A New Bed of Roses

Nearly two years has passed since my new bed of roses began; my new life.  Life as a widow. Life as a single mom to two young children. Widow, single mom, late husband…. I can remember the first time those words came to mind to articulate, they hung in my mouth, my lips tried to hold the words back as I sputtered them out. I could hardly utter them. Speaking those words was facing the harsh reality that what my husband and I knew was possible for many years had finally come to fruition. My husband, was born with a genetic illness, cystic fibrosis, or sixty-five roses as some refer to the illness. His final weeks were stressful, heart wrenching, and traumatic as he lay in ICU on a ventilator. Yet they were peaceful and full of God’s fingerprints, love, compassion and mercy.

I, am a reader, a researcher, and a teacher at heart. After my husband's death, I began reading resources on grief, depression and single parenthood. The first was “Roses in December” by Marilyn Heavilin. From then on the symbolism of roses turned from “sixty-five roses” to the beautiful ways I could see God using our pain for his glory. Before long, God was placing some of his other children going through trauma and grief in my path and using me to minister to their brokenness. As a disciple of Christ, I kept hearing him tell me to expand my borders and create this blog as a compilation of my resources to minister to others when the unwanted guest of grief comes knocking at the door.