Walk with a Widow/er Support

06/08/2026

Beyond the Wilderness: A Walk through the Next Season of Widowhood

In my first book, "Widows are Warriors: A Walk through the Wilderness of Widowhood" I wrote about needing to take each day and break it up into smaller time periods; 15 minutes or an hour. Plan for that small moment in time before you navigate the next small amount of time. In this manner, you navigate the day without feeling the overwhelming need to plan the entire day.

Every single one of these segments in our day is filled with the darkness of grief. Grief is our constant companion; we just have to learn to take it along on every journey whether it be on an adventure or on the very short journey to the couch where you will stay for that next period of time. Then, you will rise because you must and you will do what you have determined to do next. It is a slow and steady struggle to make it through each day.

Now, you are further along in your grief journey. You can look back and see just how far you have come. You are confident in your ability to navigate the day. There are days when you feel like you have lost the pep in your step. Your days now are not comprised of several small segments of time. They are filled with a balanced blend of productivity, rest, sitting at the feet of God, and fellowshipping with others.

Each day, do not let the light go out in this dark room.
Each day, allow it to burn brighter.
Each day, slow down from the distraction of busyness.
Each day, let Him meet you at your place of grief and pain.
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

06/04/2026

Why did the death of my husband make me angry with God?

Corinthians 15:26 says, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Death is viewed by God as an enemy. Death the ultimate consequence of the fall of man.
Death - irreversible, final, and so totally permanent.

Everything in me knows that God reserves the right to “give and take away”; every fiber of my being wishes He had not exercised His right to “take away”. Since He allowed this to happen, I struggle with knowing whether He feels my pain. Is He just a stoic God who declares, “thus sayeth the Lord” and goes about His Godly duties with indifference to the pain His decree has caused me.

I truly believe that is where anger brews - is He still the all-compassionate God I knew Him to be? Why then now do I not see Him as compassionate? Am I angry with God or am I angry at God? He could have stopped it but didn’t.

Is it possible at all that God hurts for me and with me? When I think He is indifferent, I feel abandoned by Him as well. But isn’t it more likely that He feels my pain and He grieves with me and for me? After all, death was never His best plan for man. Death came about as a consequence of man’s disobedience. Isn’t it more likely that He is thinking, “if only you had not disobeyed “, death would never have to be part of this equation.

Death is the enemy - it may appear he has won at least in this realm. The singular hope that allows me respite from my grief is the hope of eternity. God made a way to conquer death; hence, I cling to that hope.

Death is not just my enemy, it’s God’s enemy too. So much so that He allowed His own to die as the ultimate avenue for victory over sin and death.

God cannot be indifferent to my pain; He is acutely aware of it having experienced it Himself. I dare say, I may have been the one indifferent to His pain all along, until it became my potion.

Death is the enemy. God is my ally. My grief doesn’t allow me to see Him as compassionate, yet as I journey through the wilderness of widowhood I see so many landmark moments where His grace, and only His grace has seen me through.

Grief messes with you. It makes you angry at everything and everyone. It makes you question God’s motives. You were once a 3-cord strand in marriage, then you were painfully unraveled. Until you figure out how to re-wrap yourself around Him and restore the closeness and tight bond you had with Him, you will feel a sense of disconnect.

It is in the throes of grief and in your healing journey that you will find yourself restored to your first love. It is He who gently carries you and nurtures you. It is He that is the target of your anger because you have a quiet confidence in His undeniable and unshakable love for you.

He says,”Rest my beloved; let me carry your burdens and let me pour out my love as a salve on your wounds.” In Him is my healing.

05/03/2026

Henri Nouwen (Dutch Catholic priest, professor, writer and theologian) wrote, “The great spiritual call of the Beloved Children of God is to pull their brokenness away from the shadow of the curse and put it under the light of the blessing.”

We all experience woundedness and brokenness in life: death, grief, material loss, marital discord, domestic violence, parenting challenges, abuse – these are all sources of our wounds and brokenness. Nobody escapes being wounded. What then shall we do with these emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual wounds?

The Trauma of Death
Grief from loss – the death of a loved one – is yet another source of trauma. The ripping away of one half of you, the person who made you whole, is profoundly traumatic. It is so much more than just sadness. It is almost as tangible as the phantom pains of an amputated limb. The TRAUMA OF DEATH leaves behind a darkness that is beyond description. For those who have not experienced it, it is pointless us trying to explain or you trying to understand. Just be present; wherever the grieving person is, that’s where you should stay. It is not your job to move her/him along in their journey but rather to love them in their woundedness and brokenness. That’s when they will move along in their journey. Don’t throw your psychology book at them and don’t throw the Bible at them; grief is not reasonable or rational. But it is valid. Many will get this wrong because we all want to “fix” situations and people. Not everything can be fixed. Sometimes, our brokenness barely allows us to hold things together.

As you heal, you will become a mighty beacon to others who have endured similar woundedness and brokenness. When you find yourself surrounded by people who reach out to you just to be there for you – you heal. When friends choose not to be prescriptive in their suggestions, but rather receptive in their attitude and compassionate in their disposition – you heal.

Henri Nouwen states, “When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”

This is when the most assuring words one can ever hear are reminders that you are loved and held together by a God who is near the broken-hearted.

Just knowing that somehow you are loved and the favor of God rests upon you will carry you through many a season of trauma. It is the constant that carries you through the many vicissitudes of trauma. As you relive your trauma in the conscious and subconscious, pray, No! Beg for a peace that is unassailable, unbreakable, and transcendent. It may come and go, but once you have tasted it even momentarily you will understand that you must fight to repeatedly inhabit that place of peace.

