Sometimes God takes us through unmarked paths.
Not necessarily because we need to offer help but for our own good.
God takes us through uncharted paths for us to learn and pick up life nuggets.
I always pass by here. In fact, I’d sit and listen to her beautiful tales.
The older lady had a flame that would draw anyone close. She had healing words and could calm your troubled heat.
Laughing and smiling is what I know her for but this day it was different.
She hid her tears.
She was hurting.
A pain only God could heal.
She told me she had been widowed over three years.
An Unexpected reveal.
God was not done with me yet!
Another day, about the same time, I needed to learn some more.
I am learning about pain, suffering, the hurt other women pass through. The focus is not me.
Sometimes, you need to learn taking your eyes off you and your needs and focus on others.
This woman was a precious acquaintance about the same age or a bit older than I. She is hardworking and diligent.
She would talk about her kids. She too like the older lady was always cheerful.
You will never suspect home front was different for her. But ….she was five years widowed.
Lord, have you not taught me pain enough?
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. James 1:27
But it was not about the pain. It was about how these women led their lives.
It was about how they continued to persevere.
They never wore their situations on like a cloak.
Quite contrary, you will never catch them without a smile.
I needed to see the joys in the midst of hardship these women faced.
They know abandonment.
They know what it is to be forgotten.
They know what it means to be ‘alone’.
My heart needed to see it through their own eyes.
As they spoke, their words were a testimony of God’s continual goodness.
Oh, how they hope everyday even in trying times.
On one occasion the younger widow had her home flooded. The tears and pain caused her to miss the absence of her husband.
They both miss their husbands but they have learnt that Our Heavenly Father is more than sufficient.
Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me. Jeremiah 49:11
May be you find it hard to lay hope on God when difficulties brew
May be you are widowed too or know someone who is,
These women taught me Fierce Hope
They showed me what it means to see God, when the world turns its back.
Now I ask you dear reader, do you know those around you?
Do you care for their pain, their story, their lives?
Sometimes, it is not for you to give but for you to recieve.
Sometimes, you meet people to learn life from them.
Sometimes it is for you to go back to your closet and learn the power of gratitude.
You Don’t Have To Wait To View life From The Other Lens Before You Value God’s Gift In Your Life
They both reminded me of Ruth and Naomi.
When we read their story, let us remember the power of enduring, the tenacity in preserving, the joy that awaits when we hold on.
Their story never said it is easy but it boldly says it is possible.
Let’s pray for the widows among us (1 Timothy 5:3);
Dear Jesus, we pray for every woman who has suffered loss and who is going through the pain of losing a spouse. Lord, let them find hope in you (Psalm 68:5). May the grace to press on with Jesus rest upon them. Father, let them see you right in the midst of their life struggles. Lord, bring them to their place of rest in Jesus name Amen.
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