163 results for tag: Ashlee

He Will Draw Near to You

God’s Word is filled with rich promises for His children. How do these “precious and very great promises” inform and direct your grief? How does keeping your eyes fixed on these truths anchor your hope in the Lord? In this series, we write about how God, through the promises in His Word, comforts and strengthens us in our sorrow. I walked down the hall as tears began to form in the corners of my eyes. It had been just a few days since I had learned that the babe I was carrying in my womb was already gone from me. Another still heart. Another journey through grief and loss. Moments earlier I had been talking with a friend at ...

Links for Hope Moms: Spring 2019 Edition

We want to share with you links to posts, videos, and resources from around the web to uplift, help, and encourage you in your walk with the Lord as you grieve. {Elizabeth Eliiot: 'Your Suffering Is Never for Nothing'} // Read the full article HERE {We Can't Grieve However We Want}// "Subsequent ultrasounds, however, showed that our boys had congenital birth defects. When they were born with crooked joints and extreme muscle weakness, they were immediately intubated. In an instant, a thousand dreams of fatherhood died. Instead of the life we hoped for, we were plunged into round-the-clock intensive care. Three years later we would ...

Together Before the Throne

It was early in the afternoon on a Friday in January. I was sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office waiting for a quick ultrasound of the precious babe I was carrying. At my previous appointment I had measured a few weeks ahead of schedule, so my midwife wanted to verify that the due date I had been given was accurate. I didn’t mind at all. I would always welcome another opportunity to see this tiny child of mine. But as soon as I was called back and my baby appeared on the monitor, everything changed. My dreams for the future vanished beneath the deafening silence of a still heart. Later that afternoon, with swollen eyes and a broken ...

In the Word: God is My Strength

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be studying Psalm 18:1-2 together. Psalm 18 was penned by David after God had delivered Him from the hands of his enemies, and is rich with metaphors describing the nature and character of God. In this series, we will be looking at how each of these attributes affords us a greater picture of God’s care for His children, and how knowing and believing these truths can bring comfort to our hearts in the midst of grief. As we study together, we encourage you to use the comments as a place to dialogue with us about what you are learning and share your answers to ...

Resolved to Hope

Tomorrow we will wake to the start of a brand new year. New Years is accompanied by the idea of a fresh start. We make lists of the ways we’d like to grow or change, and make plans to implement new habits, learn new skills, or embrace new experiences. Often, these resolutions are driven by a desire for self-improvement. But what if this year we allowed our resolutions to be rooted in a deep desire to exalt Christ? What if we welcomed 2019 with a resolve to anchor our hope in the Lord and magnify His name through our grief? There is no circumstance in life in which placing your hope in Christ is not relevant. There is no valley so low that His ...

Our Hope This Christmas

The people of Israel were waiting for the coming of the promised Messiah. They were living under the threat of the Assyrians, who would later bring the northern kingdom of Israel into captivity, when the prophet Isaiah delivered news of a child who would come to dissipate the darkness and redeem the world from sin. This birth announcement was a glimmer of hope in the midst of the fear and sorrow. “For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 We live in the space between the ...

Why Give to Hope Mommies? {And a Giveaway!}

It is estimated that one in four pregnancies will end in loss. I had been aware of the statistic for a long time, but I always assumed that most of these losses occur in countries where there isn’t easy access to affordable health care. Surely, with all of the medical advancements we have in the United States, baby loss could not be that common. Then, in May of 2014, I watched the monitor as the sonographer told me that my baby’s heart was no longer beating. My heart ached knowing that I would not be able to watch this sweet baby grow. Eight months later, I was in the emergency room delivering another precious baby. She too was not long for ...

Links for Hope Moms: Winter 2018 Edition

We want to share with you links to posts, videos, and resources from around the web to uplift, help, and encourage you in your walk with the Lord as you grieve. {Loving Your Friend Through Infertility} // Following the loss of a child, many Hope Moms, go on to experience secondary infertility. In this post, Meredith Hodge writes about how you can love and serve a friend who is struggling with infertility in a Gospel-centered way. "Mourning together not only unifies us as sisters in Christ, it is also a living example to those around us. Consider Jesus’ response when his dear friend Lazarus died: He wept. To the onlookers observing his ...

A Sacrifice of Praise

It was late on a Friday evening in January. I was sitting in a chapel with dozens of high school students at a winter retreat, thankful for the dim lighting that hid the tears that were streaming down my face. Just a few hours earlier I had been told that my baby’s heart was no longer beating. The worship team began playing, and soon the room was filled with the sound of voices lifted up in praise. I robotically formed the words of each song on my lips, but I was numb to what was taking place around me. Inside, I was crying out to the Lord, mourning the death of the child that I still carried within me. The next morning we gathered together again ...

One Week until October 15

Hope. This four-letter word has lost its rich significance in our current vocabulary. It is tossed around flippantly as a way to voice our personal desires. I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow. I hope this goes on sale. I hope I get the job. I hope…. But hope is more than wishful thinking. It's more than putting a patch over the not-yets and wish-they-weres, because it has nothing to do with what might happen in the future. Instead, the beauty of this profound word is that it has everything to do with what has already been accomplished. You see, hope began when our perfect Savior laid down His life on a shameful cross. “Theref...