79 results for author: Support

Announcement: “Heard” E-Book Release

Today, we announce the release of the 2018 e-book created for Hope Moms, "Heard." With genuine desire, the shattered human heart can yearn to know that God hears its cries, that they reach His ear. The psalmist says, “I call upon You, for You will answer me, O God” (Psalm 17:6a ESV). And He hears the humble, honest cries of our indescribably depleted hearts (or, what seems to be left after crushing loss) as we call upon Him through the one Mediator: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5 ESV). He has heard and known our greatest need, for before we knew to ask, He ...

Receiving Looks of Judgment? Look to Christ. {Christmas Meditation #4}

Ah-ha, there is that raised eyebrow again. They think I have done something wrong though they won’t say anything. Their expression communicates clearly the judgement they are making. It hurts to see them think, "For this to have happened to her she must have done something wrong. God is judging her." For Mary, the mother of Jesus, I think she had to have experienced something like this at least in a small way. Before Joseph, a good and caring man, had the dream from God which supplied the explanation, Mary must have seen the judgement and sorrow in his eyes. They had not come together in physical relationship yet, and here she was, pregnant. ...

The Central Significance of Christmas {Christmas Meditation #3}

December is here. The lights are going up and people are looking forward to the Christmas season again. It is the time of year that brings to mind many joyous themes and remembrances of Christmases gone by with family and friends. Along with the many joys of remembering are also times of sadness when loved ones who we wish were around the tree with us are no longer here. This mixture of joy and sadness in our memories drives us to search for a deeper meaning to Christmas. We hear themes of peace on earth, love, and the giving spirit, and perhaps how Christ exemplified these, but, however true these are they have not hit upon the central significance ...

A Sunrise, a Light from on High {Christmas Meditation #2}

Electricity is a wonderful convenience until we lose it on a stormy night. Suddenly it is so dark we cannot see the hand in front of our face. As we stumble over chairs and other furniture seeking some source of light we truly know what it is like to experience darkness. John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah refers to people who sit in darkness, and the prophet Isaiah refers to people walking in darkness. Neither of them are referring to physical darkness but to darkness of the soul. Just as we have all experienced physical darkness on a stormy night, we have all experienced darkness of the soul as we traverse the sufferings brought on by this ...

Spiritual Forces of Evil Surprised and Defeated {Christmas Meditation #1}

The agents of an ancient, wicked ruler entered her house. There stood her toddler son looking to her for care, love and protection. The agents grievously took his life in his mother’s sight. Her heart could only well up in uncontrollable sorrow and grief. Why did an evil king in a furious desire to retain power bring this about? There was no rebellion against the king in her son. She could not be comforted. This story was repeated scores of times in the town of Bethlehem and its region some 2000 years ago (see Matthew 2). One little boy had barely escaped and was now with his parents in a foreign land. Nobody at this point understood the plan ...

Kelli’s Story

Seven Years Later Her heart was aching and lonely, she felt lost and misunderstood. For months, the heart of this carpenter’s wife, who was not yet a mother in the eyes of the world, grieved the loss of child she never got to meet. No physical scar or sign to hold that would indicate to the world the condition of her heart and how it was left in tiny shards of glass. No one seemed to see the disaster that lay before her. Her heart, once perfectly crafted and beautiful and whole like a lovely porcelain vase, now lay on the ground where common people trekked. Often times, she felt like she was kneeling on the ground, overwhelmed at the destruction ...

This God-to-us Season {And a Christmas Giveaway!}

As I approach Christmas, I can feel that there is—inherently—a sense of longing that swells this season, especially having lost my child on this earth. I have a biblical longing for all to be made right, for the gap between this world and the next to be gone, for the righteous King of all to return—not as a baby this time, but as the One coming on the clouds carrying all victory over sin and death. The reality that this world is missing what I most desire is all the more pronounced through my unique, acute, and raw awareness of how empty this life can feel. And yet—do you feel the rush of this season too? I don't mean the rush of mall ...

All Held Together

“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 ...

You Are a Warrior; You Can Be Happy Again

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. When my daughter died, I couldn't imagine being happy again. It was like something in me had died on that awful day in February 2011. Something called joy. I resigned myself to the fact that a dark cloud would always be overhead, the sun would forever seem dim, ...

When Your Thanksgiving Is without Thanksgiving

The book of Psalms bears a title that means, “praise.” Yet, Psalm 88 does not follow the typical pattern of concluding with or moving toward praise. This rare psalm is in a context, within the psalter, of many words of thanks and praise to God, seemingly indicating that refraining from a conclusion of praise is not a posture to maintain, no matter the circumstance (see also 1 Thess. 5:18). But in the Scriptures, we do have these words as a part of the song book of the Israelites. They would sing these words to the Lord from beginning to end, and they would conclude the song without turning to thanksgiving at that moment. Perhaps ...