Do any of you get mental and emotional support from your church?

@momofchris...I hear you on the church stuff...I was raised Catholic, but 2 different fathers would not pray for Julian, we were told we were being punished...that did we knew better...God Blessed us with a beautiful son...and man with technology caused his injury...and now thanks to God and prayer and technology we are on our way to recovery...And thank Jesus that Julian is surrounded and prayed for by his followers.

I was raised in a big catholic church where it seemed everyone could care less about you or your life. Seriously! But if you miss one mass everyone knows!! My husband didn't have a church when we got married and he really didn't to join the catholic church. We started attending a small country church with my sister and brother in law. Little did we know that God was paving the way for us. Chris is very comfortable with the smallness of it. Everyone knows Chris and understands his quirks. They cry and rejoice with us but most of all they pray for us. Evenwhen they don't know what to pray for, they're praying for us. I really don't think we'd have survived the last 7 years if we still were at the catholic church.

luv the Huge Honkin Yes!!!!


I'm very fortunate, because I do too...and I'm grateful for all of it.

GOD's people are great, I started up my bible college classes again, trying to finish my BA...today I spoke up on how we need to follow through with people, but it is hard when people are so negative, or feel they know so much about GOD, but can't help someone they don't know because they are so untrusting...you can't be GOD fearing and christ like if you can't trust anyone, and look at others as being stupid...So I may have a hard lesson to learn, that is one of reaching out to people who are so negative, but to people who don't know them they portary to be someone else...and do this without allowing them to bring me down and still my blessings...

The church we attend now has been great. As a congregation, they're incredibly outgoing and kind. Our previous church, we went to for six years, and though people were nice, they didn't really step outside themselves-- know what I mean? It was okay if we went, and okay if we didn't... At our new church, we got mobbed as soon as we walked in: "Hey, you're new! Welcome! What can we do for you?" That was about 2 months ago. We very briefly, years ago, attended a church that was almost hostile to us, but like I said, we didn't stick around. So, anyway, the upshot to all this is, yes, we get lots of support from our church!

I attend an Assemblies of God church in Pennsylvania called Freedom Valley (http://www.freedomvalley.org), in their South Hanover church plant. (Main church is in Gettysburg.)

I can not even say how blessed I've been to be at this church. First off, the first week I took Mitchell I explained to the person running his classroom that we were pretty sure he was hfa, but didn't have an official dx. Well, that teacher (who's now a close friend of mine) told me she's a special ed. teacher in the local public schools, working in an autism classroom doing VB, and working on getting her BCBA. Too cool.

Then, when it was obvious that Mitchell needed a one-on-one aide in his classroom (he's in with all the other kids ages 3 through K), SO many people stepped up to the plate and volunteered to be Mitchell's "buddy" for class. AND, there are a few different people who keep an eye out for me when I get to church to help me get all the kids into church safely...they usually come out and help walk Mitchell and Owen (my two hfa kiddos) into church while I get the baby out of the car and gather all our stuff.

And the thing is, I have never asked for this help from anyone, but everyone has joyfully pitched in to help out, and I've seen them be blessed by their ability to help out. And, truthfully, being able to feel like people understand and love my kids, and are willing to not only be tolerant of the boys, but be EXCITED to see them, gives me such peace, because I know that I don't have to be held back from participating because of my kids.

The other ladies of the church have even offered to come down and watch the kids for my husband and I so we can get out by ourselves once in a while...which rarely happens because we have no available family in the area. My in-laws are about 45 minutes away, but they aren't "kid people", let alone handling autistic kids! (I will say that DH's mom will step up to the plate, but we try not to ask very often.)

In any case, not only is there support for me while IN church, but having Leah (the ASD teacher) as a close friend means that when I talk about the stresses in my life she GETS it. She knows what I'm talking about, and not only that, she's a great one to give me ideas of things to try that I maybe haven't thought about before. Plus, she's been invaluable in dealing with our school system (she's in PA, I'm in MD, so there is no conflict for her) in knowing how to approach things, exactly what the IDEA means to us, and what is a reasonable request and what's not. Unfortunately, she's also shown just how much better the PA school system is regarding educating ASD kids, but at this point we can't pick up and move to PA (although we would like to!), so we're just dealing with our school system to the best of our abilities.

Also, the main church actually has a disabilities ministry with supports in place (for things like support groups, mental health for caregivers, etc.) which had not really been implemented in the South Hanover church because there wasn't a need at that time. But, because of me and my boys, the SH members have decided that perhaps it's time to start things for the SH group, and not always rely on the main church, which is a great thing.

Oh, and we also have the women's group organizing and starting up a BUNCH of outreach/support ministries, and I've wondered whether a Christian support group for parents of kids with ASD and related disorders should be implemented. If so, I'd probably lead it with aid from any other interested person. We'd open it up to any interested person in the community, rather than just those who are members of our church.

Ok, didn't mean to write a book, but as you can see, I've been blessed by the support my church has provided...even above and beyond what I could have asked for!

Mina