APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY

In this episode, Ashley walks through Chapter 14 of Cradled in Hope, “Our Future Forever: When You Long for Your Heavenly Home.” She invites grieving moms to set their eyes on eternity and live with urgency, hope, and peace in the promise that Jesus is coming back—and that we will be reunited with our babies in Heaven.

Ashley shares vivid memories of the day Bridget was born and went to Heaven, and how the fleeting nature of time shaped her longing for eternity. Through Scripture and personal reflections, she explains the biblical truth of the Resurrection, why she believes it is coming soon, and how we are called to live as we wait for Jesus’ return.

In this episode, Ashley shared:

• Why she ended the book by focusing on eternity and the return of Jesus
• A powerful visual using a skein of yarn to represent how brief our time on earth is compared to eternity
• Scriptural truths about the Resurrection, glorified bodies, and our Heavenly citizenship
• The comfort of knowing her daughter Bridget is already part of her eternal family
• Reflections on her own mortality and how the sudden loss of her dad deepened her desire to live with intention
• The difference between the Rapture and Second Coming, and why Ashley believes Jesus could return in our lifetime
• How Christians are called to “keep their lamps burning” and shine the light of Jesus as they wait
• A fresh perspective on the story of Lazarus and how it mirrors our hope in Jesus’ Resurrection power
• The word “Maranatha” and how it shaped the closing of this chapter and the entire book—He is coming soon!

Ashley encourages listeners to live every day with the mindset of “one day closer,” believing that suffering has an expiration date and that joy is coming forever. No matter how heavy the grief, there is a future full of glory and reunion ahead.

Journaling Prompt
Do you long for your Heavenly home? Imagine your future reunion with your baby and write down how you envision it.

Healing Step
Write the word “Maranatha” somewhere you will see it every day. Each time you do, pray to the Lord as you long for His return.

Bonus: Visit Ashley’s blog for a list of Bible prophecy books and resources, and begin reading Daniel or Revelation to grow in your understanding of what’s to come.

Full transcript below.

New episodes will be shared on the 1st of every month. Don’t miss a single episode…subscribe wherever you podcast!

Please also leave a review to help spread the message of hope with other grieving mommas!

JOIN OUR FACEBOOK GROUP FOR GRIEVING MOMS

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Ashley Opliger: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Cradled in Hope Podcast Book Club.

I’m your host, Ashley Opliger—grieving mom, author of Cradled in Hope, and founder of Bridget’s Cradles. I’m so honored to walk with you through my book, one chapter at a time, as we navigate the heartbreak of losing a baby together.

After my daughter Bridget went to Heaven at 24 weeks, I wrestled with deep sadness and complex questions about God’s goodness. But through that grief, Jesus showed me that He not only cradles our babies in Heaven, He also holds our broken hearts here on earth.

Whether you’re reading along or simply listening in, this is a safe space for your sorrow—a place where your tears, questions, and raw emotions are welcome. Each episode, we’ll reflect on a chapter of Cradled in Hope and gently walk together from heartbreak to healing, and from pain to purpose.

My prayer is that this podcast will remind you that you are not alone in your grief and, most importantly, that it will point you to Jesus, the only One who can truly heal your heart. Through faith in Him, there is hope to see your baby again, and He will be with you every step from here to Heaven.

So wherever you are in your journey, I invite you to join me—and together, we will grieve with hope.

Let’s begin.

Ashley Opliger: [00:01:22] Hi friends. Welcome back. Today, we are diving into the final chapter, which is Chapter 14, Our Future Forever: When You Long For Your Heavenly Home. I cannot believe we have made it all the way through the book, and this chapter is one of my favorite chapters, if not my absolute favorite chapter. It’s hard to pick just one.

[00:01:42] But this one I hope you feel is the culmination of all of our hope that Jesus is coming back and that we will one day live in Heaven, which is our Heavenly home. 

