Meditate on Grace After a Panic Attack
Severe anxiety and periods of panic may have come to complicate your grief, adding more pressure to the pain of loss you already feel. Sister in Christ, take heart. You are holy and set apart by the grace of God, even today and even in suffering. We have discussed how Christ nourishes us in our anxiety and how the Bible gives us perspective as we face panic attacks and anxiety; today, we are discussing four biblical meditations for when you are recovering from a panic attack.
As you recover, dwell on these verses of Scripture that extol our God for His grace in our ...
Amy’s Story
A year after Nate and I married, we found out that I was pregnant with our first precious life. Twelve weeks into that pregnancy, we learned that our baby no longer had a heartbeat, and my heart felt like its own pulse was forever altered.
Two and a half months after our miscarriage, I found out I was pregnant again. There was an excitement and renewed hope I hadn’t tasted in months, and yet a crouching, nagging hesitation left me anxious to grasp onto any certainty that this little one’s life would not end in another miscarriage. My desire to have certainty clouded ...
A Prayer for the One Who Feels Stuck
Dear Hope Mom,
I see you there, under the covers, the weight of your grief like a blanket so heavy you cannot muster the strength to remove even the slightest corner. I, too, remember laying there feeling as though my entire world was shattered forever, while the rest of the world continued spinning on its happy axis. I, too, remember feeling too burdened to take a shower, make a sandwich, or even pick up my phone to distract myself, because once again the phone reminded me of everyone else and their perfect, happy, sorrow-free life. I know the feeling, dear one. Do you ...
Perspective for Enduring Panic Attacks
Panic attacks—they are crippling. Your mind spins, your pulse is out-of-control fast, the world fades, and you feel like you are sinking into it. If this is happening to you—I am so very sorry.
Have panic attacks become a part of your life since loss occurred—or become accentuated? In this post, I focus specifically on enduring panic attacks with biblical perspective, with peace.
I understand that you have likely spent significant time praying and yearning for a remedy. And I understand that when you hear the words “worry,” “fear,” or “anxious” from ...
In the Word: Warm Glory
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!
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there ...
The Gift of Deeper Community
I’ve received many gifts as a result of my suffering, but I can attest that the deeper community I’ve experienced because of it is high on the list. As a reminder, I read my original story of losing Anna posted by Hope Mommies in 2018. One of the highlights even then was how the church around me truly changed me and ushered me into a new world of deeper community. A community who carried me through my grief, learned what biblical joy and lament truly means, and provided practically, financially, emotionally, and spiritually for me for years. Because of the support I ...
Nourished by Christ in My Wilderness of Anxiety
About four years ago, I experienced my first, full-blown panic attack. Those experiences accumulated and I grew to have increasing difficult with leaving my home. I remember willfully dumping myself into the passenger seat to be driven to my parents’ nearby home—only two minutes later to feel an urgent pull within for the car to be turned around. Or I remember my husband and I taking our trotting dog for a walk, yards from our home, unable to carry a simple conversation because of the mental pain.
For many Hope Moms, anxiety of various proportions can come as one of ...
Jessica’s Story
We began trying for children in October 2009. Due to a rare genetic disorder my husband carried and our family history, we anticipated loss to be a part of that journey. From May 2010-February 2012 we experienced three losses. They were all 3-6 week losses and each time, no heartbeat was detected.
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 ...
A Prayer For the One Who Feels Forsaken
For the one who feels forsaken:
Jesus has felt forsaken too. In Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34, Jesus feels death creeping in while hanging on the cross. He quotes Psalm 22:1 as He cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Let that sink in.
Jesus, the person who is unequivocally closest to God and one with Him, felt forsaken.
When your world crashes down and there seems to be no saving grace, no fire escape, and no one to shield you from the fire, cry out to God just as Jesus and the Psalmist did. When you feel like God is far from you and elusive, ...
His Perfect Plan
There are those precious moments, memories that we cling to—that we pour over, again and again. Some of them are full of joy, sweet memories that make us wish we could just turn back time, to experience the moment with greater clarity. Some of those moments are terribly difficult, the emotions still so strong despite any length of time separating us from them. Each memory—whether one that brings us to our knees in sorrow, or one that brings to remembrance the simple joys of motherhood—is so precious. Memories, even the difficult and painful ones, contain a remarkable ...
