Asking Why: Did My Baby Die For a Reason?
Hope Mom, I know you are hurting. And when we hurt, we want to be comforted with reason and rationale–to know that our pain is not in vain. I do not know why your baby died or what God’s purposes are for the situation around their passing. You, no doubt have heard many answers, and I imagine most (if not all) of them are unhelpful.
One of our wonderful blog writers, Lindsey Dennis, has written a gentle response based on Biblical truth to the question “Why did God allow my baby to die”. I encourage you to reflect on it before reading further.
I want to ...
Asking Why: When You Don’t Get an Answer
We all want to know WHY.
Why me? Why this baby? Why this diagnosis? Why on this day? Why in this way?
It’s only natural to ask why – from the time we were little we have been asking “why” to make sense of our world. So, of course we ask these questions when it comes to our greatest heartaches. In asking this question, we are trying to wrap our minds around something that was never meant to be–death.
Last week I described how God put eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11); when we encounter the opposite of eternity (death) it not only breaks ...
Confusion in Grief
There is nothing quite so jarring to our daily rhythms as loss. Whether it’s the news of a fatal diagnosis, an unexpected stillborn, or an out-of-the-blue miscarriage, our minds get stuck, shocked, and confused when they are asked to comprehend the death of our beloved babies. Even though we have lived in a fallen state our entire lives and expect a certain amount of death, when it actually strikes a loved one–our own flesh and blood–our minds and hearts are left disoriented.
In the early weeks after William’s passing, I didn’t know what to do with myself. ...
The Only Way Out is Through: Hope in Raw Grief
Last week I shared briefly about my personal experience with the death of a baby, and with the secure Hope God shared with me. While we Hope Moms do have the hope of a future reunion and eternity with our heavenly children, we still have to walk through the painful, confusing aftermath of their deaths. I’ll share some of my experiences right after loss, and then explore what the Bible says about our suffering.
While in the hospital recovering from my c-section, I was presented with all sorts of “next steps”--ways to care for both my body after surgery, as well as ...
God’s Gift of Hope: Kelly’s Story
Greetings Hope Mommies Community! My name is Kelly Ransdell, and I have been involved with Hope Mommies since 2017. I’ve held various roles including Founder and President of the Houston Chapter, retreat small group leader, Hope Group leader, and now as a member of the Leadership Team as the Ministry Support Lead.
This particular letter comes at a time of great grief for my home state of Texas, and I want to take a moment to acknowledge the July 4th tragedy and loss of life. My childhood consisted of several summers at Camp Mystic, and I have friends who have ...
Grace in Grief – Learning to Extend Compassion to Others
When you’ve walked through the unimaginable loss of your baby, it’s easy to feel like you've become an expert in grief. You know the weight of the pain, the depth of the sorrow, and what it feels like to question how you’ll ever move forward. You know what cuts deep and what offers even a little bit of comfort.
But if I’m honest with myself, before I lost my daughter, I had no idea what it truly meant to grieve. I had experienced loss in my life, and I considered myself to be an empathetic person. Yet, I know I’ve said things, forgotten things, and acted ...
Moving Forward in Grief vs. Moving On from Grief
For a mother who has lost a baby, one of the hardest things to hear is the well-meaning phrase: 'You have to move on.' The idea of moving on can feel like a betrayal—as if healing from your baby’s death requires forgetting, as if the love you have for your baby has an expiration date. But grief and love don’t work that way. The truth is, we don’t move on from our babies. We move forward with them.
Moving on implies leaving something behind. When people talk about moving on, it can sound like a call to let go, to put the past behind us, to return to life as it ...
Longing for a different kind of freedom
The Fourth of July is a time when the world around us celebrates—fireworks light up the sky, families gather for barbecues, and children run freely with sparklers in hand. But for a mother who has lost a baby, the noise of celebration can contrast sharply with the quiet ache of grief.
If this week feels heavy, you are not alone. While the world looks to freedom in one way, you may find yourself longing for a different kind of freedom—the freedom from sorrow, the freedom from the weight of what-ifs, the freedom from feeling like you have to pretend you’re okay when ...
Grief in the Summertime – Finding God’s Presence in the Rhythms of Creation
For most of human history, people lived without clocks. Before the sundial gave way to watches and phones that sync us down to the second, people moved with the rhythm of nature. The rising and setting sun directed their days, and the changing seasons shaped their work and rest.
But today, we are bound by schedules, calendars, and endless to-do lists. Time pushes forward, whether we are ready or not. For a grieving mother, summer’s long days can feel especially heavy. When the world around us bursts with life—children laughing at the pool, families heading off ...
What does it mean that God is making all things new?
Have you ever wondered what blessings God is working out through the heartbreak of losing a baby?
By His nature, God is redeeming. Ever since sin cursed the earth, we have seen Him making things new—bringing beauty from brokenness. In the aftermath of Adam and Eve’s shattered hearts, as thorns choked Eden’s beauty and the earth groaned under the weight of sorrow, God whispered His promise to mend what was lost. Revelation 21:5 declares, “Behold, I am making all things new.” One day, He will restore the perfection and splendor of His creation, and every tear ...
