Thinking Hard

I've spent the last couple of mornings listening to a couple of lectures/talks given by Dallas Willard at a Renovare conference. I've always found Willard's writings and speaking to be challenging and rewarding to process. The problem with it is that it makes me think to hard. In the mental state that I'm in right now I find myself very introspective and Willard makes me go even deeper.
One of the things that I heard Dallas Willard say in the lecture made me think deeply about where I am at right now. He was talking about why people are drawn to movies and entertainment sometimes at the expense of other people. He basically was saying that we have a deep desire (God made) to feel and know emotional connection and when we become desensitised to those around us we look for those connections in other ways.
I really resonate with this right now. I feel like I am empty, I don't have anything to give to others is the way I feel and yet I want to feel something. So I pray, I worship, I fast, I do all the things that I usually do, but there is nothing there. So I wait, I'm not looking for a quick fix, just to feel the emotional and spiritual connection again with God and with others. I know that this is the time when I am most at risk of looking for connections in the wrong places and so I try to guard my heart and my actions very closely.
Why does God allow someone to go through this? Why is it that you can cry out to God and not hear a response? I'm thinking long and hard about this and there just aren't any easy answers (so please don't try to give them to me). But in the midst of this I trust that God is still God and I'm still fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God for God's purposes.