"Misplaced," By Kelli Zaniel

Recently, I misplaced a child. My mischievous two yr. old and her counterpart, Biscuit the dog, charged the fence and managed to escape into the front yard. I trembled as I spotted the two leaping from grass to pavement. My screams from the backyard put a wrench in their plans to travel the unknown.

I immediately felt fear, loss, disconnection, guilt and sorrow.

This feeling of misplacement with a child must be how God feels when we journey away from Him. One minute we are on our knees in relationship with Him and the next we are missing in action. One minute we are seeing Him and the next we are blind to Him. One minute we are holding on to Him and the next we have fallen out of His arms.

Fear;

Loss;

Disconnection;

Guilt; and

Sorrow-- are all feelings we should experience when we leave our first love, Jesus. He does not want us to wander away from intimacy with Him. He wants to know where we are at all times; and He wants us to know where He is at all times.

He pursues us. He does not want us to miss out on a vibrant love-relationship with Him.

“Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,” Malachi 3:7 (New Living Translation).