Will I recognize my baby in heaven?
One of the things that happens after losing a baby to miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss is a battering of questions from deep places in our hearts, such as, “What will my baby be like in heaven? Will they always be a baby? Will I recognize them? Will they recognize me?”
These are tender, personal questions that come from love and longing. We were created to know and be known, and that desire runs especially deep within families, and with our children, where bonds feel so immediate and instinctive. And while Scripture doesn’t give us explicit answers to each ...
What if my baby wouldn’t have chosen Him?
Every year at our Retreat we host a Q&A hour. This year we had more questions than time to answer them. The hope of our Leadership Team is that we can address some of them in this newsletter or on our podcast. One of those questions was,
“How do I know my babies are in heaven? What if God knew they wouldn’t accept Him later, so they didn’t go to heaven when they died?”
I think it’s likely she was asking, “If God knew my child wouldn’t choose Him later in life, is this why He chose to take them now?”
What hard thoughts we Hope Moms wrestle ...
Is My Baby in Heaven?
He is Risen.
Hope moms, Jesus Christ is God, put on human flesh, and died for our sins that keep us eternally separated from God. He rose from death, conquering its power over those who believe. While joy in this season may be hard to come by (and that’s ok!), let this truth bring even a small flicker of light to chase away the darkness.
In honor of the Easter season and the glorious future Jesus has won for us, this month we will be covering various ideas on the topic of Heaven.
The first two weeks, Kelly and Jennie will cover Biblical answers to common ...
Holding Space on Holy Saturday
I’m always caught off guard by how tragedy is inevitably invaded by the ordinary. I am sure you can relate. After our babies died, didn’t it feel so wrong that most of the world went on as usual? I remember emerging from the silence of the hospital, the quiet of the house, the darkness of the day of her funeral, and feeling so disoriented by the routine bustle of life. People in cars driving places. Laughter on playgrounds. Shoppers downtown. Planes taking off from runways. Didn’t they know what had just happened? I remember having to resist the urge to scream, ...
From Self-Protection to Divine Keeping
When William passed into glory, I felt very confused about the Lord and my relationship with Him. I had many questions in my soul. Who was this God who had the power to deliver a multitude from sure annihilation (Ex 14), yet didn’t heal a tiny baby? Could I trust Him? My initial conclusion for quite some time was: I think not.
Although I continued to press into His word with the company of my Hope Group and fellow local Hope Moms, my heart remained closed to any sort of intimacy with Him and trust of Him to do the right thing for me going forward. For a time, I ...
When Circumstances Don’t Match Our Faith
Isn’t God strange? He is so full of seeming paradoxes. He is all powerful and perfectly loving, yet allows evil to happen. He is everywhere all at once, but we often experience Him as distant and inactive. Our experience of God seems to contradict what He declares about Himself in Scripture.
Even the great King David wrestled with this seeming contradiction; his short but powerful poem in Psalm 13 gives us a glimpse of his raw despair and the seed of faith that carried him.
Psalm 13
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you ...
When Anxiety Becomes an Invitation
I am an anxious person by default. When William died full-term unexpectedly, my anxiety went into overdrive. If you are experiencing increased anxiety because of your loss, I know how uncomfortable, debilitating and disorienting it is. I am sorry you are dealing with this on top of the incredible grief you are knowing.
The anxiety we can experience in loss is unfortunately normal. In a previous article, I wrote about the natural biological effects of grief on our bodies, which include a major stress and anxiety response.
Anxiety’s Disruptive Nature
Loss’s ...
When You’re Searching for Joy
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
—Hebrews 12:1-3
There is something both humbling and comforting ...
When You Struggle with Worry After Loss
Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring… Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’
—James 4:13–15
There is something in this passage that can feel tender after loss. The people James describes sound so certain. They have it all mapped out. They know what they are going to do and when they are going to do it. Their plans feel secure. They speak about tomorrow as though it is ...
When You Feel Angry
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
—James 1:19–21
There are days when anger rises in my spirit faster than I expect. I know Scripture calls me to resist “the anger of man,” because it does not produce righteousness or reflect the heart of God. God is righteous in all His ways, never impatient, never ...
