64 results for author: Constance Ray

When You Struggle with Doubt

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”  Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” ...

Mental Health Moment: Marking Grief with Memorial Practices, Part 2

Last week, I shared how God welcomes and even commands ritual, rhythm, and remembrance —especially in seasons of loss and transition. From the Exodus to stacked stones along the Jordan to bereavement practices, the Bible shows us a God who understands that some moments are too much for our human experience to hold inside without some form of expression. (Read Part 1 here.) Why does God incorporate these rhythms and practices into our lives? Why does it feel so helpful and cathartic to participate in these memorial activities? It’s because God designed us with many layers and each has a place in our grief. And he answered, “You ...

Mental Health Moment: Marking Grief with Memorial Practices, Part 1

As Hope Moms, a new year can bring big questions about our grief journey. We tend to ask about how best to remember our Hope Babies, who we are without them, and how we will manage our sorrow another day, another year. Loving our heavenly babies while still on earth can feel confusing, and working through our experience of loss is overwhelming.  The good news is God highly values our need to connect to our heavenly babies and work through the giant life change that is loss and grief. He recognizes our inability to contain all that our human experience entails. He knows we need outlets that meet us in life’s overwhelming burdens.  During ...

A Call and the Comfort of the Gospel

Recently, my pastor was talking about the call of the gospel for all believers. The call of the gospel is a call to repentance and faith, to turn away from ourselves and toward Jesus. It is a call to trust in His finished work rather than our own effort, to surrender our lives to His lordship, and to follow Him in obedience. The gospel calls us to die to ourselves, to walk in newness of life, and to bear witness to Christ through lives marked by humility, love, and faithfulness. It is a call to take up our cross daily, to abide in Him, and to live as people shaped by His grace and truth. As Hope Moms, we do have a CALL to the gospel, but we also have ...

If your story looks different than you imagined

When My Dreams Didn’t Match God’s Plan I never imagined I would become a Hope Mom. I know pregnancy books mention loss somewhere in the fine print, but it always felt distant to me. I didn’t know anyone in my real life who had lost a baby, and it seemed like the kind of thing that happened to other people, not something that would ever touch my story. My first pregnancy ended early, with a tiny two-pound, ten-ounce baby boy born eleven weeks too soon. The months that followed were filled with alarms, monitors, and long days in the NICU, but he lived. He came home, he grew, and by the time he was three, he was happy and healthy, and ...

An Invitation to Keep Christ at the Center

We made it through the holidays, friends. Maybe they were heavier than you hoped they’d be, filled with quiet reminders of the little one who’s missing. Or maybe there were moments of sweetness you didn’t expect, and those surprised you too. Either way, here we are on the other side of the celebrations and I am proud of us. By God’s grace, we are still standing, still breathing, and still moving forward. As the calendar turned last week, does it now feel like we are watching the world rush into a new year full of goals and resolutions? So many are chasing new habits, new routines, and new versions of themselves. New year, new you, ...

Beneath His Healing Wings

During this Advent season, I heard a sermon that landed a little differently than Christmas sermons usually do. It lingered with me. It stayed. The passage was from Luke 1, where Zechariah is praising God and prophesying over his long-awaited son, John. He says: “Because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:78–79) Zechariah is echoing words from the prophet Malachi, the last prophet before Christ, who wrote: “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with ...

A Weary World, A Weary Heart, and a Hope That Still Holds

I am so sorry for the rough road you may have walked to get to this day. Christmas Eve can make grief feel even thicker, especially if this month hasn’t looked the way you hoped it would. Maybe you didn’t end up doing every tradition you planned. Maybe the holidays felt heavier than you expected. Maybe joy has been hard to access this year. If that’s true for you, I want to gently remind you: it’s okay to be weary. It’s okay to not be okay, to not feel full of holiday cheer, and to not have had the capacity for everything you hoped to do. The hurts, heartaches, and exhaustion can feel especially intense tonight. When you’re pregnant ...

When Hope Feels Fragile

There are seasons of grief when hope feels impossibly small. Not gone, but fragile. Like something you’re holding gently in the palm of your hand because you’re afraid if you grip it too tightly, it might crumble. The holiday season can make that feeling even more noticeable. Everywhere you look, people are talking about joy, peace, and light, and those words can feel so far from what’s happening inside your heart. You may find yourself thinking, “I want those things. I really do. But I’m not there yet.” And that’s okay. After I lost my daughter, I remember trying to step back into the rhythm of life and faith. I wanted to feel ...

When God Feels Far Away

There are days in grief when God feels painfully distant. You know the verses, you’ve heard the promises, and you’ve prayed the prayers, but there is still this quiet ache inside you asking, “God, where are You?” I remember reading Scripture in those early weeks after losing my daughter and feeling like the words were flat, like they weren’t sinking into me at all. I would try to pray, and all I could manage were small fragments of sentences. And sometimes not even that. Sometimes it was only tears and thoughts I couldn’t speak. It can be so hard to admit when God feels far away. I think there’s a subtle shame attached to it, as if ...