Leah Stirewalt

Out of Deep Waters

A New Baby is Coming

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SILLet me make this clear right from the start…NO, I’m not pregnant! What an announcement that would be though eh? Hee hee!

Actually, I wanted to bring you up to speed on the “goings-on” in my blog world (or lack thereof) it seems as of late. There’s a reason for that though…stick with me…

I’ve been praying and dreaming and talking to God for awhile about this Out of Deep Waters oasis. You see…it was a gift to me during my first year of widowhood, and it became quite a sanctuary, of sorts. I was able to share my innermost feelings as I journeyed openly and transparently along Grief Road.

It then became the place I shared the joy of God’s redemption and restoration in my life, as He united my path with Joel through marriage in 2012.

It’s also become a place where I share about those other things near and dear to my heart…orphans, missions, single moms, adoption, suicide, devotionals (in general). Occasionally, I’d throw in a DIY project or two and a giveaway and a 40-day consecutive blog journey. Over the years…it’s developed into…well, an inconsistent place of chaos, and that was NEVER my intent, and so it’s time to draw a line in the sand.

In my time with God and in talking with my husband and blogging friends, a new plan is evolving, and I want to go ahead and share it with you and give you a sneak peak.

There are three, distinct writing/blogging areas of my life:

Out of Deep Waters – Yep. This place. NO…it’s not going away. Not even close. I’m actually going to tighten things up here a bit. This will continue to be a place of devotion, ministry, life’s hard, life’s easy…but all through the lens of my walk with Christ. You’ll continue to see me write about grief, single parenting, adoption, suicide, orphans, devotionals, and anything else the Lord places upon my heart to write about.

I’m also working on compiling my writings from my Grief Journey (that definitive 12 months where I wrote very focused on widowhood…as I lived it) into a book format (and e-book format), as I continue to get more requests for that than anything else. It seems to me that maybe it’s a tool that could be helpful to other ladies walking a similar path. That’s still in the planning stages, but my initial goal is to have something more firm by late fall.

You can continue to book me for speaking engagements through this website, and I’m still open to customizing retreats and seminars for your group. See more HERE.

aNew Season Ministries – I’m also privileged to be one of the regular contributors for this fantastic ministry. It’s the umbrella ministry for A Widow’s Might (which I began writing for in November 2011). The ministry is growing by leaps and bounds, and God has placed such an anointing on what’s taking place over there. I’ll continue to be a small part of that ministry – through writing, participating in our upcoming conference, etc. Please continue to look for me there and send those special widow friends and your other girlfriends walking through a new season (post-addiction, post-divorce, remarriage following widowhood, etc.) over to aNew Season. They will be so blessed by this amazing group of women I am so thankful to minister alongside!

Lastly – for my new baby! Soaking in Life has been born! But we’re still in the “clean-the-baby-up” phase. It’s up and running, and there are a few posts there, but there is still SO much more to come in the next couple of weeks, as I flush out the details. Basically, this will be a different blogging platform for me. It’s because of the work that God has done in my life by rescuing me from those “deep waters” of pain, grief, abandonment, rejection, etc. that now allows me to live life fully, yet simply. That’s what Soaking in Life is all about. It’ll be the place I share those things in life I’ve discovered that really “crank my tractor” that I want to share with you…easy DIY projects, recipes, holiday decorating ideas, parenting tips, organization ideas, travel ideas, money-saving ideas and much more! Feel free to take a quick peek HERE to see what’s evolving but just know there’s so much more to come!

My prayer is that by firming up this plan of ministry (it’s ALL ministry)…it will create more organization in what God has called me to in the blogging world. Each piece of my life flows together, but different people connect at different points. And…some connect at zero points.  That’s all okay! It’s all for His Glory anyway!

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. ~Colossians 3:23 (NLT)

Sisterhood of the Traveling Widow-Pants

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I know…I know…my title of this post was a bit corny (and not very creative), but just overlook my goofiness, okeedokee?

In all seriousness, I’m so thrilled to be able to share some exciting news with you about some amazing things taking place in a ministry in which I’m honored to play a small part.

In late 2011, I was humbled to be asked to join the writing team of A Widow’s Might. At that time, there was a team of only five of us (an additional gal joined our team a few months after me). By early 2013, the team began changing a bit…some ladies moved into new seasons of life and chose to step down from being regular contributors. We opened the door for guest writers to come on board, and the ministry leadership also changed hands just before this time. We could see God stirring up something new, but we just had no idea how incredible!

Fast forward to June 2014, and we are now a ministry consisting of 16 women, serving regularly (plus a handful of guest writers)! God branched out the ministry to include two arms:

A Widow’s Might – “A place where, as widowed women in different seasons of life, we can refresh and encourage each other by sharing our challenges, our tears, and our triumphs.”

aNew Season – “Everyday women redeemed by God through wisdom & faith gained along tough journeys. We share our stories to inspire you to chase LONG FORGOTTEN DREAMS!”

Both ministries are now under the umbrella of the newly created/named aNew Season Ministries.

Additionally, we hosted our first small retreat in March in coastal Virginia, which was an amazing experience for the writing/ministry team as well as the participants!

The first of four devotional books, For the Love of HER Life, was just published and released earlier this month, and we have the other three seasonal volumes in the works now!

Book

And…if that wasn’t enough, we’re hosting our first-ever widow’s conference in Myrtle Beach, SC this November! The planning team has been very active in preparing for the arrival of those that will be joining us, and we deeply know that God is stirring the waters already to do great things in the lives of ALL ladies in attendance! We can’t wait to watch it unfold.

aNS retreat

So, with the excitement of the new devotional book just coming out and registration opening for the conference, I’ve decided to do a little giveaway. We need your help in spreading the word about both of these new tools for widows (the book and the conference), and the giveaway is designed to help do just that. When I first began my widow journey, I wish both of these tools had been in existence.

The devotional book is simply written by widows/former widows (including yours truly) that have walked Grief Road. We’re not experts…simply sharing stories from our journey in hopes of bringing encouragement to other women traversing the same path.

The conference is designed with the intent of coming together as a community who have experienced loss and can minister to each other in ways that nobody else can. Click on this link to learn more and to see the sample schedule for the weekend! The early discount runs out soon, so don’t miss out on that little savings as well. If you aren’t a widow but know someone that could benefit from this, I would encourage you to share this with her. Perhaps, you (or a Sunday School class or another group you might be in) could gift it to her! Since it’s being held in November, it would be a great gift heading into the holiday season, one often very difficult for widows.

Now for the giveaway…I’m giving away not one but TWO of our new devotional books, For the Love of HER Life! I’ll randomly select the winning entries using Rafflecopter this weekend and announce the winners on Monday! The contest is active only today and tomorrow (Thursday, 6/12-Friday, 6/13, ET). Even if you’re not a widow, I would encourage you to enter on behalf of someone else that you could bless with this book!

To enter, simply click on the Rafflecopter form below and follow through the entry requirements. The only required entry is that you comment on this particular blog post with a response to the following: briefly share a way that others can better care for widows (this is a question for widows and non-widows alike). After doing so, you can click through the other optional entry methods to gain access to even more entries!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for helping my sisterhood of widow/former widows spread the word about all that God is doing in His ministry!

To Him be all the glory!