Conversations for Change

  It is an incredibly painful experience to lose someone you love. This is especially true if you lose your spouse. When you are grieving, you go through a whole range of things from constant crying, to crying at unexpected times, times of deep loneliness and sorrow, and even experiencing literal heartache. Everywhere you go, you are reminded that your husband has gone. He is no longer sitting at the table at meal times, is not there when you come home, you no longer sit next to him at church. When you go out with friends, the others are couples, while you are on your own. Throughout your marriage, you divided the responsibilities. Now he is gone, you have to learn to do the things he always took care of. Perhaps this included the garden, car maintenance, and finances.     The horribleness of your experience is normal. When God made us, death did not exist. It was only after people rebelled against God, that suffering and death became part of existence. The grief of losin...

  It is deeply painful for a woman to be abandoned. Perhaps she was rejected and deserted by someone who was supposed to love and care for her. She might have been left all alone. Maybe she has to raise her children by herself. The pain is especially hard if she was abandoned for someone else. If this has happened, I would expect her to struggle with anger, resentment, shame, guilt, and a low view of herself. She will probably wonder where she went wrong and what the other woman has that she does not. She might wonder if anyone cares for her and if God cares for her.   In chapter 16 of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we read about how the Lord cared for an abandoned woman. Abram, the Father of the people of Israel, used his servant Hagar, in an attempt to ensure that he had a male heir. After Hagar conceived, she looked on Abram’s wife, Sarai, with contempt. Sarai responded by making treating Hagar so harshly, she fled. Hagar was on her own and in a place of grave ...