Alienation: What Is It?

Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines alienation as "a withdrawing or separation of a person or a person's affections from a position of former attachment." In separation and divorce, you are not only alienated from your former mate, but also from relatives, friends, and sometimes from the church.

Dr. Myles Munroe says, "When a person gets divorced, you often see the opposite of what happens in a physical death. Your family may back away from you, seeing you as a failure, a loser. Some people in the church may back away from you. Society backs off from you; they see you as someone whose life didn't work. When you divorce, you end up lonely, isolated, rejected, and dejected, which adds to the trauma.

"Being divorced is bad enough, but to have your family or your church turn against you, that makes the hurt even worse. A person who has been divorced ends up in a state that God never intended, and that is the state of isolation."

God does not intend for you to be alienated from other people, and He certainly does not intend for you to be apart from Him. God loves you unconditionally. While your family and friends are wrong to alienate you, separation from God only occurs if you are the one backing away from Him.

Keep in mind that while you may feel alienated from some people in the church, your best opportunity to find help and support remains in the context of a local church family.

"Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you" (Deuteronomy 31:6).

DivorceCare will be held every Thursday
at the Church of the Nazarene in Westlock
starting September 17th at 7:00 p.m.