Lessons from a Grieving Mother - Molly Piper

Molly Piper is a friend from my seminary days (at Bethlehem). She is the daughter-in-law of John Piper and she writes this article about the grief she has and still experiences from the lost of her daughter through "stillbirth." I think it is helpful to read because it gives some helpful advice in how to help comfort those who are suffering from a great loss:

Molly writes:

A year ago I was seven months pregnant with our second child. We found out at our 18-week ultrasound, much to my delight, that this one was a girl. As the last months of pregnancy ambled on, we got more and more excited. We had done the boy thing already; we were ready for a daughter.

Everything was normal as the end of pregnancy drew near. There were no signs of a problem when I visited the doctor that final week. However, at 39 weeks and 4 days, I couldn't shake the feeling, “I haven't been feeling this baby move as much.”

We went to the hospital, not really alarmed, but concerned. When they couldn't find her heartbeat, mine beat fast enough and furiously enough for both of us, as though it were trying to live for her. Ultrasounds confirmed that our child had died.

We delivered her that day—September 22, 2007—Felicity Margaret Piper. She weighed 9 pounds, 5 ounces and was perfectly formed, though her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck.

I had no category for “stillbirth” before this. Who gets 39 weeks into a smooth pregnancy and doesn't think they're definitely going to bring home their baby?

The road we've walked the past 10 months has been horribly difficult, the hardest thing we've ever walked through in our lives.

Here are some things I'd like people to know about me during this time. Maybe it will be helpful for you as you love other women you know who are living through the loss of a child.

You can read the rest of the blog here.

You can read Molly's blog here.

Defining the Sucessful Woman?

Here is a good and brief article from Boundless Line on what truly is a successful woman. Ted Slater writes (emphasis mine):

Successful Women
When you hear that term, what comes to mind?

A couple of days ago I was flipping through some old copies of my grad school alumni magazine. They featured current and former students who'd done well, who had gone on to write books, make waves in government, take on pastorates, receive teaching awards, produce prize-winning films, head up inner city missions, and so on.

And that was just the women.

The message is that "successful women," those whom we should honor for their leadership skills, are those who influence people on a large scale. The more people affected by the alumna, the more successful.

But what about those women who went on to influence a small group of people, and more deeply? What about those women who, with master's degrees in hand, chose to forgo acclaim and take on the humble responsibility of being mere mothers? Who exchanged the inch-deep significance of a sterile board room for the eternal significance of the family room?

It's enough that my alumni magazine promotes women pastors, a vocation with no biblical precedence. But by remaining silent about the influential role of full-time mother, they imply that such women may not be counted among the "successful."

I know it's a cliche, but perhaps it is so because it's so true: In their last moments, women will likely not regret having spent so few hours working for The Man. They'll regret not having spent as much time as they could with the ones they love. In the case of married women, that's likely to include their children.

It's fine to recognize the success of women outside the home. Let's also recognize the too-overlooked success of those who, as the saying goes, rock the cradle.

Um, did I mention that we're expecting our third daughter to be born this Friday? Not sure that's relevant.... ;-)

I am thankful for the many successful women I know who work harder than any successful business man or woman or pastor--my wife (Molly) is one of them.

You can go to the post here and read some of the comments.

ESV Study Bible - Coming

[HT-Justin Taylor]
Here's a 5-minute intro to the ESV Study Bible. You'll see a few of the original drawings (Jerusalem in the time of David, in the time of Solomon, in the time of Nehemiah, in the time of Jesus; the Herodian Temple Mount, the Temple Mount Complex, and a cutaway of Herod's Temple). You'll also see a few endorsements of the ESV Study Bible:


I plan to purchase this Bible when it comes out this fall. The best price I have found is at amazon.com for $31.49 (hardback).

Here is the video:

Bush Attends Church in Beijing

I thought this was interesting - Bush attended a registered church in Beijing yesterday. See this AP video clip:

Preparing for Corporate Worship - Sunday, August 10th

Douglas Wilson writes an exhortation on preparing for corporate worship:

every week at this time you hear an exhortation to prepare yourself for worship. But remember that these exhortations should be recalled at other times than just a few moments before we begin.

Prepare for the Lord's Day throughout the week. Exhort your children. Prepare them for it. Meditate on the subject of the sermon. Review the psalms and hymns that we list a week before. Use the bulletin to guide your prayers for those we lift up on the Lord's Day.

Prepare for this worship the night before. Set clothing aside so there is no frantic rush to find things at the last minute.

Rise a little early to compose your thoughts, and arrange the frame of your heart. Pray, Pay attention to what you eat and drink so that you don't have to interrupt your worship with trips to the restroom.

Teach your children to sit still, learning to pay attention. Be patient with those parents who have this considerable task in hand.

Every day, look forward to the opportunity we have to worship the Lord. Long for it, and pray that God would use what we do here for His glory in our community. It is His name we lift up, and because it is a name with great weight, we must pray that He will do this through us, for our strength is small.

Here is the Scripture passages for the sermon and the songs with lyrics.