1103 results for author: Ashlee Schmidt
My Eyes are Fixed on You
I was sitting in the airport waiting to fly back to Chicago. It was rainy and cold and overcast. As I sat there watching dark clouds continually roll in, I couldn’t help but think that so often that’s what pain looks like. If I could paint a picture of my heart in the weeks that immediately followed my losses, I would illustrate this sorrow with storm clouds. Even on the clearest of days I often found myself in the middle of a downpour. Even when I was surrounded by laughter and joy and hope it could so quickly turn into a tempest. Some days it just seemed like the storm clouds of sorrow rushed in out of nowhere.
I still had two hours to wait ...
The Hope of the Resurrection
"One day, there will be a great reversal of everything we're doing right now."
Pastor Chris said those words at Gwendolyn's graveside service, and it's honestly all that I can remember from his eulogy. It's all that I think of when I go by her grave, and whisper over her body - "One day, Gwenny! One day this will all be undone."
I love Easter. I love it more fully now because it is one day in our calendar year that the majority of our nation sets aside, whether they know it or not, to give glory to Christ's resurrection. Now I know that you can argue with me that Easter has pagan roots, or is now so commercialized that everyone just sees ...
Receiving a Fatal Diagnosis {Lindsey’s Story}
Each child gone ahead from among us is a precious person made in the image of God—and all having been made into Hope Moms, we together declare motherhood in each of our journeys. We are eager to go above and beyond in showing honor and love for one another (Rom. 12:10, 15). Through this series, we honor each other’s experiences of motherhood in love through our shared God of hope.
After I carried and birthed two children with a fatal diagnosis, two children who did not live more than a few hours, I felt like much of motherhood was not mine to declare. Of course, I was a mom, but not like all the other moms I saw. I didn’t know what it was ...
Q: What Is My Baby’s Purpose?
This Q&A series is intended to help you take steps forward in wisdom. Lay your questions before Scripture with us; find in the ashes that wisdom “will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown” (Prov. 4:9). What questions about grief, God, or the Bible do you have right now? Contact us here.
Why, Lord?
What is the purpose in my pain?
Why did my baby die?
What was the purpose in this devastating loss, in my baby’s short life and death?
These questions are common ones following pregnancy loss at any stage. Have you been there? Asking God “Why did you ...
Q: Why Did God Allow My Baby to Die?
This Q&A series is intended to help you take steps forward in wisdom. Lay your questions before Scripture with us; find in the ashes that wisdom “will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown” (Prov. 4:9). What questions about grief, God, or the Bible do you have right now? Contact us here.
Isn’t this question a dagger in the heart of any mother who has lost a child? The pain and grief so deep, the loss so palpable, and then the wondering “Where is God in all of this? Couldn’t He have stepped in and saved my child, and if He could, why didn’t He?”
Why ...
Fulfilled
“Imagine a priceless vase or ornament is dropped on the floor and smashed to pieces. The woman who loved it kneels down. She picks up the pieces, one by one. She looks at each one in detail, turning it round, as if to remember where it once belonged. The vase was loved and so when it was shattered, every piece was worth picking up, no matter how small. A grieving person will often want to talk about the smallest detail of their loss. It is as if every broken piece is taken up and wept over. When you listen, you may feel that the detail was small, but it is part of something that was supremely valued, part of something dearly loved” (Colin ...
Being Pregnant After Loss
Each child gone ahead from among us is a precious person made in the image of God—and all having been made into Hope Moms, we together declare motherhood in each of our journeys. We are eager to go above and beyond in showing honor and love for one another (Rom. 12:10, 15). Through this series, we honor each other’s experiences of motherhood in love through our shared God of hope.
“It was the beginning of my fourteenth week of pregnancy when I went in for a routine ultrasound and prenatal appointment. I had been eagerly looking forward to this day for many weeks. What a treat to get a glimpse of the precious life forming inside of ...
Q: What is the Biblical Definition of Hope?
This Q&A series is intended to help you take steps forward in wisdom. Lay your questions before Scripture with us; find in the ashes that wisdom “will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown” (Prov. 4:9). What questions about grief, God, or the Bible do you have right now? Contact us here.
Hope. A small, four letter word that packs a powerful punch. I know this word well because hope is what I held desperately to in the hours and days after I first saw red on that crumpled up tissue paper in our tiny upstairs bathroom. I wasn’t far along with our second baby, but as any ...
Testimony Tuesday {Brandi’s Retreat Experience}
My name is Brandi Popke, and I am Hope Mom to Madison and Hannah. Madison would be 12 this year and Hannah would be 10. Both of my girls were born full term, but only lived a few hours due to Polycystic Kidney Disease. It was just this last year that I learned about the Hope Mommies community and the support it offers on social media. I had no idea the amount of support was so great until I went to the retreat in March.
I signed up for the retreat as soon as I came across the information online—completely terrified and excited at the same time. Other than my husband and a few loving friends along the way, I have traveled this journey of ...
