1104 results for author: Ashlee Schmidt
Choosing to Draw Near
I walked down the hall as tears began to form in the corners of my eyes. It had been just a few days since I had learned that the babe I was carrying in my womb was already gone from me. Another still heart. Another journey through grief and loss.
Moments earlier I had been talking with a friend at church. She too had experienced the loss of a child, and I had been looking forward to connecting with her, knowing that she understood the heartache I was enduring. But throughout our entire conversation, she never spoke of my loss. Even when I mentioned how difficult of a week it had been for me, she changed the subject by telling me about the mischief ...
When You Have Been Hurt in Grief…
God’s Word speaks thoroughly and abundantly into every season of the heart. As we study His Word, we learn that within its pages are found the ultimate source of comfort and peace for the sufferer. In this series, we will seek to carefully and compassionately apply these ancient, scriptural truths to feelings and experiences that are common in grief.
It had been four weeks. Four weeks since the loss of my only son, Chance. Four weeks since I birthed and buried my tiny babe, and the one person I wanted so badly to acknowledge my loss and pain had not. Not one word. Not one text. Not one acknowledgment of my child, who now lived ...
Consider What God Has Done
“Consider the work of God: who can make straight what He has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.” Ecclesiastes 13:14
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Lately, it feels like the whole world is learning the lesson that we Hope Mommies have already learned: we are not in control. If we were in control, we would not have chosen this path of adversity. If we were in control, we would “fix” things.
“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” ...
When This Life Seems Meaningless…
God’s Word speaks thoroughly and abundantly into every season of the heart. As we study His Word, we learn that within its pages are found the ultimate source of comfort and peace for the sufferer. In this series, we will seek to carefully and compassionately apply these ancient, scriptural truths to feelings and experiences that are common in grief.
Future glory, seeing my Lord Jesus by sight alongside of my heavenly family all while without sin, is my hope—and that is the reality that made sense to me after my stillborn daughter flew ahead. But that future hope was tested when I needed to invest again in this life ...
He’s With Us in the Fire
My eyes opened slowly as the nurse touched my arm to wake me. She smiled. “I’m so glad you slept well. I didn’t see the need to wake you,” she tenderly stated. I had slept solid all night, which was such a gift after riding the emotional rollercoaster of the few days prior. Her hand rubbed my arm as I blinked to see the sun peering through the hospital room windows.
Eight hours earlier I had said goodbye to my only son—birthed from my body, still and lifeless, yet perfectly formed. He was small and beautiful, his nose one of my favorite features. I would always remember that cute-as-a-button nose.
As my feet hit the ground to begin ...
Remain in the Word
Paul reminds us in his letter to the church in Thessalonica that we do "not grieve as others do who have no hope" (1 Thess. 4:13). But what exactly does that mean? In this series, we explore what it looks like to honor God in our grief and examine the ways we can choose to grieve with hope.
This week, a huge box arrived on our front doorstep. Another big box was in the huge box. In the big box was a fan, or I should say, all the parts for a fan. Lots and lots of parts. Lots of parts to a fan with lots of blades —unlike any fan we’ve ever had before.
Once my husband opened the box, pulled all of the ...
His Faithful Nearness
There are a few parts of God’s character that I have grown to love more deeply since losing two babies back to back in the same year. We lost our oldest son, Jacob, seven hours after he was born. Ten months later, we said goodbye to another baby who we never got to meet face to face. I was in the bottom of the trenches, and I was so lonely. Grief does that, doesn’t it?
So, I was lonely, but I was also fearful. What would our future look like? After all, life wasn’t supposed to end up this way, but mine did. I was so fearful that I’d never leave the trenches of grief. It was hard to imagine that life would ever change.
So, I was fearful, I ...
Who Can Know God’s Ways?
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.
“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a ...
Rise Up to Worship
Paul reminds us in his letter to the church in Thessalonica that we do "not grieve as others do who have no hope" (1 Thess. 4:13). But what exactly does that mean? In this series, we explore what it looks like to honor God in our grief and examine the ways we can choose to grieve with hope.
This is how I fight my battles... It may look like I’m surrounded but I’m surrounded by you.
Yesterday was a day filled with hard things and sad emotions for me, but today the lyrics to “Surrounded (Fight my Battles)” have been on my heart, in my ears, and seeping into my soul. As the worship song seeps into my ...
