Missed Support, a Guarantee for Superficial Success

Failure is a powerful teacher. (That's why we learn quickly not to put our hands on a hot stove.) But from the beginning it was God’s plan for us to be supported in our formative years by resources in the home and Church and even community (parents, pastors, and mentors) for learning how to make wise choices so that we would be spared having to learn mostly from our failures – which is painful and takes much, much longer.

I could have been saved from unmet psychological needs (for information, affection, and structure) if earlier in my life I had been supported for learning 

• how to experience God through Scripture reading and quiet-time worship and that
• his relationship to and through us to others is organic.

As it turned out, left in my ignorance, I was driven by the need to perform heroics (overachieve) which almost always guarantees failure – both in

• my home and ministry (which I experienced over 30 years ago), and also
• physical health (which I experienced this year).

In both cases, I had information and support, but they were not complete. I had some success as the world understands it, but in many ways it was superficial and not enduring.

DonLoy Whisnant/Journey Notes 16C07