1104 results for author: Ashlee Schmidt

In the Word: A Promise Fulfilled

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. “to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” – Ephesians 3:20 READ: We have the Holy Spirit within us, enabling us to return to the “real world” after loss with the peace that He is with us and that we truly are with Him here on earth for the sake of His good purposes that He day-by-day reveals to us. If you cannot ...

Bear Much Fruit: Joy

When I started thinking about joy, the movie "Inside Out" came to mind. In this animated film, Joy is a main character and one of five emotions inside the mind of a young girl. The other emotions are Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness. Joy always strives to remain joyful, hence her name, and is the leader of the young girl's emotions. Have you ever thought about which emotion is leading your life? We have all of these emotions competing for control. Joy and sorrow will even walk hand in hand at times, but only one will lead. It's imperative that sorrow doesn't lead for too long or it will replace joy with despair as its new ...

Yet I Will Praise You: Hannah

History bears witness to the many men and women who have gone before us in choosing to praise God in spite of the great suffering they endured. We can learn much from their testimonies of faithfulness and perseverance in the midst of grief and pain. In this series, we share about the trials others have endured, and of their commitment to praise God from the valley. As mothers, we have a vision for our children's future. It involves happiness and prosperity, all in close proximity to ourselves. We want to control their destiny. We want a guarantee that no harm will come to them. But that isn’t ever the case. We don’t know what ...

Sara’s Story

April 5 was like any other Easter Sunday. My husband, Jeremy, was drumming, and I was helping lead worship. We arrived early and had two successful services. During the middle of the third service I helped out in the nursery, as it was over-packed with babies, and talked about the precious wee-one growing inside of me. Then, before heading back on stage at the end of service I went to the bathroom and saw it: blood. I immediately started to freak out as I hadn’t spotted once during the previous ten weeks. I called my doctors office and they were less than helpful, and so Jeremy and I decided to go to the ER right away. The wonderful ...

The Everlasting Light

In the wake of our losses my husband and I found ourselves in profound darkness.  Our precious son, B, was stillborn on June 30, 2018, at 22 weeks. I wandered lost for a year as we tried to understand and navigate a grief we had never felt before, which was compounded by two early term losses, one in November 2018 and another in February 2019. In December 2019, we again said hello and goodbye. This time to B’s brother, Robert, who was also born at 22 weeks and with us for one precious hour.   The grief wasn’t new anymore, it was like a knife in an open wound. Still, we found ourselves walking through the valley of the shadow ...

Bear Much Fruit: Love

After multiple miscarriages, I remember my raw emotions around pregnant women: bitterness about my life’s path, envy, anger towards those who complained about pregnancy symptoms, and frustration that there seemed to be no tangible answers as to why my babies were leaving so soon. Days after one miscarriage, a good friend announced that she was expecting. I still remember the shock on her face when I told her it was hard for me to be around pregnant women. While I was pregnant with my son, Thatcher, friends around me were giving birth or pregnant with perfectly healthy children. I didn’t understand why others seemed to be spared the crushing pain ...

In the Word: The Guarantee of Our Future Hope

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. READ: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.”John 14:18-19 Because Jesus has conquered death, we live. Because Jesus lives, He gives the Holy Spirit to us who teaches us. He takes the Bible and applies it uniquely to each of our hearts, speaking precisely what messages we need ...

Yet I Will Praise You: Corrie Ten Boom

History bears witness to the many men and women who have gone before us in choosing to praise God in spite of the great suffering they endured. We can learn much from their testimonies of faithfulness and perseverance in the midst of grief and pain. In this series, we share about the trials others have endured, and of their commitment to praise God from the valley. In 1944, during WWII, Corrie Ten Boom and her sister, Betsie, endured ten months of unimaginable suffering while imprisoned by the Nazis for their resistance work in aiding and hiding Jews. Betsie would never leave prison alive. She died in the infamous German concent...

How Can I Keep From Singing

My life flows on in endless song;Above earth's lamentation,I hear the sweet, though far-off hymnThat hails a new creation Through all the tumult and the strife,I hear that music ringingIt finds an echo in my soul,How can I keep from singing? I found myself in church on Sunday yet again with tears streaming down my face. We ended the service with the hymn How Can I Keep From Singing? As I approached the third anniversary of my boy’s heaven day, my heart sang this hymn from a place of renewed grief.  The month of our first loss is particularly hard. I tend to find myself hoping that I’m pregnant, or on vacation, or experiencing ...

Laura’s Story

I was dizzyingly happy to be having identical twins! That highly improbable surprise felt like a special gift from the Lord. Then, just after the babies reached 16 weeks gestation, my doctor detected signs of a rare disease called TTTS—Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome. Our sweet boys had begun growing at noticeably different rates. Both were in danger as a result. My husband and I quickly arranged for travel to the nearest hospital specializing in TTTS treatment (and for family to come stay with our two living children). We had no idea how long we might be away, but Day 1 would be a series of tests, starting with the echocardiogram to see ...