Question from a reader:
All my life, I’ve struggled with being socially awkward and dealing with OCD. I do have a few close friends, but at times, I feel envious of those to whom social interactions seem to come so easily. What about when I enter Heaven? Will I be “normal” and no longer struggle in these ways? Will the Lord give me many friends and a different personality?
Answer from Doreen Button, EPM staff:
I suggest giving less weight to the labels society puts on neurodivergent people and spending more time on learning all you can about who Jesus was and is and how you can emulate and follow Him best. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Being full of grace and truth is a beautiful description of love. When you recognize how much He loves you and let that love overflow through you to others, you’ll begin to worry much less about how you appear to others. Instead, comb through Scripture to find out what He thinks of you (i.e., Jeremiah 31:3, Psalm 139:13-15). You’ll be so full of Him that the loneliness diminishes to manageable proportions, and your attention turns away from you and onto how you can show your love for Him by serving others. “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). Be patient with yourself; developing this new way of thinking takes effort and it is SO worth it.
Also, you mentioned that you do have friends. Perhaps you can also spend time thanking God for what you do have and not on what other people have or seem to have (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Based on what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount (see the principle in Matthew 5:21-30) about how each of the commandments must be fulfilled not just outwardly but from the heart, the commandment against coveting doesn’t just refer to wishing you had your neighbor’s donkey. There will always be someone who seems brighter or happier or more popular no matter how “normal” you are (and by the way, I have yet to meet a “normal” person…we all have issues, some just hide them better than others).
You were created by God to do great things for Him (Ephesians 2:10) which may seem like small things to others, but who cares what “they” think?! I know what it feels like to be socially awkward and lonely. I also know what it feels like to be so completely loved and be so completely in love with Jesus that the rest becomes insignificant. I like it this way so much better! God is faithful. He’s not going to escort you into Heaven (present or the New Earth) and leave you in a corner alone. You will have more than anything you could ever want and be exactly who He made you to be. And you will live happily ever after. That’s not my promise, it’s His.
“…and Jesus said, ‘Follow me!’”
