Rooted + Rising: Walking With Widows on Holy Ground

One of the widows sharing her story with the other women, telling them things she hadn’t spoken before.

There are moments when you realize you’ve stepped onto holy ground - not because everything is perfectly peaceful or functional, but because you have been standing with stories that matter.

That is what these past days have been like.

We have just completed the Rooted + Rising Widows’ Leadership Retreat, and I am still carrying the weight of what it truly means to walk with widows -not as a program or a project, but as real women living real grief, responsibility, and courage.

This retreat wasn’t designed to “fix” anyone, or to remove grief.

It was crafted as a place to recognize + reveal the truth in grief.

To slow down.
To tell the truth.
To sit with grief, cultural limitations, disappointments, and unanswered questions.

Here in Kenya, widowhood is not only personal loss.
It is cultural.
It reshapes how a woman is seen, welcomed, trusted, and valued.

And this retreat was created to name that reality out loud.

Rooted + Rising Widows’ Leadership Retreat — walking with widows, learning about women in the Bible and what that means for us today as widows.

Creating Space Where Widows Could Finally Speak

One of the most striking things about this Widows’ Leadership Retreat was how new this space was for ALL of the women.

For nearly all, it was the first time they had spoken openly about their experience of widowhood.

Not because they hadn’t had stories to tell - but because they hadn’t had a safe place to tell them.

Widows here often carry grief quietly.
They learn to survive without asking for much.
They hold fear, shame, and disappointment deep inside, because speaking up can cost them more than silence does.

So when a widow spoke, she was not just sharing loss.

She was taking a risk.

And day after day, I watched women take that risk - with courage, tenderness, truth and sometimes a bold fierceness.

The Sacred Work of Holding Story

Walking with widows well requires something different than problem-solving or teaching.

It requires presence.

Throughout the retreat, we practiced listening without correcting.
Holding space without fixing.
Allowing grief to exist without being hurried past it.

We sat together in heavy silence.
We listened to stories shaped by years of isolation and cultural pressure.
We felt the emotional weight of what widowhood demands when support is limited and expectations are high.

Holding story like this is sacred work.

It is also costly.

Some moments felt almost too heavy to carry.
The injustice.
The loneliness.
The depth of loss.

Rooted + Rising Widows’ Leadership Retreat — walking with widows, holding sacred stories, and honoring leadership formed through loss.

And still - we stayed.

Because this is what it means to walk with widows.

Rooted Before Rising

The name Rooted + Rising was chosen carefully.

Because rising without roots does not last.

This retreat was not about bypassing grief or asking widows to be “strong” for the sake of others.
It was not about overriding pain with spiritual language.

Instead, we named what is already true:

Grief roots you.
Loss changes you.
And leadership often forms in the places no one sees.

For widows, leadership grows through staying.
Standing.
Speaking when silence would be safer.
Loving even when the cost feels high.

These are not weaknesses.

They are formation.

God’s Presence in the Middle of It All

As the retreat came to a close, I kept returning to a simple truth found throughout Scripture:

God sees widows.

Not as an afterthought.
Not as a problem to solve.
But as women He defends, names, and draws near to.

This retreat was not about answers.
It was about presence.

God’s presence.
Our presence with one another.
The kind of presence that quietly says, You are not alone here.

We have finished these days together - but what was shared, named, and entrusted will continue to be carried.

Tenderly.
Faithfully.
With care.

This is the heart of Rooted + Rising.
And this is what it looks like to walk with widows on holy ground.

all of the widow’s who participated in the Widow’s Leadership Retreat. The final day of sharing stories, learning, encouraging and FUN! Swimming!!!

This post reflects on the Rooted + Rising Widows’ Leadership Retreat, a faith-based retreat in Kenya centered on walking with widows through grief, leadership formation, and spiritual presence. The retreat created space for widows to share their stories, explore cultural realities of widowhood, and experience grief-informed support rooted in faith rather than performance or forced strength. Rooted + Rising focuses on listening, holding sacred stories, honoring leadership formed through loss, and walking with widows in a way that values dignity, presence, and biblical compassion.