Words have the unique power of healing, restoration, and encouragement that you cannot find anywhere else. This is exactly what content creator Sedric Curvin is harnessing through his empowering poetry on TikTok. Tina Fornwald sits down with a non-widower guest who shares how he uses his creative talents to write poems and guide people on how to love, rediscover love, and reignite their purpose to love. He also discusses the role of forgiveness, empathy, and hope in continually improving and deepening his craft, enabling him to provide grieving people with the strength and inspiration they need.

I am sharing my experience of loving the same man for 32 years, a mother to two adult children, a retired military officer, a breast cancer survivor, and my connections with others.  

Anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts should reach out to a suicide hotline or local emergency number in their country: Psychology Today Suicide Hotlines and Prevention Resources Around the World.

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Watch the episode here

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Reigniting The Relationship Spark Through Poetry With Sedric Curvin

Every conversation in the Widowhood is not just with widows. Our conversation with Sed is going to provide some encouragement, a different perspective on grief, and something that will warm your heart. Let’s get into this discussion now.

Sedric, welcome to the Widowhood.

Thank you, Dr. Tina.

Thank you. I know you are not a widower, but when you hear that, what comes to mind for you?

What comes to mind for me is the loss of a husband or wife to their spouse. That’s what comes to me. I have some family members who have experienced it in the last couple of years. I know what that looks like from just being a part of the family. I also know what it looks like from having friends who have lost their loved ones as well.

Understanding Encouragement And Forgiveness

That’s fair. For the audience, the reason why I wanted you to be part of this conversation is that you have an amazing talent. One of the things I see often that people grieving need is for someone to give them encouragement. Encouragement comes in a lot of different ways. When you hear encouragement, what does that look like for you?

It’s something I do very well for people. It’s to give someone a hope that there’s always hope ahead down the road. No matter what you go through in life, there’s always something looking towards you in the future. You don’t have to see where you’re at. You have to get back up and keep pushing. It’s knowing that there’s something in you that needs to come out that you just haven’t tapped into yet.

That can be easier or more difficult depending on the situation, but the premise does remain the same. When you think of your life, what have been some difficult moments that you didn’t think or struggle to get back up from yourself?

One thing that I struggled with, even when I was married, Dr. Tina, was learning how to forgive. I had to get up from that. It was something I had to learn to get over and overcome. It wasn’t easy.

There are people whose loved ones have passed and struggled with forgiveness. What was that like for you in the struggle of that? Not just a lofty overview, but the real, gritty process of that.

The unforgiveness affected me not just with where the unforgiveness was with the individual. It also affected my marriage. It affected my whole family. It took a grip. It had a grip on me like a vice. When unforgiveness has a grip on you, you don’t know it at the moment how it controls you, how it allows you to hold on to resentment, how it allows you to hold on to envy, and how it holds you hostage.

Pretty much, you’re holding yourself hostage. You don’t know that at the time that you are holding on to it. The only thing you know is, “I don’t want to forgive this person or I don’t want to forgive this or I don’t want to forgive that.” That’s all you know. It’s not until you learn to forgive and let God come into your heart and show you why you need to forgive and release.

What did you find in your experience in life? Why did you need to forgive and release?

It was holding me hostage, and the person was living their life. I was the only one sitting here complaining about what I wasn’t getting. The way that came was writing the letter to the person, sending it to them, and putting it all out there in a five-page letter.

Thank you for sharing that. There is something about releasing how we feel. For the people that are tuning in, their loved ones may not be here to read that letter, but there is power in writing it. There is the power of freeing yourself from what’s going on mentally in the struggle. It’s interesting you would use the word being held hostage. We can’t move, and that person is living their life. We are stuck in that place of not moving. How did it feel after writing that letter?

I felt the release of a burden. I can relax. I can give it full control to God and trust Him. That He’s going to take care of it for me, rather than me trying to take care of it myself.

Once you wrote the letter, did it matter if they responded or not to you?

At the moment, it didn’t because it was about me letting go of something that was defeating me. It was keeping me from having the joy, peace, and happiness that I needed because I had to come to the conclusion that they don’t know how I feel. They are not the ones who are holding themselves hostage. I am. They are not the ones who are crying or feeling anxiety or depression. It was me. I had to release this thing. Once I mailed that letter off, it was done. I did my part.

What was the turning point? What prompted you to take action?

At this time, Dr. Tina, I was still working offshore. I was working nights as a safety consultant. I’m sitting there watching the guys work out of my window in the office. The Holy Spirit said, “Write your dad the letter. Write whatever was on your heart. Put it in there. Write until you finish. I have gotten everything out of you that you need to say.” I sat there for two hours writing that five-page letter.

