Share Hope: Hope SHARE Foundation

I was heading home from a meeting while tears streamed down my face. Before leaving, several ladies had gathered to pray over my unborn son and me. I had been very open with those around me about his prognosis and any miracles or glimmers of hope we experienced during the pregnancy. I had not, however, been so transparent to others concerning the answer God was giving me. I coveted others’ prayers and wanted so desperately for God to change His mind. While the tears poured this day, my prayer wasn’t for God to change His mind, but simply for His will to be done. I asked God to give my son’s life profound purpose no matter how short his time on Earth was to be.

Many months later, after the shock of his death began to wear off, I found myself in a deep depression. My marriage was struggling, my children had a shell of a mother, and I began pulling away from friends that I loved. I knew I needed someone to help me process my grief of three babies in such a short time, so I began seeing a wonderful Christian counselor. That began a season of deep personal reflection and a lot of quiet time with God. I continued to write for my personal blog and share what God was doing in my heart as Thatcher’s first birthday approached, but I sensed that He had more planned for me.

One afternoon, as I finished checking in for my counseling session, it struck me that the loss of a child can create a huge financial burden: medical care, after care, burial fees, and loss of work time. I thought about how reluctant I was to begin grief counseling, but how immensely blessed I was by my counselor’s words, encouragement, prayer, and Scripture readings. What if I could be transparent with other grieving mothers and help them find hope and healing on their grief journey? It was that afternoon that I discovered one of the ways I could honor my son’s life. God began to stir in my heart a passion to help other mothers and families and point them to the hope I had in Jesus Christ. I wanted to reach out to the hurting and offer love, encouragement, and support so I began the process of forming Hope SHARE Foundation.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”
2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Hope SHARE was created to share hope by offering Support, Healing, And Relief with an Eternal perspective. To do so, we are partnering with independent counselors and counseling centers that offer grief counseling with biblical principles and tools. Hope SHARE provides funding for counseling sessions for any mother or family that has lost a child with the goal of providing grieving parents with the tools to process their grief and begin healing. In conjunction with this not-for-profit organization, I have continued to write about my experience with the process of grieving and regularly meet with other moms who have experienced the loss of a child. As a Hope Mom, I feel a calling to help bear the burden of other mothers’ grief and in doing so show others the love of Christ.

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
Galatians 6:2

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
John 13:34

My only desire in starting this foundation was to bless others and in turn glorify God. Through the process, however, He has blessed me in so many ways. I am continually in awe of how He chooses to answer each and every prayer and orchestrate events to reveal His sovereignty— even in the smallest of details. He has stretched my faith and humbled me by forcing me to rely on Him through my inadequacies. Through it all, God has shown me purpose in my pain.

While I wanted to share with you about how we are helping others, my ultimate goal today is to encourage you, sweet sister. Your child’s legacy won’t look like ours, but I encourage you to pray earnestly for God to reveal how He would have you share hope to others. There is so much healing when we allow God to turn our pain into something beautiful.

Megan Kelley is married to Jake and the mother to seven babies. Her first child she lost to miscarriage in September of 2009. She then had two children, Hunter (7) and Preston (5). After Preston, she lost her next two to miscarriage in March and August of 2014. A month later, she found out she was pregnant with her son, Thatcher, who was diagnosed with Edwards Syndrome. He went to his heavenly home shortly after he was born on April 17, 2015. She was blessed with her latest addition, Abigail Quinn in July of 2017. She loves painting, gardening, cooking, reading, and playing with her kids at the park.

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