the last breaths of our life approaching. Nobody else is going to be on the receiving end of "that" phone call. Fill in the blank.
I have found an increase in the fear around me in regard to walking out on that "plank" alone. The fear is not just about being incapable or failing, but more deeply, about being shamed, invisible, or worse, abandoned and annihilated. We will do what we can to get out of standing on that plank. We will stall, distract, numb out and/or work ourselves into a panic. I've been there. But, none of it will keep us from walking alone during certain times in our life. It is inevitable for all of us.
But, wait. It cannot be that bleak. There must be hope in this. We aren't really alone, are we?
This morning I was reading in Mark 10 about how Jesus was slowly making his way to Jerusalem with His disciples knowing exactly what was to come. He was making His way to the cross and He knew it. At one point He was walking ahead of the disciples by Himself. The disciples were still perplexed about this Messiah who said He was going to die and rise up again three days later. Jesus's closest friends - the friends He taught, ate and slept with, did ministry with, loved, and LIVED life with, could not empathize because they did not comprehend. How lonely that must've been, feeling-wise. Yet, Jesus knew His mission. He knew His purpose. He believed in what He had to do and there was no one that could take His place.  Despite the sweat blood and cry to His Father in the garden of Gethsemane, it was His body that gave out on the cross at Calvary. And through Him, the Father, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we don't have to walk through anything alone. Not ever.
I'm grateful for that because even just writing about facing "it" alone was causing me angst. I could hardly wait to get to the good part! AKA, the Truth!
The truth is that the Lord will NEVER abandon us and there are numerous scriptures to support that. One of my favorites is Psalm 94: 18-19 "I cried out, 'I am slipping!' but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer."
We have a Savior who relates to us on a deep level. In fact, Isaiah 53:3 talks about Jesus being "acquainted with deepest grief" and Psalm 34:18 says the Lord is "close to the brokenhearted." That doesn't sound like a clueless Father who doesn't understand and who leaves us when we're hurting and facing things humanly alone.  
The more we go to Him, praise Him, study Him, listen to Him, and pour our hearts to Him, the better equipped we will be when those alone times come. And, we will realize that we made it. We did it. We're still breathing. The warmth of Jesus's love will have empowered us. You will see that lonely endeavor as valuable, not because it was pain-free, but because it was the place where Jesus held you up; the place where He raised your chin and straightened your spine so you could see Him. It will be the place where you grew new courage and understood more fully the depth of God's love.✝️