Overcoming the struggles and turmoil this human existence can bring is something every widow, indeed every person, must contend with. When we had our husband to stand beside us and help us strategize and think through all the levels and impacts, it made it easier. We each had something to offer and could see things the other might not consider. What a blessing that was. Now we are on our own. Or are we?
When life as we know it implodes like a bomb going off and erases all traces of what we once knew as normal, it can be very hard to hold on to hope. The scriptures repeatedly urge us to resist becoming discouraged in trials or in difficult tasks God calls us to. The most difficult challenge God has given me is to persevere through widowhood. New challenges keep coming up to test my faith, while the echoes of discouragement, inadequacy and outright fear flood my mind as they seek to distract me from a firm faith and try to steal my joy and my hope.
The truth is we can’t fight this battle against the enemy’s ruthless attacks in our own strength and power. In this sin strewn world, we are not strong enough with simple human will power, brute strength and worldly knowledge. The enemy’s playground resides in the place of tattered hope. The strongest women of faith get tired of being strong when they are relying on themselves. The longsuffering hearts grow weary of suffering when it continues through months, years… with no end in sight.
When God’s Word encourages us to persevere, we can only keep going when we count on God’s strength in our weakness. We must link arms with Jesus and allow Him to carry the load. Perseverance, and ultimately the victory we are needing and seeking, comes in firmly trusting God. It comes from a knowing beyond doubt God is good and His Word is true. It comes from believing He loves us and He will never leave us or forsake us.
Lord, so many times I fail; I fall into disgrace. But when I trust in You, I have a strong and glorious presence protecting and anointing Me. Forever You’re all I need!
Psalm 73: 26 TPT
My heart is broken and heavy. The fiery darts of the enemy just keep on coming. My mind is in turmoil as I try to sort through yet another wound that has been festering since the departure of my beloved husband. I long to have him here to help me untangle these distressing thoughts and surging emotions. I need someone who understands all the intricacies of the situation that are tearing open my heart and trying to fill me with despair.
Then the brutal murder of a God-fearing and love filled soldier of God’s kingdom rocked the airways. Shootings in churches, schools and on the streets of America are happening in rapid succession. Murders and brutalities perpetrated on innocent people by all these illegal aliens keep happening. Sometimes it seems almost impossible to reconcile the dark side of life here on this broken planet we call home against the divine truth of a perfectly good, unconditionally loving God.
All praises belong to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He is the Father of tender mercy and the God of endless comfort.
2 Corinthians 1: 3 TPT
Widows often face challenges that can feel overwhelming. The Bible teaches we are not alone in our struggles. God equips us with strength, wisdom, and guidance to handle whatever comes our way. We find powerful verses in God’s Word to remind us of the tools we have in our faith. These verses serve as a source of encouragement and a reminder God gave us a blueprint to follow to navigate life’s ups and downs. He anticipated our needs and He is our provider.
Truth’s shining light guides me in my choices and decisions; the revelation of Your Word makes my pathway clear.
Psalm 119: 105 TPT
God’s holy Word is a lamp to my weary feet and a light to my aching soul. Our Heavenly Father’s words remind me miracles often germinate and eventually spring forth from hard soil. The trials and tests we go through can actually strengthen us for battle and build our faith. When Job was going through his season of misery and unspeakable loss, as he sought God he came to the most important realization of his life.
Then Job answered the LORD and said: I know You can do all things, and no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
Job 42: 1-2 ESV
He gained a deep awareness of God’s sovereignty and power. His faith grew exponentially as he submitted himself in humility and surrendered his flesh to let God be his all. He realized he can only see in part, but God knows the end from the beginning. He chose to let God take the mess his life became and let God fix it because he could do nothing on his own.
Job’s expanding belief in God’s absolute goodness echoes through redemptive history because he praised God before God restored the fractured shards of his life. The surrender of our heartaches and pain is how we humble ourselves and make that choice to stop trying to fix life in our own power. When we praise God in the storm and thank Him for His tender mercies and ever present help in times of trouble, even while we can’t yet see it with our physical eyes, we exercise our faith. This pleases God. It honors Him and it is a wonderful way to show our love to Him.
And without faith living within us it would be impossible to please God. For we come to God in faith knowing He is real and He rewards the faith of those who passionately seek Him.
Hebrews 11: 6 TPT
The physical and natural realm we live on this earth is temporary. Widows are acutely aware of the fragility of life. We live with an intense knowing absolute death is permanent eternal sleep from this physical world—a profound, unending rest where the vital spark of physical life extinguishes without the possibility of rekindling, leaving only the echo of what once was. This is why true and undeniable hope is only found in having a personal relationship with God and the peace found in knowing when this human existence runs its course, we get to move to Heaven with God. We know when we join God in Heaven, we will also see our beloved family and friends who moved there before us.
We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection.
