Hello. I am 63 years old, and very alone, but for the Holy Spirit. There is no family left to me, and I am disabled from a head injury in a car accident, so I have difficulty in meeting people. Friends have drifted away, as I am not in their daily schedule. I use a rolling walker, and drive myself, but get worn out still by doing so.
I have been growing spiritually for many years but find that I do so very slowly. Abba has been very kind, and keeps me going, and improving in health, but I remain alone...too much alone for comfort. I wish to have more than my dog and cat can provide, darlings though they are.
I am growing better slowly, and have reached out to a small church nearby, but find myself confused as to what to do to make friends. I am not socially inept nor am I shy in the slightest, but I am damaged, and I have no minder to tell me what is correct and not correct for a church.
Churches and how they operate are a mystery to me, but Calvary Chapel, the little Church I have begun to attend, are sweet and kind people, but they seem to be closed off to me, an outsider, and one who has a more Nazarene outlook than they and have mixed heritage as well that leaves me caught between Gentiles and Jews.
And the accident...well, it leaves me changed from who I was. I have no part of my consciousness to watch and plan and keep myself to myself as I should, being too open, too confiding, much like a young child tugging on his mother's skirt to get attention, and wanting to be seen and heard, even though I am not a known quantity to the Churchgoers.
I volunteer too much information and share too much, wanting people to get to know me all at once, and am open with all of me, and this is not desirable to others, as they do not know how to respond. And although invited to attend more, my physical health limits me to attending the quiet Wednesday Night Bible Study for the time being. This, not being a social meeting, leaves me enjoying the meeting, but feeling on the outside.
I need to know how to connect with these kindly people who are open to me being at their church, but who cannot know how hard it is for me to even attend one meeting a week, fit in between doctor visits, and the resultant emotional exhaustion and physical pain of even my minimal schedule.
I need advice from people who have gone to churches and know how they operate socially. I am aware that I have gone about trying to meet people the wrong way, trying to know people instantly, and that this is not a real possibility, but I am not really able to control that factor, due to the loss of some brain function in the car accident. Time, and contact will cure the matter, but it is very strange and uncomfortable now, and there seem to be no written guidelines on how to present yourself to the fellowship of a church, and find a welcome there, rather than tolerance.
I have been growing spiritually for many years but find that I do so very slowly. Abba has been very kind, and keeps me going, and improving in health, but I remain alone...too much alone for comfort. I wish to have more than my dog and cat can provide, darlings though they are.
I am growing better slowly, and have reached out to a small church nearby, but find myself confused as to what to do to make friends. I am not socially inept nor am I shy in the slightest, but I am damaged, and I have no minder to tell me what is correct and not correct for a church.
Churches and how they operate are a mystery to me, but Calvary Chapel, the little Church I have begun to attend, are sweet and kind people, but they seem to be closed off to me, an outsider, and one who has a more Nazarene outlook than they and have mixed heritage as well that leaves me caught between Gentiles and Jews.
And the accident...well, it leaves me changed from who I was. I have no part of my consciousness to watch and plan and keep myself to myself as I should, being too open, too confiding, much like a young child tugging on his mother's skirt to get attention, and wanting to be seen and heard, even though I am not a known quantity to the Churchgoers.
I volunteer too much information and share too much, wanting people to get to know me all at once, and am open with all of me, and this is not desirable to others, as they do not know how to respond. And although invited to attend more, my physical health limits me to attending the quiet Wednesday Night Bible Study for the time being. This, not being a social meeting, leaves me enjoying the meeting, but feeling on the outside.
I need to know how to connect with these kindly people who are open to me being at their church, but who cannot know how hard it is for me to even attend one meeting a week, fit in between doctor visits, and the resultant emotional exhaustion and physical pain of even my minimal schedule.
I need advice from people who have gone to churches and know how they operate socially. I am aware that I have gone about trying to meet people the wrong way, trying to know people instantly, and that this is not a real possibility, but I am not really able to control that factor, due to the loss of some brain function in the car accident. Time, and contact will cure the matter, but it is very strange and uncomfortable now, and there seem to be no written guidelines on how to present yourself to the fellowship of a church, and find a welcome there, rather than tolerance.