Honoring Widow’s on International Widow’s Day – Leigh Anne’s Story

Few stages in life are permanent. We all experience transitions. We know our kids will one day move out or that our elderly parents will die. Going from wife to widow, though, is a change women don’t always anticipate and stands out as one of the more destabilizing and potentially lonely experiences a woman can face, especially when the change happens suddenly.

Leigh Anne Salter learned this firsthand when her husband Dustin, a Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) campus pastor, died from injuries sustained in a bike accident. With three young children to raise and multiple needs to be met, Leigh Anne easily could have become consumed by her situation. Instead, Leigh Anne experienced what many widows don’t – the grace of relief when she needed it most.

A Christ-loving community surrounded Leigh Anne and her children as her church, Fort Worth Presbyterian Church, banded together to help pay off her home while friends ran errands and provided meals. Leigh Anne also received an immediate $1,000 from the Relief Fund to meet her most pressing needs in the days following Dustin’s death.

For the next three years, the Relief Fund lifted a tremendous burden from Leigh Anne’s shoulders by providing for the Salters’ living expenses. “The monthly support I received from Ministerial Relief allowed me to grieve, focus on my children, and not worry about finances. It eased my burden when I needed it most,” she remembers.

June 23 is International Widow’s Day – a day to pay closer attention to the needs and experiences of widows. In truth, the care of widows is something we as believers are always being asked to tend to – “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress …” James 1:27. Caring for widows reflects God’s particular love for the most vulnerable and is one the most tangible ways we as believers act as his hands and feet on this earth.

We also want to pause on this day to thank you for your generosity. Your contributions to the Relief Fund are providing comfort and support to widows like Leigh Anne. See here how your generosity has impacted widows in the PCA and consider giving now to continue the work of the Relief Fund in supporting widows throughout our denomination.