Coming Out!

[vaguy78]

Hello Ladies and Gents.

I do have one prayer request. This morning I came out to my family. They are largely conservative baptist and my dad is a pastor of a baptist church here in baltimore and pretty conservative in a jerry falwell sense,without the ignorant comment/foot insertion type behavior.

They all seemed to handle it very well except my dad who i'm giving as much space as he needs to deal.

My prayer request is that this event will just be something that draws us together as a family and that my relationship with my family will continue to grow stronger and closer as a result.


thanks,
derrick

[Tennessee James]

Good Luck man! I am praying for you!
May God Bless you!
:pray:

[Jamie McDaniel]

Well done, Derrick! Coming out to one's family is hard (especially if they are conservative) and you have done it. I will offer up a prayer (as best as I can recall at least) that a friend prayed for me when I came out to my parents.

Dear God, bless your child, Derrick, whom you delight in. Bless his family and let their hearts be tender so that they can understand their son for who you created him to be. Derrick is the same son who they have loved all these years. Nothing has changed, only truth has been revealed. Open their eyes and soften their hearts so they can come to see that you love and accept Derrick just as he is, and that you have good things in store for his life. In your many names, Amen.

[NonLemming]

While I don't believe in praying "for" things or events, I do send my best wishes and positive thoughts at what can be a very scary time. Be well, and take care of yourself.

[Daniel]

Wow. This is a big deal. A big hug to you for taking this step.

Jamie is right: coming out to one's family can be hard. But once done, there is no going back- and that is a very good thing. There really is freedom outside of the closet.

May your prayers be answered and more.

[zimnah]

In Hebrew,
Amen v'amen, Jamie! (translation: Let it be so and let it be so)
May G-d shine His blessings upon you, Derrick, and grant peace and understanding to your family. :pray:
You have my deepest admiration, Derrick, for your courage and strength.
--Dawn :love:

[keltic63]

Derrick, I feel this overwhelming urge to wish you a Happy Birth-Day! From here on OUT it will be a new life for you! Congratulations!


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[BruceChris]

Derrick: Peace, Love, and best wishes. Now one has to wonder how long, and how far your parents will be in their own closet.

Peace and Love, Bruce Chris

[Jennifer5]

Congratulations!


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I can't think of any better way to say Congradulations! Proud of you Derick!:love:

[tdogg]

Derrick

Congrats on coming out to your family. It's so difficult, but it must feel like a cumbersome burden has been released for you. I will pray that this will be the beginning of new times, new things, new bonds with your family and much happiness. You are brave and wise - keep their needs and feelings to heart but put your own slightly on top.

Take care!:rainbow: :love: :pray:

[Zerbie]

Derrick - Yeah, this IS big! I am certainly hoping and praying the very best for you and your family. I hope this will enable you all to be closer.

And not at all least, congratulations on your courage in being honest with them.

:love: :pray:

[SolApollo]

Congrats Derrick for coming out!!! I know (as many of us do) how you must feel - relieved, scared, nervous, etc...

My prayers are with you. My dad is a fundamentalist pastor, and we still get along (to my surprise LOL) after I came out. Have courge, faith, and you'll be okay.

[kimmyd]

Coming out is a very special moment that only you can know when the time is right to do it. Congratulations and God bless.

I haven't been on here for a while because Summer is a very busy time for me, with outdoor AND indoor work. Also because a psycho began stalking me online, via Im's, posts to his site about myself and my husband, harassing emails to my husband's workplace about both of us to my husband's employees, and posting on my husband's worksite. The abuse is still ongoing. And now he has a buddy helping him, on her site.

Last Saturday he hacked into this site, removed very personal posts about myself, my life, and conversations between myself and friends on here. He pasted these posts on lancasteronline under the name The_Boss or some lame name like that. We removed the posts from here so that the links he posted wouldn't work.

Now here's the best part: this guy is a man I had over to my house every Friday night to watch movies and have dinner with. He and his wife sat here, in this room, eating, enjoying our movies...and he turned around and did this with absolutely no reason other than what goes on in his sick mind.

His wife is as bad in this as he is: fully aware of what he's done, yet no call to the police, no help whatsoever. The guy is on probation for stalking another family--which she knows--but she sits back and lets him do as he pleases, stalking away and tormenting myself and my husband. Last night when my husband called her, the stalker took the phone and hung up. She promised to pull the plug on their cable so he couldn't hurt anyone anymore (he is currently harassing another family online)...but didn't keep her promise because "He talked me out of it."
The support she shows for his criminal activities--and the lack of suport for us--is almost worse than the guy stalking people from his keyboard.

As long as people like he and his wife stalk/support each other, there will never fully be peace. But thanks to this group, I know the world does indeed have some fine people in it.

Thanks to each and everyone of you for being here and blessing us with who you are.

[kimmyd]

And again Derrick: congratulations. :love:

[vaguy78]

I want to thanks all of you that were praying for me. Besides giving my dad some space to work things out, everything has been going great.

At the risk of sounding like a Cliche, I just had one of those God Moments where I just knew that it was time to talk and I have been truely shown grace with how things went and how they are going. I think i'm blessed not necessarily because of their response but more so I knew God was with me all the way no matter how it would turn out and I had faith that he would be faithful in that and He continued to show himself faithful in that, and it's because of his faithfulness to be with me, that makes me feel blessed and shows me that I am.

I just am reminded that As God is always faithful to me, I need to continue to grow in my own faithfulness to Him.


Thanks again for the prayer support and encouragement. It really meant a lot and I know God used it to just reveal more of who He is to me.


derrick