14 results for tag: Aimee

A Precious Memory with My Daughter

My parents raised my two sisters and me in the church and in a strong Christian household. When it came to baptism, our parents wanted us to make that decision for ourselves. They never pressured us into getting baptized. As a child, I thought baptism was for new Christians only, and since I wasn’t a new Christian, it seemed weird for me to be baptized. I was also really shy. If my sisters weren’t going in front of everyone at church, neither was I! As I grew older, I understood that baptism wasn’t just for new Christians. It is an outward representation of the rebirth into life with Jesus. It is meant to show the world the internal baptism of ...

Guilt + Grief: Should I Always Share About My Hope Baby When Talking to Others About My Family?

The weight of grief that comes from the loss of a child is a tremendously heavy burden to carry. For many Hope Moms, that weight is compounded by the additional burden of guilt. In this series, we seek to gently guide the grieving mother to the foot of the cross to exchange this burden of guilt for the peace, assurance, and forgiveness that is found in Christ. After we lost our daughter, Ginny, at just under 35 weeks, I dreaded being asked the question, “Do you have kids?” I knew that question would come eventually, and I had no idea how to answer it. I knew I had a daughter in heaven and in my heart. I knew I was a ...

Consider What God Has Done

“Consider the work of God: who can make straight what He has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.” Ecclesiastes 13:14 READ: Lately, it feels like the whole world is learning the lesson that we Hope Mommies have already learned: we are not in control. If we were in control, we would not have chosen this path of adversity. If we were in control, we would “fix” things. “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” ...

In the Word: Sharing in Suffering, Sharing in Comfort

Welcome to Hope Mommies In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be meditating on 2 Corinthians 1:3-11. As we study the truths found in these verses together, we’d love you to use the comments as a place to dialogue with us about what you are learning and share your answers to the questions below. We pray that you hearts will be encouraged as you dig into God's Word each week with us! “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s suffering, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” 2 Corinthians 1:5 READ: While in the depths of grief, we often feel alone in our suffering. It seems that everyone else is living ...

The Gift of Eternal Perspective

Most of the time people are happy enough to ignore death. They may feel it as a looming elephant in the room, but never talk about it. Our culture encourages us to make the most of this life, but doesn’t much care to address the fact that it ends. Suffering, on the other hand, has a way of clearing everything else out of the room. When you are suffering, especially in the face of grief, you are forced to stare right at death. When my daughter, Ginny, was stillborn at 35 weeks, death was in my womb. And then death was placed in my arms. My dreams and plans were replaced with death. There were moments I felt I might just drown in death. There was no ...

Cliche Comforts: “Time Heals All Wounds”

When loved ones see us in the depths of our pain, they want to give us hope to cling to. They often attempt to do so by offering us words they think may be comforting. One of the most common of these sayings is, “Time heals all wounds.” They expect to be planting seeds of hope for the future in our hearts, but most often those words hurt more than help. From my experience, this saying not only hurts but also rings untrue. In the early days of grief after my daughter Ginny was stillborn, time seemed to be so hugely empty. It somehow felt loud how empty time was. What were we supposed to be doing? What do we normally do? Time seemed to slow down to ...

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 bear our own crosses; we are to suffer with Jesus.  “The Spirit ...

When Your Prayers Aren’t Answered the Way You Hoped…

God’s Word speaks thoroughly and abundantly into every season of the heart. As we study His Word, we learn that within its pages are found the ultimate source of comfort and peace for the sufferer. In this series, we will seek to carefully and compassionately apply these ancient, scriptural truths to feelings and experiences that are common in grief. “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Matthew 18:19-20 “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may ...

Consider the Work of God

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be studying the book of Ecclesiastes together, which centers on the truth that life apart from Christ is empty and vain. In its pages, we discover how to view our lives with an eternal perspect...

Anticipating the First Birthday

Next week, it will be a year since our daughter, Ginny, was stillborn. Looking from the outside, it may seem that not much has changed since this time last year. We are living in the same house and driving the same roads. I was pregnant then, and I’m pregnant now. I was designing a nursery then, and I’m designing a nursery now. It’s the same room in a different color scheme. It sat empty this year. Most days, no one even entered through the door. Some days, I would enter and sit in the glider. I sat gliding with my empty arms and full but broken heart, staring at a bouquet of silk sunflowers that remind me of her.  In reality, ...