[Ohio]

Welcome to the forum! Thanks for telling your story.

There's nothing worse than the embarrassment of religious performances gone bad. I assume those folks meant well, but they should have been a little considerate of where you are at.

I first found the Lord to be real while all alone in my bedroom late at night cracking open the Bible after a long day. A guy from work befriended me and gave me an easy-to-read paraphrased New Testament. Jesus met me where I was at, going quite a bit out of His way to do that.

Being a self-conscious stage-fright kind of guy in my younger days, I could never have stood up front with all eyes on me. Going to hell was preferable to that, so I thought. The first time the ushers tried to sit me up front in the first row, I had to throw a few elbows until they got the message.

It grieves my heart when I read stories like yours about former members who gave up on God because of their bad experiences. One poster here said, "God was fine, it's just His fan club ..." How sad indeed.

May God bless you on your journey.