When I’m in that needy place, it helps me to read what Henri Nouwen wrote in his book, “The Inner Voice of Love” about all those persons, places, and things that we think are absolutely necessary for our wholeness. When, in fact, we only need God. But that doesn’t make us immune from the pain of wanting or grabbing or feeling the withdrawal. Nouwen writes:

Intellectually I knew that no human friendship could fulfill the deepest longing of my heart. I knew that only God could give me what I desired. I knew that I had been set on a road where nobody could walk with me but Jesus. But all this knowledge didn’t help me in my pain.