1104 results for author: Ashlee Schmidt
A Better Encouragement
Here we are at the start of a new year. Most of us have made lists of ways we want to grow, things we want to change, and goals we would like to set. Maybe you chose a word for the year, and have been brainstorming all the ways you can allow this word to influence and direct your choices in the months ahead. Perhaps you've joined the "This Is In + This Is Out" trend as a way of categorizing what you hope will be the priorities that define 2024 for you.
While many of the resolutions we make at the start of each year are admirable goals, they cannot achieve for us lasting encouragement and satisfaction. In fact, most of the resolutions we make are ...
Strength in the Sorrow: Psalm 16
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 valleys of loss and grief.
"My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to Your word!" Psalm 119:28
Following the death my babies, everything in my life felt like it had been shaken. I constantly needed to remind my weary soul that my foundation—Jesus Christ—was secure. I clung to the life-giving Word of God day after day because nothing ...
In the Word: The All-Sufficient One
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!
“When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,
‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my ...
6 Questions for the New Year
There's just something about this time of year that has everyone thinking about all the improvements they want to make in their lives. We set goals for our health and finances. We determine to be more creative, more adventurous, or more engaging. We ponder what new habits we would like to form and what old habits we would like to overcome. We make lists and promises, and determine to become a better version of ourselves over the course of the year.
Self-reflection and goal setting are admirable, necessary, and biblical practices. When God's people had grown careless in their relationship with God, He rebuked them through the prophet Haggai and ...
Strength in the Sorrow: Psalm 91:1-7
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 sat across from my husband in a McDonalds restaurant booth, my mind in a complete haze. With each sip of my coffee I squinted my eyes to hold back the tears. Just a few moments prior I was walking a cemetery, hand-in-hand with my man, in an ...
What Child is This?
One of my favorite Christmas songs is What Child Is This? This haunting melody draw me in to reflect on the lowly humanity of Christ and then worship Him as Savior. Come reflect with me for a moment on the humanity of Christ and the world into which He was born. It is in this lowly humanness that we can find deep comfort and hope during a holiday season made more painful by the loss of a child.
“What Child is this who, laid to rest On Mary’s lap is sleeping? Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, While shepherds watch are keeping?
Who is this who lives with the lowly, Sharing their sorrows, knowing their hunger? This is Christ, ...
Motivated By Love
I was eight and a half months pregnant that first Christmas in my grief. Just four months before, we had received a diagnosis for our unborn son that left us knowing that, barring a miracle from God, we’d be saying goodbye to him way sooner than we ever imagined.
There was something so significant that year about being pregnant at Christmastime. I had low energy, both physically and emotionally, and so in some ways Christmas became a little bit simpler. But, honestly, it became a little bit more meaningful too.
I would go about my days, obviously with child, and I would think about what we were about to celebrate: Christmas. The birth of Jesus. ...
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 ...
Hope for the Hurting this Christmas
The people of Israel were waiting for the coming of the promised Messiah. They were living under the threat of the Assyrians, who would later bring the northern kingdom of Israel into captivity, when the prophet Isaiah delivered news of a child who would come to dissipate the darkness and redeem the world from sin. This birth announcement was a glimmer of hope in the midst of the fear and sorrow.
“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 God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6
We live in the space between the ...
