Have you ever felt forgotten in the ward that you are in? You may feel forgotten because you do not have a calling or because you feel the bishop seems distant? Or you may feel like people are surprised when they notice you at church, even though you do come every week. This can be a difficult and discouraging feeling to cope with. I have been in situations when I have felt this way. Here are some tips I have learned to do when dealing with these situations.
1) It is important to realize that the bishop, his counselors and the Relief Society presidency are all human. They may not realize that you feel this way. They may have a crisis, which you do not know about, that they are trying to deal with. Your bishop may be reserved or shy and have a hard time talking to every member every week.
2) You can pray about the way that you are feeling. You may need to make some changes in your attitude, or the Lord may help you see other ways that you can feel involved. The Lord may know that you cannot handle a calling at this time, because of the trials that you are about to face. The Lord can comfort you in this situation as well.
3) Finally you can let the bishop know how you are feeling. You can ask him for a calling. You can explain the feelings that you are having in regards to the ward. It may be that he is not aware of other situations that you are dealing with. You may find that simply expressing your feelings may help you to deal with them more effectively.
On a side note, recently I have faced some of my most difficult trials. I kept wondering why the bishop or the Relief Society president never called to ask about how our family was. I know that the Relief Society president was aware of the problem. I even received a calling during this time, and I was going to talk to the bishop about my feelings but he never asked how our family was during the interview. I am reserved and have a hard time sharing my feelings and problems with others. I really struggled, after receiving the calling, about whether or not anyone in our ward cared about us.
As I prayed about and pondered the situation, I came to realize that I needed to be more vocal about our needs. I also realized that the bishop did not mean to come across the way he did that day. Most importantly I realized that the Lord was still there for me, even though I may have felt that we were forgotten in our ward. Since I have found peace with the situation my Relief Society president has talked to me about our situation several times, as well as one of the counselors in the bishopric. I just needed to find peace and then I realized that we truly were not forgotten.
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