96 results for tag: Lianna

We Will See Him

We will see Him. We will “behold His face” (Matt. 18:10). We will see Him “as He is” (1 John 3:2) without any separation. We will bow before Him (Phil. 2:10). To Be with God Our eternal life is where He—His holiness, sovereignty, goodness, mercy, and more—is experienced and proclaimed. Angelic beings, called seraphim, proclaim His holiness in the heavenly places (Isa. 6:3), showing us that He will be the One we want to speak of. He will be stunning to us. We will call to one another that He is holy and glorious. As people who have experienced the greatest possible magnificence and cannot keep it within, we will exchange with one ...

Filled Unto the Fullness of God

“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:16-19 One phrase in the passage immediately brings question and skepticism for me: “that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).  I think, "How is this ...

Such a Wide Freedom

Everyone's grief is unique and your stage in the process of healing as a Hope Mom might be such that this post is not an ideal read for you right now. I want to make you aware in advance that I am writing about my pregnancy after loss. Most of all, I desire that this post give hope of the freedom that comes with inviting God into grief. With love, Lianna There is a baby growing inside of me today. My husband and I are in disbelief. We are 15 weeks along in this pregnancy and our daughter, Noelle, whom we lost at 42 weeks, would have been two years old in three short months. As I grieved the loss of my daughter ...

Remember Your Creator

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 perspective, enabling us to press into the Lord regardless of our circumstances. In this series, we seek to explore the wise principles presented to us by "the Teacher" in order to better understand what it looks like to walk in the fear and joy of the Lord even in the midst of our grief. "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before&...

Three Books For Your 2020 Reading List

Today, I want to share with you aspects I appreciate of three books, which might be helpful and encouraging additions to your 2020 reading list. For All Who Grieve: Navigating the Valley of Sorrow and Loss (Smith). This work is authored by my former pastor (prior to our family’s recent cross-country move). In addition to being an author and pastor, Smith is a council member with The Gospel Coalition and president/teacher of Unlocking the Bible. Here is my endorsement of For All Who Grieve: “For all those who grieve: Discover how tears are released and seen by God, how loved ones are valued, how guilt meets grace, and how laments turn to ...

My First Quiet Time After Loss

Following the stillbirth of my first daughter, I looked to the Scriptures intently for answers about where she would spend eternity—later recording my findings in Made for a Different Land: Eternal Hope for Baby Loss. Then, as my husband and I planned our daughter’s memorial service, we looked to the Scriptures for words of the Lord’s peace and hope that would be featured on that day. In these earliest days of grief, my grandfather also wrote devotionals for my husband and me when loss was newest; these daily biblical words came to me spoon-fed—as the weak need.  Scripture was part of the first days of my grief, yes. Reasserting ...

Everlasting Father

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be studying Isaiah 9 together. In this passage, Isaiah gives us insight into the incredible hope that was given through the birth of Christ. Join us as we discover how the grieving mother can find comfort, especially in the holiday season, in the following descriptions of Christ. Everlasting Father “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 calledWonderful Counselor, Mighty God,Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah ...

Wonderful Counselor

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be studying Isaiah 9 together. In this passage, Isaiah gives us insight into the incredible hope that was given through the birth of Christ. Join us as we discover how the grieving mother can find comfort, especially in the holiday season, in the following descriptions of Christ. Wonderful Counselor “And His name shall be calledWonderful Counselor” Isaiah 9:6 READ: We need counsel; we need to know how our hope can increase and be established when sorrow and darkness come into our lives. But not all counsel is equal. The ...

20 Truths to Know about Jesus’ Triumph

In “One Unique Death Proclaimed,” posted on Good Friday, I write that Jesus does not brush past me in grief or scurry my wounds to patched-up, peripheral healing. Rather, Jesus addresses the core of my pain. Today, on Easter Sunday, I want to expound via twenty truths about Jesus’ triumph over sin and death:  Death affects all mankind, so we are wise to study in Scripture how it originated, what implications it has upon this present life, and what happens following it: “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart&#...

One Unique Death Proclaimed

The kind people at my home church would have been able to tell you that I cried through nearly every service—that is, every service I had the physical strength to last through—for weeks after our daughter went to glory. A HOME THROUGH SONG At the mention of heaven, the sound of “weary” or “grief” amplified by the church’s speakers, or the proclamation of Christ’s triumph over death: tears. I sobbed listening to this stanza¹: When we arrive at eternity’s shore Where death is just a memory and tears are no more We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring Your bride will come together and we’ll sing You’re ...