1104 results for author: Ashlee Schmidt

Abide in Christ

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.” -John 15:16 God created you to bear fruit. But what does it mean to be fruitful? What is the fruit that you are called to bear?  Dear one, you bear fruit when you allow God to nurture Christ-likeness in you. We are God’s fruit-bearers when we choose to live for Him and grow to be more like Him. As the Spirit of God is working in our lives, He is producing fruitfulness in us.  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things ...

Yet I Will Praise You: The Life of Daniel

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. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had besieged Jerusalem and taken captive Israel’s most skilled, accomplished, and brilliant inhabitants—youth of the royal and noble families—to be taught to serve within his courts. Among those deported to Babylon was a young man ...

In the Word: The Helper

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. “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.” John 14:16 READ: My husband and I went to sit at a Lake Michigan beach while we were still in deep grief after our daughter’s stillbirth. We sat in chilly air, looking at the endless blue. This was the closest that we could come to an ocean, living in the Midwest. Looking out at my version of the ...

Bad Things to Good People?

I believe that you, Hope Mom, are tremendously brave for facing each day without your child or children. I believe that you, Hope Mom, are to be cherished because God has set His image upon you. I believe that you, Hope Mom, are loved by a Savior King who extends the offer of His salvation and His Kingship to the world. I believe that you, Hope Mom, are rightly longing for a redemption, a yet-to-be-fulfilled day, when all will be made right. I believe that you, Hope Mom, have God-given strength as you endure each minute of the indescribable storm of grief. So, why? Why do bad things happen to good people? R.C. Sproul ...

Yet I Will Praise You: The Life of Moses

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. Moses’ life was in danger from the moment he was born. The people of Israel had been living as slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years, and Pharaoh had ordered that every newborn Hebrew boy be put to death. However, instead of obeying Pharaoh’s edict, Moses’ mother ...

Misti’s Story

I’ve had a deep desire to do work that has an impact and a wide reach for as long as I can remember. While I had heard people say that “raising children can be your greatest ministry,” I believed I could control my efforts more outside of motherhood. It seemed that those beliefs were validated when my first pregnancy ended in miscarriage. Few people knew I was pregnant, let alone that I had miscarried. Going right back to work and climbing the proverbial ladder, six months later I became pregnant and then delivered a healthy baby girl. I then began to experience the dance between building a career I loved and being an intentional mother to this ...

Anticipating Our Eternity

As we’ve spent the past few days growing our understanding of eternity and what our life will be like there, I imagine that for many of you it has served as a reminder of how temporal this life on earth really is. And the more we understand just how harsh and painful the effects of sin are in this world, the more a longing for our true, heavenly home arises in our hearts.  These glimpses of what heaven is like awaken us to all that God has in store for those who place their trust in Him.  Through His Word and His Spirit, God gives us a small taste of what is ahead so that our hearts will never be able to settle for anything less than what ...

Yet I Will Praise You: A Psalm of Asaph

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. “I cry aloud to God,aloud to God, and He will hear me.In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;my soul refuses to be comforted.When I remember God, I moan;when I meditate, my spirit faints.You hold my eyelids open;I ...

In the Word: Defined By Love

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. “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”Romans 5:8 READ: “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are ...

Life In Our Eternity {Part 2}

This article is a continuation of a previous post. You can read Life In Our Eternity {Part 1} here. Clue 3 – Our Moral Capacity The third clue about what our eternal state will contain is demonstrated in man’s moral capacity. In our eternal state, man's moral capacity will be only pure and good. While we work and live out of our cultural and relational capacities too, our moral capacity is the dominant theme of the rest of Scripture after Adam's disobedience. Man's moral capacity is of utter importance because our cultural and relational capacities do not function as God intends when the moral capacity ...