5/14/09 3:00 am

It is an odd reaction, how my soul responds when I encounter great pain and suffering in another.

This tired, old heart of mine becomes young and new. Gone - at least for the moment - are the scarred and dead places of my own heart, and I am blessed to respond with thoughts and actions better than I am.

It is an odd sensation on my part, while absolutely and simultaneously wonderful. It is as if - for a miraculous moment - I am allowed to feel as a man ought to feel in such a situation. How wondrous is this!

In times past, I had a word for such occurrences. In times past, I did not doubt that such things were both intentional - and likely to reoccur. In times past I still believed - and still so desperately sought the one thing that - in all my years of sunday school and church attendance - never knew.

That one blessed and glorious thing that can heal even as bitter a heart as is my own. That one thing we all want and need so much - god's grace.

for dd

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