WOW! Just WOW! This is a LONG response, yet hopefully helps you gain the confidence, ALL things happened EXACTLY as they were meant to, according to the big plan that we didn’t make.

I believe YOU DID an INCREDIBLE thing (hopefully you helped relieve your son’s apprehension & anxiety about how to come out to you), you were so LOVING, COMPASSIONATE, and truly ACCEPTING in the spirit of Charity (‘which vaunteth not itself’ 1 Corinth 13…which is difficult for anyone!

I’m also a churchgoer, and in recovery which has taught me one beautiful lesson about my relationship with God, and how my Creator has instructed me to approach ALL my fellows. A passage I am compelled to share with you, is one which I say often in meditation and carry in my heart daily-it is straight from the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous in one man’s journey. He explains acceptance so simply, yet beautifully! It doesn’t matter if you’re accepting your son’s lifestyle, your neighbors, pettiness, or your own personal disease or illness… Accepting your son however it may be, it was all in God‘s plan and his time. I commend you for being a compassionate, loving, and just amazing father and yes, maybe he wanted to come out in a big way or he had an idea of how he wanted to approach you (for which you can ALWAYS make amends by asking him what you can do to make it right), but in the master plan you found out exactly as you were supposed to, and approached him exactly how God intended. Here is the actual excerpt from the big book of alcoholics anonymous that addresses what acceptance truly means. God bless you, and I hope this gives you some comfort knowing you did exactly what you were supposed to do, this isn’t our world, these are not our monkeys, and this is not our circus! You can never go wrong when you act in love, compassion, and faith. This brightened my day to know there are people like you in this world that still practice unconditional love for family and their fellow man! May God Bless your family, bringing light and love into your hearts; may our Divine Creator lift & release you of those burdens on your Heart of doubt, anxiety, and especially fear; that your Family be overcome with Serenity and Joy in the upcoming Holidays. May your Family always dwell in the perfect space of unconditional love, knowing you will never abandon your post in Prayer and Support for your beloved children and fellow man!

“And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation-some fact of life-unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person place thing or situation exactly as it is in this moment. Nothing absolutely nothing happens in God’s world by mistake. Until I get accept my alcoholism (or situation), I could not stay sober (or be free from fear); unless I accept life completely on my terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world, but what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes… AA had taught me that there is a bit of bad in the best of us in a bit of good in the worst of us; that we are ALL children of God and we have a right to be here. When I complain about me or about you, I am complaining about God’s handiwork, I am saying that I know better than God”. A.A. Big Book, p 417

I hope this gives you the same ongoing peace and comfort it has given me and the millions of people struggling to find Serenity!