Hello I have a question you see i suffer from Severe anxiety so I tend to avoid large gatherings
However I feel that I need to get out of my comfort zone and try to go to the church but I have a fear that I would not be welcomed I don't want to Upset anyone Any advice you can give me would is appreciated
Ps sorry if I'm bothering you or if this is a dumb question
Sincerely Jack
This is soooo NOT a dumb question. It's a very intelligent one and a great point of discussion. Believe me you're not alone in regards to this issue. Many of us have this same concern.
In my community there isn't a wide variety of choice and considering the options and the dynamics within the community etc., I've encountered anxiety as well. Also, through my years of being a christian I've fairly often found discrepencies between the reality of church and how the Bible defines church. At times when I'm going through times during which I'm feeling more vulnerable, I can come home feeling rather 'beaten up'. At this point my health doesn't allow me to go out often and as it happens, I'm feeling rather wounded regarding church dynamics.
However, I'm not saying this to dissuade you from attending church. I just want you to know you're not alone. I've found a few tricks to help in this regard: go with a friend if you have someone safe who might understand you're not completely comfortable attending / bring along keepsakes in your Bible that comfort you (photo, bookmark, picture) / have a highlighted very comforting passage in your Bible ready if you need quick comfort & assurance / bring music on an ipad or phone with earbuds so you can listen to something soothing / keep a self written reminder you are loved etc.
I have a self written paragraph / letter to myself on my fridge that is also concise enough to keep on a business card size in my wallet. It contains parts of the passage from psalm 139:
Psalm 139:1-18
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,a]">[
a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Psalm 10:14 (NIV)
14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.
(a Father to the fatherless)
