HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Sisterhood of Widows S.O.W.  Psalm 126:5-6  Please share on your Facebook so that others can see my blogs and maybe help them through their grief.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

That day is upon us!!  The "love" day!!  For us widows, this day can serve as just another reminder that we are without our husbands.  Memories of past Valentine's Day can swell up and leave us feeling lonelier than what we normally feel on a daily basis.  Some of us will plan our day with family and/or friends to help ease the pain.  The lucky few of us might get to go out with other widows or plan a dinner at one of their homes.  No matter what you do, please do something that will lift your spirits and help bring a smile to your beautiful faces.

One good aspect of this year's Valentine's Day is that it falls on a Sunday.  For a lot of us, this day is our day to worship and give back to our Amazing God.  What better date to have on Valentine's Day than our Heavenly Father, our Great Redeemer!!!  You can go to a place that is full of love and acceptance.  Nothing can help a soul heal more than praising a God of LOVE!! 

I am going to share some Bible verses that deal with love.  God is love and He demonstrated His unconditional and undying love by sending His One and Only Son to die on the cross for us.  Here are a few:

John  3:16 NIV  "For God so LOVED the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."

1 John 4:19 NIV  "We LOVE because He first LOVED us."

1 Peter 4:18  NIV  "Above all, LOVE each other deeply, because LOVE covers over a multitude of sins."

1 Corinthians 13:4 NIV  "LOVE is patient, LOVE is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud."

Romans 5:18 NIV " But God demonstrates His own LOVE for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

John 15:13 NIV  "Greater LOVE has no one than this; to lay down one's life for one's friends"

The Bible is LOVE.  It is God's love letter to us, His children.  If you do not have a routine of reading your Bible everyday and mediate on it's words, I encourage you to start a routine on Valentine's Day.  Love pours out of every page.

Maybe you want to start a tradition to celebrate your love for your husband.  Emily and I started taking a balloon out to Kirk's gravesite every year.  Last year I seen a suggestion of taking conversation heart candies and sprinkling them over the gravesite.  The cool part is that where we live, it snows quite frequently during February.  The candies will melt into the snow and make it colorful.  Emily and I continued that tradition today, even in 18 degree weather.  It's a tradition that we have come to cherish and look forward to every year.  If you haven't started your own, will you think about starting one this year?

As I was getting our candy hearts ready, this heart was the first one that jumped out of the bag.  I turned it over and it said, Miss You.  How weird is that?  And how perfect!!  We miss him very much every day!!

Lord, I pray that you be with everyone that is lonely on this Valentine's Day and ever day.  Lord I pray that You fill them up with Your love and that the sting of loneliness softens and dulls as days go by.  Lord You are the only One that can heal our hearts and help us to move forward.  Thank you Lord for loving us more than we can fathom.  In Your Precious Name I pray..Amen!!

Praise in the Hallway!!

Sisterhood of Widows S.O.W.  Psalm 126:5-6  Please share on your Facebook so that others can see my blogs and maybe help them through their grief.

Praise in the Hallway!!

A couple of months ago as I was scrolling through my Facebook page, I came across a picture that said,  "Until God opens the next door, praise Him in the hallway."  I sat and envisioned myself standing in this hallway without any one else with me.  I could see myself walking up to each and every door knocking and praying that it would open and I could push my way out of that hallway. 

I thought how lonely this hallway looks with all of those doors and the florescent lights overhead.  Do you see yourself in this hallway?  Maybe you see yourself banging on the doors or slumped in the corner defeated, thinking no one will ever answer your cries. 

At first I thought I was by myself in this hallway.  After Kirk suddenly passed, I couldn't see anyone else or their battles.  I didn't see that I wasn't alone in this hallway.  As time went on and I started opening my eyes, I realized that not only was I not alone, but the hallway is crowded; very crowded. 

In this hallway, I have found men, women, and children from different backgrounds and different struggles.  Each one of us are broken in our own way, each one of us with our own tragedies and our own stories.  Many of us in this hallway are battling grief, disease, cancer, divorce, addictions, and broken homes.  Some of us have multiple battles that descended on us at once.  There is a lot of broken hearts and broken lives in this hallway.