And so I wanted to end the book focusing on our future and on what’s ahead because so much of what we process throughout this book was looking at the past of what we had experienced and losing our baby, looking at our present and the grief that we’re experiencing, and what the Lord’s doing in our hearts.

[00:02:09] But this chapter is really focused on being excited about the return of Jesus. So let’s start by focusing on our key passage from the chapter, which is John 14:2-3, 

“My Father’s house has many rooms. If that were not so, would I have told you that I’m going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me, that you also may be where I am.”

[00:02:35] So as I start this chapter, I go back to the day that Bridget went to Heaven, so the day that she was born. And I talk about how that day, even though it was over 10 years ago–this year, we celebrated Bridget’s 11th birthday in Heaven–even though it was so long ago, that day is still so vivid in my mind.

[00:02:55] I don’t know if you feel the same way about the day that your baby died or the day that you delivered them, but it is so clear in my mind. And I just remember holding Bridget in her cradle and wanting to freeze time because I knew that those were going to be the only moments on this earth that I was going to spend with my daughter.

[00:03:16] And so I was gazing at her in awe and trying to memorize her face and preserve every detail. And even though I was in shock and trauma, I still remember thinking, “I need to soak every moment up because I am no longer going to have these moments with her very soon,” and that was really hard to process the fleeting nature of time.

[00:03:38] And so even though it’s been over a decade, I can still recall the sensation of her face on my lips. I remember repeatedly kissing her little nose and lips, which because she was so small, both her nose and her lips fit over my lips, and I just kept trying to freeze that moment in my brain so that I would remember it.

[00:03:58] And so I know that when you’re looking back, you just feel like that time was so quick and fleeting, and it feels like from that moment ‘til now, there’s this infinite chasm that separates you from your baby. 

[00:04:13] That’s what’s so hard, is the separation that we talked about earlier in The Gospel Changes Everything, how death has now caused this separation between you and your baby, and you just wish you could go back and be pregnant with them again or hold them again, and that time has passed and we can’t go back in time. 

[00:04:29] And so I know that you would do anything to go back in time to be pregnant with your baby again because you weren’t ready to say goodbye. And those moments held the only moments that we got to hold them in their lifetime, and we just want to go back to that. 

But we can’t go back in time, and we also can’t speed up time. And so we’re here in the present, but we can look forward to the day that we’re going to see our babies again. 

[00:04:53] And so I talk a lot about time in this chapter because time has felt so elusive to me, and it just feels like it’s always slipping through my hands. And I share about how our lives are so brief, and our babies’ lives were so brief. 

The Bible tells us that “Our lives are but a vapor that appears for a little time and afterwards vanishes away.” That’s from James 4:14. And so I use this example in our support groups, because in our ministry in Kechi, Kansas, we have a lot of yarn and a lot of cradles that surround us. And so I will hold up a skein of yarn and show them this example to try to illustrate the concept of eternity.

[00:05:34] I’ll unwind the yarn and pass it around and show them like, “If this yarn continued on beyond our headquarters, beyond our boundary of Kansas, across the United States, across the earth, and it just kept going back and forth across the earth, if that were the case, which obviously there’s not a skein of yarn that’s that long, but let’s just say it was an eternal skein of yarn and it just kept going and going.

[00:06:00] And I know it’s hard to imagine that, but let’s say that it existed. I tell grieving moms that if this never-ending yarn represents eternity, then this tiny section,” and I show them a little section with my hands, “that would represent the history of humankind on earth, “and then this,” using the tip of my fingernail I point to inside that section, “would represent our time on earth. And then maybe even a smaller speck inside of that would represent our baby’s life.” 

And I know that’s sad to think about, “Wow, our lives are such a vapor. It seems like they’re not important, or they’re so insignificant because they’re so brief.”

[00:06:40] And I think it’s important that we understand that we are eternal beings and that our babies are eternal beings. And so even though the speck of time on earth was so short and brief, we are going to live forever. And so the rest of that never-ending piece of yarn, that represents our time in eternity. And likewise for our babies.

