The Reading Room
Welcome to The Reading Room, a place to pause, reflect, and find encouragement. Here you’ll discover writings from our team that speak to life, loss, hope, and faith.
Founder’s Blog
The Founder’s Blog is written by the founder of Beauty from Ashes Ministries, Lori Bohning. Lori shares monthly reflections and encouragement for widows on their journey.
Grief and Watermelon Baskets
When you’re living through grief, or in the long road that leads up to it, the world doesn’t stop. It just keeps moving like nothing happened. I remember when Rob was sick and walking through Target with the weight of another surgery coming up, and fear sat like a stone
Read MoreBeauty from Ashes
In the ashes, God does His most tender work. He doesn’t rush us or tell us to “get over it.” He kneels down with us in the sorrow, and little by little, He begins to bring beauty we could never have imagined.
Read MoreWhen Motivation Feels Different After Loss
I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while: what does motivation have to do with widowhood? I still take care of what needs to be done, but I don’t feel the same motivation I once had when I was married. Back then, everything carried the weight of shared purpose
Read MoreWhat the Hills Teach Me
by Lori Bohning Sometimes I forget how many ways God speaks to us. I expect His voice to come in the big moments, but more often I have found His voice in the quieter places; in the hills, the waves, and in the breeze. I have always found peace in
Read MoreAching Hearts for the Kerrville Community
Our hearts are aching for the Kerrville community after the devastating flood. The sorrow is still unfolding. The grief is still raw. And many are still waiting for answers—search crews still working, families still holding their breath, prayers still rising. This isn’t just a tragedy that touched one group of
Read MorePaula’s Journey Journal
Follow Paula, a BFA facilitator, along on her walk through widowhood as she helps other widows on their journey with heartfelt insights and hope from her personal experience.
Love You
I was not familiar with it until the day after Mitch passed away. Even then, it was only for one night, because the family arrived that afternoon. My daughter stayed with me for a month while I was packing up to move to New Braunfels. She worked, and I packed.
Read MoreDating
I haven’t exactly dated, to be honest with you. I never advanced anyone in school, other then maybe a look, that went further then I realized at the time. I had girl friends as in, those I spoke to or shared a laugh with or met through another girl but,I only had one true girlfriend.
Read MoreLiving Alone
I could have stayed with my daughter where I felt safe, but I wanted to stay independent. The first step to that is having a home of your own.
Read MoreStruggling with Sleep
This is an issue you will struggle with in the very beginning of your grief journey, but this is very common, due to the circumstance we are under. Meaning, shock,denial, stress, anger ,and so on.
Read MoreWhat is Time?
Did you feel this way in the midst of it all? I did! More than once, I would pray that it would all go away or wish a year would disappear, just to get past it all. That first year was a challenge, for sure. It was hard to muster
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