Journals of the Heart

You are browsing the archives of 2009 November.

The church of today seems to be filled with spiritual orphans. Many have natural parents, but they still feel fatherless. If the question was asked “Who is your Daddy” many would have to say I don’t know? Perhaps this is why Paul said, “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.”

A phantom limb is the sensation that an amputated limb is still attached to the body and is moving appropriately with other body parts. Phantom pain sensations are described as perceptions that an individual experiences relating to a limb that is not physically part of the body, as with an amputee. People who have lost an arm or a leg often perceive the limb as though it is still there, and they can literally feel excruciating pain in specific parts of the phantom limb.

In accordance with and compelled by the qualities and nature of the Good Shepherd that I am, I will not leave you stuck or going in circles. I lead you step by step, day by day, week by week until the fullness of all I planned for you comes to fruition (Proverbs 16:9).

I really enjoy learning while listening to the older generation share their life experiences. Many times they’ve traveled the roads of life in ways that I’ve never thought of. When I’m around an older person I find myself digging around in their memory bank looking for treasures. It’s almost like discovering an old trunk tucked away in the attic. You can’t wait to open it because even the meager findings become a treasure to you. There seems to be a story written in each item as to their failures and successes in life. I’m sure I learn more from their failures than I do their successes. I know how to succeed—I just want to learn how to keep from failing.