Loneliness can be a terrible thing.

It can strike at the heart. It can lead us onto paths that put us in harm's way, both physically and spiritually. It can cause us anguish and pain. Loneliness can come from many directions, from many sources - from a sense of not belonging, of not fitting in, of not feeling important or loved. It can come from being away from loved ones or losing loved ones through death or sin. Loneliness can strike at any age, but the elderly are particularly vulnerable, as they often live alone.Loneliness can be deep and real - yet it doesn't have to be debilitating or destructive.

Think of the awful loneliness the Savior must have suffered during His final hours on earth. From the time He prophetically announced to His apostles at the Last Supper that one of them would betray Him until the time His mortal life came to a close on the cruel cross of Golgotha, He undoubtedly felt the piercing pangs of loneliness. Matthew leaves us with a brief description of how heavy His heart was as He arrived at the "place called Gethsemane."

"And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

"Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me." (Matt. 26:37-38.)

But the three apostles probably were very tired from what had already transpired that evening and fell asleep. Jesus, upon finding them asleep, asked of Peter, "What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" (Matt. 26:40.) What a sad, despairing inquiry! Even those closest to the Savior failed to give Him support in His loneliest hours.

As Jesus hung on the cross, He surely must have felt completely alone when He agonizingly cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46.)

It is impossible to read the account of the events leading up to the Savior's crucifixion without a feeling that He, indeed, was all alone, in spite of the masses around Him, in His final hours.

Some 1,800 years later, the Prophet Joseph Smith also felt the heaviness of loneliness.

From the time he first announced as a young boy that he had conversed with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in a grove of trees near his home in upstate New York, Joseph felt the sting of ostracism.

"I soon found," he said, "that my telling the story

of the vision that he had receivedT had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, which has continued to increase. . . ." (Joseph Smith-History 1:22.)

Surely, through the years, Joseph must have felt loneliness on many occasions. Perhaps the classic example of him feeling alone was when he was bound in chains and imprisoned for more than four months in the Liberty Jail. Pleading with the Lord, he inquired: "O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?" (D&C 121:1.) In those darkest of dark days, the Prophet and his companions undoubtedly felt abandoned and alone.

But yet, through the bleakness of what the Savior suffered at Gethsemane and Golgotha and what the Prophet Joseph Smith endured centuries later in Liberty, Mo., came a brightness of new hope for mankind.

The agony of Jesus' suffering was followed by the greatest event in all of history - the Resurrection, which opened the door for all to eventually rise from the grave and for the righteous to return to dwell forever with God.

Following the Prophet Joseph's forlorn plea from the almost windowless dungeon of a jail came some of the most rich and remarkable revelations ever given to any prophet. (See March 11, 1989, Church News.)

The Lord has given us the assurance that He will never leave us alone "for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Heb. 13:5.) If we are faced with despair and loneliness in our lives, we will not find comfort by turning inward, but only outward. We will find comfort and peace as we turn to Him who promises not to forsake us and as we reach out in courage and faith to help others.

If we will do that, we will witness a miracle in our own lives. Our loneliness will not be so deep as we will find great joy in lifting others in their time of need.