iMessage & FaceTime applications: unable to sign in...

Using my iPad Air with iOS 12.4.6, I’m not able to sign into my iMessage or FaceTime apps anymore.

They worked fine until recently... I did change my password prior to login attempts, and I also deleted all of my iMessages to gain back storage space. My iPad Air capacity waf originally 32 GB; I now have 15.5 GB Spinning indicator (in progress) for a long time... then it says “unable to connect to FaceTime server”, thus: end of story...

Frustrating... Spinning, spinning... getting nowhere... unable to log into my iMessage & FaceTime accounts.

Any ideas for a solution??? Thanks in advance... Everything else seems to work normal.