Fighting my inner orphan from Reflections of a Ragamuffin is the newest update about orphan mentality by Traylor Lovvorn. An excerpt from Overcoming Orphan Mentality by him:

“Peel back all of the layers of Fred Traylor Lovvorn II and there you have it…I’m a wounded little boy packaged in a 6′3, 215 lb. frame who lives each day wrestling with the truth of the Gospel…fighting to believe it…struggling to apply it…attempting to get my arms around the scandalous nature of it. And those wounds hurt so I have to constantly keep an eye on my flesh because it will so quickly run to all kinds of medicine to numb and medicate the pain.”

“But the words to Matt’s song and the Gospel are true! HE WILL NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER LET US GO! No matter where you have been or what you have done…God loves you intensely and is pursuing your heart. He is good! He delights in you! And guess what? Because this is true it is not all up to us to figure out this thing called Life! Now THAT is good news!”

I was particularly interested in “We Need a New Normal” because 3 months ago I found out that my husband was having an affair. The wife in this case was the last to know. After countless unexplained absences, I finally felt something was wrong and I checked our cell phone records. One of his “customers” and himself had talked over 60+ hours during the last month. She lived where we do and some calls were over an hour. When I confronted him, he said that it was true.

From “We Need a New Normal“:

“Melody and I have been working lately with two couples who are in the throes of the emotional shrapnel that ensues when the “secret” first comes out. In talking to both of the guys, I sensed that both had a very strong desire to get back to their “normal” lives and their “normal” routines. It is anything but fun to have your world turned upside down, especially by sexual sin.”

“After talking to one of the guys a week or so ago, I started thinking about how relative “normal” is. This thought was in the back of my mind when I read two quotes from two different books within days of each other. The first is from Paul Coughlin’s  No More Christian Nice Guy where he says,”

“If you take ownership of your life and the issues that keep you passive, then what you may call a catastrophe is likely the beginning of a better life for you and for those who love you.”

“And in To Be Told, Dan Allender quotes an anonymous individual who said,”

“Adversity introduces us to ourselves.”

Amen. I am beginning to see glimpses of a new, free me. I realize how many years have gone by without my receiving and/or giving much affection and joy. Horrible waste of life that I am already changing.

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