II Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Dear God, I know You are working to create a new life in me, but even still, I will always have the autism. That cannot be changed. I will always have struggles and challenges with it. I can only learn so much in a clinical setting though. I have to be allowed to be involved in activities that I would encounter on a regular basis in order to put what I learn about in a clinical setting or a class to the test. But it is hard to do that when the first thing a church does after learning about the autism is immediately jump to excluding me from participation rather than letting me be with others where I can practice what I learn. And that is Oak Mountain did. I was very involved with all kinds of things until that conflict with Bob. I tried to keep things internal and find someone within the church who would know the process for conflict resolution, but then he punished me for doing so. So I had to go externally. With Tom, I tried to use the things I had been taught, but then he refused and he exacerbated things, and then when he acknowledged that what the church did was wrong he did nothing about it and made things even worse until he basically destroyed my spirit and shattered my heart. He unnecessarily hurt me. In some ways, I do believe that he intentionally did things to create conflict with me because he wanted the old "drama" that he uses to describe the meltdowns I have as a result if the autism and the sensory overloads. In other ways, I want to believe the best about him though and believe that he truly did not mean to or want to hurt me, but if that was the case then he had no justification to severe the friendship on Facebook either, he could have kept that intact per EVERY promise he ever made to me and the compromise he agreed to with me in the last words he ever said to me. But because he didn't do that, because he didn't uphold that, because by that point he had been caught in lies, I had no choice to but to file a complaint about him. God, the problem isn't that I will always have the autism no matter how much You are working in me. The problem is that Oak Mountain seems to want to exterminate the autism completely as though the autism were a sin. They want to change me as a person and change my inborn personality that You gave me and make me into something I am not. And because they cannot change what You designed, they want to exclude me. They said it was for my protection, but what they fail to recognize is that by excluding me from those activities that I was involved with, it led to more questions being asked by more people. And if I were to be honest which I am supposed to be, then it would mean that I would have to tell a lot more people about the abuse and the bullying that Mark and Mikki and Bob and Gordon did and even Ken and now Tom. Oh God, please give the presbytery the wisdom to know how best to handle the complaint. And please lead them in putting together the committee that will meet with everyone to see what kind of resolution can occur, if any, or what steps can or need to be taken next. And please soften the heart of Tom to go through conflict resolution and soften the hearts of the leadership at Oak Mountain before they damage another person who has autism or any other kind of special needs, whether it is a child, a teenager, an adult, or the entire family of the individual. In Jesus' Name, Amen!
Easter Song by Keith Green (YouTube)
Hear the bells ringing, they're singing
That we can be born again
Hear the bells ringing, they're singing
Christ is risen from the dead
The bagel up on the tombstone
Said, He has risen, just as He said
Quickly now, go tell His disciples
That Jesus Christ is no longer dead
Joy to the world
He has risen, Hallelujah
He's risen, Hallelujah
He's risen, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hear the bells ringing, they're singing
That you can be healed right now
Hear the bells ringing, they're singing
Christ, He will reveal it now
The angels, they all surround us
And they are ministering Jesus' power
Quickly now, reach out and receive it
For this could be your glorious hour
Joy to this world
He has risen, Hallelujah
He's risen, Hallelujah
He's risen, Hallelujah Hallelujah
The angel up on the tombstone
Said, He has risen, just as He said
Quickly now, go tell His disciples
That Jesus Christ is no longer dead
Joy to the world
He has risen, Hallelujah
He's risen, Hallelujah
He's risen, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
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