“ORA, just like other outreach ministries we have, is a tangible way of showing faith in action.”

Nothing prepares us to lose the people we love most in the world. Lisa’s husband Steve was in and out of palliative care for years.

“It was a difficult journey. He wasn’t ready to leave this life,” Lisa says. “The week before he died he said, ‘I’ll surprise you yet. You’ll see me walking around that circle with my cane.’ But that didn’t happen.”

After Steve died, Lisa attended a widows’ support circle facilitated by ORA, a Mission & Service partner. ORA, named after a Maori word meaning “life,” helps people move through grief and loss using workshops and support circles.

“Hearing the stories and wisdom shared, the laughter and the tears, brought me to a place where I felt comfortable in sharing a bit of my own pain and my own journey. And there was this sense of solidarity in our pain. Because being a widow is a different kind of loss than losing a parent, a child, or a friend,” Lisa says.

In the widows’ group, there was an understanding that surpassed words.

“The support helped me work through things like ‘What do I do with the wedding ring now?’ Do you still wear it? Do you not wear it? And on a practical level, do you change the sheets because you can still smell your partner on the sheets? The first time you have to check that box on the government form, that you are no longer a Mrs. but a widow, I just burst into tears. ORA, just like other outreach ministries we have, is a tangible way of showing faith in action.”

Your gifts through Mission & Service help people like Lisa rebuild their lives after loss.

“At one of the most difficult times of my life, your generosity through Mission & Service provided care, love, and comfort. Indeed, we are not alone. We live in God’s world. Thank you for your support,” says Lisa.