59 results for tag: Shelly

Purpose in the Pain: Genuine Faith

I remember a conversation I had with a woman in my church who mentored me in the early days of my young marriage. She had several young children at the time, and one of her sons had been diagnosed with cancer. As she described the sadness and difficulty of their situation, she commented that while it was painful, she and her husband were grateful for the opportunity for their faith to be proven genuine. As they pressed on through the difficulty, they knew that their faith and trust in God was pleasing to Him. My friend was living and breathing 1 Peter 1:6-7, which says, “​​In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, ...

Freely Given, Freely Received: Extending Grace

Early on in my grief, I did not extend much grace when people would make insensitive comments after the death of my son. To be honest, most of the people had no idea their comments were insensitive.  A case in point: one day at the grocery store after the loss of my son, I was checking out with my two girls while I was very pregnant. The girl scanning my groceries looked at my large belly and my two little girls and asked if I was hoping for a boy. I saw my girls look at me, and I wanted to protect them and make sure they didn’t feel undervalued because of their gender. I replied, “I had a son, and he died.”  Poor grocery ...

Bear Much Fruit: Kindness

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentlenessand self-control.-Galatians 5:22 When we are grieving, is it possible to have any fruit in our lives? When all we want to do is hole up in a cave, can we be patient with those that aren’t grieving—and who just might possibly say hurtful things because they don’t understand? When the days are long and full of sorrow, can we have joy and peace? When we are angry and hurt, can we be kind?  The short answer is “yes!” When we grieve, it is easy to turn within ourselves and keep our focus on our own sorrow. But when we do that ...

When Sorrow Feels All-Consuming…

God’s Word speaks thoroughly and abundantly into every season of the heart. As we study His Word, we learn that within its pages are found the ultimate source of comfort and peace for the sufferer. In this series, we will seek to carefully and compassionately apply these ancient, scriptural truths to feelings and experiences that are common in grief. Have you ever been upset with someone, and the longer you hold it in the more hurt, mad, or offended you become? I have. Then, when I have the conversation to voice my feelings, I feel better afterwards and can move on.  It is the same way with the Lord. When things happen in ...

Because He Lives: We Are Set Free

“But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where Helay.”-Matthew 28:5-6 As a Hope Mom, this verse is the beginning of our hope. Jesus was crucified for our sins and was raised from the dead. Because of that act by Jesus, we can be set free from our sins. We have the hope of resurrection and that leads to the hope of seeing our babies again in heaven. Jesus’ death on the cross is the foundation of our hope.  Romans 10:9 says that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and be...

Our Gracious God

God has invited us to be captivated by the greatness of His character and what we believe about God has the greatest potential to shape our suffering. Although we will never be able to thoroughly grasp the fullness of His glory on this side of eternity, He has given us glimpses of His glory in the revelation of His Word. In this series, we will dive into ten attributes of God and discover what hope they offer us in our sorrow and how knowing and believing these truths about who God is can provide great comfort in the midst of grief. If you grew up going to church and call Jesus your friend, or have little or no knowledge of God as a being ...

Adopted As Sons

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. Throughout this Advent season, we will be studying Galatians 4:4-5 together. In this series, we wil study the gospel truths found in these verses and discover how the coming of Christ speaks into our sorrow. "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons."Galatians 4:4-5 READ: I love the idea of adoption. I have friends who have been adopted, and I have friends who have adopted. One of my friends has three biological children and one adopted ...

25 Years Later

It can often seem as though you will always be drowning beneath the acute pain of loss. However, while our grief never truly ends, it doesn't always look and feel the same way. In this series, our writers speak from where they are now in their grief, _________ years later. Throughout this series, you will find testimonies of how grief changes us, and how God uses our heartache to shape us into a greater reflection of His image. Twenty-five. Wow! I had to sit with that for a minute. Or several minutes. Twenty-five years since my son was stillborn. That’s almost half of my life.  It’s hard to imagine that on December 15 it will ...

Death Will Be No More

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be studying Revelation 21 together, which gives us a beautiful picture of the eternity that awaits those who are in Christ . In this series, we seek to lift the grieving mother's eyes up towards heaven and the imperishable inheritance that is hers and her precious baby's in Christ. "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4 READ: Have you ever lost a favorite item—like ...

He Is With You In The Fire

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. I grew up going camping, and part of the experience is building a fire. We would often huddle around the fire-pit and feed in small sticks and dried leaves hoping the flame would grow. As the flame consumed the small twigs and leaves, we added bigger and bigger logs until the fire raged so hot we often ...