1104 results for author: Ashlee Schmidt
My Rock of Refuge
When I found out that my son’s heart was no longer beating, I instantly felt like everyone who saw me could tell that I was carrying his lifeless body inside of me—like they knew that I was the mother whose body had failed her baby.
As I walked around the nurses station, passed the reception desk, and through the waiting room on my way out of that terrible appointment, it seemed as though everyone I passed was staring right through me. I felt dirty, exposed, and marked by this devastating loss.
All I wanted to do was hide.
I wanted to go where nobody could see me and wrestle with the brokenness inside of me.
I wanted to find a safe place ...
Discussions in Grief: Withdrawn
Grieving involves new emotions and considerations often too many to numbers. When you find yourself in overwhelming grief, you likely feel buried and lost. In this series, we slowly and compassionately look at one aspect of grief at a time from a biblical perspective for the newly grieving mother. Click {here} to read past posts in this series.
I don’t mind going to the dentist, but some of my friends and family avoid it. I avoid traffic, but I have friends who are completely unaffected by the stress of bumper-to-bumper cars and enjoy the time alone and the chance to catch up on phone calls or listen to podcasts.
Whenever there is ...
One Another
The loss of a child changes your life. And sorrow of this magnitude also greatly effects your relationship with your spouse. When we are cloaked in such a heavy grief, it can be immensely difficult to remember that this heart-wrenching loss has not only altered your life, but that of your spouse as well. It is hard enough to learn how to walk through life without your beloved children in our arms, but we also must learn how to navigate this sorrow along with someone else. And in the wake of such hurt and pain, bringing two grieving hearts together can feel like an impossible task.
Our human nature tells us to turn inward in our grief. It tries ...
In You I Take Refuge
“Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from You.”
As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.
The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
You hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the Lord always before me;
because He is at my ...
Does God Love Us?
Welcome to Hope Mommies In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be narrowing in on specific truths of the gospel to learn how they direct and inform us in our grief. 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!
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
1 John 3:1a NIV
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There is an intrinsic connection between ...
Being Okay with Not Being Okay
Jesus, be near.
My baby died. Through my husband and I, God made new life. But no sooner did we welcome that precious soul into the world than it was snatched from us. No sooner had the word “mother” left my lips than the child left my body, like water slips through our grasp.
I am a mother, but with an empty womb, empty arms, and an empty heart. Yet, I am full of a love that was never realized, never seen, never fulfilled. Full of a sorrow so heavy, sometimes I don’t know how to draw my next breath. My child never even drew one, so why should I get the gift of breath?
The week I was supposed to hear my baby's heartbeat, the monitor fell ...
Discussions in Grief: Remembering
Grieving involves new emotions and considerations often too many to numbers. When you find yourself in overwhelming grief, you likely feel buried and lost. In this series, we slowly and compassionately look at one aspect of grief at a time from a biblical perspective for the newly grieving mother. Click {here} to read past posts in this series.
As I sit here in front of my computer getting ready to share my heart with you, the lights of our Christmas tree are twinkling in the corner of the living room and the stockings are hanging just to my right. Christmas is both a painful and sweet reminder of our Sarabeth who was with us last year, alive ...
We Have Been Shown Grace
It’s easy, when you’ve suffered, to think that you are now the expert in grief. You know what it means to be painfully hurt and hopeless—what hurts, and what helps.
But if I’m honest, before I lost my son, I had no idea what it was like to grieve so much. I had experienced some loss, and am naturally empathetic, but I am positive that I’ve said, done, and forgotten things that caused others additional heartache. To be completely transparent, even since my losses, I continue to say, do, and forget things for others who are suffering, and have likely caused them pain. I have had to apologize to my own husband many times for not caring for him ...
