Before the divorce we sometimes went to lunch after church with other couples. But now I felt that those friends acted like my toddler, Bella, and I didn’t exist. When I picked her up from class, I heard other families making plans together. Lord, am I invisible? Don’t they see me?

When I needed them most, my church let me down. If I had not had a strong faith in Jesus, I might have left the Christian faith. But I found a new church where I’m now involved in the divorce-recovery/single-parent ministry. God is using me to comfort those who are hurting and abandoned by their spouses to help them see that they are not invisible.

With divorce the layers of loss go deep. One of these losses is a sense of identity. No longer are you a married person—and in church culture, if you aren’t married, you are often an afterthought. When you’re excluded even at church, the pain and loss you already feel are intensified.

Reach out to single parents and divorced people at your church. Ask them to sit with you and your family. Invite them to lunch. Show the love of Christ by your actions.

No matter who we are or what we’ve been through, we are not invisible to God. He sees and knows all we deal with. He shares our pain and wipes our tears. His love never fails.