So you are probably asking yourself "How do I praise in the hallway when there is so much heartache?"  "How can I trust that a door will open for me?"  A door will open for you because Jesus is standing next to you and will turn that knob.  He will heal your brokenness and is right there with you in that hallway.  Isaiah 41:10 NIV says, "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold  you with my righteous right hand." 

Praising God in that hallway also shows the trust you have in Him.  Psalm 25:1 NIV says, "In you, Lord my God, I put my trust."  Psalm 33:21-22 tells us, "In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name.  May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you."  I know it's hard to praise and thank God while you are in the midst of your battle.  I know it's hard to sing praises when you are asking the why's of your situation. Always remember what we are told in Romans 8:31, "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"

Who is against you and rejoices in your brokenness?  Satan, he loves to see the doubt and mistrust in God.  He causes your heartache and wants you to doubt and fear.  1 Peter 5:8 warns us, "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."  He wants to see you miserable, he wants you to doubt God and turn away from your faith.  He doesn't want you to praise God in that hallway, he wants you to cower in the corner and stay in there.  He doesn't want you to look for an open door, he wants you to keep your head down and think you are not worthy to move forward.  Would our loving and gracious God not want you to move forward and keep you there in that hallway?  Would the same God that gave His one and only Son to die for our sins keep you still and not let you move forward with joy and a happy heart?  Think about that?  Would our God of love, grace, and mercy keep you pinned down in misery and loneliness?  Would he keep you isolated with no hope?  NO WAY!!!  God loves each and every one of His children.  1 John 4:10 NIV "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." God loves you!!  So while you are in that hallway, praise His Holy Name!! 

Lord, I pray that while I am standing in that hallway awaiting Your awesome plan for me, I will always praise You and trust that Your plan for me is far better than any plans I have made for myself.  Lord I trust You will open a door for me and will use me for Your purpose.  I pray that my testimony of Your great love will encourage others to praise You as they are waiting too.  Thank you Lord for standing next to me and never leaving my side.  In Your Precious Name I pray Amen!!

Beauty from Ashes!!

Sisterhood of Widows S.O.W.  Psalm 126:5-6  Please share on your Facebook so that others can see my blogs and maybe help them through their grief.

Beauty from Ashes!!

One of my favorite fall activities is a good bonfire.  I love sitting around a good fire and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.  Sometimes at our bigger parties Kirk would get out his guitar and would serenade us with all types of music.  Since he has been gone, I haven't had the heart to do a big bonfire party.  I did purchase a small fire bowl and we have had small fires for birthday parties and small gatherings.  I love sitting out and watching the embers fly up toward a beautiful starry sky while bundled up watching the flicker of orange. 

Then comes the morning after; the ash and remnants of the firewood. What was once a beautiful glow of warmth is now a dark gray pile of ash and muck.  Doesn't this sound like the journey that we find ourselves on today?  What was once a warm glow of our lives with our husbands now feels like a heap of ash, gray and scattered.  How do you begin to clean up such a mess?  Where do you begin to sweep up the dust of the life you had?  I began with having faith and trust that Jesus would pick me up out of that nasty heap and clean me up and set me on my path of healing. 

We read in Isaiah 61:1-3,"The spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair."  Jesus is right there with us in our mourning and is wanting to bring beauty out of the ashes that we find ourselves. 

One day at church during our music worship, they sang a song that brought tears to my eyes immediately.  I had never heard this song but after I left church I bought it.  The song is called Beautiful Things and it's by Gungor.  If you have not heard this song, I strongly encourage you to read the lyrics and listen to the song.  Here is a sample of the lyrics.

All this pain
I wonder if I'll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust

Sisters, He does make beautiful things out of the dust and ash.  He is in the process of making my life and yours into a garden that will glorify Him.  Do you believe this?  Do you trust Him to do this for you?  I sure hope you do!!

This song goes on and says:

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You!!

I love this song because it describes so many of our lives!!  Not only for us widows, but for all the broken people we all know.  No matter what situation you find yourself in right here and right now, life can be find in Him!! 

Lord I pray for beautiful gardens to spring out of all our ashes.  The path is long for us Lord and dust covers us but there is a beautiful garden waiting for us that You have personalized for each of us. Lord I pray that we each have the patience and trust to follow that path to our gardens.  Thank You Lord Jesus for those gardens of love.  In Your Precious Name I pray..Amen!!