Leah Stirewalt

Out of Deep Waters

Day 40 and Reunion Day is HERE!

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Anna Uganda
Anna and her new Ugandan friend

First off – THANK YOU so much for stopping by during this 40-day consecutive blog posting run! I made it to day 40! Woot! Now, I’m not going anywhere, but I do plan to take a couple days off, because the day I’ve been waiting nearly a month for is also here! This is the day I travel to Atlanta, GA to pick up my daughter from a month-long mission trip to Uganda!

Oh how I’ve missed her tremendously! I can’t wait to hear all her glory stories! I know that God grabbed hold of her in a BIG way, and I soooo look forward to seeing and hearing about all that she’s experienced with Him this last month. If she’s willing (and I’m almost positive she will be), I plan to have her guest post for me sometime here to share about some of her African experiences!

A couple of reminders:

  • The giveaway for this week is still active, and you have until the end of Sunday to enter. I encourage you do so and please send friends! Click HERE to access the entry form (bottom of that post). You have up to 6 possible entries! I’ll announce the winner right here next Tuesday, August 6.
  • If you’re on Facebook, I would love to have you “like” the new Out of Deep Waters Facebook page HERE if you haven’t done so already! I’m already amazed at all the new people God has directed to that page. It takes faithful blog friends like you to help get them there.
  • Months ag0, I began formulating a survey for widows to take in preparation for a book proposal that I’m working on. The survey should be ready within the next couple of weeks, and I’ll need YOUR help to get the word out. So, please be thinking of widows in your sphere of influence that might be willing to take a quick survey!

I pray you have a FABULOUS Jesus-filled weekend. Please know how much I am blessed by you!

To Marry or Not to Marry…That is the Question

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wedding ringsI often get asked the question from widows about whether or not they should start dating again or potentially remarry. And…I always have an answer:

That’s totally between you and God!

Not to sound trite with that response, it’s truly what I believe. For those of us that claim to be Christ-followers, that’s the way it should be – right?

But, I also know the pain of making decisions in my own flesh and regretting those decisions later. So, during my widowhood days, I told God (yes – I told Him, or so I thought) that I wasn’t going to get married again. It was too painful to lose a spouse, and I wasn’t going to do that again…I would just remain single.

I truly thought that’s what was going to happen. Ha! Ha! But, through an interesting journey, God did open the marriage door for me again, and next month I celebrate one year with my prince. Sounds simple – right? Well, not so much…

As a widow, I battled the dating/remarriage idea initially, because

  • I thought remarriage would dishonor my late husband
  • I didn’t think I had passed the “expected” amount of time to grieve (expectation from everyone but me and God, that is)
  • I didn’t want some man to think I needed him (yes – pride got in the way too)
  • I thought I would enter the marriage with too much emotional baggage and didn’t want to go there
  • I was under the false impression that I would play the martyr and live out the rest of my days as the poor young widow (turned old widow eventually)
  • I didn’t want my friends and family to think I was just pushing my grief aside
  • I was afraid of putting my daughter through the heartache of attaching herself to another father figure in case she lost him too
  • And the list went on…

While many of those reasons are valid and definitely needed to be examined, I also know many women on the opposite end of the spectrum. They are begging God for a husband, because

  • They fear living the rest of their life alone
  • They miss the companionship of having a husband around
  • They feel they need a man to take care of them
  • They want another daddy for their children
  • Grieving hurts, and they feel remarriage would make it less painful
  • And the list can go on here too…

I actually found myself at both ends of this “to marry or not to marry” spectrum at different points in my journey, and it literally drove me crazy. That is…until God got my attention.

After spending some precious time with Abba on this, He graciously showed me that I wasted more time thinking about this than praying about it. And…He was right (as always)!

And…so I prayed…and prayed…and prayed! And just when I was completely at peace with not getting married again, He brought Joel into my life.

Now…time to pause for just a moment here…I’m not saying that in every single widow situation God leads a surrendered widow to marriage. Absolutely not! As a matter of fact, there are many women that know – with absolute peace and assurance – that God never intends for them to marry again. There are many widows that still have that to discover in the journey. But, even so, the bottom line is that God needs to be central in that decision-making process.

Well, as a result of knowing that it was God that brought Joel into my life, I knew what to do when our relationship progressed and led to the discussion of marriage. God had already given me that peace during extended time of prayer with Him. Because I handed over the question to Him…He made sure I had the right answer! To Him be all the glory!

Quick reminder: don’t forget to enter Tuesday’s giveaway if you haven’t already (it ends Sunday). I need some help spreading the word about the new Out of Deep Waters FB page. You are the best! Thank you so much!