Hebrews 12: 2 TPT
The story of Job has an incredibly happy ending. It details how God in His goodness and mercy ultimately restored Job’s health, wealth, and family. It was a result of Job choosing to trust God with his future. But there is another vital truth in Job’s story we can learn from. The most miraculous aspect of Job’s story is getting the life he hoped for wasn’t a prerequisite for him to plant his trust firmly in God’s faithfulness. His trust and faith were right there in the midst of the anguish and turmoil he encountered. He didn’t have to go get everything fixed before God moved on his behalf. All Job had to do was surrender it to God and believe He is good and no matter what happened God has his back.
I pray the same will be true for us. Getting the life we always hoped for isn’t the source of our peace, contentment, and joy. Our future was once tied to the plans we made with our husband before he moved to Heaven. For many widows it is incredibly hard to let go of those dreams and plans. God is stretching out His hand to us and inviting us give all those plans and desires to Him, to trust Him to bring us to the hope and future He created for us.
Here’s what YAHWEH says to you: “I know all about the marvelous destiny I have in store for you, a future planned out in detail. My intention is not to harm you but to surround you with peace and prosperity and to give you a beautiful future, glistening with hope. When you call on Me and come to Me in prayer, I will listen to your every word. If you reach out to Me, you will find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29: 11-13 TPT
It’s our Savior’s tangible presence in the seasons we didn’t hope for that give us unshakeable peace, deep contentment, and genuine joy. It’s our relationship we build with Him, piece by piece and honest heart truth by honest heart truth, as we tackle each new challenge this life wants to throw at us to distract us and get our attention off the one and only answer to everything we need.
Like many of you, I need to keep reminding myself God has the answers to these battles and struggles I keep contending with. My husband isn’t here to help me work through the agonies I am wrestling with in my heart. God lives in me and He is far wiser and more capable of answering each cry. My husband and I would have gone to bring it to God anyway. In a sense I am cutting out the middleman.
When I feel overwhelmed and the grief is drowning my heart, I am stirred to keep fighting the good fight of faith. I remind myself to walk the rest of this one and only human life I’ve been given well. I make a conscious effort to love Jesus with all of my heart, soul, strength, and mind. I surrender again the burdens and cares that so easily beset me. God reminds me:
As for us, we have all of these great witnesses who encircle us like clouds. So we must let go of every wound that pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into. Then we will be able to run life’s marathon race with passion and determination, for the path has been already marked out before us.
Hebrews 12: 1 TPT
We need to die to self and let God birth the real person He created us to be. He knows all the things we can’t possibly know. He knew every challenge we would face and He uniquely gifted us with everything we need to run a successful and fulfilling race to the honor and glory of His holy name.
If you’ve been looking for meaning and answers all over the place and still feel empty, consider that emptiness an invitation. Only Jesus can fill that empty space in your heart with Himself. Take His invitation today and get to know Him. He loves you and He is reaching His hand out to you right now.
The Bible is filled with His wisdom and stories of encouragement from many of God’s children who went before us. Spend time each and every day in His Word and get to truly know the Creator God and how much He loves you. He created us to be in relationship with Him and to be His sons and daughters. Let Him reveal His unlimited love for you today.
Father, I know so many of my Hope Sisters here are also going through struggles and trials that may seem impossible and overwhelming. I ask You to be with them. Please open their hearts to seek You and trust You. Please wrap them in Your love and encourage their hearts right now. Strengthen them to keep pressing forward even when it feels impossible. Let Your love and light fill them to overflowing. Reveal the answers they need and guide them in the way they should go. Open doors of provision and surround them with Godly people of strong faith who can help them see clearly how to navigate the challenges they face today. Please give them the grace they need to surrender their burdens at Your feet and inject their faith with fresh power. Thank You for hearing and answering our prayers today. We give You all the praise, honor and glory forever. Amen.
About Teri Miner
Teri’s dance with grief actually began over five years before she watched her beloved husband of almost 37 years take his last breath and enter Heaven’s door on October 6, 2019. A terminal degenerative neurological disease steadily and increasingly attacked nearly every major system of his body and transformed him from a vibrant, brilliant, strong and caring man to a bedfast invalid at the end. She was devoted to caring for him and doing her best to make the most of every minute they had left, to love him and pray for a miracle.
She thought she knew what her future held, but she had no idea. Losing him was the first time she experienced a close and personal loss. He was the love of her life. The onslaught of the pandemic with its reign of fear-mongering, forced isolation and separation entering the scene and disrupting or destroying whatever sense of “normal” that remained, just added insult to injury.
Her faith in God is the sustaining force keeping her fighting spirit to find and share hope in a bright future. Her heart’s desire is to walk beside her fellow widows toward a path of promise and healing. She wants to offer encouragement and hope so others can find the strength to take that next breath or next step. She recently started her own blog, https://widowwhispers.blogspot.com/, to share with other widows not only the struggles and hardships of widowhood, but the triumphs. Her hope is found in leaning on the Lord Jesus to enjoy a God inspired future anchored in expectation He will bring us to a fulfilling and meaningful life.