A Widow’s Testimony

by Prosy Badiola Torrechante

When I got married to Jose Anacleto Montesines, I expected to live a quiet and stress-free life as a wife and mother to our children.

I immersed myself in what I called “no-brainer jobs”: cooking, cleaning, and taking care of my family. My hobbies included reading, listening to soap operas on the radio, writing essays, and doing handicrafts.

Indeed, it was a simple and stress-free life. On October 20, 1989, an unexpected loss changed my life completely. I became a widow at 43, with three children aged 16, 14, and 12 to take care of.

It seemed to be beyond my capacity to bear the sense of permanent loss of my husband. I thought there had to be a way of containing the deluge of heavy emotions and tears that came my way almost without letting up.

So I decided to get out of bed at dawn every day to pray and read the Bible. I begged God to give me His answers to my raging questions.

I took notes of verses that could help me deal with grief and heartache, and gain strength. Then I began writing down my thoughts and prayers in a journal which included this prayer:

“Father God, hold me, please! I feel so helpless! How can I go through this time of sorrow without You? Close this episode gently, Lord. Keep my faith and hope intact.”

I moved on trying my best to be a better mother than I had been before, with the hope that my children and I could go through life without an earthly father because we have a Father in Heaven to love and care for us.

Then five months later, the Lord gave me a job in Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC), a government corporation. My work involved writing for print and broadcast media, and line producing for a television school-on-the-air program.

In the course of my journey as a widow and single mom, God was my Source of strength and resources throughout. He used my trials to open new avenues where I could serve others and glorify Him.

After 25 years of widowhood, I remarried Constante Espino Torrechante, my high school sweetheart

Constante said, “God blessed Prosy and I to be reunited after 50 years to love and take care of each other, discover the ultimate meaning of the sunset years, and serve Him together.”

PROSY BADIOLA TORRECHANTE self-published what she calls her modest legacies as a writer: “Solo”, a magazine for single mothers, in 1999 and “When Life Begins at Sunset”, a book about aging gracefully, in 2014. She continues to write once in a while for Archikonst, an architecture magazine. As a freelance writer, she also contributed feature articles to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.