February Blog
Intro to “Take Heart!”
Hi. I’m Bruce McLeod, leader of The Widows Project’s outreach to widowed men. I’m here today to talk with you about Take Heart! a book my old friend Chris Taylor and I wrote for widowed men. I want to show you how it fits into the Widows Project’s vision “to comfort the widowed in their distress.”
Now, Take Heart! – and I wish Chris and I had called it “Take Heart and Be Healed” – complements Don’t Lose Heart! a book by Mary Beth Woll and Linda Smith, the co-directors of The Widows Project, written for widowed women. Why do we need two books? Because – you may have noticed this – we men and women think differently. We process differently. And therefore, God reinvents us differently. When we’re widowed, we are in desperate need of being reinvented.
Both Take Heart! and Don’t Lose Heart! are secondary studies. They are designed to be best done in small groups. They are also designed to follow Take Courage! which I call “first aid for the newly widowed,” and I define that as people who are in their first or second year of being widowed. Both Take Heart! and Don’t Lose Heart! begin by covering some of the basics, like faith and forgiveness. Then they dive into deeper topics – topics that are basically too deep for the newly widowed. In those first months and years after we are widowed, we are shattered. We can’t take in deep stuff. We need it brief and to the point.
Some of Take Heart’s deeper topics include sexuality for widowed men, who am I now? What’s my new identity, what is God’s new purpose for my life – because He does have a purpose for all of our lives and leaving a legacy for the generations that will follow us.
To wrap up: Take Courage! is first aid for the newly widowed – men and women, because in those early stages, we both need the same things. We need to be reminded to drink plenty of water, eat right, forgive, it’s okay to cry – those kinds of things. Don’t Lose Heart! is deeper healing and repurposing for widowed women. And Take Heart! is deeper healing and repurposing for widowed men. All of these are available on our website, in our store at www.thewidowsproject.org. Also, you’ll find information there about small groups.
To close, I want to pray for you. Lord, I agree with you that you would impress the minds and hearts of widowed viewers who need healing to avail themselves of these resources. I also agree that, by Your Spirit, you would call to all viewers minds the names of loved ones, neighbors – folks in their circle – who have been widowed, are hurting and could use these materials in the healing and repurposing process. Strengthen them to point those folks to this video, In Jesus’ name, amen.
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