7 results for tag: Jennifer

Dear Paige: A Letter to My Hope Baby

Baby Girl, My arms still ache to hold you. My ears long to hear your sweet giggles. My hands yearn to brush your hair. My lips want to kiss your cheeks. My heart breaks because I can’t see you growing up. I can’t read to you, or sing lullabies to you, or make you pancakes in the shape of numbers on your birthday. There is always someone missing from the breakfast table and the family photos. There is a room that never got the chance to be yours. Your sweet brothers talk about you and take flowers to your grave. And those brothers of yours are everything to me, just like you are. No one else can ever take the place in mommy’s heart ...

Selah: 2021 Retreat Theme

Selah.  Have you heard this word before? Chances are you’ve read it in the Bible, or maybe you’ve heard of the band by the same name. Whether it is common in your vernacular or brand new to you, I want you to take a moment and soak in the realities of this God-breathed word.   The Hebrew word Selah is found in Scripture 74 times, and 71 of those occur in the book of Psalms. Many commentaries say that Selah is a mysterious, ambiguous word—a word with uncertain meaning. However, I’ve also read commentaries that say King David used this word in the Psalms as a place to take a breath, to settle into what was just said, to rest and ...

Jennifer’s Story

He flipped the switch and the room darkened. “Maybe now we will get a clearer view,” he said. I stared at the screen and it was still. Nothing. No movement or fluttering at all. “There is no heartbeat is there?” I said, fighting back tears. “I am so sorry,” he said as he sighed. I placed my head in my hands and began sobbing. "Why God?" Those seemed to be the only words I was able to utter. I knew I needed Him now more than ever, but I couldn't think of anything I wanted to say to Him. I just sat there on the exam table, alone, holding my stomach. After a few minutes I knew I needed to call my husband, but how do you tell ...

Book Release: “Made for a Different Land” {And a Giveaway!}

Made for a Different Land: Eternal Hope for Baby Loss is now available for purchase. Find it at Amazon here. Today, Hope Mommies’ executive director, Jennifer Parks, is sharing her foreword to the book. Foreword Lianna came into my life about three and a half years ago when I first read her writing at Hope Mommies. Hope Mommies is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization for women who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant loss. Each time a new post of hers was published on the blog, I devoured it immediately. She was able to articulate feelings and thoughts I carried in my heart for the Lord, and for my own daughter in heaven, that ...

By His Strength: 2019 Retreats

Grief is the intended consequence of losing someone that you love. Grief is natural—even though it feels anything but—and we can know this to be true because of the lament we see in the Psalms. "My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, 'Where is your God?'" Psalm 42:3 "Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish." Psalm 25: 16-17 I am currently eight years out from the stillbirth of my daughter, and though I have in no way fully processed my own storm of grief, I have been walking this rocky terrain for a while, and ...

Secured {Hope Mommies 2018 Retreat Theme}

“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ Surely He will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” Psalm 91:1-4 NIV This psalm of protection is where the theme for the upcoming Hope Mommies Retreat comes from. Secured. We would love to have you join us March 9-11, 2018 as we look deeply into Psalm 91 to discover all the ways our babies, our grief, our hope, our ...

Beautiful Inheritance {Hope Mommies 2017 Retreat Theme}

Please tell me I am not the only one that has ever skimmed over a word they didn’t know the meaning of in the Bible?  Miktam.  That was my word.  Read it.  Didn’t understand it.  Moved on.  But one day, several years ago, I sat in church as my pastor read Psalm 16 aloud.  “Psalm 16.  You Will Not Abandon My Soul.  A Miktam of David.”  But then he paused and looked up.  He asked if anyone knew what the word Miktam meant.  I sat in my chair hoping that no one else knew the meaning either so that I would finally be able to learn about this mysterious word.  No one in the ...