[00:07:00] And that has really helped me understand that this short amount of time that I’m on earth, the short amount of time that I’m separated from Bridget, is going to be so insignificant compared to the amount of time I’m going to spend with her in eternity. 

[00:07:24] And I know it’s weird to think about our own lives and how brief they’re going to be, but I think when I lost Bridget, I really had an understanding of my own mortality. And so one time when I was visiting her at the cemetery, I laid down on the ground, and I was just looking up at the clouds. I started thinking about the fact that unless Jesus comes back first, which I do believe that Jesus could come back in our lifetime, that if He doesn’t come back first in my lifetime, I will one day be buried in this very cemetery.

[00:07:44]  In fact, after my dad went to Heaven, Matt and I got our plots, and we have our plots. I know exactly where I’m going to be buried, if Jesus doesn’t return first. And that’s a very interesting place to be as a 38-year-old, to visit a cemetery often and know exactly where you’re going to be buried. And it gives you the perspective of the fact that our lives are but a vapor, we will not live forever on this earth.

[00:08:07] And some people might think that’s depressing, and that’s sad to think about how short our lives are and how brief our time on earth is. But I think for me, what it’s done is it’s given me an urgency to use the one life that I have and the days that I have, when I don’t even know how many days I’m guaranteed because God has numbered my days, and I will not be able to live past those days.

[00:08:29] The Bible tells us in Job that He has set our limits and we cannot live beyond those limits, and that none of us can add a single hour to our life by worrying. And that verse comes from Luke 12:25. And the one about our days being determined, that’s from Job 14:5, it says, “A person’s days are determined; You have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.”

 [00:08:55] And. I think for me, lying in that open field, imagining that one day my body would be six feet underground, and looking up at Heaven really made me not be so scared of death, because death used to really disturb me, and it scared me to die.

[00:09:11] But now that my daughter is there and now that my dad is there, I look forward to it with joy. That doesn’t mean that I am suicidal and that I’m going to take action to get to Heaven sooner, but I have a peace that when my day comes or when Jesus comes back, I am excited and ready to be in my Heavenly Home.

[00:09:29] And that is what I want to instill in you in this chapter, is living with urgency and peace, and understanding that what’s to come is so much better than where we are right now. 

And we really have to understand what I had talked about earlier in Chapter 7, is that we are made up of a body, a spirit, and a soul, and our bodies will die. We will one day receive glorified, resurrected bodies, but our spirits will live on, and we have an immortal spirit.

[00:09:56] And so I was alluding to the fact that Jesus could come back in our lifetime, and I think it’s a very real possibility. Obviously, no one knows the day or the hour, but Jesus wants us to be waiting, watching, and ready for His return.

[00:10:10] There is going to be a Resurrection. I handle this delicately in this chapter because I understand that there are many Christians that are reading my book that may have different viewpoints on their eschatology. 

[00:10:22] Eschatology is the study of the End Times. It is something that I am wildly passionate about. I love studying it. You can go onto my ashleyopliger.com/blog. I have some resources if you want to study this further about the End Times and about the Resurrection that’s coming. 

[00:10:39] But there are different viewpoints in Christianity and those viewpoints are not central to the core doctrine of Christianity, meaning that I can have a sister in Christ that believes in Jesus and is saved by the blood of Jesus that has a different viewpoint than me about how the world will end and when Jesus is going to come back, and the timeline and chronology of that. 

And that should not cause division or tension between us, and that doesn’t make her or me any less of a Christian if we have different viewpoints. It is not a matter of salvation what we believe here. 

[00:11:14] However, with that being said, I do want to tell you where I stand on this and what my beliefs are and why I believe them. And again, if you feel differently than this, I do not want this to be something where you’re like. “I’m going to throw out everything else she said.”

