5 Minutes with Jesus is a daily devotional series for people in the midst of real life, whether facing anxiety, grief, questions of purpose, or simply needing encouragement and connection. Hosted by Sheila Walsh, each five-minute episode offers Biblical truth, honest reflections on faith and emotions, and closes with a moment of prayer.
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| Sheila Walsh: When Loneliness Feels Heavy | 5 Minutes with Jesus | February 13, 2026
- You have a father
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- Who keeps track of all your wanderings
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- And catches every single to you. cry.
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- Sometimes i've discovered our loneliest seasons
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- Can become times
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- When we discover the love and comfort of god ourselves.
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- No matter what you're feeling right now, he is with you.
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- You are not alone.
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- One of the verses in the psalms
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- I love so much, i find it really deeply moving.
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- It's actually found in psalm 56, verse eight.
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- And this is what david writes.
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- You keep track of all my sorrows.
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- You've collected all my tears and your bottle.
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- You have recorded each one in your book.
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- So one day i opened a gift for my friend
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- And it was just beautiful.
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- But i wasn't quite sure what it was.
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- It was a small glass bottle, kind of cobalt blue, about
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- Two inches tall, covered in delicate silver filigree.
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- I thought at first it was a perfume bottle.
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- Well, albeit a very small one.
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- But her note explained that was actually a tier bottle
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- She'd found in an antique store in israel.
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- So i was fascinated by that thought,
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- And i did a little research and discovered
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- That two bottles were common
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- In rome and egypt around the time of christ.
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- Anecdotal story suggests that mourners
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- Would collect their tears
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- As they walked toward the grave to bury their loved one,
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- A tangible indication of this is how much you were loved.
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- Some women were even paid to follow
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- The mourners and cry into such a vessel.
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- And apparently, the more anguish and tears produced,
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- The more important and valued
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- The deceased person was perceived to be.
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- But legend had it
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- That those mourners for hire who cried the loudest
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- And produced the most tears got the biggest payday.
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- I treasure that little blue bottle simply
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- Because it reminds me of a profound spiritual truth.
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- David wrote about in psalm 56, when he was at one of the lowest
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- Points of his life, facing absolutely crippling loneliness.
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- As david's popularity grew with the people of israel,
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- King saul's rage and jealousy did as well.
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- He tried on various occasions to kill him or have him killed.
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- David was constantly on the run,
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- But then one day he made a terrible decision
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- That would cost the lives of many innocent people.
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- When he decided to run this particular day,
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- He went to the high priest and he lied to him.
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- He told him that he was actually on a special mission
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- For king saul.
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- He told him that he needed the bread
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- That was reserved for the priests
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- Alone, and goliath's sword, which was kept there.
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- The high priest didn't think for a moment
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- That david might be lying.
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- He saw him as king saul's right hand man, and he trusted him.
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- So he gave david what he asked for.
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- When saul heard that the priest gave these things to david,
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- He was so furious that he had all
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- 85 priests and their families executed.
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- Saul was beginning to fall apart.
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- When your trust is no longer and god alone,
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- You see conspiracies where there are none, and insecurity
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- And jealousy can make us do outrageous things.
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- In attempting to find a place where saul can't reach him.
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- David made his next wrong choice.
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- If you ever noticed in your own life
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- That when you make one bad choice,
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- The next one comes way easier.
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- Well, that's what happened to david.
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- He decided to seek out political asylum.
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- And of all places, gath.
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- That was goliath's hometown.
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- You remember
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- From first samuel chapter 17 that gath was
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- The home of the giant goliath,
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- Who david had killed as a teenager.
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- Well, remember, this is before facebook and instagram.
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- So they didn't immediately recognize david
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- And they'd never seen his photo or the story on the local news.
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- But once the people worked out who he was,
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- He was immediately arrested.
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- Well, david is so terrified of what this foreign king
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- Will do to him that he does the unthinkable.
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- He pretends to be insane.
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- Can you imagine this one, who had been anointed by samuel,
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- Told that he is the rightful king of israel,
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- And that in god's
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- Perfect timing, he will ascend the throne?
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- Now he's scratching on doors, howling and drooling on himself.
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- He feigned insanity to survive.
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- Scripture gives a detail that doesn't carry
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- As much weight to us as it would have then,
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- But we read that
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- He drooled on his beard, and that's not certainly
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- Recommended in public here.
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- But in those times, that was a sign of huge
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- Disrespect and shame.
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- Well, apparently it was convincing enough
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- As the king had him released and kicked out of the city.
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- So once more, david's on the run and he's alone.
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- But even in this desperate place,
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- He found comfort in the fact that he knew that god saw
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- Everything he was going through and caught every single tear.
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- He said.
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- I love david's confidence in the mercy and faithfulness of god,
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- Even when he himself had not been faithful to the holy one.
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- David knew without a doubt the almighty
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- God never misses a moment, a tear.
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- A sigh from any of us children.
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- Do you get that?
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- Or do you question that god loves you that much?
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- Do you ever feel alone?
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- Have you ever thought no one on this earth
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- Understands what i'm going through?
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- If you've ever taken a wrong turn on the road,
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- Are you expecting god to hold back his mercy
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- Until you get back on the straight and narrow?
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- That is not the god that david knew.
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- That's not the god of the bible.
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- You have a father who keeps track
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- Of all your wanderings and catches every single tear.
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- You cry.
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- Sometimes i've discovered
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- Our loneliest seasons can become times
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- When we discover the love and comfort of god for ourselves.
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- No matter what you're
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- Feeling right now, he is with you.
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- You are not alone.
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- Let me pray for you,
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- Father god, what a profound thought
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- That you capture every single one of our tears.
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- And you keep track of all our sorrows in your book.
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- You miss nothing.
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- Lord, i pray right now for anyone who's in a hard place
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- Who has wept so many tears and thinks
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- No one knows the depths of what i'm going through.
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- Thank you that you do.
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- Thank you that you hold our tears.
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- Thank you too, that you hold us when we are in pain.
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- Help us to bring our sorrow to you.
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- And find our comfort in knowing you are with us.
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- That we are not alone and that you love us because of jesus.
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- Amen.
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