Honor One Another: Her Story
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
-Lamentations 3:24
2006 started off as a year filled with promise. Wondering if the Lord may choose to add a fifth baby to our growing family, and desiring to be open to Him and His blessing in our lives, we pressed on in anticipation that this year would be a year filled with hope. His answer seemed to come quickly as almost instantly we discovered that we would be welcoming a new little one in the fall.
My previous pregnancies had been mostly uneventful, with some complicated deliveri...
Honor One Another: His Story
It was a startling wake up I wasn’t expecting. “Ken, I think I lost the baby!” Quickly our plans for this Easter day faded and the new plan included a trip to the hospital.
The celebration of Easter or Resurrection Day is about life—Christ risen to life after a cruel death, and new life for all who believe because Christ rose from the grave. Easter 2006 was a celebration of life but not in the way we had expected. After having four children without major pregnancy complications, and currently at 16 weeks without any issues, a miscarriage was not even on our ...
Betrayal and Peace
Welcome to Hope Mommies In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be narrowing in on specific truths of the gospel to learn how they direct and inform us in our grief. 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!
"But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table."
Luke 22:21
READ:
Jesus was betrayed by ...
Joy is Possible
I sat down at the kitchen counter with my Bible and prayed "Lord, show me the verse. Your word is so rich, so full of truth, that I don't even know where to begin. Lead me to the verse that will be etched on my son's gravestone. The verse that will point me to you, that will become our family's theme, so to speak."
And as I flipped through my Bible, eyes scanning, I stopped at Psalm 16:11.
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:11 (NIV)
Tears dripped from my ...
Finding True Joy
Rejoice. Be glad. Delight.
Friend, do these words describe you in the midst of your grief? Or does the mere mention of the word rejoice cause you to scoff? Perhaps, sad, downcast, and burdened feels more accurate. It is entirely natural, perhaps even normal, if rejoicing seems like the last thing of which you’re capable. The loss of our children is certainly not a thing in which we rejoice. And the pain of that loss can create a fog of sadness so deep we often can’t see through it. The things in which we once found joy now seem hollow; joy and happiness seem elusive. ...
Nicole’s Story
My husband and I were married in our late 20s, always knowing that we both wanted a family. It was only about six months before we decided that we would like to start a family. We were blessed with a baby girl in 2011 and a baby boy in 2013. Having babies seemed so easy. We had no complications with either pregnancy and felt so fortunate to have these two healthy children.
We both come from families with three children and felt strongly that our family was not complete. In 2015 we started trying for our third and assumed it would come easily as it had before. However, ...
Pray For One Another: Her Story
"Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble.
But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and
not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference."
- Max Lucado
I’ve always thought of my husband as having a heart of gold. He is my best friend, my soulmate, and the one who always seems to make things right. I could listen to him read Scripture and encouraging words all day if I could. My sweet man has a way with words and I am loved so well by him.
When we fell in love and knew we wanted to get married, we both agreed that premarital ...
Pray For One Another: His Story
It's been said before, you really can't understand somebody's pain until you walk through it yourself.
As men, we are wired to try to fix things. However, the loss of our son was something I could not fix. I remember standing in the delivery room and looking at Nelly as the nurse said, "Your water broke." I called for the doctor. My mind kept racing. "No God! No God! This is not what we had planned! Corbin is not going to make it! It's too early for him!”
With all of our family in the waiting area, we welcomed Corbin into this world on March 27, 2014 at 5:38pm. Our ...
A Prayer For The One Who Mourns
On this day set aside to remember the lives of our babies who have gone home ahead of us, my heart is aching alongside yours. I wish that October 15 did not hold this remembrance of sorrow for you. But it is my prayer that in the midst of your grief today, you will also see the unfading beauty of the hope of Christ pierce through the darkness.
A Prayer For The One Who Mourns
O Lord
You know the ache of my heart.
You see my suffering and draw near.
As I drink from this stream of sorrow, I turn to You.
What began as joyful anticipation has crumbled into an unsung ...
The Comfort of God’s Counsel
I remember that night like it was yesterday. I was seven months pregnant with our second boy and we had been praying constantly for a miracle. Each appointment provided further evidence supporting his diagnosis, but we continued to pray for God to intervene. That night began like so many nights before. I prayed once again for God to spare my son’s life and drifted off to sleep.
This night, however, I had a vivid dream about Thatcher and his death. I awoke sweating and screaming, one of those guttural screams that only comes with deep anguish. In that moment I heard ...
