Courageously Expecting: 30 Days of Encouragement for Pregnancy After Loss

by Jenny Albers

Overview

Using Scripture and personal narrative, Courageously Expecting empathizes with and empowers women to face a pregnancy after loss with faith and courage, despite inevitable feelings of grief and fear that accompany life after losing a baby.

Pregnancy is widely regarded as the most joyful time in a woman's life, but for the mother who has experienced pregnancy loss, a subsequent pregnancy can feel like she's holding her breath and hoping for what she can't control. In Courageously Expecting, Jenny Albers meets women in this difficult season as someone who has also experienced the worst and cautiously hoped for the best. Through the telling of her own story, Scripture, and heartfelt prayer, she encourages readers to cling to faith in the face of fear and guides them to

• cultivate hope when doubt weighs heavy;
• realize that the past does not dictate the present or the future and that God creates a way in the wilderness of grief and loss;
• flip the script on the what-if, worst-case-scenario narrative in their minds and learn to take their thoughts captive; and
• find the courage to humble themselves and ask for and accept help from others.

Regardless of where readers are on their pregnancy after loss journey, Courageously Expecting is a companion to help them through the days when fear overshadows hope.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400228232
Publisher:	Nelson, Thomas, Inc.
Publication date:	01/11/2022
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	253,950
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 5.30(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Jenny Albers is passionate about sharing her own experience with pregnancy loss and life after to encourage other women during their own difficult journey of loss and pregnancy after loss. She is a contributor for Pregnancy After Loss Support, where she writes about these topics. She also contributes to Her View from Home, a site focused on motherhood, marriage, faith, and grief. She calls South Dakota home, where she lives with her husband and two living children.

Table of Contents

Introduction: An Invitation to Carry On in Courage xiii

Day 1 The Courage to Try Again 1

Day 2 Choosing Hope over Doubt 9

Day 3 The Courage to Rejoice Today Without Knowing What Tomorrow Holds 15

Day 4 The Courage to Say "I'm Pregnant" 21

Day 5 Imagining a Different Ending When History Begins to Repeat Itself 29

Day 6 The Courage to Stay Grounded When Storm Clouds Hover 37

Day 7 Boldly Putting on the Armor of God 43

Day 8 The Courage to Endure the Long, Hard Wait 49

Day 9 The Courage to Choose a New Medical Team 55

Day 10 Choosing to Focus on Your Pregnancy Instead of Envying Hers 63

Day 11 The Courage to Believe God Made Your Body Capable 69

Day 12 The Courage to Seek Comfort in God Instead of Google 75

Day 13 Changing the Narrative on What-If 81

Day 14 The Courage to Ask for and Accept Help 89

Day 15 Holding Fast to the Assurance of What Cannot Be Taken from You 97

Day 16 The Courage to Let Grief and Joy Dance 105

Day 17 The Courage to Believe in a Miracle 113

Day 18 The Courage to Create Tangible Forms of Hope 119

Day 19 Finding Peace in the Fog 127

Day 20 Refuge for When You Are Exposed 133

Day 21 The Courage to Take the Picture 139

Day 22 A Place Where Honesty Is Met with Understanding 147

Day 23 The Courage to Shamelessly Depend on God 155

Day 24 Uprooting the Seeds of Guilt 163

Day 25 The Courage to Celebrate Each Milestone 169

Day 26 Casting Out Bitterness When Casual Comments Hurt 177

Day 27 The Courage to Carry On in Your Weakness and God's Strength 185

Day 28 The Courage to Trust the God of Restoration 191

Day 29 The Courage to (Finally) Surrender 197

Day 30 Courageousiy Believing That Joy Will Come in the Morning-Even If 205

Acknowledgments 211

Notes 215

About the Author 217

Editorial Reviews

11/22/2021

Albers, a contributor at the Pregnancy After Loss Support website, debuts with a heartfelt collection of a month’s worth of daily reflections, offering hope and encouragement for those trying to conceive or carry a birth to term following pregnancy loss. Albers thought she and her husband had their family neatly planned out, envisioning three years between each birth of a crew of kids. But just as her first child, a daughter, approached her third birthday, Albers had two losses in a row: first an ectopic pregnancy, then a stillbirth. Drawing on ample scriptural sources, she helps readers find the courage to pursue and embrace pregnancy after loss, even if they cannot be sure they will carry to term, since “God promises to restore every broken thing, including your motherhood.” Albers shares prayers that soothed her as she overcame her own doubt, envy, grief, guilt, and feelings of being misunderstood. She encourages the treasuring of memories, such as a positive pregnancy test or the first heartbeat recorded, while anticipating a heavenly reunion. Moving forward, she emphasizes how something as simple as purchasing nursery decor can help restore hope. “Loss doesn’t discriminate,” she writes, while Psalm 126:5 promises “those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.” These pages will offer much balm to uncertain expecting mothers. Agent: Blythe Daniel, the Blythe Daniel Agency. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly