1104 results for author: Ashlee Schmidt

Anchored: Wrestling with Fear

Over the next nine weeks on the blog, we will be following along with our fall Hope Groups as they go through Hope Mommies’ newly published Bible Study — Anchored.  For those of you who did not register for a group this year, this will be an opportunity to walk through the topics studied in our Hope Groups. For those of you who are currently participating in a Hope Group, our desire is for these posts to reinforce the lessons you are learning with your group.   Wherever you are in your journey through loss and grief, I pray that this series will encourage your heavy hearts, remind you of truth, and point you to the unrelenting, far-reaching ...

Anchored: What About God?

Over the next nine weeks on the blog, we will be following along with our fall Hope Groups as they go through Hope Mommies’ newly published Bible Study — Anchored.  For those of you who did not register for a group this year, this will be an opportunity to walk through the topics studied in our Hope Groups. For those of you who are currently participating in a Hope Group, our desire is for these posts to reinforce the lessons you are learning with your group.   Wherever you are in your journey through loss and grief, I pray that this series will encourage your heavy hearts, remind you of truth, and point you to ...

Book Review: C.S. Lewis’ “A Grief Observed”

All griefs are different.   When I first started to read Lewis’ A Grief Observed, I was perhaps two weeks, at most, into grieving my stillborn daughter, Noelle. Stillborn -- I hate that it is a necessary word to describe something that happens in this world.  And there are more words and phrases that I hate along with it that have become a necessary addition to my everyday repertoire since working more closely with Hope Mommies, miscarriage and infant loss among them.   I do not write that bitterly.  I write it truthfully (and humbly for that matter, considering the sin of my own human race brought death into this world). ...

Anchored: Marked By Loss

Over the next nine weeks on the blog, we will be following along with our fall Hope Groups as they go through Hope Mommies' newly published Bible Study -- Anchored.  For those of you who did not register for a group this year, this will be an opportunity to walk through the topics studied in our Hope Groups. For those of you who are currently participating in a Hope Group, our desire is for these posts to reinforce the lessons you are learning with your group.   Wherever you are in your journey through loss and grief, I pray that this series will encourage your heavy hearts, remind you of truth, and point you to the ...

Choose Hope for 2015

Every year on October 15, nations all across the globe come together in order to recognize Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day.  What started in 1983 with a few volunteers from the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Center (PILC) turned into a movement around the world.    PILC began by calling out to other groups and organizations to join them in raising awareness of infant loss during the month of October.  As the movement grew they set about to petition the Governors of each state to follow them as well.  Soon many states had declared October as Infant Loss Awareness Month, and their campaign continued to gain attention, support, and success ...

Hope Group Testimonies {And a Giveaway}

Hope Groups are a group of women who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth or infant loss (up to two years of age) at any point in their life. It’s a collection of women who meet and share their stories with one another, pray together, ask questions, share hurts, share happinesses … and cling to His Word to find that there is still hope after the death of their precious sons and daughters. Hope Groups are a nine week, Bible study and small group. Some meet online through Facebook and some meet in person. Each group will establish a specific meeting time. Even if you can’t make it for that specific time each week, we encourage you ...

I AM: Good

"You are good and do good; teach me Your statutes.” -Psalm 119:68 God is good and does good.  In fact, God is the final standard and ultimate source of all that is good.  This is repeated all throughout the Psalms, and throughout the entire Bible.  All that God is and all that He does is good and worthy of praise.  There is no higher standard of goodness than God’s own character.  The goodness of God is easy to profess joyfully when things are going well, but seems rather difficult to affirm when times are hard.  Often our circumstances seem like anything but evidence of God’s goodness. We are surrounded by the brokenness of the ...

I AM: Unchanging

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8) Imagine if you worshipped a deity that was powerful, yet changeable, impulsive, and unpredictable. He could rescind a promise at any time, take back a gift that was given for any reason, or change his mind about what his purpose is. Trust would be a very hard part of your personal relationship with the one that you worshipped if this was the case. Thankfully, God and all of His attributes are entirely compatible with His immutability, His unchanging nature. "God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and he will ...

I AM: Jealous

"For you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” -Exodus 34:14 Most of us cringe when we hear of God’s jealousy.  It’s not very often that jealousy is presented in an honorable light.  But because God proclaims Himself to be a jealous God, it is important that we make every effort to understand this attribute in light of the fullness of His character.  When we think of jealousy as it relates to human emotion or character it is usually played out in an envious desire of others achievements, advantages, or possessions.   It is wanting what others have that we do not ...

I AM: Faithful

“For the word of the Lord is upright, and all His work is done in faithfulness.” -Psalm 33:4 Did you catch that?  ALL of His work — everything God does — is done in faithfulness.  Every plan He has made, every purpose for your life, every move He makes in this universe fulfills what He has said He will do for His people, because God is faithful.  Even when we are unfaithful to God, His own faithfulness is unchanged.  It’s everywhere, boundless and unending. “If we are faithless, He remains faithful— for He cannot deny Himself.” -2 Timothy 2:13 He is faithful to His Word He is faithful ...