Tomorrow is October 15
Many families will join across the country tomorrow, t, to remember babies, both in and out of the womb, who have been lost from our earthly lives. As we ready our hearts for this day, let us not forget the bereaved mothers and families who do not yet personally know the hope that is in Christ.
I pray that more and more grieving families in our country come to know and hear that this present fallen life, containing devastating loss and grief, is but a moment, and that there is hope beyond this world.
I hope this October 15 is a day to see ...
Purpose in the Pain: Greater Fruitfulness
Every year, there is a season as a gardener where it’s time to prune my roses. When pruning roses, the technique is to pluck all the leaves off the rose bush and cut the long stems (called canes) in half, generally speaking.
I look at my once voluptuous Julia Child roses, grab my sheers, and cut them down to only the necessities every February here in Texas. When I’m done they look lifeless and nonexistent. The first time I did this, I thought they would never come back—but I was wrong. Not only do they come back from this every year, but they also ...
Kelly’s Story
Four children had always been the dream. Getting married in my mid 30’s meant that if there was any shot of that dream becoming a reality, my husband and I would need to start having children pretty quickly. About a year after our wedding, we found out we were pregnant with our first son, Rhett. Over the next three years, we added another son, Hayes, to the mix as well as our daughter, Sawyer. Having three kids in under three years was challenging at times, but we loved it. We were eager to add a fourth and final child to our family, but for various reasons and circum...
Choose Hope: Testimony
It had been three years since my first loss. Three years since National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day first felt significant to me. This year, October 15 caught me by surprise. With all of the changes brought about by a recent move and an ever shifting season of life, it had completely escaped my radar. When I realized what day it was, I ran out to grab balloons and helium so that we could do a small balloon release as a family after our kids got home from school. Most of our belongings were in storage as our family was attending a four month training residency ...
Purpose in the Pain: Strong Character
”The will of God is love. And love suffers.” - Elizabeth Elliot
Love suffers. You, as a Hope Mommy, know this better than most anyone else. You were called to love, and you were called to suffer.
You are not alone. Jesus was also called to love and suffer. Because He loved us, He suffered on the cross and overcame the world. Jesus did not overcome the world with violence or with money or with political power. Jesus overcame with world with suffering. John 16:33
As daughters of God and co-heirs with Christ, we are to follow Him. We are to ...
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 ...
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 ...
