Dear Father, As the anniversary of our wedding draws near, I pray again that You hold my husband in Your gentle embrace. Share with him the endless joy of knowing You. Shower him with Your love and grace. Remind him, if it be Your will, of my undying love for him. These days are sometimes hard for me, as memories of our sweet vows wring my heart and tears flow silently. As I walk this earth alone, I ask You, please, for grace. Give me courage, Lord, for in my weakness You are strong. I have placed my faith in You. O Lord, I pray that on the day my journey ends, and I come home to You, that my beloved be there waiting, too. Reunite us for all eternity in Your everlasting love. Until then, I wait in hopeful faith and pray to You. Amen. This is a prayer book like no other, written by a widow for widows. The prayers center on the emotions and situations a widow faces. It is a powerful resource for grief ministers, family members, and friends.

Life crises threaten our spiritual stability. Losing a loved one—whether or not you expect their death—is always traumatic. The trauma of adjusting to the new identity of widow while facing a multitude of questions and urgent decisions can be overwhelming. In this book of 60 meditations, Nell Noonan candidly shares her experiences in the 26 months after the death of her husband. She describes her journey in grief as packed with blessings and brokenness. Despite the low points, she managed to find God in the midst of bereavement. Noonan acknowledges that each person's grief journey is unique. "My writing is not meant to tell anyone what or how or when to do anything," Noonan says. "The devotions are only meant to be messages that I want to hold your hand, feel our pain, and hopefully we will be able to inch slowly, step-by-step into being more whole, less broken—into new, peace-filled life." This book will help widows, whether they choose to read it alone or with a group. A good resource for grief support groups, and an appropriate gift to show your concern for any woman grieving the loss of her husband.

Margaret Nyman learned of her husband’s cancer only 42 days before he died. After four decades of marriage to Nate, she was thrown into widowhood, with all the emotions and questions that follow. She reached out to God with her aching heart, and now she’s helping other widows to do the same in her book Prayers for a Widow’s Heart. This Scripture-based book of 60 prayers brings hope and healing to widows by offering heartfelt prayers and biblical reminders of God’s promises.

Women who are facing the reality of widowhood are often connected by a common thread of grief and uncertainty. Hope for an Aching Heart offers encouragement to help readers handle the challenges of each day with God’s grace. Sharing from a widow’s heart, the author weaves personal stories, Scripture, and prayers into 60 days of inspirational thoughts that motivate readers to draw closer to God. This heartfelt and engaging devotional helps to broaden women’s understanding of the depth of God’s love, His tender care, and His promise to always be with them.

"The prayers reflect the many moods and seasons of grief. I lovingly share them with you just as I would a pot from my kitchen, a paintbrush from my tool shed or a pencil from the desk where I write. They are yours to draw strength from. The tools that will lead you to peace are courage, positive thinking and prayer….And of these tools, prayer is perhaps the most powerful. Prayer is your bridge to God, a limitless source of help and strength." —From the Introduction The prayers in Toward Peace were born out of Beverly S. Gordon's own struggle to accept the death of her life partner, her own search for peace. She penned this simple, wise and nourishing book of 33 prayers for those experiencing the trauma and turmoil of grief associated with the death of a spouse. Prayers deal with issues common to widows and widowers—loneliness, memories, anger, blame, guilt, healing and envy. And because the widowed in the early stages of grieving often find it difficult to concentrate, the prayers are deliberately brief and written in simple language. Each prayer begins with an appropriate Bible verse.

Joyce Rogers, a recently widowed, highly respected woman of faith, helps others with profound and practical tips on how to weather the pain of loss and see God's plan for the future.

Though "community" has become a common byword in the contemporary Western church, the practice of communal sharing has effectively fallen by the wayside. Unfortunately, it is often the poor who are left wanting because we no longer come together. Reta Halteman Finger finds a solution to this modern problem by learning from the ancient Mediterranean Christian culture of community. In the earliest Jerusalem church, in holding the responsibility for preparing and serving communal meals, women were given a place of honor. With the table fellowship and goods sharing of the early church, Luke says, there were no needy persons among them (Acts 4: 34). Finger thoroughly examines this agape-meal tradition, challenging traditional interpretations of the community of goods in the Jerusalem church and proving that the communal sharing lasted for hundreds of years longer than previously assumed. "Of Widows and Meals" begins a discussion of need in community that can revolutionize the contemporary church's interaction with the world at large.

Writing from a biblical perspective, Carol Cornish helps readers to discover how God is working in the midst of the deep distress of losing a spouse. She provides the reader with direction in finding true and lasting comfort in Christ. Cornish, who lost her husband of 38 years to lung cancer, encourages widows to use their widowhood for God's glory. Ministry to widows needs to be a priority for Christian communities, and Cornish equips churches, families, and friends to come alongside those mourning the loss of a spouse. The Undistracted Widow includes sections to help widows find renewed identity and purpose. Cornish helps readers trust in God, manage emotions, learn from both biblical and contemporary widows, rethink the past, present, and future, and prepare for what's next. Pastors, churches, and others will benefit from practical appendices. Any woman who is grieving the loss of her husband, or who knows of someone in mourning, will find this to be a valuable resource.

There is little in life that rocks us like the death of a husband or wife. Whether you're feeling alone, drowning under an ocean of emotions, or you've worked your way through to the darkest nights of the soul and are now wondering how to get on with your life, you'll find comfort and guidance from the authors of this book. One a clinical psychologist, the other a pastor and professor, both suffered the loss of a spouse at a relatively young age. Their empathy, valuable psychological insights, biblical observations, and male and female perspectives will help you experience your grief in the healthiest and most complete way so that you can move forward to embrace the new life that is waiting for you on the other side.

The experience of losing a spouse can become an overwhelming chasm of grief, loss, confusion, and even anger. This touching, heartfelt book from veteran best-selling author Quin Sherrer, offers widows practical help, hope, and healing for the road forward. Written in short, easy, devotional-style readings for those going through the grief process, Quin walks hand in hand, sharing her own story as a widow, as well as the stories of many others who have walked the same road.