A free lesson for some of you experiencing profound loneliness for maybe the first time: not everyone will fully understand what's hard for you. They won't quite grasp why living alone, or with kids, or with a loss of income, or as an immunocompromised person makes this heavy /1

And that hurts and it's frustrating. BUT. It's also very regular and normal. Sometimes I don't feel like explaining to someone why I feel the way I do any given day, or the things I'm afraid of. Because I know they won't get it. /2

Here is the key: they don't have to. Some pains and burdens will be ones only God truly understands and knows intimately. Some sanctification and sorrow is between you and God alone. /3

Yes, we need each other. Yes, we should generally be vulnerable with one another. Staying at home is not a call to withdraw from each other. We should be honest with one another and work on cultivating empathy for those we don't quite understand. /4

But for the sufferer, at some point, at some depth, your suffering is between you and Lord and no one else. Perhaps this is the point where the Spirit groans for us, where we've said all the words we're going to say and we are spent. /5

The fellowship of sharing in Christ's sufferings is bitter and sweet. It's okay if your friends or church family don't fully get it. I hope they are walking with you the best they know how, but no one will share as intimately in your suffering as the Son of Man himself. /6

So free yourself from the burden of having to over-explain your experience. Free others from the obligation of understanding every little detail. Pick up the pain and ponder it in your heart and let it bring you into deeper communion with God. 7/7