[00:11:30] It is not a core doctrine situation, and in my book I really try to share what I believe, but also focus on what we all believe as Christians, which there is a Resurrection coming, that we will receive glorified bodies, and we will one day live on the New Earth forever and ever. All Christians that believe in the Bible should believe in those core tenets of Christianity and theology. However, sometimes Christians have different views on how and when those things are going to happen. 

[00:11:59] So I’m going to share with you the basis for why I believe the Resurrection will happen at the Rapture of the Church. And that’s because I believe in a pre-Tribulation, pre-Millennial, dispensational eschatology viewpoint and timeline.

[00:12:13] I understand there are other viewpoints. I understand that many of you may not even understand what I just said, and that’s okay. I have tried to explain all of that on my website because I did not do a deep dive on eschatology in my book. 

[00:12:29] I tried to focus on the core tenets that are important for you to understand, that one day we will be resurrected, your babies will be resurrected, and we’ll live in glorified bodies on a New Earth forever.  However, I do share briefly in this chapter that I believe that Resurrection will happen at the Rapture of the Church. 

If you want to learn more about the Rapture, I have some resources on my website for you, but essentially, the Rapture of the Church is a prophecy that’s in the Bible and it is imminent, meaning there are no other prophecies that have to be fulfilled for the Rapture to happen, meaning that Jesus could take us home any minute, any day. And that brings me so much excitement and joy! 

[00:13:12] Pre-Tribulation means that I believe that there will be a Tribulation for seven years, and that I believe the Rapture will happen at the beginning of the seven-year Tribulation.

[00:13:22] Pre-Millennial means that I believe that Jesus will reign for a thousand years, and that’s called the Millennium. And the pre-Millennium means that I believe that Jesus will come back before that Millennium, and then He’ll rule and reign for the thousand years. But I believe that the seven-year Tribulation will occur before the thousand years.

[00:13:42] And so in my book, I mentioned that I am skipping over some key periods in the End Times timeline because I don’t have time in the book to go through it all. And I say that a full teaching on eschatology is outside the scope of this book and that there are differing beliefs on this. 

[00:13:58] And so I’m just focusing on the bigger picture, which is God is faithful. He has always carried out His Word. He’s always been faithful to the prophecies that He has put in His Word. And so I do believe that He is going to come back to earth as He has repeatedly told us. 

[00:14:15] Jesus told us in many different places, Matthew 25:31, Hebrews 9:28, Revelation 1:7, to name only a few. In fact, when He ascended into Heaven, two men dressed in white told His disciples that Jesus would return from Heaven the same way they saw Him go, which was in a cloud. That’s Acts 1:9-11. 

[00:14:36] And so we know that His Second Coming is guaranteed. And that is so exciting for us because we know how the story ends, that no matter how many trials we face on this earth, no matter how deep our grief is, and the loss of our babies and how much that impacts us, we do have a hope-filled future that awaits us. And Jesus will destroy death and throw Satan into the Lake of Fire forever. 

[00:15:00] And so what’s important here is that we are not citizens of this current world. I have a section called Homesick for Heaven. Homesick is just a word that has really defined how I feel as I’m grieving Bridget and my dad, and honestly, just living in such a broken world with so many problems and trials and so many hardships that you walk through, I am homesick for Heaven.

[00:15:25] In fact, the Bible tells us that we’re just temporary residents of this earth, we’re merely passing through. 1 Chronicles 29:15. Paul tells us that “our citizenship is in Heaven” because “we eagerly await a Savior from there,” Philippians 3:20. 

[00:15:39] So we know this world is not our permanent home. We know it in our souls. We can feel it. And so we are to be looking forward to this amazing place that we’re going to be, and we’re going to have resurrected bodies. 

And so coming back to the Resurrection, Paul describes this moment in 1 Corinthians 15 and in 1 and 2 Thessalonians. He says that not all people will die, but will be changed “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye.” That’s 1 Corinthians 15:52. 

[00:16:07] So essentially, at this last trumpet, Jesus is going to raise the dead in Christ first, and then those “who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. That is the Resurrection. That is when we receive our glorified bodies.