Once I wrote that letter, I took it. I printed it out. I put it in an envelope. I put the address on it. I took it to the night clerk. I said, “I need you to mail this letter tomorrow, or whenever you all have mail to go out. I need this letter to be mailed.” They mailed it. I didn’t find out. I didn’t know if he’d gotten a letter or not, not until my dad passed.

How did it come about that you finally knew that he had received a letter?

I talked to his wife. I went up there to help her arrange his funeral. She and I were sitting there talking. She told me, “Sedric, I know you wrote your dad a letter. That letter hurt him about a lot of things you said.” My words to her in respect, because I know she lost her husband, and I lost my dad, were, “I was hurting as well. There was a little boy named Sedric in a grown man who was still crying. There was a little boy named Sedric. He was still grieving. That little boy was speaking for the grown adult.”

That is powerful.

I said, “Once the little boy spoke, he could now release himself of the burden that he no longer had to carry for the grown man.”

Thank you for sharing that. I am sorry that you didn’t get to talk to your dad, but it wasn’t necessary for you for your own closure.

We got closure.

Your closure came from writing the letter that you released. That will resonate with the people who are tuning in to this conversation because oftentimes, people struggle with forgiveness. We think the other party has to be a part of it. The forgiveness is for us. It is our ability to release ourselves from being held hostage and being honest about how we feel. When we had the pre-show conversation, we had talked about you being able to share some of your work with us. Would you like to talk about the work that you do and what you’re going to share with us?

I had no idea when I started in April to write poems that it was going to turn into a book. I had no idea that I was going to start sharing my own TikTok live. I was visiting and going into other chats like your own, Dr. Yolanda, Mama Booms, and all these other content creators. I began to share. It wasn’t until 2025 when God said, “I need you to start going live. I want you to start sharing your poems.” I never questioned it. I did what He told me. Since I’ve been doing it, I have been seeing the impact it has had on women, men, and married couples.

I’ve heard testimonies of how it has opened them up to allow them to see some things differently, whether a man or woman. It also allows them to see what God is saying about them individually. Once upon a time, they didn’t see themselves. There were some things they didn’t know about themselves that they needed confirmation for. Writing these poems has brought a lot of hope to a lot of men and women. It has given them a reason to say, “There is a possibility of love. Love does exist.”

It has given a lot of men and women to say, “I do want to be married again. I do want to be the wife. I do want to be the husband God created me to be. I’m not going to give up. I’m no longer going to say, ‘I don’t want to be married.’ No, I do because God is showing me something different. He’s showing it to us through the poems that said He said it right.” That’s why I go by TikTok.

Poem Reading: Bone of my Bone, Flesh of my Flesh

They can find you there. Thank you for sharing the power behind what you’re doing. That’s important for the people who are in this conversation because there is a lot of struggles sometimes with people who are widows or widowers. They are giving themselves permission to be open to love again, and to be open to, “My spouse is deceased. They were great, or maybe it was not great, but I’m still alive. If I’m alive, I get to give myself permission to be open to the possibility of what love would look like.” Your poems are not always about new relationships, but I’ll wait to see what you share with us. We’ll go from there. Which one would you like to share first?

I have so many, Dr. Tina. Before we came on, I started going through what I had.

How many do you have now at this point?

I have close to 300.

If I recall, these have been written almost on a daily basis.

Yes, I’m writing at least two or three in a day. Sometimes, the Lord might wake me up at 3:00 in the morning to write one. It has been a phenomenal journey to write these and to see how much has come out of them and how much it has impacted a lot of people’s lives. It has also impacted my life as well as a man who’s the one who writes them. It has definitely been an eye-opener in many ways.

The title of this one is Bone of my Bone, Flesh of my Flesh. It says, “Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. What will you lay upon the altar to preserve what God has called sacred? When covenant grows weighty, will you remain or retreat into silence? I know you. You know the word, but do you understand being chosen and being joined by the hand of God himself? You speak in rhythm, rap, revelation, and poetry. Thread scripture through your breath. Tell me. Are you rooted? Are you resolved? Are you surrendered to the cause of Holy Union?”

“Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. We do not stand alone in this vow. Heaven bears witness, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. The threefold cord is not easily broken when God is moving between us. Are you prepared for the calling within the covenant? I do not question your faith. I discern alignment. Marriage is not sentiment. It is an assignment. It is purpose moving in agreement.”

“Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. I do not doubt your strength, your honor, your patience, and your reverence for what is holy. I simply ask, where are your heart and mind anchored? When I approach you, I do not come on certainty. I do not waver in my role. I know who I am when I stand beside you. I will show up consistently, covering without control, leading without pride, and loving without condition.”

“Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. I honor what you did not receive from the hands that failed to guard you. I do not minimize the ache of what was missing. These questions are not suspicious. They are stewardship clarity before covenant and alignment before altar. I am not divided in posture, not one foot in and one foot out. I am fully present. I am the man God prepared to recognize you. You are the woman formed to walk beside me.”

“Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. Equally yoke shoulder to shoulder until death releases us. I understand what was not covered, what was not protected, and what was not nurtured. I do not speak from ego, but from assignment. I am prepared to steward what heaven entrusts, to protect what God joins, and to cultivate what love requires.”

“I come ready, equipped in spirit, anchored in purpose, and committed to covenant.” Affirmation reads, “I am bone of my bones and flesh of your flesh. I am joined by God and anchored in covenant in aligning purpose. I stand fully present, steadfast in love, and committed to protect, nurture, and honor what heaven has joined together.”

When did you write that? How does it seem different reading it since you wrote it?

I wrote this one on February 11th, 2026. Since I wrote it, here’s a man who has taken it upon himself to relate to the woman. He’s letting her know, “This is who I am. This is what God has put in me. I understand what you had before. I understand the ache and the pain. I understand who had you before and who did not protect you, cover you, or nurture you.”

He’s saying, “I’m coming into your life to walk beside you and to do what was not done before. I’ve come into covenant. I understand marriage is not just a marriage. It is an assignment. We have a purpose together. This is a covenant.” He also understands bone of my bones is rib to rib. That makes them whole, flesh to flesh. He also understands the responsibility of the covenant, not just with her. He also understands the covenant that he has with God.

I could hear someone reading that poem from one perspective, in tears about their spouse who did show up in their life that way, and how they yearn that they were still here. At the same time, I could consider someone reading that poem, and desire to be in that type of relationship with someone. When you read that, do you see yourself in a relationship with someone or writing for this person that you do not know?

I do. I’ve been believing that for myself since 2017. I have written letters to my future wife. I have written 32 of them.

On top of the over 200 poems?

Yes. I wrote 32 between 2017 and 2018.

We must know. What would you see in your future wife? What would that look like for you? There are single people tuning in to this show.

I know when she shows up because I would know her voice. I would know her spirit. I would know when I prayed the prayer. I would know because of whom I prayed for.

For the people who have heard you read that poem, what has been the response?

It has been a phenomenal response from that because the majority of my followers, who are in my room, 57% of them are women. For a lot of the women, this is something that puts them in a place to say, “God, I was married before. I get a better understanding of what covering is, what nurturing is, and what protection is. I understand the significance of bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.” They’re also understanding that, yet they play a vital role as a covering as well. As the wife, as the real, as the bride, they play a vital role.

What Men Do Not Do In Relationships With Women

What are some things that you have learned that you feel men don’t do in relationships with women?

From mentoring some men, one of the things I found out is that a lot of men don’t do a great job of protecting. That’s because that’s something a lot of men weren’t taught. For some men, their thinking of protecting is more on their hands, protecting someone from the outside rather than looking at protecting someone from the inside. When I say the inside, the closest person to the spouse is her husband. In hindsight, when a man doesn’t learn how to protect his wife from him, how much will he protect his wife from the outside?

Explain that.

That protecting is how you treat her, how you see her, how you speak to her, how you make her feel in your presence, how you respond with your tone, and how you protect her from herself. It’s not in a disrespectful way, but a respectful way. That when there’s something that you see that she doesn’t see, it’s how you go to it with the approach to say, “You haven’t seen this, but I want to bring this to life. I want to share this with you because I know you’re so close to it. This is what I see. If I am wrong, you can tell me. We can talk about it.” When I say, “Protect her from him,” that’s because we, as men, sometimes can get a little upset about things.

We’re humans.

We have to know how to bring ourselves back down to earth so we don’t respond and do things in a way that’s going to disrupt the peace in the home as well. That goes for the wife as well. Right. One of the things that God had to teach me is this. He said, “Sedric, before you can take your wife from the outside, you have to learn how to protect her from you first because you are the closest enemy to her.”

I’ve never heard that perspective.

When I shared this, it put a lot of perspective from a lot of men and some women as well. “We never saw it from that perspective.” I never saw it that way either, but it all made sense.

Poem Reading: Love Becomes Me

Another poem you want to share with us?

I wrote this.

Are we the first to hear it?

No, you’re not the first to hear because I read it.

Speaking of, when do you go live on TikTok so people can find you?

I go live on TikTok on Friday nights, since the time changed, between 8:00 and 8:30 Eastern time. I go live on Saturdays, sometimes at 6:00 and sometimes at 7:00 Eastern time.