04/29/2026

TNT is closing its doors, but our hearts will continue to remain open in ministry to widows. By the end of 2026, TNT will close operations as a non-profit.
We request you to stop all donations by June 2026 to facilitate this process. Cynthia will continue to serve the global widows and local widows for years to come; however she will do this in her individual capacity.

Thank you for partnering with us in ministry to widows around the world. Over the last 4 years, you have been an integral part of saving the lives of many widows who faced starvation, homelessness, and an inability to support their fatherless children.

In India 🇮🇳, we started pig farms, goat farms, and a tailoring school which have helped about 125 widows (including a group of widows with leprosy).

In Brazil 🇧🇷, we were able to add a Bakery to an existing community center which employed and served at least 15 widows.

In Kenya 🇰🇪, we helped 14 widows start their own pig farms.

In Cameroon 🇨🇲, we helped 10 widows start their own small businesses. We have also launched a micro-finance initiative which has successfully educated and funded 11 widows with the start up of their small businesses. They learned stewardship and integrity, faithfully repaying their loans and participating in a Save & Share program. This initiative will now continue to help more widows start and sustain their businesses with loans managed by Pastor Kang.

In Kampala, Uganda 🇺🇬, we have started a vocational school teaching widows and battered women the skills of baking, hairdressing, and manufacturing school supplies and basic household products. We have also started a street-side cafe which provides meals to local workers. All this is done under “Treasured Women Enterprises” which is run by Pastor Kato.
Approximately 125 women are currently served by this enterprise, including 60 widows who are HIV positive.

The 2 projects in Cameroon and Uganda will continue to be supported through this year to bring them to a place of self-sustainability.

We have started a Widows are Warriors scholarship fund which will grow and allow the legacy of your generosity to continue to support and encourage widows for years to come via an annual award to a qualifying widow and/or organization supporting widows.

We could not do this without you. Your generosity has already served approximately 300 widows in 4 years and will continue to provide life-giving resources to many more for years to come. We are eternally grateful to you for believing in us and stepping up to serve these widows.

We ask for your continued prayers as Cynthia serves these widows while immersing herself wholeheartedly into a new season of nurturing her grand children. Pray for continued strength and healing in the years ahead and an undeniable confidence in this calling. As the sun begins to set on this season, we look forward to it rising on the next.

We pray a blessing upon you as we move into this new season: May God bless you and keep you. May He make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May He turn His face unto you and give you peace. 🙏

With much love,
Cynthia

04/20/2026

This explains why some widows never stop grieving. It’s not about moving on or moving forward. You can even be remarried to a perfectly wonderful man and both of you complete each other. You were ripped apart from your spouse at his death; this new version of you goes on with the business of living but there’s no denying that the original version of you is lost forever. It’s almost physiological amputation; it’s most certainly emotional, spiritual, and psychological amputation. You learn to live with phantom pain. Be kind to a widow who just doesn’t seem “able” to move on. She quite possibly never will. Embrace the new version of her wherein grief occupies a BIG portion of her heart ♥️

04/06/2026

Great news 🤩. Our resources have now been made available FREE to you so you can minister to widows in your community, workplace. and church.

Widows are Warriors AND Walk with a Widow are available on Amazon.
Links here:
https://a.co/d/084eIpnb
https://a.co/d/0cjmEFSV

We now have accompanying videos, PowerPoint, and study guides for each book. Please share these with widows, deacons, and friends of widows so we can build a community of support around them.

Links to Resources:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh57JLAZKCq0BLC4tMxyHK3oXu5qwaBmo&si=tdK4513FbascY9MV

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh57JLAZKCq2Qux7EtqEuwB1K6K98MTSV&si=NN3VgS2z0qWRGTT7

Widowhood is a life-changing experience that can bring you to your knees, no matter whether your loss was sudden or anticipated. Each day is filled with chal...

04/04/2026

The darkest night in history is in reality the greatest promise for humanity. Yesterday we grieved. Today we wait. Tomorrow we celebrate He is Risen 🙏

04/03/2026

The Hope of Easter is only truly understood by those who have the Hope of eternity. It is Christ who has set us free. Nobody else has broken the chains of death. Through Christ and Christ alone is the Hope of eternal life.

As we commemorate His death, we are thankful that He willingly paid the price for us. As we celebrate His resurrection, we are thankful for the Hope of seeing our beloved in eternity. This HOPE we have only because He died for our sins.

Thank you Jesus that I dream of eternity in YOUR presence worshipping right alongside my husband. Because of your death on the cross I hold the promise of “death where is your sting?”

This Easter, we thank you for partnering with us in prayer, for loving us as individuals, and as a ministry. We pray that as we continue to unite our hands and our hearts, that we will grow in wisdom and love. We pray peace upon each of your households this Easter.

We wish you and your loved ones a blessed Easter! He is Risen!

03/27/2026

We have made our online resources available to you for FREE!! If you are a widow or know a widow you can purchase our devotional book
“Widows are Warriors: a Walk Through the Wilderness of Widowhood” (Amazon link in comments)

You could also follow the playlist on our YouTube channel with videos, discussion questions, and PowerPoint to help you navigate the grief journey as you read the book and process your grief.

Please note the comments in the YouTube playlist will give you the necessary links to the resources.

Widowhood is a life-changing experience that can bring you to your knees, no matter whether your loss was sudden or anticipated. Each day is filled with chal...

03/25/2026

As we’ve taken time to walk through both of our resource books, “Walk With A Widow” & “Widows Are Warriors”, we pray that your heart has been touched and that you are encouraged to either provide a widow with the community she needs OR encouraged to look to God to help walk through your grief journey.

“Realizing that other people KNOW what you are going through, and that you are not alone is a big part of your healing journey. You don’t have to walk this road alone because others have walked this road before you.”💜