Leah Stirewalt

Out of Deep Waters

Survey Says…

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Happy Thursday!

I can’t believe we’re inching that much closer to another weekend…already! It seems like just yesterday I was rafting down the Ocoee River with my family and doing everything I could to stay in the raft. Well…that was LAST weekend, and it’s a story for another day. Ha!

Anyway…I digress.

I actually need your help with a project. God birthed a book idea in me a long time ago, and I’ve been a bit disobedient in getting it started. In order to progress a little further, I need some help from widows or former widows. That’s where YOU come in! If you are a widow, have been a widow, or know a widow, would you be willing to take a little 17-question survey? Your answers will help mightily in the research I’m doing for the book. And…the more responses I get…the better!

All you need to do to access the survey is click on the link below:

Click here to take survey

Then, please send your widow friends right back here to access the survey also. For those of you that follow me on Facebook, I plan to post it there too. I can also email it to people…just leave a comment below with the name and email address to where it needs to be directed. If there are women that you know that would be willing to take this survey but are not computer savvy or have access to a computer, would you be willing to ask them the questions and enter the answers for them? That would be a HUGE help, and their voice could still be heard.

Friends…thank you SO much for your help with this. I can’t wait to see what God does through this next step in the book-birthing process.

You are a blessing!

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!