Scripture notices widows. Before my husband Ben died in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, I would pass over the word “widow” in the Bible as a mere adjective. Now I pause and imagine the depth of loss, the complexity and uncertainty of the future and the greater details of that one’s life, which we rarely get to hear in the story.
After Ben died, I had conversations with other widows. One woman told me she spent time in the “grief room” of her being. She said, “There is a room in me where I go to grieve…. when I need to, I leave the room and continue with the necessary aspects of my life.”
Other widows looked straight in the eye and said, “Renee, you will be okay.” Not, “Everything will be okay,” but rather, “You, Renee, will be okay.” They trusted that God would help me be okay.
Through conversations with other widows and my own experience, I realize that God does not promise us a better life after such loss, or the same life, but rather new life. And this new life is still good and worth living.
This message is excerpted from “Widow” by Renee Spilchal Larson in the January/February 2017 Gather magazine.
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