I've been wishing more churches would have chronic disease support groups.
First, they have to get it through their heads that chronic illness is a real thing.
I've not had good experiences in the chronic disease realm with either churches in person or online church forums.
Have had church people tell me both online and to my face that covid isn't real, that long covid isn't real, that ME/CFS isn't real, that fibromyalgia isn't real, that no adults are autistic because children grow out of autism. And more that I won't bore you with, especially the theological-based denials of chronic illness reality, some of which echo Job's friends, some of which were quite originally inventive, I will give them points for imagination and creativity.
And then there's the time in a Sunday School I visited after having to give up on my church's 110 year old building because of occasional moldiness in the air and heat system which led to me having a reaction where my ears filled up with fluid for maybe two weeks and during that time my hearing was half gone, I read a prayer request I'd written down because brain fog, asking for safe and accurate health care for the complex interplay of things going on with my body, and three, 3, count them, three, class members jumped my case all at the same time telling me that I had, quote, no right to pray for healing because Paul's thorn yada yada yada, unquote. Excuse me??? What was
THAT and where did it come from???? Let's look at what I have on paper here, it says, quote, safe and accurate health care, the word healing is not on here at all, look for yourself. And, yes, after that I was done going there.
And I will admit to laughing out loud when several months later our town's rural hospital and doctor office and physical therapy suddenly closed and nobody in town had any health care in town, except dentist and vision. Karmic, people, karmic.
I have become something I never ever expected to be, deeply cynical and antagonistic toward churches and church people.
