I became a widow twice in my life, therefore, I can definitely relate to the
feelings of being in a “fog” after your mate has passed. There were times
people would be talking to you and you wouldn’t be paying any attention to what
they were saying. Or people would be doing things and you didn’t realize what
they were doing or why they were doing it.
A time later
you might remember a friend or two that did do something very nice for
you. My definition of all of this is it
was God, He was there all the time. Our
God loved us so much, He supplied all our needs before we even knew we needed
anything.
God sent people to help us widows. He sent His angels to care for us
and I believe when we cried, He cried and felt our heartache.
At our last
monthly meeting of Friends Needing Friends, we all took the time to recognize
the love of Jesus at our point of need. We wrote down how God shared His love
for us through others to meet these needs.
The
following are some of the examples that our ladies shared.
Terry
wrote: The year my
husband passed was a very snowy winter. I hired a man to plow my driveway but I
had to shovel the walkway and the mailbox at the end of my drive. Each snow
storm I would shovel the mailbox and the plow would come by our street and bury
it again. My neighbor saw this and kept my mail box clean for the rest of the
storm season. God sends us angels in all kinds of outfits, including snow boots
and snow blowers.
Carolyn
wrote: My brother and sister-in-law flew me to San
Antonio for a week of fellowship, prayed with me and encouraged me. They also
introduced me to “Yellow Ribbon” an organization that reaches out to veterans.
Yellow Ribbon” helped me to focus on others.
Marie
wrote: My family and
neighbors filled my home with flowers and food and were with me through all the
long days until the unreal was over, and stayed close by after giving support
and love.
Sue
wrote: All of my small Bible class group came over
with food, fellowship, love and shared a laugh of funny memories of Bill as he
was in our Bible class.
Rita
wrote: Friends in the neighborhood would stop by
just for a short while. Just to make conversation and to see if I was doing
alright. How nice that was.
Carole S.
wrote: My friends
would call me and then they took me out for lunch and keep me busy doing things
with them. I would call them at any time just to talk or cry and they would be
there for me.
Susan
wrote: My friend from Palm Beach County took a day
off work to drive my dying husband and me to the cancer center in Miami – in my
car. She took the tri-rail back to Palm Beach County and several other friends
did the same to help us before he passed. My husband died 7 days later.
Another lady
wrote: A friend went with me to church the week after my husband died. Another
friend help me prepare my taxes, Another friend help me sort through his
clothes and another friend helped me find a new car and sell the old one.
What else is
there to say, the above is proof and evidence that our God loves us. Our God
was there all the time, wanting to help us widows even before we knew we needed
His help.
By Dotti Ackerman
Founder
& Director of FNF
Est. 1988
