See lonely faces, it makes my heart to burn...

More than anywhere else in the world I have had the good fortune to live, Phoenix to me seems the loneliest of all. Not just for me but the people around me. Since many would argue my observation let me clarify by saying that in this instance by lonely I mean isolated. Arizona seems to be filled with people that moved here to “get away” form something (or someone) more than a place people migrate to build on their dreams.

Without betraying confidences, let it suffice that I’m probably one of those “runners” myself, although  I have to trust that God’s hand is in me being here as much as my spotty history may imply. So please don’t assume any judgment in between the words of this writing. Only curiosity and hopefully compassion.

I perform around 300 times a year here and I almost never see people arrive in pairs or groups. I myself usually drive to and from shows alone. When I meet with people throughout the week, most are single and working two or three jobs and still watching their phones, power and water being shut off.  I always ask about a possible mate and I hear the same thing over and over: “If it happens, it happens. But I’m not going to go searching for it. Besides, I’m too busy with work.”

I’m of the mindset that a partner would make a lot of the other worries diminish (especially if said partner had a decent paying job) but nothing more than the lack of sweetness that seems to grow in time when I’m alone for too long. I’m a year out of a bad break-up and a day doesn’t go by when I don’t long for a do-over or for a new person to enter my life and fill the void.

Needy? Co-dependant? You betcha.  God created us for partnership, fellowship, teamwork and family. And I want, no, need and expect it all. But not before I solidify the most important relationship of my life: my relationship with God,

Shortly after coming to the Lord someone told me, “You’ll never be lonely again.” HA!  Even in our relationship with Him we get distracted, falter, rebel etc. It’s common to realize that it’s been a long time since I’ve prayed or praised or worshiped or cracked open my Bible. At that point I realize how I’m lonely I am for the Lord.

Too many believers live in that state, And non-believers are lost in it. If we, the keepers of the Truth, are going to reach and heal these people, we need to reach and heal ourselves by aggressively seeking daily communion with the God we love. It is at that point we are equipped to touch others and to examine God’s awareness that, “It is not good for man to be alone” and begin the quest to find a suitable mate that will compliment our already vibrant relationship with Him.

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