1104 results for author: Ashlee Schmidt

Holding on to His Promises

The enemy wants to come in and take your focus off of what is true. He’s waiting at your door.  He wants to pluck everything you've learned—all that God has taught you—and throw it out. And if you don’t have anything solid to yell back at him, you are going to start listening to him instead. You’re going to start believing the lies, because grief and doubt make you listen. If you aren’t leaning on God’s Word, you will get pulled toward grief and doubt, and it will cloud your vision.  You need to get into the Word of God and believe what is true about Him. The enemy is a liar.  His time is limited, and he knows it. In Christ, we are ...

In the Word: Where Hope Starts

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. It is our desire that this series will aid you in getting in the Bible for yourself and discovering the joy that comes from hearing from God through the pages of His Word. “According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.” 1 Peter 1:2 READ: While walking through this valley of grief and loss, the prospect of grace and peace multiplying in your life may seem completely far-fetched or out of reach. But let me—rather, let God's Word— ...

Ask the Blog Team: What Would You Say to a Mother Doubting God’s Goodness in this Dark Time?

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. Girlfriend... thankfully our circumstances don't change God's character. It sounds so simple, but we must keep going back to the basics especially when grief overtakes our thoughts and emotions! What a relief that He never changes in the midst of our ...

Shundria’s Story

My husband and I married in 1996. We were living in a one room apartment, and we were so poor. We had our plans. I thought we would be married for a couple of years, then we’d have babies and move into a little house with a white picket fence and a dog. In 1998, we found out I was pregnant and we were so excited. We weren’t really planning for it, but we were so excited that we were going to have a baby. We waited until we were 12 weeks before we told anybody, and we were just loving every second of it. Around 19 weeks I woke up one morning, went to the bathroom, and I was spotting a little bit. I really didn’t think anything of it, because I ...

The Great Exchange

What make decisions based on our feelings—whatever feels good is what we want to do. We are driven by our feelings. We need our feelings, because we are nurturers. When something is wrong with somebody—a friend, or a person in our family—we are able to adjust to what they are feeling. If they’re not feeling good, we're not feeling good.  But what we often fail to do is apply truth to those feelings, and some of us are just addicted to feeling good. When we walk through grief and when it’s hard, all we want the Lord to do is give us a good feeling. In this place in your life, in this grief you are experiencing, applying truth may not feel ...

In the Word: We Are Sojourners

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. It is our desire that this series will aid you in getting in the Bible for yourself and discovering the joy that comes from hearing from God through the pages of His Word. “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,”1 Peter 1:1 READ: Peter begins his letter by addressing the elect exiles. As believers in Christ, we can relate deeply with this phrase. On this earth, you and I are sojourners, strangers, exiles, resident aliens, and pilgrims. Do you feel like you do not belong here? You are ...

Discussions in Grief: Serve

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.  When I got pregnant, I quit my full-time job to become a part time writer and stay at home mom. Little did I know, my plan was about to be derailed. The book I had started was about body image and loving the bod God gave you! It was going to be lighthearted and funny. This is how I will serve ...

Ask the Blog Team: How Do I Deal With People Who Seem to Look At Me With Pity Now?

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. Oh, we all know that face of pity when someone first found out you were no longer pregnant and also did not bring the baby home. Honestly, I don't let it distress me. It's a natural reaction. I do use it as a time to share that, yes, it is terrible, but on ...

Heavenly Perspective

We cast all of our expectations onto heaven when this life is loss, and we can cast more there too. Through faithfulness testify of true hope in Christ during sorrow—this is heavenly purpose—it is as if we somehow heap more worthy weight onto our future glory. From this life, we will take with us into the next all that has been for Him. And it all matters. That is why Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20, “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.” In the apostle Paul’s ministry, while using the gifts that God ...

Discussions in Grief: Praise

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.  Imagine yourself in a pit. You are struggling to see and breathe, you are terribly lonely, and it looks as if there is no way out. This is a picture of what grief feels like to most. I often picture myself covered in the dirt and muck of my pit. How will I ever be able to look up again? Will my arms ...