Here's what one widow has to say in this short article...
The Wisdom in Restrained Responses: A Brief Case Study
by Betty-Anne Van Rees
"Imagine you are peering through the living room window of a young woman’s home. The picture before you is distressing. You anticipated it might be bleak, but you couldn’t have imagined this. There she is, curled up on a cushion on the floor in front of her wood stove, day after day… after day. There is no music playing; no cell phone or TV to deaden the pain. It’s winter and cold outside, and you can only imagine the coldness in her heart that keeps her there. She’s been navigating life as a widow and single mom for two years now, and you hadn’t foreseen that it might look like this at this point in her journey...." Please click here to continue reading.
This thoughtful insight to a widow's journey is from a widow herself. Betty-Anne Van Rees speaks from personal experience and wisdom gained as a biblical counselor.
I hope you'll familiarize yourself with this good website for finding a counselor and good articles on all sorts of topics. For example, here is a start to their listing for Death/Dying (since they did not have Widowhood as a topic): https://www.biblicalcounselingcoalition.org/category/deathdying/
It's another new year. Do you have plans or dreams yet? My widow friends on Facebook were discussing this the other day and were saddened/disappointed/feeling flawed that they did not dream like they used to. I do not either, but I don't let it bother me. My whole value system imploded when my first husband died and I don't think that's such a bad thing. You see, the dreams we were talking about were the old things like dream vacations, reaching a 25th or 50th anniversary, going to college, buying our dream house, landing that dream job, but now there's only one thing that matters and it's out ahead of of where our treasure is. Take a look at Phil.3:13 sometime this week.
In 2021, please do what God calls you to do. If it's lamenting and waiting in a heap in front of your woodstove, then do it. If it's forgetting the dreams of your past, letting go and obediently reaching forward without guilt, then do it. If it's obediently holding back and healing more, then do it. But most of all, God's call to you is an individual call. It will not look like anyone else's, it will be perfect for you.
💗ferree
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