[00:16:27] I personally believe that that Resurrection will occur at the Rapture of the Church. There are other people that believe that the Resurrection will happen simultaneously at the return of Jesus, which I believe is going to be a separate, distinct event from the Rapture. But either way that it happens, we know it’s going to happen because God said that it will happen in His Word. 

[00:16:45] There will be a Resurrection, there will be glorified bodies, and that is what’s so exciting to me, is that we will, at that moment, immediately be present with our babies and loved ones in Christ. And I cannot think of something more beautiful and hope-filled to think about and to set our minds on because that is what is coming for us.

[00:17:10] And so Paul urged us to “set our minds on things above, not on things on earth,” Colossians 3:2. And I just love that Jesus tells us in John 16:22, He says, “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice and no one will take away your joy.”

[00:17:31] I love those words, “No one will take away your joy.” I feel as though this world is constantly taking away our joy. Losing a baby, that’s obviously taking away our joy. There’s so many hardships that we walk through day in and day out, and our joy is just constantly stolen from us, from the enemy and from the brokenness of this world.

[00:17:49] And so right now our joy is gone, but He is going to restore our joy, and no one will be able to take it away, and it will be good forever and ever, and we will never, ever be separated from our babies again. 

[00:18:01] That is what I want to leave you with, is this is what’s coming for us as Christians. I say this many times, that we have an expiration date on our suffering. We will not suffer forever. One day, our tears will be wiped away, and all things will be made right, and that is the hope that we have to look forward to. That is our future forever. 

And so throughout this chapter, and if you have read this chapter, or you are currently trying to follow along, as I am walking you through this on this Book Club podcast, you’ll notice that I am skipping around. I’m not going in the exact order.

[00:18:37] So I do want you to read this chapter in its entirety because the nature of this podcast is that I cannot read it all, because there is an audio version of the book. And so I can’t read it all, and I’m just trying to give you snippets and highlights of the content of this chapter. But I don’t want you to miss out on all of it, so please go back and read it.

[00:18:57] But the promise of prophecy is that everything that He has said, that’s already been fulfilled. So all the prophecy that happened, all the prophecy that existed about the fact that Jesus was going to come the first time as a baby in a manger in Bethlehem, and then He was going to die on a cross and be wounded for our transgressions, all of those prophecies happened exactly as they were prophesied in the Bible. They happened literally.

[00:19:20] And so I believe that all of the prophecies that are still unfulfilled in the Bible that talk about the Second Coming of Jesus and the Resurrection that’s coming, those are also going to be fulfilled literally. 

And as you probably know, and as I’ve talked about in my book, I choose to take a literal interpretation of the Bible because I believe that God means what He says, and everything that He has outlined for us is going to happen just as He said it would.

[00:19:54] And what is so exciting is that we live in a day and a time in a generation where we are seeing the signs of the End Times as described in the Bible; that includes wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, and pestilences. Jesus foretold these signs to His disciples on the Mount of Olives in the week leading up to His crucifixion.

[00:20:14] That teaching is known as the Olivet Discourse, and that can be found in either Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. I want you to go read that. 

Now, you may be thinking, “There’s been earthquakes forever. There’s been wars forever.” Yes, that is true, but everything that is happening right now that is being set up in our world, and if you look at everything and you’re paying attention in the news, you’re seeing the technology and the world system leading to the Beast system, the Antichrist system of a one-world government of, eventually, the Mark of the Beast.

[00:20:47] I don’t know how much you’ve studied that, and I don’t have the time to go into all of that right now. As you can tell, I’m passionate about it. I love to study it. I think all Christians should be interested in learning about Bible prophecy and what’s to come in the End Times, because God has given us a playbook of what is going to happen, and it is a very bright and hope-filled future for us as Christians.

