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“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye.”
Ps. 32:8 (NKJV)

Driving to my granddaughter’s volleyball game, navigation told me to make a “U” turn, followed immediately by another “U” turn. It was literally sending me in circles—something I needed no help to do! Thankfully, it usually adapts by recalculating when I make a different turn.

Navigating life without my husband has required a lot of recalculation.

How about you?

When my beloved died, my married life was severed, my better half amputated, and all the implications of change to my life were uncalculatable. God saw the whole picture, but thankfully I did not. What I saw in one day alone sometimes felt overwhelming.

When a soldier returns with an injury to an arm or leg requiring amputation, physical and occupational therapists teach the soldier how to function without the amputated limb. Our amputation from our husbands is difficult in a completely different way. Team member, Dr. Teri Cox, has shared this research: For every ten years of marriage, the brain needs 1 year to rewire. Who knew our brains would need to rewire, but it makes sense!

How many times in your married life did you see different things in your day and reflect:

• “Oh, my husband would really like that.”
• “I wonder what he would think?”
• “I need to remember to tell him about this.”

Rewiring takes time and is sorrowful. Whether we thoughtfully recalculate or automatically do this, both assist us in learning to live in the present and incrementally to come to terms with our loss.

Thanks be to God, we are not alone in this grief process because God sees the intimate details of our lives, the sum of all our days, and our best path.

“In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”
Pr. 3:6 (ESV)

Recalculating our lives, apart from our husbands and any previous vision we shared, is the widow’s journey. Our God will make our paths straight as we acknowledge and invite Him. He will guide us by His eternal sight in every circumstance.

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
John 14:25-27 (ESV)

Thanks be to God for His incomparable love and sight! With David, let’s pray Psalm 143:8 (ESV). Please add specific burdens on your heart too.

Precious Lord, “Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.” In Christ’s name. Amen.