I’ve been slack about updating lately, but not for lack of things to write about. A slew of amazing “God moments” give me much to ponder and be thankful for:

I was a mess of tears when I went for my July color and cut, just lonely, tired and bitchy. My hairdresser, Eric, said he didn’t know what to say except to recommend I check out something called “Grief Share.” What a blessing this has been!

Grief Share is a Christian-based program that has helped me through some rough patches and is drawing me closer to God.

What’s said in our widows’ support group is expected to stay there. But I think it’s safe to disclose that sharing stories with women who also are going through (or have survived) the difficult first year of loss has been a comfort. Each week brings a new idea or two or three that helps. And, hopefully, something I say buoys someone else.

I would not have known about Grief Share without Eric, and I would never have met Eric without God steering me to his off-the-beaten-path salon more than a decade ago.

When I retired in May, I also asked God to help me get going as a freelance writer and editor. He has more than blessed this venture. Since early June, I’ve reported and written a bunch of stories (and enjoyed every minute of it). One piece wound up as a full-blown magazine article that brought in more than 10 times what the original assignment was to have paid! This can only be God’s provision.

Another sign of God’s provision: Since June, I have received three generous and unsolicited assignment offers (two on a single day last week!), including a referral from a former publisher to a novelist seeking an editor for her manuscript. I have decided to follow my heart and take the assignments that make it sing.

One assignment that makes my heart sing is filling in for vacationing editors at a news service run by a longtime mentor. Since the late 1980s, Jeff has never failed to boost my career, and he has come through yet again. When the summer editing bounty slows this fall, I look forward to writing for him, as well.

And so it goes. I am learning that even in hours of deepest grief, there are smiles and successes to be found, and that with God’s help, I will survive.