It was mid-February–about this time of the year. My husband of forty years had died. Now, I was facing a life alone. I really had never lived alone. I married at nineteen, and now, after forty years, I was alone in the house where we raised our children, now  grown and living their own lives, raising their own children. I took two weeks off before returning to my job as a music teacher in a Christian school. The first day back in a meeting after school, we sat around the table with our superintendent. It was here he said, “There’s no easy way to say this. The Board has decided to close this campus at the end of the school year.”

Some of us would have positions at the Portland campus. Others, including me, would have to look elsewhere. I was numb to the shock. My coworkers sat frozen in silence. For me, having just lost my life partner, this just seemed another thing to lose. Soon, I was applying at numerous private schools to teach music, but was unable to find anything. One morning, while driving to school, I thought about where I might find a job. I made some calls, applied, was interviewed, and then hired to begin the week after my school closed its doors. The timing was perfect. The job was different than anything I’d ever done before and it was the right place for me to work. It provided all I needed at that time.

There’s a lot more to the story, but I can tell you, I knew I was being cared for. There are so many places in the Bible where it talks about widows and orphans and how they are cared for. In Psalms it says, God is the “defender of widows,” in Isaiah, it says to “fight for the rights of widows.” In the New Testament, the widows are provided for, “take care of any widow who has no one to care for her,” “care for the orphans and widows in their distress.” God provided for my needs through a job that I desperately needed.

This helped build more trust in God. I knew He cared for me and would take care of me whatever the circumstances. There were more hard things after that disastrous afternoon. But before and after that time, I learned to trust in the protection of my Father God. And then, at just the right time, a place of employment covering my financial needs.

Since that time now seventeen years ago, there have been more incidences of God’s loving care for me. He provided a husband who loves me, who loves God, and loves our combined families. I  know at some point one of us will die. But I also know I’ll be OK. Either way, I will be with Jesus in Heaven, or if Jim dies before me, I will have that loving Savior with me, just as he was when I was widowed twice before.

Below, is one of my favorite verses and has become the theme of my life:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13 NIV).

What’s your story? Where has God provided for you? I’d love to hear from you.

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