Thank you.

Since I’m here, I will be going live after I leave here. The title of this is Love Becomes Me. “The moment I gave my heart the love it needed to heal, I allowed purification to take place. As a woman of God, I became more than words. I became action, accountability, responsibility, dedication, determination, and the release of old baggage. Releasing that baggage gave me permission to live freely without regret, shame, doubt, or fear. I left people, places, things, cycles, bad habits, and bad behaviors behind. I walked as confident, bold, resilient, intentional, devoted, and swift in my becoming. Love becomes me.”

“My becoming gave me the ability to see what God saw, how he sees me. Even when I couldn’t see myself, the Holy Spirit constantly reminded me who I was. Love became the lesson plan I lived as I learned to make myself a priority and not an option. I see and hear myself much clearer now with a brighter future ahead. I don’t just talk the talk. I walk it in faith. This becoming didn’t happen overnight. It took days, nights, weeks, months, and years. I stayed infested, even when it meant leaving others behind. Love becomes me.”

In honesty, I’d hold myself to a higher standard. I would not look back. I let God take the wheel while I became the passenger, growing into the real, the bride, and the wife. I found self-respect in how I chose to treat myself along the way. I am who I am because of Christ’s redemptive plan for my life, molded in God’s hands and refined with purpose. I may move in quiet strength, but don’t mistake it. I have a voice, and I will use it.

I am far from weak or easily walked over. God restored my voice. I am not afraid to speak. Love becomes me.” Affirmation reads, “Love becomes me. I release what no longer serves me and walk in healing, purpose, and truth. I am refined, restored, and aligned with God, with who God says I am. I move with confidence, speak with authority, and live without fear. I am becoming. I honor her fully.”

Thank you for sharing that.

Welcome.

You read it. What was the response?

The response was phenomenal because the majority of the women who were on the line are in a season of becoming. They are walking in their purpose, their divine calling, or whatever God is calling them to do, in whatever capacity. They are women who desire marriage again, to be that wife or to be that bride. It’s the new bride, not the old. It’s the one who has matured, healed, and done the work. That is to allow God to refine them to find their purpose.

What about the woman who is mad at God, with the concept that her spouse has been taken from her? She cannot even hear, or maybe she has a different faith. What does that look like for her in her becoming?

That would be the unveiling. That would be allowing God to unveil, to remove the things in our hearts that she is grieving, and to peel away the scars, the hurt, the pain, the uneasiness, and the loss. Allow Him to unveil the things that are hidden behind the hurt, and allow those things to come out. I’m not saying that what you feel is not real or not true, but don’t live here. Let me unveil it. Let me do the work that I know I can do. Trust me with these hands.

When I hear you say that, it sounds more in tune with a relationship. How does one get there outside the institution of the church to have what you’re talking about?

I look at it from my perspective, from the relationship with God Himself. That became a personal thing outside of church, outside the four walls. I took personal responsibility to build that. That is something I wanted more than anything else because that was the one thing I knew. If I didn’t have anything else, I have this. Having this relationship is going to get me where I want to go when everything else that I could have run after won’t get me where I was going. I wasn’t going to find my purpose, nor would I find my destiny. I wouldn’t have found me.

Why Tina Started A Podcast About Widowhood

That is most important. This has been a phenomenal conversation. I try to give my guests an opportunity to be the host. Do you have any questions you would want to ask me?

I don’t, Dr. Tina. I would say this, though. I love what you do, even when I see you come on the times that you come on TikTok. I see the people that comes into your room. I love what you do. You’re giving them a voice, a safe space, and a place to laugh and to say what’s on their heart and what they’re feeling. That is the beautiful thing about it all.

Thank you.

I would ask you this. What made you want to start doing this?

My mother, who lives next door, had a podcast sharing about the things that she’s learned over her life. I had a phone call with a new widow. It was such a different conversation to have with somebody who has traveled a road similar to yours. When I got off the phone, it was clear to me that other people would want that same type of conversation at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning when life is beating you up, and all the thoughts are going through. Each conversation I’m able to have with someone on this show, someone’s tuning in to it at odd hours when grief is attacking you. It is for them to know they are not alone.

These conversations do that because grief is a wrecking ball. Sometimes, the way we look in that moment, we don’t want someone else to see us that way. At the same time, we don’t want to be alone. These shows allow people to tune in in the privacy of their own space, hear organic, real discussion, get encouragement, and get seen, and let them know that this is something that we’re all going through individually and together.

I love that because it does. If they got something out of it the first time, it definitely gives them something to go back and tune in to again for the second or third time. The show does give people an opportunity to those who might turn to it to allow them to see, “I’m not the only one who’s experiencing this. I’m not the only one who struggled with this situation. Here’s someone who’s looking at me that doesn’t know me, but they’re sharing their testimony. They’re sharing their life experience.”

Use Your Voice And Get Support From Others

It is to be able to share how people have navigated this terrain and to be able to see somebody in a different space, saying, “In time, I could be in that space, too. This is not a permanent situation. The potential to feel and be in a different space exists because I saw somebody else in a similar circumstance learn how to do that.” That provides hope. I am so grateful for your giving your time to be able to have this conversation. I’d like for you to close this out with any final words or anything you feel like we may have that you wanted to cover that we didn’t talk about, and speak to the audience.

This is something I learned, too. When you talk about grief, it’s just not with the grief of losing a spouse. Grief is losing anyone. I also learned that grief for me came through a divorce. I had to learn how to grieve that. I remember that grieving was not an easy thing. I couldn’t walk in it by myself. I found myself in the hands of some real trustworthy men and women that I can depend on, that God put around me. My word of encouragement for anyone who was going through a grieving process, whatever that may look like, is that whoever those people in your circle are, God put them there for a reason.

Use them as your outlet. Use your voice. If you need counseling, go to counseling. Be transparent about how you feel. Release yourself. Don’t hold on to things that don’t give you the joy and the peace that you’re going to need later. Know that whatever life may bring, there’s always another day that you say, “I don’t have to live here. I choose to live here, but I’m choosing to get back up. I’m choosing to do something different. I’m choosing joy over happiness because happiness comes and goes, but joy is every day.”

Thank you so much, Sed.

Poem Reading: The Lady Of Fine Linens

Can I do one thing before we leave?

Yes, sir.

I want to read this one last poem. The title of this one is The Lady of Fine Linens. This is what it says. “She is an eloquent and fiery woman, neither intimidated nor easily shaken. Her very presence testifies to the resilient force within her soul. Character is her first name, modesty her middle, and integrity her last. All three reside seamlessly within one woman. The Holy Spirit is her spokesperson in both the seen and unseen dimensions of her life. She’s fully clothed in the finest linens only God could design. She is an exemplary model of intimacy because her relationship with God is deeply intimate. He is the designer, the architect, and the author of her life.”

“She is robed in such divine craftsmanship that she is shielded, covered, guarded, protected, and secure in his hands. She walks with purpose, honor, dignity, modesty, valor, and ethical conviction. She is confident in who she is and refuses to be entangled in the impulses of the flesh. Her walk with God in the cool of the day has taught her the invaluable lesson she needed to both hear and see. She relinquished old habits, former behaviors, unhealthy dispositions, and self-reliance. The more she learned to see herself as God sees her, the more her confidence was strengthened and established.”

“The sooner she moved out of her own way and allowed God to lead, the sooner she embraced her seat as a passenger. In that surrender, she began to understand how she became the Lady of Fine Linens. Each touch of God’s hands refined the essence of her heart, her soul, her body, and her spirit. She discerned the transformation inwardly long before it manifested outwardly. He shaped and molded her into the reflection of his image. She does not sway to whispers, whistles, shouting, or unnecessary noise. She honors herself in sacred stillness because the Holy Spirit is her guide. There is only one particular man with the capacity to approach such sacred ground. When he knocks, she will recognize his sound.”

It was part of a five-part series, which includes the Unveiling, the Lady in White, the Lady in Blue, the Lady in Purple, and then the Lady of Fine Linens. The reason why I wanted to read that one last is to let every woman know each one of those colors has biblical meanings, and that God can dress every woman in each one of those colors with fine linens. This is not an outer lining. This is some inward where God dresses her up. No matter what she might go through today or tomorrow, know that God is her craftsman.

Thank you. I’m not going to say anything. Thank you so much.

Thank you. I appreciate you so much, Dr. Tina, for having me on your show and for this interview.

You’re welcome.

Important Links

• Sedric Curvin on TikTok
• Hope Grows Here
• Widowhood Real Talk with Dr. Tina on YouTube

About Sedric Curvin

Sedric Curvin is a retired safety professional with 23 years in the oil and gas industry, where discipline, accountability, and leadership were non-negotiable. A devoted Christian since 2010 and ministry school graduate (2019), he has served in children’s ministry, men’s discipleship, and community outreach to the homeless.

A father of four and grandfather of three, Sedric is passionate about mentoring men toward healing, spiritual maturity, and responsible leadership. He is currently writing his first book – a collection of poems and love letters designed to restore depth, honor, and authenticity to love between men and women.