Giving Thanks With An Aching Heart
Simeon was due in the middle of November, the day after his big sister’s birthday. It seemed so special to me that the two of them would be born so close together. I imagined with excitement how much fun it would be, albeit a bit overwhelming, to have back to back birthday celebrations right at the start of the holiday season. There would be so much to plan. So much to celebrate.
But Simeon wasn’t born in November as we had expected him to be. Instead, he was ushered into the arms of Jesus at just 14 weeks gestation.
Rather than preparing for our daughter...
Discussions in Grief: Hiding
Grieving involves new emotions and considerations often too many to numbers. When you find yourself in overwhelming grief, you likely feel buried and lost. In this series, we slowly and compassionately look at one aspect of grief at a time from a biblical perspective for the newly grieving mother. Click {here} to read past posts in this series.
"You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance."-Psalm 32:7
We walked toward the car, heads hung low, hand in hand. We had just learned that our baby, at 20 ...
Jessie’s Story
I remember talking to a friend after my first loss, wondering aloud if I would always tell people when they asked how many children I had, that I had one in heaven. She told me, “I am sure when you have one on your hip, and one grabbing your leg, that you won’t feel like you need to tell people.”
It was intended to comfort, but she was wrong. My hope babies, are all a part of our family in both my mind and my heart. They left much too quickly, and the scars I had on my heart remain. Scars from two losses in a row and a third a few years later, from the callous ...
Kim’s Retreat Experience
Four months after my second consecutive missed miscarriage, I had the privilege of attending a Hope Mommies retreat. I didn’t really know what to expect going into it, but I could tell from the carefully worded and tender-hearted emails that were sent prior to the retreat that it was going to be a positive experience.
The amount of thoughtful care and attention to detail that the retreat organizers put into their planning was evident all weekend long, from the numerous gifts we received throughout the weekend to the verse cards placed throughout the venue, to the ...
Discussions in Grief: Suffering
Grieving involves new emotions and considerations often too many to numbers. When you find yourself in overwhelming grief, you likely feel buried and lost. In this series, we slowly and compassionately look at one aspect of grief at a time from a biblical perspective for the newly grieving mother. Click {here} to read past posts in this series.
I don’t know the circumstances surrounding your sorrow. Whether your loss occurred many years ago or very recently, the ache you carry in your heart is agonizing. There is nothing that can prepare you for the devastat...
In the Word: We Shall Be Like Him
Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. It is our desire that this series will aid you in getting in the Bible for yourself and discovering the joy that comes from hearing from God through the pages of His Word.
“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”(1 John 3:2)
READ:
When others have told me that my child is an angel in heaven, perhaps they are using a nickname—like how I might say ...
Book Review: “A Heart Set Free,” by Christina Fox
Melissa Kruger, who blogs at The Gospel Coalition, wrote this in the foreword of A Heart Set Free, by Christina Fox, concerning her struggle to reconcile feelings with the Christian faith: “Each time I tried to push [my emotions] down, they would pop back up in another form. In some ways, I found myself struggling with the fact that I had any negative emotions at all. Wasn’t I supposed to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”? (1 Thess. 5:16-18) Did this verse ...
Purpose in the Pain: Drawn to the Lord
It’s been ten years since I held my baby boy in my arms on that hot July day. Some days it feels like a lifetime ago, and others it seems like just yesterday. When I think about that season of my life, there are certain details that stand out to me. I remember how hot it was every single day. Our area experienced a pretty severe drought in the summer of 2011, and the heat was more than anything this Texas girl had ever before experienced. I cried when we finally had a good afternoon rain shower!
I remember the fierce love that I felt from a community that ...
Shannon’s Story
When we found out we were pregnant with our third child, we were over the moon. Being ever the planner, I immediately began to envision how this new one would fit into our lives. At our 20 week ultrasound we found out we were having a girl. We brought home pink flowers and balloons to surprise our two oldest. The next day I bought her first outfit—a sweet little summer romper.
There were a few small things that came up on the ultrasound that we needed to follow up on, but we were assured that they were nothing major. We went back at 24 weeks and everything seemed to ...
Ask the Blog Team: How Do You Handle the Fear of Something Happening Now to Your Husband or Living Children?
Welcome to our Q+A series, Ask the Blog Team. In this series, the Hope Mommies blog team joins together to answer questions that are commonly asked in grief. If there is a question or topic that you have wrestled with in your grief that you would like the opportunity to see how other Hope Moms have processed or answered, we would love to hear from you. You can submit your questions here.
In the year following our loss, I did wrestle with these fears. A lot. I don't think they were there before that time, but they pushed me to realize how ultimately I lacked ...
