G R I E V I N G W I D O W S M A T T E R

A Note From Howard,

Before You Begin

For the woman who clicked this link because she didn't know what else to click.

I don't know your story yet. But I know a little about how you got

here.

Maybe you're still making phone calls no one prepares you for. Maybe

it's been longer, and you're only now catching your breath enough to

ask harder questions. However you arrived, I'm glad you're here, and I

mean that plainly, not as a nice thing to say.

My name is Howard. I'm a pastor, and for more than twenty-five years

I've sat with people in the hardest moments of their lives. I've

officiated funerals. I've led grief groups. I've listened to hundreds of

widows describe things nobody else seemed to understand. That's

why this ministry exists.

Here's something I want you to know early. If you've forgotten words

mid-sentence, walked into a room and blanked on why, or felt

strangely numb at the moment you expected to fall apart, none of

that means you're losing your mind. Grief does something real to a

brain under that much weight. Counselors have a name for it. I just

call it being human under an unbearable load.

You don't have to perform your grief here. You don't have to have

your faith sorted out, or even have faith at all, to belong on this page.
Some of the women who read this love Jesus deeply. Some believe in

God in a different shape than I do. Some aren't sure what they believe

anymore, and that's alright too. I'm not going to ask you to settle that

today.

I will say this much.

"The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."  
Psalm 32:18

I've watched that prove true in more living rooms than I can count. If

that's something you want to explore, the door is open. If it's not

where you are right now, you're still welcome here.

You don't need to read everything on this site today. Pick one thing

that sounds like your Tuesday morning. Read it. Then close the laptop

and go be gentle with yourself for the rest of the day. That's enough

for now.

I'm honored to walk with you.

Pastor Howard Smith

Founder, Grieving Widows Matter

Meridian, Idaho