Why Do I Have To Go Through This?
“It’s Not Fair!” cries the sister as her older sibling is allowed to do something that she cannot as yet do. Perhaps most of us can remember being that sibling who thought our parents were not being fair. Justice was what they loudly demand. Why do I have to be denied this when he or she gets to have it?
Peter's Death Foreshadowed
My sense as I read John 21 is that Peter had something like this going on when he asked the Lord what was going to happen to John. Peter had just been told by the Lord that he was going to a place he did not want to go. Others were going ...
Becky’s Story
April 17 was a day that I will never forget. A day that will be etched in my heart my entire life. A day of great sorrow and immense pain—yet a day of hope.
My daughter was a healthy thriving baby until April 17 when I knew something was wrong. I had lost another baby early in pregnancy but got pregnant shortly after, leaving little time to grieve, process, and heal. It made this pregnancy much different than our son’s—who is living on earth. I was more cautious, hesitant, and fearful.
That day she wasn’t moving as much so we went in to get checked. From ...
Through A Wound: A Letter to My Hope Baby
Tomorrow will be nine years without you. Nine years since we found out that we lost and heaven gained.
My heart has been a hurricane of emotion through the years, changing direction and intensity without warning or predictability. There have been days when I just couldn’t seem to back away from a cliff edge of grief and pain. And others where I have been gripped by the fear that as time passes and the normalcy of life continues to settle in around me you will be forgotten by others, or your life will be thought less significant.
But dear one, I have come to realize ...
Blessed Are the Persecuted
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
-Matthew 5:10-12
The beatitudes present to us a way of life that is a stark contradiction to our natural responses and inclinations. The first seven beatitudes described a list of characteristics that we ought to pursue as believers....
In the Word: Break Through Grief
Welcome to Hope Mommies In the Word devotionals. Over the next few weeks, we will be meditating on Psalm 19 together. As we study these truths together, we’d love you to use the comments as a place to dialogue with us about what you are learning and share your answers to the questions below. We pray that you hearts will be encouraged as you dig into God's Word each week with us.
“More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.”
Psalm 19:10
READ:
As you return to your life, and take steps ...
Letting Go of Entitlement
I sat in the waiting room at the OBGYN office. A few weeks earlier I had received the devastating news that the precious heart cradled in my womb was no longer beating. My body still had not recognized the loss. Each week my uterus continued growing and my hcg levels remained steady. And yet, every subsequent ultrasound yielded the same results: there was so heartbeat.
Throughout my wait, multiple women coming and going from their own prenatal appointments loudly complained about the inconvenience of pregnancy. As I listened to them grumble about the sacred gift of being ...
Blessed Are the Peacemakers
For the past several weeks, we have been going verse by verse through the beatitudes that mark the beginning of Christ’s “Sermon on the Mount,” recorded in the book of Matthew. Each week we have unpacked what it looks like to live in such a way as these verses describe—poor in spirit, spiritually morning over our sins, meek, hungry for righteousness, merciful, and pure of heart.
Today we come to the seventh beatitude:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
-Matthew 5:9
Oh! But peace can be so hard to achieve in the tumult ...
Sheri’s Story
My husband, Ron, and I have been married for 14 years. We first met in 2003, and we knew instantly that God had brought us together. We were married four months later. We had discussed children and always said it was in God’s hands if or when we had any. When Ron was 18 he had a brain tumor. He had surgery, chemo and radiation—and is completely healed. Because of the chemo and radiation, he was told that chances were pretty high that he wouldn’t be able to have children.
Fast forward eight years, and I wasn’t surprised that we hadn’t conceived yet. We just ...
He Holds It All Together
It’s been a messy week.
I’m not talking about piles of laundry, sticky spots on the kitchen floor, the layers of dust that have settled on every surface in the house, or the ongoing war in my basement between craft supplies and dress up clothes, (although, all of those things happen to be true).
Not the desperately-need-to-vacuum-my-car messy. No, I’m talking about the dish-out-the-ice-cream-so-you-don’t-dish-out-the-guilt sort of messy.
Rushing through my Bible reading because I have somewhere else to be
Responding curtly to my husband when he gets ...
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Matthew 5:8
Life is hard. And if you’ve lost a child, life will be hard all of your life
I didn’t put a period at the end of that sentence because it isn’t the end. It is the beginning—the beginning of a life where you trust in and rely on Jesus.
How can we Hope Mommies trust in and rely on a “God that let us down?” We can because we are Hope Mommies—we hope in the Lord. He is our only hope.
"This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls,"
Hebrews 6:19
Our reality is one of ...
