#WednesdayWordswithFriends Welcomes Sarah Schieber

Good Morning,

It's a chilly one (freezing actually) here in SW Louisiana. I want to say Thank You to all who voted on my new cover for Circles of Fate last week. I appreciate you ALL very much!

Enough about me though. Today's guest is brought to us by Adams PR Service. Please welcome Sarah Schieber as she shares her heart with us....

My husband died in his 30s while running a marathon. In one moment, I was a widow and single mother.  People often ask me how they can help widows cope with the loss of a husband. As a young widow, maintaining a home with things such as mowing a yard, changing furnace filters, or caulking a bathtub was very overwhelming. Those things almost paralyzed me. It was so hard to just keep three kids alive, then add to it jobs that had traditionally been handled by my husband.  I was so mad at the stupid weeds in my yard that I found a really cool sprayer thingy at a garage sale for $2. I marched myself to the grain elevator and bought some extra-strength-kill-anything-it-touches-so-be-really-careful spray. I filled that puppy up and took it out to spray every weed in my yard. Yeah. Great. Until the entire yard was dead! I guess it doesn’t work that way. Who knew?

The truth is, I didn’t WANT to deal with any of that. But now I had to.

Look around and figure out what your friend or loved one might be facing that they dread. Meet those needs for them on a regular and consistent basis. Think about a widow/widower with children. In many homes the ‘other spouse’ takes the kids to buy presents for birthdays, Mother’s/Father’s Day, etc. Now there isn’t an ‘other spouse.’ My kids were 11, 9, and 6 when their daddy died. When Christmas, Mother’s Day, and my birthday rolled around it was a terrible feeling to have to sit on a bench at the mall while my now 12-year-old daughter took her little brothers to pick out gifts for me - with MY money. Rent a fridge and keep it stocked with meals. Volunteer for one night each week to be the driver and take the kids to any lesson or practice they may have. 

This is such a beautiful part of being a human and being able to serve someone who hurts. Look around their life. Try to put yourself in their shoes and ask what their toughest tasks must be?

About Sarah Schieber:  

Author, speaker, singer, songwriter Sarah Schieber is the author of the new book "A Journey Called Grief" and has released three full-length music albums. After studying Music Business and classical voice training at Anderson University, Sarah was part of the southern gospel group, Sojourn, before setting a course for a solo career. She released the radio single, "Christmas in Heaven, " one year after her husband’s death which became a top 15 song on the national Christian charts and a top 30 on Billboard. Sarah has shared the stage with artists and speakers such as Sandi Patty, Nancy DeMoss Woglemuth, Michael Card, and Ruth Graham, among others. 

Visit http://www.sarahschieber.com for more information.

Oh my goodness, Sarah. Although my children were grown, my granddaughter was only 5 when we lost her Papaw so I certainly understand your pain. And the advice you give to those of us who have friends grieving the loss of a loved one is spot on!

Thank you for sharing with us. We certainly wish you the best of luck and God's blessings.

PamT