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Jacquelyn says,

Life is like a puzzle

We used to do puzzles all the time and put the paste on them and put them on the wall in the garage. But there’s nothing more frustrating than having this big puzzle and one piece is missing. 

I felt like that was my life. It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t whole because I had a piece missing. My precious Ralph was gone. I couldn’t fill that hole. 

Half of you is gone. That’s just the way it is.

What’s it like to be a widow?

Hear it from Jacquelyn

AFTER RALPH'S DEATH, JACQUELYN SPENT FIVE YEARS TEACHING IN CHINA

When I had come home to stay, I was sitting at my dining room table looking out. The backyard was beautiful, it had this big picture window. But it just hit me I’m a widow. 

I hate that word. But that’s what we are called in the bible too; it’s a good word. I thought, ‘I don’t want to be a widow, but that’s what I am. I am by myself.’

After all that time, that’s when it finally really hit me.

I don’t want to be a widow, but that’s what I am. I am by myself.

My father died when I was 16. I compare my widowhood with my mother’s. Mother was so stoic and a wonderful Christian lady. She had so much faith, but to show emotion, to break down, or talk about Daddo… we didn’t do that a whole lot. 

I realized how much she must have grieved when she was by herself, when I had gone off to school or whatever. How terribly hard that mush have been for her! She kept up this facade all the time. 

Learn more about Stand in the Gap for Widows

Stand in the Gap’s method for helping the church “defend the widow.”