1104 results for author: Ashlee Schmidt
Through A Wound: A Letter to My Hope Baby
Tomorrow will be nine years without you. Nine years since we found out that we lost and heaven gained.
My heart has been a hurricane of emotion through the years, changing direction and intensity without warning or predictability. There have been days when I just couldn’t seem to back away from a cliff edge of grief and pain. And others where I have been gripped by the fear that as time passes and the normalcy of life continues to settle in around me you will be forgotten by others, or your life will be thought less significant.
But dear one, I have come to realize that the Lord has done an incredible work in my life throughout the past nine ...
Blessed Are the Persecuted
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
-Matthew 5:10-12
The beatitudes present to us a way of life that is a stark contradiction to our natural responses and inclinations. The first seven beatitudes described a list of characteristics that we ought to pursue as believers. But this last beatitude is quite different than the rest. Rather than telling ...
In the Word: Break Through Grief
Welcome to Hope Mommies In the Word devotionals. Over the next few weeks, we will be meditating on Psalm 19 together. As we study these truths together, we’d love 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 dig into God's Word each week with us.
“More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.”
Psalm 19:10
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As you return to your life, and take steps forward on this earthly ground again, I want to encourage you that the "new ...
Letting Go of Entitlement
I sat in the waiting room at the OBGYN office. A few weeks earlier I had received the devastating news that the precious heart cradled in my womb was no longer beating. My body still had not recognized the loss. Each week my uterus continued growing and my hcg levels remained steady. And yet, every subsequent ultrasound yielded the same results: there was so heartbeat.
Throughout my wait, multiple women coming and going from their own prenatal appointments loudly complained about the inconvenience of pregnancy. As I listened to them grumble about the sacred gift of being with child, I felt the tight cord of entitlement weave itself firmly around my ...
Blessed Are the Peacemakers
For the past several weeks, we have been going verse by verse through the beatitudes that mark the beginning of Christ’s “Sermon on the Mount,” recorded in the book of Matthew. Each week we have unpacked what it looks like to live in such a way as these verses describe—poor in spirit, spiritually morning over our sins, meek, hungry for righteousness, merciful, and pure of heart.
Today we come to the seventh beatitude:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
-Matthew 5:9
Oh! But peace can be so hard to achieve in the tumult of grief. When we are grieving we are more sensitive to the remarks people make, ...
He Holds It All Together
It’s been a messy week.
I’m not talking about piles of laundry, sticky spots on the kitchen floor, the layers of dust that have settled on every surface in the house, or the ongoing war in my basement between craft supplies and dress up clothes, (although, all of those things happen to be true).
Not the desperately-need-to-vacuum-my-car messy. No, I’m talking about the dish-out-the-ice-cream-so-you-don’t-dish-out-the-guilt sort of messy.
Rushing through my Bible reading because I have somewhere else to be
Responding curtly to my husband when he gets home from work because the day was full of disappointment
Focusing so exclusi...
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Matthew 5:8
Life is hard. And if you’ve lost a child, life will be hard all of your life
I didn’t put a period at the end of that sentence because it isn’t the end. It is the beginning—the beginning of a life where you trust in and rely on Jesus.
How can we Hope Mommies trust in and rely on a “God that let us down?” We can because we are Hope Mommies—we hope in the Lord. He is our only hope.
"This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls,"
Hebrews 6:19
Our reality is one of longing and suffering
Again, I did not use a period at the end of that sentence ...
In The Word: That Which Endures
Welcome to Hope Mommies In the Word devotionals. Over the next few weeks, we will be meditating on Psalm 19 together. As we study these truths together, we’d love 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 dig into God's Word each week with us!
“the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.”
Psalm 19:9
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Because Christ bore my sins on the cross and gave grace on the basis of His righteousness, I am freed to love the law, and ...
He Meets Me
In the drawer of my nightstand you will find a copy of The Power of a Praying Wife. I have been praying through one topic from this book before I go to sleep each night as a way to make spiritual deposits in my marriage. A few nights ago, I prayed these words over my husband: “May Your presence be like a delicacy he never ceases to crave.” For the past several days I have not been able to get that sentence out of my mind. Something about those words have been touching a very raw part of my heart.
I realized this morning that amidst the bustle of my everyday life, I often push aside the delicacy of Christ’s presence and settle for feeding on all ...
