95 results for tag: Lianna

Christmas Eve Encouragement: “Please Don’t Try to Fix It”

The baby you greatly miss is not here. I know, I feel it too for mine. She was not here when we were hanging ornaments, and not here when wrapping last-minute presents in glowing Christmas light. They are not here with joy on their faces to receive gifts in celebration of the only Savior of this world. They are not here. And there is a felt void at every step through this time of year. We cannot fix it or change it. It is.   "Please don't try to fix it."   We resist when the words of others appear to be applying remedy for what they cannot fix—especially on big days like this, when feeling pain is part of it, but they cannot ...

Book Review: “An Inheritance of Tears,” by Jessalyn Hutto

An Inheritance of Tears: Trusting the Lord of Life When Death Visits the Womb by Jessalyn Hutto, is a brief book of about 100 pages packed with Scriptural, gospel-centered perspective for women who have experienced baby loss. In five chapters, Hutto takes us through theology for death and suffering as a woman who is, sorrowfully, very familiar with baby loss due to miscarriage. Our Limited Understanding Hutto acknowledges that when we have experienced something so traumatic in our lives, our minds tend to want to fill the gap in understanding, meaning we seek to grasp the reasons and purposes God had in mind in not preventing our losses. We ...

Book Review: “Lord Willing?” by Jessica Kelley

Recently, Lord Willing?, by Jessica Kelley came to the attention of women in our Hope Mommies private Facebook group. We are so thankful this group is a place for discussion and sharing of our ideas and journeys. Our shared Hope Mommies group has been founded upon a set of beliefs about the character and ways of God. So, when appropriate, we want to carefully provide a review for you of material introduced to our group that we consider outside of the scope of the Biblical beliefs this organization was founded on. Here, we extend to the author of Lord Willing? our own tears and sorrow over the loss of her dear son, saddened by the trauma that she, ...

Feed Your Soul: The Glory to Come, Part II {Heaven}

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:17   The truth of a future glory does not bring your baby back to you, but it will bring you to your baby. Is the view of heaven not greatly expanded when contrasted with the darkness of baby loss? ... Read the Hope Mommies doctrinal statement about heaven: HEAVEN: We believe Heaven is a real, actual place, is constantly referred to as “up” in location, and is the dwelling place of God, the staging ground of His angels, and the dwelling place of redeemed from earth that have died. There is immediate ...

Feed Your Soul: The Glory to Come, Part I {Grief & Hope}

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:17   There is something that far outweighs baby loss. This statement is tremendously difficult to believe because this experience is weighty.   If you are like me, this is how you feel:   This is the weightiest experience of your life.  You were not prepared in advance for the loss of your child.  This child was within you; his or her body could grow because yours sustained him or her.  And so, when your child ceased to grow or your child’s heart ceased to beat, in a sense, you ...

Feed Your Soul: Not Angels, Children of God {Angels}

One of the first sentences out of our doctor's mouth when coming back into the hospital room to consult with us after we learned that our daughter no longer had a heartbeat was that we now had our own “angel” looking over us. We knew his comment was intended to give a measure of comfort, yet, we also knew it was not literally true. We found solid comfort in the truths of Scripture about our hope of our daughter's present reality. These were truths we re-visited again and again in grief to resonate with our daughter's joy. That is why I want to share with you today six reasons we can rejoice that our sons and daughters ...

Feed Your Soul: Hallowed Days {Future Events, Afterlife}

“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 have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him,” (Matthew 24:36, 42-44).   Jesus Christ is coming again. He will make known His glory to the whole world. He will forever eradicate evil and death from ...

Feed Your Soul: Mothers Suffering Well {Sanctification, The Responsibility of the Believer, & Suffering}

In the last post in the Feed Your Soul Series, we considered the ordinances of the church, that in the Lord’s supper we remember that Christ’s body has been broken for us and that in baptism we identify ourselves with Christ in His death and resurrection. Our baptism as believers is the outward declaration of our inward faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins. When we consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to Christ, we have our impetus for desiring to live a godly life.   Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes this about the connection:   [Being delivered in the sense that our sins are forgiven] is only the beginning, but ...

Feed Your Soul: Between Now and Eternity {The Holy Spirit & Assurance)

My husband and I went to sit at a Lake Michigan beach while we were still in deep grief after our daughter’s stillbirth. We sat in chilly air, looking at the endless blue. This was the closest that we could come to an ocean, living in the Midwest. Looking out at my version of the ocean, I mused about themes of eternity in that endless view. We sat on our folding chairs and swatted at a few pesky flies, mostly in solitude together except for a few passersby in the distance whose frames eventually faded into the long stretch of sand. For me, this subtle act felt bold. It was one of my first attempts to return to the “real world,” meaning ...

Feed Your Soul: Defined by Love {Jesus Christ & Salvation}

How do I now do justice to the beauty of the cross? I cannot. Indeed, I will be worshiping Him for the way He has saved me from my sin for all eternity. With the last post in this series, I waded through some truths about sin. Has that post about sin and wrath not made this one all the sweeter to anticipate? There is a Savior! As Thomas Watson said, "Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet."   This is sweet; these are the three words I have learned to describe what Jesus has done on the cross for me: Penal: The just punishment that my sin deserved… Substitutionary: was placed on Christ instead… Atonement: ...