If this season has felt lonelier than you expected — like the people you thought would be here aren’t, and the silence is louder than it’s ever been — this is for you. The loneliness isn’t punishment. It isn’t abandonment. Some seasons can only be walked alone, and there is a reason God has you here. This is what he’s doing in it.

Angel: Why has this season been so lonely for her?

God: Because some seasons can only be walked alone.

The lonely season is making space. And what’s coming next won’t disappoint her.

– Jacqueline Whitney

Angel: Isn’t that cruel?

God: It’s necessary. There are things she needs to learn that she can only learn in the quiet. Truths she needs to discover that other voices would drown out. A version of herself she needs to meet that only emerges when no one else is there.

Angel: But she feels forgotten.

God: I know. The loneliness feels like abandonment. Like I’ve left her here on her own. But I haven’t. I’m in the loneliness with her. I’m using it. It’s where she’s going to find me in a way she never has before. It’s where she’s going to find herself.

Angel: What is she learning?

God: That she’s enough on her own. That her worth isn’t tied to who’s around her. That she can survive the silence. That my presence is the only one she truly needs. That she’s not as alone as she feels.

Angel: When does the loneliness end?

God: When she’s ready for who I’m bringing. The right people can’t enter while she’s still tied to who used to be there. The lonely season is making space. And what’s coming next won’t disappoint her.

Jacqueline Whitney is the author Held: A 50 Day Devotional For Parents and All That You Deserve.The Quiet Is Where You’re Meeting Yourself Again.