Identity: We Are Loved
Love stories. We've read them in books. We've watched them on tv and movies. We are drawn to the romance, the passion, the security. We long to know that true love exists and that it exists for us. That need for love, to feel loved, is in every person. The key is to make sure that the love that defines us is from the right source.
In order to embrace our identity of "loved," we need to know where love is not found.
Love is not based on appearance. Your hair, your skin, your weight, those things don't earn you love. When we look in the mirror, we all see things we'd ...
Betsy’s Story
"July 14, 2010, I waddled into the labor and delivery wing full of excitement and hope. This time it was real labor and I would soon be able to meet this long-awaited baby girl! It was my first time pregnant and it was a lot harder than anyone could predict. With active rheumatoid arthritis, my doctors and I had a master plan based on all the known research and statistics. I had an expert team of High Risk OBs and Rheumatologists monitoring every step.
Most women with RA go into remission during pregnancy as the body turns its attention away from attacking your joints to ...
Shelly’s Story
"My husband and I found out we were pregnant for the first time on Father’s Day. We were a little shocked but mostly overjoyed. Perfect pregnancy. Perfect delivery. And we did it again about two years later. We had two little girls but I wanted another baby. My husband was content with two children and we did not try again so we were very shocked when we found out I was pregnant for a third time.
When we found out I was having a son, we just knew the Lord had plans better than our own. My husband is a football playing, hunting, fishing, sports loving kind of ...
Identity: We Are New
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
-2 Corinthians 5:17
As mothers who have walked through the death of a child, it is easy to define ourselves by our losses — to feel unworthy, damaged, incomplete. But, dear one, this is not the sum of who you are. In Christ you have been made new! You have become a new creation!
“And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”
-Romans 6:4b
This reality of being made new in ...
Identity: We Are Free
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
-Romans 8:1, 2
Freedom. We all want it. We think it is owed to us. But what does it mean to be free.
In America, we think of our freedom in terms of our rights. Our right to free speech. Our right to assemble. Our religious liberty. Our right to bear arms.
In the 1970’s, women signified their freedom by burning their bras.
Teenagers have a distinct definition ...
Identity: We Are Children
"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."
-Romans 8:14-17
ONE of the most precious ...
Identity: We Are Chosen
Deep down we all long to be accepted and pursued. This longing is also accompanied by a deep sense of rejection when we feel as if we don’t fit in or seem to be forgotten by others — when you don’t get called back after the interview, when someone else gets the promotion, when you don’t make the team, when everyone around you seems to be bringing home their babies and your arms feel heavy with emptiness.
But dear sister, please hear this: as your friends are posting pictures of beautifully decorated nurseries while yours remains empty, as the moms in your ...
5 Things to Remember This Mother’s Day
Sweet mommas, as you are surrounded with all of the commercialism of Mother's Day, I pray that you will not allow satan to use this holiday to rob you of the hope you have in our Great God! As you consider the invitation that Christ has laid out before you, I pray that these words from fellow Hope Moms will encourage your heart:
5 Things to Remember This Mother's Day
1. YOU ARE A MOTHER
"Mother’s Day is such a confusing day for Hope Mommies. It is supposed to be a day of celebration, but it can bring on such strong emotions of emptiness and longing. While everyone ...
Identity: We Are Alive
Join us on the blog over the next eight weeks as we study together what God's Word says about who we are in Christ.
...
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
-Ephesians 2:4-7
But God.
These two little words ...
Jessica’s Story
"We began trying for children 6 years ago in October 2009. Due to a rare genetic disorder my husband carried we anticipated loss because of family history. From May 2010-February 2012 we experienced 3 losses. They were all 3-6 week losses and no heartbeats. We kept trusting the Lord even though it was really hard. I had to battle a lot of bitter feelings because I had friends getting pregnant left and right. It was a challenging time because, while we knew what the Bible says about the faithfulness of God, we were not seeing our prayers answered in ways we expected...
