In the Word: A Secure Future
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.
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father…Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not ...
Bear Much Fruit: Faithfulness
"I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me."-Psalm 119:75
Dear sister, do you feel afflicted today? In the midst of your sorrow do you trust that our Father is faithful?
Before looking at the fruit of faithfulness, I want to take a step back and look first at faith. Hebrews 11:1 states that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” This means that despite not seeing, we believe and trust that God will be faithful to do as He promised.
What does faithfulness ...
Purpose in the Pain: Genuine Faith
I remember a conversation I had with a woman in my church who mentored me in the early days of my young marriage. She had several young children at the time, and one of her sons had been diagnosed with cancer. As she described the sadness and difficulty of their situation, she commented that while it was painful, she and her husband were grateful for the opportunity for their faith to be proven genuine. As they pressed on through the difficulty, they knew that their faith and trust in God was pleasing to Him.
My friend was living and breathing 1 Peter 1:6-7, which ...
Freely Given, Freely Received: Extending Grace
Early on in my grief, I did not extend much grace when people would make insensitive comments after the death of my son. To be honest, most of the people had no idea their comments were insensitive.
A case in point: one day at the grocery store after the loss of my son, I was checking out with my two girls while I was very pregnant. The girl scanning my groceries looked at my large belly and my two little girls and asked if I was hoping for a boy. I saw my girls look at me, and I wanted to protect them and make sure they didn’t feel undervalued because of ...
Comforting Others
When I think of God’s comfort in the tender days following Anna’s death, I have memories of Him holding me close, carrying me through the dark wilderness of pain, and covering my eyes from a scary wilderness of towering trees marked with anger, fear, envy, and death itself. This is how I metaphorically imagined His loving shield of comfort in poetic terms. Although I could not see it, I knew from Scripture that He was going to safely carry me through all this heartache into the brightly lit opening of the forest on the other side.
I also remember the new ...
In the Word: Suffering Well
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.
"His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.Enter into the joy of your master.’"Matthew 25:23
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Part of suffering well as Hope Moms is remembering what God has given to our children and letting those truths minister to us.
As mothers, ...
Bear Much Fruit: Goodness
Pastor: God is good …Congregation: All the time!Pastor: All the time …Congregation: God is good!
I would get all the feels and think to my young self, “So true!”
Then I went off to college and the hardships started coming in waves. Strong waves. My parents got divorced. God is good, all the time. I repeated to my shaken up self.
Then came marriage. Such a sweet thing to marry the love of my life. I found it a little easier to believe again that God is good, all the time.
Then came the drought. The losses. One after another. Six babies in ...
Choose Hope 2021
The pain of losing a child, whether to miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss, is among the most agonizing of sorrows. Whether your loss occurred many years ago or very recently, the ache you carry in your heart is heavy indeed. There is nothing that can prepare you for the devastation of losing a child, and there are no words that can take away the pain that results. But dear one, your grief does not need to be carried alone.
For the past fifteen years, our nation has officially recognized October 15 as an opportunity to honor and remember our precious babies ...
Kristin’s Story
After three years of tearful prayers and longing, my husband and I were ecstatic when we learned we were expecting our first child. This baby, a little boy we named Ethan, was a long-awaited answer to many prayers and we praised God for this precious gift. “God is so faithful,” we heard again and again, as we shared the news with the countless friends and family who had been praying for us over the years. God’s faithfulness felt so evident in our lives and our hearts overflowed with gratitude.
At our 20-week anatomy scan, we learned that Ethan displayed a ...
Bear Much Fruit: Kindness
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentlenessand self-control.-Galatians 5:22
When we are grieving, is it possible to have any fruit in our lives? When all we want to do is hole up in a cave, can we be patient with those that aren’t grieving—and who just might possibly say hurtful things because they don’t understand? When the days are long and full of sorrow, can we have joy and peace? When we are angry and hurt, can we be kind?
The short answer is “yes!”
When we grieve, it is easy to ...
