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And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.
1 Thessalonians 5:14 (ESV)

In our worship services at church we have been spending a lot of time in the book of 1 Thessalonians. And when we got to chapter 5, I noticed that the Apostle Paul shoots one instruction after another in rapid fire. It is in this list of many instructions that I found the words, “fainthearted” and “weak”.

I’ve probably never labeled myself or anyone “fainthearted”. It isn’t a term I ever use. But I have been discouraged, left out, apprehensive, and disheartened. Those are words that other versions of this passage use.

The team at A Widow’s Might, Inc. is doing its best to fulfill that mission. We know God can be trusted in our grief journey. Paul tells us (2 Cor 1:5) that God comforts us in our pain so we can comfort others. Walking with you on your grief journey and helping others walk alongside you helps all of us fulfill our purpose to glorify God.

So how can you and I help the discouraged, grieving ones? What can we do to assist the weak and lonely widows?

Prayer

First and foremost, we can help others by praying for them. One of the best prayers we can pray is that our faith will not fail during the darkest days. How do I know that is a good prayer to pray? Because Jesus actually prayed that for Simon Peter in Luke 22.

Father God, I pray for the grieving sister reading this post. She has suffered so much in the loss of her husband – so much more than the loss of just a person. Our prayer for her today is that her faith will remain intact. Keep Satan’s lies away from her thoughts and remind her of Your promises from Scripture. Amen

Scripture

Another thing we can do to help others today is to point to Scripture and to Jesus Christ. We take this very seriously at AWM. We know Scripture is God’s words to us written by His people over hundreds of years. It is powerful and able to say what we, in our humanness, cannot say. We aren’t just quoting from a book – we are rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). You can share our posts and emails with those you know. You can point them to the truth of Scripture.

Lord, keep every author on our team and every speaker at our conferences lined up with Scripture. We never want to misrepresent the truth or twist any of Your words out of context to make something mean what it doesn’t. You promise that Your word will never return void, so we pray Your words find their way into each widow’s soul. Amen

Resources

We want to provide resources that will allow YOU to encourage yourself and others around you. Your church may want materials to use specifically for a small group for widows. Perhaps you would be interested in our AWM Hope™ Group Bible study designed by widows for widow groups.

Sometimes, there are not enough other widows around. Community is often a missing element after widowhood due to friend groups changing or shifts in social groups. We have met some amazing widows in our monthly AWM HOPE™ Infusion Zoom sessions (email for information: admin@awidowsmight.org). And don’t forget our amazing AWM HOPE™ Conferences. We started small with just a handful of our readers at a lake house in Virginia Beach in 2014 over spring break. Now, twelve years later, we have enjoyed meeting hundreds of widows annually, worshipping together through tears and healing through Scripture.

Jesus Christ, we pray for all the widows who have attended our online and in-person meetings. Go ahead of these beautiful ladies to help them share their healing journey with others they come in contact with. And for the ladies who are praying about attending one of our events right now, we pray you will open doors for them in their schedules and their finances to allow them to fellowship with like-minded sisters. Amen.

Encourage the fainthearted and help the weak.

Today, as you go about your business in the store or the restaurant or wherever, look for an opportunity to encourage and help. God might have someone waiting for your hug or prayer for them.