1104 results for author: Ashlee Schmidt

Discussions in Grief: New Normal

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.  Normal. I love that word. I didn’t always use to love it. That word use to be...well...normal to me. But that was before having devastating ultrasounds and inconclusive tests with my hope baby that showed abnormal results. So, yeah, normal became one of my favorite words in subsequent pregnanci...

In the Word: Our Present Joy

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals.  If you are joining us for the first time today, make sure you don't miss the first posts in this series here.  Over several weeks, we are looking at 1 Peter 1:1-9 verse by verse.  As we study this passage 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 along with us!  "Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible ...

Ask the Blog Team: It can seem everyone is pregnant or just had a baby. How did you handle those feelings?

Welcome to our Q+A series, Ask the Blog Team. In this series, the Hope Mommies blog team joins together to answer questions that are commonly asked in grief. If there is a question or topic that you have wrestled with in your grief that you would like the opportunity to see how other Hope Moms have processed or answered, we would love to hear from you. You can submit your questions here. It can seem everyone is pregnant or just had a baby. How did you handle those feelings? It doesn't just seem that way—everyone truly was pregnant or had a baby. Haha! If that is you, I'm with you sister. One of my closest friends was pregnant a month ...

A Heavenly Perspective

I once saw a movie or video clip that made a lasting impression on me. They first showed the view while walking through the streets of a specific city or town. It was dirty, scary, and broken. Then they showed the view at night from a mountain. Lights everywhere, something mysterious, breathtakingly beautiful. The same city but different viewpoints, different perspectives. My view of heaven has been very limited. Maybe it’s like that with many people. I remember thinking previously, what are we going to do all the time for eternity? —almost worried that it is not going to be great at all. For how long can one sing and pray? I thought maybe if ...

A Prayer For Your Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is such a confusing day for Hope Mommies. It is supposed to be a day of celebration, but it can bring on such strong emotions of emptiness and longing. While everyone around us is receiving flowers, getting hand drawn cards, or having arms wrap around their necks with love, we are left hungering to share those moments with our littles who are in Glory. You are a mother after all; Our heavenly Father deemed you a mother the moment your beloved child was conceived. It is okay to grieve. God grieves with us. In the book of James, we are instructed to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many ...

Discussions in Grief: Loneliness

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.  It was late at night and everyone had grown tired from the anticipation and excitement of the Passover celebration. They trudged on as their Teacher led them to the grove of olive trees called Gesthsemane. His heart was filled with anguish and sorrow as He considered all that was about to take place. ...

In the Word: A Precious Faith

Welcome to Hope Mommies In the Word devotionals. If you are joining us for the first time today, make sure you don't miss the first posts in this series here. Over several weeks, we are looking at 1 Peter 1:1-9 verse by verse. As we study this passage 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 along with us!  "so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise ...

Count It All Joy

I’ve thought a lot about the experience of suffering and the Bible’s response to our suffering this past year. Before our miscarriage and infertility I quickly passed over passages on suffering, not because I didn’t see them as important, but I just didn’t relate to them. I had faced trials before, but nothing that really made me wrestle with God’s good plan for my life in the way I have recently. I don’t doubt His goodness; I just need to understand it more than ever before. While difficult, that is a good result of our suffering. It causes us to lean hard into Him and desperately seek His face because without His presence in our lives ...

Ask the Blog Team: How Did You Use or Avoid Social Media in the Midst of Grief?

Welcome to our Q+A series, Ask the Blog Team. In this series, the Hope Mommies blog team joins together to answer questions that are commonly asked in grief. If there is a question or topic that you have wrestled with in your grief that you would like the opportunity to see how other Hope Moms have processed or answered, we would love to hear from you. You can submit your questions here. How Did You Use or Avoid Social Media in the Midst of Grief? I was very open from day one about our loss. I often shared about the dichotomy of pain and hope. Yes, it was hard at times to be vulnerable, but it has been a ministry in the making ever ...

Stephanie’s Story

When I became pregnant with our second child,  we had no idea anything was wrong. It wasn't until we had our 20 week ultrasound to find out the gender that we learned there were problems. After several ultrasounds and being referred to a specialist, we found out that our baby had clubbed feet, joint contractures in her hands, and a problem with her brain. We were given no guarantees about what her outcome would be. Two weeks later, I was put on bedrest due to low amniotic fluid. On December 21, 2010, At 27 and a half weeks, Kinley Peyton Blanks came into this world. She was 2lbs and 12 inches long. Our hope was that after a few months in the ...