Hope for an Aching Heart: Uplifting Devotions for Widows

by Margaret Nyman

Overview

Women who are facing the reality of widowhood are often connected by a common thread of grief and uncertainty. Hope for an Aching Heart offers encouragement to help readers handle the challenges of each day with God’s grace. Sharing from a widow’s heart, the author weaves personal stories, Scripture, and prayers into 60 days of inspirational thoughts that motivate readers to draw closer to God. This heartfelt and engaging devotional helps to broaden women’s understanding of the depth of God’s love, His tender care, and His promise to always be with them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781572935686
Publisher:	Our Daily Bread Publishing
Publication date:	08/01/2012
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	134,383
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Margaret Nyman, a wife of nearly forty years and the mother of seven children, was widowed after her husband’s sudden illness and death in 2009. Blogging about her feelings helped her work through the heart-wrenching pain and encouraged thousands of readers, many of them reeling from the loss of their own mates. Hope for an Aching Heart and Prayers for a Widow’s Heart were written out of her desire to help other widows and respond to their cries.

Table of Contents

Introduction 11

Part 1: I Can’t Believe I’m a Widow

1. Why Ask Why? 15

2. The Widow Word 17

3. Planning a Funeral 19

4. He’s Unavailable 21

5. Two Good Gifts 23

6. Dressed for the Occasion 25

7. Trying to Remember 27

8. Rearranging the Past 29

9. Without Insurance 31

10. Chiseled in Granite 33

Part 2: Letting Myself Cry

11. Crying a River 37

12. Evicting Fear 39

13. Revisiting the Grave 41

14. Dreaming of Love 43

15. Unexpected Tears 45

16. Leave Me Alone 47

17. Cracked 49

18. Energizing Sleep 51

19. Vinegar in a Wound 53

20. Wrenching Impossibility 55

Part 3: Seeking a New Balance

21. Can I Help You? 59

22. Grief Is Tricky 61

23. Will God Provide? 63

24. Creatures of Habit 65

25. A Fix for What’s Broken 67

26. Invisible Influence 69

27. Gummed Up 71

28. Initiating Traditions 73

29. Diagnosis: Hopeless 75

30. A New Me 77

Part 4: Learning to Live without Him

31. Feeling Numb 81

32. Missing Kissing 83

33. Discombobulated 85

34. Counting the Days 87

35. Language Barrier 89

36. Afraid of the Dark 91

37. Clothes Don’t Make the Man 93

38. Fantasyland 95

39. I Just Forgot 97

40. A Crystallized Future 99

Part 5: Finding New Peace

41. It’s Up to You 103

42. A Blizzard of Emotions 105

43. An Empty Calendar 107

44. Family Changes 109

45. Hidden Biographies 111

46. Best Friends Forever 113

47. God Wants a Yes 115

48. Shaky Security 117

49. Comforted Inside and Out 119

50. Widow Blessings 121

Part 6: Moving Forward

51. Called to Widowhood 125

52. Shared Widowhood 127

53. Monitoring Grief 129

54. Staying in the Race 131

55. Worth the Wait 133

56. Travel Turmoil 135

57. Good Times 137

58. The Bad in Good-bye 139

59. Proper Priorities 141

60. A Lonely One 143

Conclusion 145

Acknowledgments 147

Editorial Reviews

"I have read dozens of books on handling grief, and even wrote a couple myself, but I assure you that this book is at the top of my list. If you need comfort for yourself or help in comforting others, Hope for an Aching Heart is a treasury you will not exhaust."

Warren W. Wiersbe

"Margaret Nyman is gut-wrenchingly real about the struggles she endured in the wake of her husband's death.... These short, poignant devotionals will minister grace to widows in every stage of the grieving process."

Nancy Leigh DeMoss

"You hold in our hands a true story of love, suffering, and death; the journey of a committed couple who heard the dreaded words, 'You have terminal cancer.' In this vivid account, we follow the steps of a wife and mother as she struggles with grief, loss, and unanswered questions. Those of us who know Margaret, along with the thousands who followed her daily blog, can assure you that in the midst of tears you will be encouraged with words of hope, comfort, and the assurance that we shall all meet again in the presence of Jesus. Do yourself a favor and read this book, and then share it with a friend! Here, through the lens of a Christian woman, we learn that cancer does not have the last word!"

Dr. Erwin and Rebecca Lutzer

"Margaret's book is a must-read for every widow. I wish I had Hope for an Aching Heart when I began my journey alone. It's personal, like she's walking beside us through our ordinary, daily events. It's important because we desperately need wisdom and comfort, and her extraordinary insights deliver both."

Miriam Neff