Meeting God's Perfect Gifts

Have you met new people so far in your widow's journey?

Although widowhood hurts so much at times, this can also be an incredibly rich and meaningful chapter of life because of certain people God sends to you like a gift.

James 1:17 (NIV)

Every good and perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,

who does not change like shifting shadows.

Maybe this blog is one of those gifts, or maybe not (I know... it depends on the day). But I do know that through this blog there are many gifted and "perfect gift" sort of people that you can get to know here either by reading their stories and comments or --- (drumroll please) --- meeting them in person through a local widows group!

For example, back in April I told you about a widows group in Washington state. I also mentioned a darling granddaughter born on March 30th in Washington state. (Here's a picture of her that I always use to imagine I'm still holding her 'cuz that's what you do when there's 2922.1 miles in between):

Before that, I blogged about speaking at Colonial Baptist Church in North Carolina, going from "Surviving to Thriving." So in May, the astute leader of the group in WA contacted me to ask about the possibility of giving that same talk to her group the next time I was in Washington and meeting in person.

A few weeks later I was there, happy to be sharing the story of Naomi with the Naomi Group at Faith Lutheran.

Here is a review from Millie F. (wore a yellow top):

. . . a wonderful afternoon.  So informative, we all learned a lot.  Actually both Marita and I wish we could have listened to this gal way back in the beginning.  She made a lot of sense.

My hostess, Susan, wrote this: 
Your visit was a bit of a whirlwind but left such a glow! ... I continue to hear how much your talk was appreciated.

... I noticed how seamless all your Scripture references were--your MBI solid foundation really shined. And I very much appreciated how you spent time visiting with everyone--letting them know they matter, as your Amazon.com bio said. It was truly a fine afternoon.

And it was a lot of fun to have you here at my house! Thank you for letting me drag out all my "widow stuff." Loved meeting your daughter, Lisa, and wish her all the best.

It was a most blessed 24 hours! Thank you again (and do come back--always welcome).

Thank you Susan, it was wonderful to meet in person and I do hope we can meet again. Each lady in your group was like a perfect gift and it was refreshing to spend time with you too. ♥ ferree