10 results for tag: Ravyn
Increased Reliance
Welcome to Hope Mommies In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be meditating on 2 Corinthians 1:3-11. As we study the truths found in these verses together, we’d love 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 dig into God's Word each week with us!
“ Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. ” 2 Corinthians 1:9
READ:
They say that losing a child is one of the very worst things a person ...
Dear Noah + Isabelle: A Letter to My Hope Babies
My Precious Babies,
Can you believe it has been six years since we lost you, Noah, and five years since we lost you, Isabelle? Sometimes, I don’t know where the time has gone, but I do know that I have spent a lot of that time missing you so very deeply.
I have wanted to be a mama as far back as I remember. Anytime I played house growing up, I was the mom. I dreamed about getting married and having kids one day, so once your dad and I got married, we could not wait to have a baby! Noah, when I found out I was pregnant with you, I was home alone because dad was at work, and I cried tears of joy. We decided not to wait to announce I was pregnant, so ...
Cliche Comforts: “The Lord Doesn’t Give You More Than You Can Handle”
As grieving parents, I am sure all of us have encountered someone who tried to comfort us with a cliche that was probably not very comforting at all. Death makes people nervous. Especially a baby’s death in a culture that does not always recognize the value of children (at any age in the womb or out).
At least in my experience, I have noticed that people do not know what to say to a grieving parent—or they do not always think through what they are saying. It is very easy to offer a cliche comfort or make a comment with no real substance to a grieving parent. I say it is easy because when I come into contact with someone else who is suffering in ...
His Mercies Are New Every Morning
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.
In my opinion, one of the most beautiful reminders of God’s mercy is found in Lamentations 3:19-25. It says:
Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: ...
Guilt + Grief: Could My Loss Have Been Prevented?
The weight of grief that comes from the loss of a child is a tremendously heavy burden to carry. For many Hope Moms, that weight is compounded by the additional burden of guilt. In this series, we seek to gently guide the grieving mother to the foot of the cross to exchange this burden of guilt for the peace, assurance, and forgiveness that is found in Christ.
Could I have done something to prevent this loss?Did I do something to cause her death?
These questions haunted me after the death of my daughter, Isabelle. I went into labor with her at 39 weeks and wanted to labor at home as long as possible, so my midwife suggested I stay home ...
Hymns of Hope: Be Still My Soul
Many of the hymns were born out of immense sorrow. In this series, we will examine these songs of old, discover the circumstances behind when they were written, and find comfort in the lyrics that so powerfully point us to the hope of Christ.
Many of us can think of specific hymns that have ministered to us in times of deep sadness and trial. “Be Still, My Soul” is one of those hymns for me. We chose to sing this hymn at my daughter’s funeral, and I sang it for months afterward when the silence of having no baby in the house became too much to bear. And now, I continue to sing this hymn as a reminder of God’s faithfulness and love ...
Grieving Together: Give Grace
Walking through the loss of a child is extremely difficult on its own, but the difficulty can be greatly compounded when walking through that grief with another. In this series, we seek to write about the ways we can encourage and support our spouse in grief, and come together before the Lord instead of being driven apart by sorrow.
“I pray that this trial makes you love God and each other more.”
A family friend texted this to me a few days after she found out my daughter, Isabelle, had died. I cried when I read the text, because I had been praying the same thing. I had heard stories of marriages falling apart after the loss of a ...
Trusting the Lord in Reoccurring Loss
Each child gone ahead from among us is a precious person made in the image of God—and all having been made into Hope Moms, we together declare motherhood in each of our journeys. Through this series, we honor each other’s experiences of motherhood in love through our shared God of hope.
At first, I thought that since I have experienced back to back losses, I might be able to share some thoughts from my experiences and what the Lord has taught and continues to teach me. However, I will be honest and say that this topic is extremely difficult to write about. As I reflect on the pain of reoccurring loss, I am hesitant to speak too ...
The Gift of Noah and Isabelle
As we consider the profound impact that our Hope Babies have had on our lives, we can be filled with gratitude toward them, and toward the Lord. In this series, we reflect on some of the ways that we can say "thank you" to our precious babe(s) for the gifts that they have been and continue to be to us. We welcome you to contribute to this series by writing your own reflection on the impact your baby(ies) has had on your life and submitting it HERE.
For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a mother. God, in His loving wisdom, did not bring that deep desire to fruition until I was twenty-seven years old. I longed for and prayed ...
