What Causes You To Isolate

God did not create you for isolation. He created you to be social. What causes you to isolate may be similar to my experience. I know first hand what its like to be isolated and I’d like to share my story with you. Over the past few months, the Lord has shown me what causes isolation.

Its my heart’s desire that my journey will set you free from being isolated. I know how it feels to be alone. So I want you to know what has caused me to choose isolation instead of community.

For those who know me, what I am about to share with you may shock you.

The Lord showed me that transparency is a key to freedom. As I share my journey with you, my prayer is that you will receive hope to be free from the lies of isolation.

Here are three causes I’ve discovered of why I have been isolated.

1. Believing Lies

One of the biggest lies the enemy wants you to believe is that God does NOT love you. When you choose to believe lies, it traps you and hinders you from doing what you are called to do.

When I was growing up in North Dakota, I believed that someone loved me if they did two things. It was really simple to do too. You tell me, “I love you” and you give me a hug.

If you did not tell me you loved me and did not give me a hug, then I believed the lie that you did not love me. Fast forward to 2006, the Lord gave me one of the greatest revelations of His love for me.

I was just getting ready to go to bed and I told God that I loved Him. He said something to me that totally rocked my thinking. He said,

“I love you Jeffrey even when you don’t hear Me say it.”

WOW!!! Honestly that changed my mindset about God’s love for me. In 1 John 4:8 it says that God IS Love. That is who He is… love. He unconditionally loves us no matter what because that is His nature.

Honestly, I am still working on believing God’s love for me. I know when I am free from lies, you will see the true Jeffrey Hardwick once and for all.

Why not believe God loves YOU as His precious child?

2. Being Afraid

Here is one of the biggest problems about not believing God loves me… it has kept me in fear. Can anyone relate?

I know the Bible says that “perfect love casts out fear”. Its one thing to know the Truth, its another thing to believe it and live it out. Unfortunately I have chosen to allow fear to keep me in isolation for decades.

One of the fears I’ve had to overcome with God’s love is the fear of getting hurt. It can feel comforting and safe staying at home most of the time. In fact, most of my adult life I have been isolated at home. Why?

I’m sure some of you can relate to the fear of man.

“What will others think of me?”

“I’m not sure what to do if they say _______ to me.”

“How am I going to respond IF they do ________ to me.”

Do any of those sound familiar to you? There is one word that really has hindered me and its the word IF. We can choose to use that word to our advantage. We could think about all the “Best If Possibilities”, but unfortunately we tend to expect the worst case scenarios.

Instead of focusing on fearing the worst, why not focus on the best possibilities?

3. Being Self Centered

The definition of self centered is being preoccupied with oneself. I’m guilty, big time! Who really wants to admit they’re self centered? Its humbling for sure.

Here’s one of the biggest problems with being so self centered is that we don’t know how much we impact others. A big challenge I have had over the years is empathy.

Many times I have not put myself in someone else’s shoes to understand what they’re going through. I see them only from my perspective. It has really hurt a lot of my relationships over the years.

Philippians 2:4 could not say it any better, ” Do not ·be interested only in your own life [look out for your own interests], but ·be interested in the lives of others [look out for others’ interests].” (Expanded Bible)

When I choose isolation over looking out for the interests of others, I have chosen fear over love. God calls us to love our neighbors. How can I love one another if I chose to stay at home more than getting out in the community?

Why not change your focus and look for opportunities to bless others?

The Lord wanted me to be transparent sharing my journey of isolation. I believe many can relate to some extent. What causes you to isolate maybe different. Let me encourage to you receive God’s love for you, focus on God’s best possibilities and go bless one another.

(How has this encouraged you?)

You can leave your Comments below. Thank you.

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