Freedom Found Together
My Strong Story by Carrie Stringer
The first year after losing my husband Hardy, I was barely getting through daily errands, small things seemed big, and my thoughts were foggy. One day while driving my car, I heard Widow Strong founder Mishael Porembski for the first time on Dr. James Dobson’s radio program, Family Talk.
What she said spoke so much to me that I pulled my car over and cried.
Mishael spoke of the great people widows could become after losing their spouse. She shared about her journey after losing her husband to suicide while she was pregnant with their second child. She spoke of purposing to craft her best life after loss and living her legacy. Mishael was not running away from the hard things, she was embracing her freedom in Jesus.
Being anything other than miserable seemed strange and unimaginable to me after losing BOTH my first husband (the father of my child) and my second husband to accidental deaths.
I read her book 180 Your Life from Tragedy to Triumph, A Women’s Grief Guide, and related to her situation as a young widow with children. I reached out to her on Facebook. Surprisingly, she invited me to meetings with her widows’ tribe through zoom in 2018. I joined her grief support group in Atlanta through zoom from Texas. Soon after, my friends and family started seeing differences in my behavior.
I am so thankful for the community and sisterhood I found at Widow Strong which helped me in ways I have not been helped before.
Now, five years later, I’ve changed my career and am in graduate school getting my masters in running a non-profit. I love volunteering with Widow Strong weekly, Mishael is my friend and mentor, I love facilitating online New Beginnings Grief Support Groups while also leading the TX Widow Strong Chapter. The Widow Strong community is part of my wise counsel when I face challenges.
Mishael, one widow, made a difference in my life. Through her, I learned that community is the best way to properly support widows and, in turn, through our community, I found joy and new purpose after loss.
What if together, we are all that “one widow” in a new widow’s life?
With healthy boundaries, grace, and mercy, my loved ones and I are less frustrated and more supportive of one another because of positive influences that have aided healing in our lives.
Grief is complicated, and Mishael and my Widow Strong friends were a beacon of encouragement when I needed it the most. I fear what would have happened had I not been led to healthy and biblical-based grief support.
Widow Strong has given me opportunities to do things I thought I could never do, such as public speaking and facilitating grief support groups. Because of the community I have with Widow Strong, I have people to talk to before, during, and after challenges in my life. I am connected to people to offer coaching, encouragement, and feedback in a way I am learning all the time and want to help with the future of Widow Strong.
My daughter is now 8 years old and thriving. I love my work and I just got engaged to a wonderful man! With God, all things are possible!!
I am so thankful for the Widow Strong community in so many ways. Thank you to every person that has validated my feelings, discussed healthy coping strategies, and encouraged me through it all as I have come to accept and love my life after loss. Mishal and the team love working with widows, and though administration can be pulled in so many directions with duties, every meeting, every call, and every trip is in the mission field to win over the lost and the broken-hearted, making a difference for widows and widowed families.
If you are a widow, please click this link and learn more about how you can join our Widow Strong Tribe…It’s free and I hope it makes a difference in your life, as it has in mine! Click here to learn more!
Carrie Stringer
Widow Strong Online Group Facilitator &
Vice-Chair of Widow Strong Board of Directors
