96 results for tag: Lianna

In the Word: Jehovah-Rohi

  Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be looking at different names of God found in Scripture, and how these different aspects of who He is offer us hope in the midst of our 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 the questions below. We pray that you hearts will be encouraged as you study these names of God along with us!  Jehovah-rohi,: “The Lord is My Shepherd” "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads ...

A Song for My Soul: Abide With Me

Music has the ability to speak into the deepest recesses of our hearts. God often uses songs to speak hope and encouragement to our souls. In this series, Hope Moms share songs that have pointed them to the hope of Christ in the midst of their grief. Is there a song that has comforted you in your grief? We'd love to have you share your story here. Abide with me; falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide. When other helpers, fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, abide with me. Thou on my head, in early youth didst smile; And, though rebellious, and perverse meanwhile, Thou hast not left me, though I oft left ...

Much More

The grief of death paints my abode—streets and structures—pale and decrepit. Nothing of earth surpasses its power; I have seen no mere man pierce to true light beyond this affixed shadow. Firm is death’s power to dominate humankind. But almost unnoticed, the world creates death into a lull—a sinking song—that looks no further than to self. It whispers that unless I abide by the gritty baseness and the meaninglessness of life (apart from living for self), I am inexperienced—or, cannot make much of this life at all. The enemy exploits itself for all it has—convincing masses that today is it. So, “live your ...

Year Five Prayer

Dear Father, Thank You for loving Noelle perfectly, and more than I possibly could. Thank You for knowing her before that positive pregnancy test changed our lives. Thank you for the hope you have saved her from all sin and from much pain in this life. Thank You that though I sit and sob, she has never not seen Your glory and love. Thank You for remembering my tears, each bleeding drop for her. You hold my heart in the same hands that hold my sweet girl. I have wanted to do something beautiful—to remember, treasure, and serve. But I know it is You who have given us more than we deserve. Christ’s cross we both hold high, in heaven and in ...

Links for Hope Moms {Book & Song}

We want to share with you links to posts, videos, resources, and more to uplift, help, and encourage you in your walk with the Lord as you grieve. View past posts in this series here. 1. “How Long, O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil,”  by D. A. Carson “This book can serve to re-calibrate according to a biblical framework our thinking about suffering. If you are seeking to work through your understanding of theology to come to terms with where suffering and grief fits into a biblical worldview, and how Scripture's writers regard suffering, this is a go-to read. Allow me to quote from it at length: ‘Death is not ...

Guidance for the Idle

“We urge you, brethren, admonish the idle […] be patient with everyone” 1 Thessalonians 5:14 NASB I understand, firsthand, that grief can stall a person—it can take a physical toll that might, especially at first, preclude the amount of activity in life that used to take no thought. Though this may seem disconcerting and endless, in my experience, it is an aspect of grief that time does change with time. But even further, perhaps you have been sitting, for a while now, with a sense that little is worth doing anymore in this life. I have had these thoughts. But the apostle Paul has practical encouragement. In 1 Thessalonians 4:11, he ...

Grappling with the Grander Biblical View of Mercy

[Post credit: Unlocking the Bible] From the pits of grief and suffering, the human heart and soul can yearn to know the cause of earthly pain. Did a particular sin bring this suffering upon me, or did I need discipline? Tender answers might pour into the soul from Scripture—Job was a noble man who suffered and grieved (Job 1:8). And the man born blind in John’s gospel was not provided by Jesus with a personal sin corresponding to his pain (John 9:2-3). We cannot always draw straight lines between cause and effect for our individual suffering (Isaiah 55:9). In How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil, D. A. Carson ...

Heaven: Is My Baby There? {Part 2}

Editor's Note: This is the continuation of a two-part article. Part one can be found here. [Continued] My husband brought me the food in bed during my Scriptural search; he also listened to the thoughts that brought me tears of happiness through tears of sorrow. We made new, sink-worthy dishes that would need to be washed, and I spoke as one caught between the sight of two worlds—the world where I lived in mourning and the world I could see ahead. The pages of Scripture growing to feel thick between my fingers with this beautifully weighty news, I questioned further: How would God—the God who tells us all that we are sinners from ...

Heaven: Is My Baby There? {Part 1}

Editor's Note: This is the first of a two-part article. Part two will be posted tomorrow. [This article was written in the months after my daughter's home-going in 2013.] In the days after coming home from the hospital where my daughter was stillborn, I sat in bed before the Bible for many hours, searching. I would need to either trust God in the unknown or see Scriptural reason to believe that my daughter resided with Him. Humanly speaking, my most natural belief would have been that she somehow reached heaven. Looking as a mother at the vacant body of a new, precious child could stir no other desire in me than to believe that she was ...

When Your Thanksgiving Is without Thanksgiving

The book of Psalms bears a title that means, “praise.” Yet, Psalm 88 does not follow the typical pattern of concluding with or moving toward praise. This rare psalm is in a context, within the psalter, of many words of thanks and praise to God, seemingly indicating that refraining from a conclusion of praise is not a posture to maintain, no matter the circumstance (see also 1 Thess. 5:18). But in the Scriptures, we do have these words as a part of the song book of the Israelites. They would sing these words to the Lord from beginning to end, and they would conclude the song without turning to thanksgiving at that moment. Perhaps ...