Ministry Spotlight: Mending Hearts
MENDING HEARTS MINISTRY
Losing her husband is one of the most stressful events in a woman’s life. In this extremely difficult time, a woman may feel like her security and her whole future has disappeared in an instant. Recovering from the emotional loss is difficult, but there is help available to begin mending her heart.
Mending Hearts is a part of the Women’s Ministry at Willowbrook Baptist Church and is open to widows of any denomination throughout Huntsville and surrounding areas. The purpose of Mending Hearts is to provide encouragement, guidance, and fellowship to women who are dealing with the death of a spouse. Our goal is to reach out to any widow who would benefit from a support group and to help her through the healing process by allowing her to be with other widows in various stages of their journey.
Mending Hearts began as the result of Barbara Merchant’s burdened heart for widows. In the process of gathering information for women’s ministry, Barbara attended a Widow2Widow Ministry Retreat founded by Elaine Cook from Springhill, TN. Shortly after the death of Elaine’s husband, God led her to start the Widow2Widow program. Once Barbara had collected all the information from different resources and bathed it in much prayer, thought, and reading of God’s Word (in which scripture is very clear about how we, in the body of Christ, should care for widows), she decided to start a Widow’s Ministry. During this process, she approached me to lead this group. Until the death of my own husband, I did not realize what a need there was for a support group for anyone suffering from a loss. After spending many days praying, I felt God was leading me to be involved in this ministry.
The Kickoff Event for the Widows’ Ministry was a Christmas Luncheon on December 6, 2004, hosted by the women’s ministry leadership team. Elaine Cook, President of Widow2Widow, Inc. was our guest speaker. We have been reaching out to widows in the Huntsville community ever since.
Mending Hearts meets the first Wednesday of each month from 10am-12pm in room 181 at Willowbrook Baptist Church. Widows from all denominations throughout our community are welcome to attend. For more information, please contact:
http://www.willowbrook.org/event/318105-2013-04-10-mending-hearts/
Janice Cook, Leader of Mending Hearts, 256-883-0907
Willowbrook Baptist Church 7625 Bailey Cove Road Huntsville, AL 35802
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