94 results for tag: Lianna

In the Word, The Lord, My Shepherd

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be looking at different names of God found in Scripture, and how these different aspects of who He is offer us hope in the midst of our grief.  As we study together, we encourage you to use the comments as a place to dialogue with us about what you are learning and share your answers to the questions below. We pray that you hearts will be encouraged as you study these names of God along with us!  "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He...

Strength in the Sorrow: Nehemiah 1:6

God's Word is sufficient for our every need, even those that follow the heartbreaking loss of a child. In this series, Hope Moms share about the way God, through His life-giving Word, has provided them with the strength, comfort, encouragement, and hope they needed as they walk through the valley of loss and grief. "My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to Your word!" Psalm 119:28 I called the nurse into the hospital room, “I think I felt her kick. Can we check?” A shadow passed over her face. Not many minutes prior, the doctor had told me, my husband, and the nurses that my yet-to-be-born, 42-week daughter had no ...

In the Word: Everlasting Father

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be looking at different names of God found in Scripture, and how these different aspects of who He is offer us hope in the midst of our grief.  As we study together, we encourage you to use the comments as a place to dialogue with us about what you are learning and share your answers to the questions below. We pray that you hearts will be encouraged as you study these names of God along with us!  “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty ...

The Suffering Servant Has Come

As I approach Christmas, I can feel that there is—inherently—a sense of longing that swells this season, especially having lost my child on this earth. I have a biblical longing for all to be made right, for the gap between this world and the next to be gone, for the righteous King of all to return—not as a baby this time, but as the One coming on the clouds carrying all victory over sin and death. The reality that this world is missing what I most desire is all the more pronounced through my unique, acute, and raw awareness of how empty this life can feel. And yet—do you feel the rush of this season too? I don't mean the rush of mall vis...

In the Word: Wonderful Counselor

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be looking at different names of God found in Scripture, and how these different aspects of who He is offer us hope in the midst of our grief.  As we study together, we encourage you to use the comments as a place to dialogue with us about what you are learning and share your answers to the questions below. We pray that you hearts will be encouraged as you study these names of God along with us!  “And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor” Isaiah 9:6 READ: We need counsel; we need to know how our hope ...

I Wish You Knew: I See Your Care for Me

Often in our grief, those closest to us do not know how to comfort and encourage us. Sometimes they stay away or don’t say anything at all because they are afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing. In this series, we hope to better equip those around us to come alongside a grieving mother—to enter their hurt and offer hope and encouragement, or simply grieve with them. Love hopes all things. 1 Corinthians 13:7 One commentator writes on this passage, love hopes “what is good of another.”¹ Church father Augustine of Hippo also understood 1 Corinthians 13:7 in terms of “‘believing the best’ about all people.”² When others have ...

You Know God, Who is Enough

“…If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves...

You Know the Way

“…And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me…” John 14:4-6 Jesus assures the disciples that they know the way to glory. For, they know Him. Thomas is concerned here that there is a pathway He doesn’t know about. His fear underlies a concern we can have: we do not know how to deliver ourselves to glory. How do we get there? This has to be one of the most fragile topics of Christian life. For, though we are saved from sin and eternal death, ...

Wait Upon God For Your Reward

My friends, there is one temptation in suffering that I want to warn you of. It is a warning straight from the pages of the holy Scriptures—straight from the breath of God: Do not think that when you are suffering, your righteousness now means nothing. Job’s Righteous Life Job knew he was a righteous and blameless man before God—not that he was without any sin, but that he always looked to God for restoration and always sought to do what was right before the Lord. His wisdom was sought after at the city meetings. He treated the poor and oppressed with generosity and kindness. He made offerings for his family—for purification. He was an ...

I Will Come Again

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” John 14:3 Jesus encourages the disciples in this passage that if he is going to the cross to prepare a place for them in the heavenly realms of glory, surely He would be returning to take his own to Himself. This is a promise. Jesus emphasizes His presence in this verse: the disciples would be taken to Himself and the disciples would be where Jesus is. Is that not our great comfort too, that we would be found ultimately in the presence of Jesus? To be taken to Himself in the original language is an idiom for “to my ...