Feeling abandoned, sadly, seems to be the norm in any of these situations. Abandoned in the sense that you receive no or little of anything from the very people who held you in high regard (supposedly). I had one woman in the congregation who was my very best friend. She did terrific seminars on a variety of subjects and worked alongside of me in the Womens Ministries programs. Our resignation came in late October 2001. Six months later (and the very week I had been diagnosed with breast cancer) she emailed me saying that I had given little thought to how this all affected the congregation and the whole situation was "too much for her." So, she could no longer have any contact with me. I was floored! I had bared my soul to her many times and counted her as a treasure and a true gift to me from God. My life was at an all-time low. I had cancer, no job, a husband still living with me but carrying on with his mistress....ughhhh!!! And now my best friend was dumping me. And the biggest thing was that there was no one to turn to! I wonder how I survived it all. But giving these people (the congregation) some credit, in later years I realize that it was so horrible and awkward that they really didn't know what to do. They, too, were trying to move on. My daughter lives closer to that area and still runs into people we knew. Several have gone into tears and said that they've always been concerned about what happened to me....that I seemed to just drop out of sight. ANd I suppose I did. Anything else was just too painful at the time. Support is hard to come by when things like that happen. While they may have wanted to support me, they were so angry with my husband and didn't want to run into him. Anyway, he moved out 4 months later for good.