For the woman experiencing the anguish of grief after pregnancy or infant loss, the journey of faith can be challenging. Where is God in your pain? Where was He when your baby died? How can you keep moving forward amidst such grief? This plan pairs hope-filled Scripture with daily devotionals written specifically for the grieving mother – so that God’s Word may fill you with hope amidst your hurting.
The Morning
Day 1
Scriptures: Isaiah 55:8-12, Psalms 103:11, Isaiah 40:8, Isaiah 35:10
HE IS GOOD. Even when we don’t understand.
His ways are higher. And more superior. He sees that which we cannot see and understands that which we cannot understand.
And He does so perfectly.
And while it may not feel true and everything in you is screaming that God is against you and that He got this wrong and how could He possibly be good… we can trust Him and His Word. We can ask for the faith to believe that which feels impossible. And we can take great comfort in knowing that we have a God who sees all and knows all and is fully in control; a God who did not make a mistake and loves you with an “everlasting love”; a God who can be trusted.
Even when we do not understand, even when it hurts.
PRAYER
Father, I praise you and thank you that your ways and your thoughts are perfect. That you see in full and know in full and reign accordingly. There is nothing you do not understand, nothing that slipped your grasp, nothing out of your control. God my heart is aching. In the moments when I am overcome with grief and doubt takes over, give me the faith to believe that You are good and right and holy. Help me to trust You.
Day 2
Scriptures: Psalms 34:4-19, Psalms 20:7, Psalms 147:10-11, Job 36:7, 1 Peter 3:12
HE HEARS. HE DELIVERS.
Seek the Lord. Call out to Him. His Word is true and He will answer, He will deliver you.
He is encamped around you, protecting you.
His eyes are toward you, He is looking right at you. And He isn’t looking at you with judgment or condemnation or frustration, He is looking at you with the eyes of a Father who loves His daughter and aches right alongside her.
When you cry out to Him, He hears you. Call out to Him.
PRAYER
Oh God, how I praise you that you are near. You hear my cries and you see my tears and you know the aching of my heart. Father, as I cry out to you, I pray for healing and I pray for strength and I pray for restoration to my broken heart.
Day 3
Scriptures: Job 13:15, Isaiah 55:1-13, 1 Peter 1:3-6
I WILL HOPE IN HIM.
Nothing comes to us except that which has gone through the hands of the Father. He did not cause your pain but He did allow it. Which begs the question, if God is for me, if He loves me why would He allow this to happen? God is big enough to handle our questions, He isn’t surprised by your questions, or your doubts, or your fears. He isn’t angry with you for asking, in fact, He already knows the depths of your hearts so go to Him.
But don’t stay there. Don’t stay in the hopelessness of doubting God. After you ask the questions and after you seek His heart, draw to mind Isaiah 55; His ways are higher than ours. We cannot possibly grasp the mind or ways of our infinite God. So we call out to Him to help our unbelief and in the place of doubt we ask Him to restore our hope, our trust, in Him.
PRAYER
Restore my hope in you Father. Amidst my doubt, my confusion, and my anguish, help my unbelief. Help me to remember and meditate on Your goodness, your faithfulness, and your everlasting love. Help me to not be afraid of that which I can’t possibly understand. Help me to hope and trust in You.
Day 4
Scriptures: Colossians 3:2-4, Romans 8:5-6
SET MY MIND ON ETERNITY.
When our eyes are firmly planted here, seeing only what this world has to offer, we can quickly lose hope. We see and experience death and destruction at any given moment. God is calling us to something more than what we can see here. Our taste of death is an opportunity to shift our gaze towards heaven, an opportunity to long for eternity. And that is a gift. I know it doesn’t feel like a gift but anything, even pain and sorrow, that points our eyes towards Jesus and makes us long for the day that He will appear, is a gift.
PRAYER
Father, set my mind on things that are above, set my eyes on you, set my heart on you. Remind me Father that this world is not my home and there will be a day when you make all things new, a day when there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more tears.
Day 5
Scriptures: Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 41:13, Psalms 138:1-8, Psalms 34:17-19
HE IS WITH YOU.
He is with you. He is strengthening you. He is helping you.
He is holding you up with His very own hand.
He is whispering to you “Do not be afraid. I am here. I am the one who will help you.”
Everything feels unknown, uncertain, out of control. But nothing is unknown, uncertain, or out of His control.
Friend, He is in control and right now He is right there, holding your hand.
PRAYER
Father, help me not be afraid. Help me to trust that you are right here, providing strength and help in my time of desperate need. Father, I praise you, for you are mighty and nothing escapes you, nothing is out of your control.
Day 6
Scriptures: John 11:33-36, John 11:3-5, Hebrews 4:15
HE KNOWS YOUR PAIN.
One of the most beautiful passages of Scripture. Jesus is not weeping because Lazarus has died for He knows He will raise Lazarus from the dead in just a few moments. He is weeping because He deeply loves Mary and Martha. He is in deep anguish over their pain.
He loves you just the same. Your pain is no different. Even as Jesus knows there will be a day when He will make all things new and there will be a day when we remember sorrow no more. Right now He knows you are hurting and He is hurting right alongside you. Run to Him in your pain and let Him work healing in you today.
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses…” Hebrews 4:15
PRAYER
Thank you Father that you are a God who weeps alongside me, You feel my pain deep in your spirit. Thank you Father for your deep care for my heartache. Thank you for being a God who loves His children. Help me to run to you, just like Mary did, in my moments of despair and confusion and doubt. Help me to love you, even when it hurts. Help me to trust you, even when I don’t understand.
Day 7
Scriptures: 1 Thessalonians 4:13, Revelation 21:4, 1 Corinthians 15:26-27, Isaiah 35:10
WE GRIEVE WITH HOPE.
We grieve with hope because Jesus’ work on the cross conquered death. We grieve with hope because there will be a day when we will be in eternity; a place of full understanding, a place where we will be face to face, worshiping our Creator, Father, Savior, Sustainer, Provider, Protector, and Friend; a place with no more death, no more sorrow.
And we grieve with hope because we will see our babies again.
PRAYER
Thank you Jesus for hope of eternity. Thank you for your gift of salvation that makes hope after death possible. Thank you Father that we do not have to grieve as those with no hope. Thank you for joy amidst sorrow, joy in knowing that one day death will be no more.
Day 8
Scriptures: Psalms 103:10-13, Romans 8:1, 2 Corinthians 5:17
IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT.
Your loss is not your fault. You did not cause this or make this happen. God alone is the giver of life.
God is not punishing you. He is compassionate towards you and loves you with a perfect and everlasting love (verse 17). God does not deal with you according to your “iniquities” (disobedience, wrongdoing, sin) when you are a believer in Jesus because Jesus’ righteousness (His goodness and perfection) is now yours. You are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) in Him.
PRAYER
Thank you Jesus for making me new. Thank you for being a compassionate Father who loves me perfectly and does not deal with me based on anything I have done or will ever do. Lord protect my heart from believing lies that I caused this loss. Instead, help me instead to see you, to trust you as my God who is in control, my God who is mighty and powerful but compassionate and kind. Help me to see you as a gentle Father who loves her daughter.