61 results for tag: Shelly

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 ...

Hymns of Hope: Blessed Assurance

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. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. Surely the person who penned those words I sang hundreds of times growing up never knew heartache. Surely.  Not so. Fanny Crosby was a mother who never got to raise her child. Her daughter died in her sleep shortly after being born, and only a few relatives and close friends knew of her loss until the end of her life ...

The Church and Grief: You Don’t Have to Walk Alone

In this series, we will explore the unique joys and difficulties we encounter as Hope Moms when re-engaging with church after loss, and seek to help the Church (leaders, members, and ministries) understand how they can come alongside the grieving mother to provide hope, healing, and community in the midst of such great sorrow. I stood on the stage, belly protruding and a microphone in my hand. I was excited to sing a solo that December day since it would be the last time I would help lead worship at my church because of my “maternity break.” My baby boy was pressing on my diaphragm, making singing harder and harder. The music started ...

Two Are Better Than One

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. "Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for ...

He Draws Near: Shelly’s Experience

As I sit down to write about “drawing near” I am currently being told to stay six feet away from my friends and others I love. The irony. I pray that by the time you are reading this, we are past the coronavirus crisis and are once again able to be near to those we love and proximally close to others in our community.  I grew up in a Christian home, so I was taught from an early age that Jesus loved me and was near to me at all times. Even with that knowledge, when my son was stillborn at 37 weeks, I needed to feel His nearness. On my kitchen window, I had a box of cards with Bible verses on them that someone gave me as a wedding ...

The Gift of Zachary

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. I’ve read through the description for this topic a few times and contemplated what ways I am grateful for my son—who I only got to hold briefly when he was stillborn. I didn’t get to ...