In v. 3 Paul points out “we give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Giving thanks is a foundational discipline in the believer’s life, and I had forgotten that. I had stopped giving thanks. I wasn’t choosing gratitude for what I had, instead I was in despair because I was focused on what I had lost, how hard things were, and all the difficulties I was experiencing.
That didn’t mean that my grief would suddenly disappear because I started being thankful. Gratitude and grief can exist together - God’s grace can handle both at the same time.
In v. 5 is where the word hope shows up, and the first glimmer of healing began.
As believers, we are thankful because of the hope we have in Christ. When we lose hope we become depressed and anxious, which is exactly what happened to me. But we have a secure hope in something that we can depend on, which is the hope of Heaven.
He went on to talk about Rom. 5:3-5 - where it say: “...we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Read more...Did you know...
- Only 5% of widows in the US are under 40? I was 33 when I was widowed.
- Young widows often have small kids, and life is overwhelming. Grief often gets put on the back burner until it gets too big to ignore.
- Single parenting is different as a widow. You don’t get a break like you do in a two parent household or a divorce situation. You have to intentionally carve out time without your kids.
- Young widows need support, community, encouragement, and love. We feel like we don’t fit in anywhere.
We are going to take a brief pause in our current series on The Five Stages of Grief, and I want to share a little about our homeschooling journey. Homeschooling is definitely not for the faint of heart, especially as a widow, but I am so glad God allowed me to home school my kids. It wasn’t always easy, and there were sometimes tears over math or reading, but the rewards far outweigh the hard times.
Here are ten things I love about our homeschooling experience:
- Being able to teach my kids the truth of the Gospel through school subjects. Keeping our schooling centered around Biblical truth was important to me, and I specifically looked for Bible-centered materials. Along with Bible-focused curriculum, we also memorized scripture together, and my kids still remember many of the verses. We also sang some of the Gospel-centered hymns that I learned at a young age.
Discovering joy through music has been a constant thread throughout my life. From the moment I first sat down at a piano, I knew I had found my passion. Over the years, music has provided solace, comfort, and a sense of purpose. And when tragedy struck and I found myself as a widow with young children, music became a comfort.
My first piano teacher nurtured my love for playing the piano. She was kind, patient and set high expectations that she knew I could meet. She encouraged me to play in church at a young age, which began a love for being a church pianist.
In high school, I joined the choir. My music teacher saw potential that I didn’t see and encouraged me to audition for the Chamber Singers, local and state competitions, and eventually colleges. He gave me the opportunity to accompany many of the choirs in our school, and my love for doing music every day multiplied. It was also during high school that I started teaching piano lessons, and found I loved it!
Read more...In this third blog post of my financial journey as a young widow, I want to share one of the best pieces of advice I received when Jon and I were anticipating getting married. Our mentors at the time said, “Get life insurance. No matter how tight the budget is, make it a priority. Life can change in an instant, and you want to be prepared as much as possible.”
I had no idea that the advice given to two young college students would have such an impact on our lives.
Life Insurance
Jon and I got life insurance a few years after we were married, shortly after our first child was born, and since we were young and healthy, it was pretty inexpensive. Some months it seemed like a chore to continue to pay it, but we remembered the advice we were given and kept our policies.
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