In this world, there’s a lot you can’t fix. But for one person, you can stop the cycle of hopelessness. And doing this, with our help, can change generations and create a legacy of hope.
When Melissa, founder of Balcony Women, saw the many widows within her community not receiving the care they needed and so desperately wanted, God laid it on her heart to take action.
She approached her pastor with a desire to care for the widows in their church. She then worked with Stand in the Gap Ministries to create a widow ministry toolkit so that other churches could care for their widow communities.
“Our society, which includes our churches, doesn’t always know how to care for someone who is grieving after the immediate loss,” Melissa says. “We mean well. We call, provide cards and meals for the first few weeks, but after that, we go back to our normal, everyday life. But for a widow, her grief journey is just beginning. Half of her is gone. She has to learn how to navigate in her new reality.”
Melissa continues to see the secondary losses widows today face. She shares, “It’s not just the loss of her husband. But the loss of the future her and her husband created together – the physical, mental, emotional, financial, and practical losses that we don’t really talk about.”
Being a widow and being alone can be overwhelming. Hope can be very hard to find. One thing Melissa quickly realized is that widows need other widows in order to heal.
In the last seven years, God has taken a widow support group of 10 women to a widow ministry that serves over 500 widows. “The success of this ministry tells me that this is something needed. And it’s needed for the church,” Melissa says.
When we work to fulfill God’s calling in Luke 1:27 by caring for our widows, we empower them to, in turn, care for their community.
God takes care of his widows. We the church, just need to be the vessel.
Melissa’s experiences have been foundational to the Stand in the Gap for Widows program. “It’s amazing to me how we can work to fulfill a promise we made to God and in return, He blesses us and strengthens our faith,” Melissa says.
Her story is your legacy. Your investment in Stand in the Gap empowers partners like Balcony Women to leave no widow alone.
Will you join us by making a monthly gift to Stand in the Gap?
If you gave $10 a month, you would play a part in the provision of support to hundreds of widows.
Your $10 would provide the Stand in the Gap Widow Ministry:
- that encourages widows in their faith
- provides practical support
- stands by their sides while God cares for them
Leave a legacy at: standinthegap.org/legacy
