1104 results for author: Ashlee Schmidt

His Mercies Are New Every Morning

God’s Word is filled with rich promises for His children. How do these “precious and very great promises” inform and direct your grief? How does keeping your eyes fixed on these truths anchor your hope in the Lord? In this series, we write about how God, through the promises in His Word, comforts and strengthens us in our sorrow. In my opinion, one of the most beautiful reminders of God’s mercy is found in Lamentations 3:19-25. It says:  Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: ...

God Will Dwell With Us

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be studying the book of Ecclesiastes together, which centers on the truth that life apart from Christ is empty and vain. In its pages, we discover how to view our lives with an eternal perspective, enabling us to press into the Lord regardless of our circumstances. In this series, we seek to explore the wise principles presented to us by "the Teacher" in order to better understand what it looks like to walk in the fear and joy of the Lord even in the midst of our grief. "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the ...

Hymns of Hope: Oh Love That Will Not Let Me Go

Many of the hymns were born out of immense sorrow. In this series, we will examine these songs of old, discover the circumstances behind when they were written, and find comfort in the lyrics that so powerfully point us to the hope of Christ. Have you ever felt pain from something that others have and you don’t? Like a relationship? A baby? A family with children? Living children? You might find comfort in this old hymn—a source of words brought forth from reminders of the author’s own pain and what he, himself, did not have. This song, Oh Love That Will Not Let Me Go, resonated with me in my dark days of grief. As you read the ...

Purposed: Hope Remains

Five years ago, I didn’t know about women like us. I didn’t know that miscarriage happens to 1 in 4 women; that stillbirth is 1 in 160, and that 6 out of every 1,000 infants in the US don’t live to see their first birthday. I was totally oblivious, until October 18, 2010. My Gwendolyn fit into the last category. After a perfect first pregnancy and 24 hours of labor in a birthing center, we lost her heartbeat. I was put on oxygen. I heard the terror in my midwives voices. I was rushed to the ER for an Emergency Cesarean. And when I woke, my husband told me that our little girl was in the NICU with heart and liver damage. And I still thought, ...

Rachel’s Story

Aligned in our desire for three children, my husband and I conceived for the first time in 2015, just after our first anniversary. Days later, the pregnancy ended. I knew nothing of “chemical pregnancy” before that experience. I was devastated, but it didn’t feel like it mattered to anyone but me.The following year, I gave birth to a healthy daughter, Lily, and fell in love, not only with her, but with the entirety of motherhood—pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding. I wanted to do it again and again. Despite our first early loss, I believed I would continue to have healthy babies.    I became pregnant again just before Lily ...

Hymns of Hope: Blessed Assurance

Many of the hymns were born out of immense sorrow. In this series, we will examine these songs of old, discover the circumstances behind when they were written, and find comfort in the lyrics that so powerfully point us to the hope of Christ. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. Surely the person who penned those words I sang hundreds of times growing up never knew heartache. Surely.  Not so. Fanny Crosby was a mother who never got to raise her child. Her daughter died in her sleep shortly after being born, and only a few relatives and close friends knew of her loss until the end of her life ...

God Exists And Has Spoken To Us

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."Genesis 1:1   READ: What can we observe in this one sentence? There was a beginning. God was at the beginning. God is the Creator. This is not an explanation of how God came to be. With this one sentence, the reality of God is established as fact. He existed before anything else existed, and He had the power and authority to create the heavens and earth. The truth that God exists is evidenced not only from what the Bible says, but also from the created world around us. In Psalm 19:1-4, it says,   "The heavens proclaim the glory of God.The skies display His ...

The Church and Grief: You Don’t Have to Walk Alone

In this series, we will explore the unique joys and difficulties we encounter as Hope Moms when re-engaging with church after loss, and seek to help the Church (leaders, members, and ministries) understand how they can come alongside the grieving mother to provide hope, healing, and community in the midst of such great sorrow. I stood on the stage, belly protruding and a microphone in my hand. I was excited to sing a solo that December day since it would be the last time I would help lead worship at my church because of my “maternity break.” My baby boy was pressing on my diaphragm, making singing harder and harder. The music started ...

Sarah’s Story

My husband and I were so excited to be pregnant for the first time. I still remember the short-lived giddiness and blissful ignorance of the first weeks. And then, at 7-weeks, morning sickness showed up. Rather all day sickness—hyper emesis gravidirum. I threw up about four times a day, could barely take in even 500 calories of nutrition a day, and walking to the bathroom or to answer the door was a momentous feat. I kept thinking it would get better soon. I was almost there, to that magic second trimester.  I ended up at the ER for fluids twice, and I was losing weight. The second trimester milestone came and went, and I was still vomiting ...

He Draws Near: Carly’s Experience

Truth be told, it is impossible for me to think of our Lydia, the path we walked for her delivery, and her funeral without also thinking of the kindness and goodness of God. While it is true that this time is full of sorrow and pain, it is also full of grace. The Lord most certainly drew near to us in our time of desperate need, once again proving His faithfulness. I think, in times of sorrow, that God comforts us in many different ways. In my time of sorrow, He comforted me through His Word, through our family in Christ, and even in the smallest details like purple blooming trees.  As we sat in the hospital room, waiting for my labor to ...