[00:21:10] A lot of people paint the End Times out as apocalyptic and scary, and it is going to be scary. The seven-year Tribulation is not a time that I would want to be on this earth. But the beauty is that I do believe that Jesus is going to rescue and save His Church from the wrath of the seven-year Tribulation and get us out of here, bring us to Heaven before all that happens.

[00:21:31] But there is going to be a day where there is a real Antichrist that is leading the world, and there’s going to be a peace treaty with Israel, and there’s going to be a building of the Third Temple. All of the things that the Bible has outlined in the Old and New Testament, those things will happen, and I have many resources if you are interested in learning more about this.

[00:21:50] One of my favorites is the Prophecy Pros podcast, and I have a link to that on my website. I have had Todd Hampson share his story being a grieving dad on our podcast and we talk about Bible prophecy in that episode. We’ll link that one for you. 

I’ve also had Jessica Speas on, and her and I talked about Bible prophecy, and we’ll link that episode if you want to go dive into that a little bit more.

[00:22:15] The point that I’m trying to make is that if we are paying attention to what’s happening in the world and how things are being set up for the one-world government, for one world currency, for a digital tracking system on everybody, worldwide surveillance, everything is getting set up for this Antichrist. And we are nearing the time of the end, which is scary, but also exciting. That means Jesus is coming back soon. 

And I truly believe this, and I know you might think I’m crazy, but I sincerely believe that we could witness Jesus’ return in our lifetime, meaning that we could be currently living in biblical times.

[00:22:55] Now, I know there might be some people that scoff at me and say, “Where is this promise of His Coming? The world has been going on like this for generations. And everybody keeps thinking Jesus is coming back, and He hasn’t come back yet.” But the scoffing and mocking Jesus’ return, that’s actually fulfilling prophecy.

[00:23:12] It says that in the End Times that there would be mocking and scoffing at the idea of Jesus coming back. And I am not one that is going to set a day and a time because the Bible tells us that Jesus doesn’t even know the day or the hour, that only God Himself, the Father knows, and that He will send Jesus back when it is the right time. And so I don’t like when people try to set those days and times because that is not biblical for us to do that. But it does say that we should be waiting. 

And so that is something that I share in this chapter about keeping our lamps burning. So what do we do while we wait for Jesus to return? We don’t know when He is coming back. We surmise that it might be soon, but what do we do during this time? 

[00:23:53] And Jesus tells us exactly what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to occupy the time and continue to do business until He comes back, Luke 18:13. He also says, 

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.”  Luke 12:35-37. 

So what does it mean to keep our lamps burning? It means we keep shining the light of Jesus in this dark world. It means we keep working, serving, loving, growing, and building the Kingdom. It means that we use our grief for good.

[00:24:32] We use all the pain and suffering that we’ve walked through to help other people through their pain and suffering. We want to live urgent lives because we know our lives are but a vapor.

[00:24:51] Something that I did not write in my book, but I have been thinking about a lot recently as I’ve walked through the traumatic loss of my dad to a drunk driver last year, is I was thinking on that day, he did not realize this was going to happen to him. I did not realize this was going to happen to him. In a matter of a second, his life was taken. I mean, he ended up living for a week after that. But that event, that one-second event, cost him his life, and that one-second event changed my life for the rest of my life.

[00:25:11] And we don’t know, there could be one second that takes my life. I was driving the other day, and I started thinking about this, and this makes me sad to say this, but it has lit a fire in me to live with intention because I thought, “Any given second, my life could be over. I could be hit on the road, and something could happen, and someone could crash into me, and I could go straight to Heaven. And in that moment, I go from being a Christian disciple, a mom, and a wife, and a friend, and a sister, to a roadside memorial. 

[00:25:37] I know that’s super depressing, and I’m not saying that to instill fear that that’s going to happen to you. But I think for me, walking through the loss of my daughter in a tragic way, and also my dad, it has made me realize that my life is so fragile, that all human beings’ lives are fragile, which is what makes our lives so precious and our babies’ lives so precious, is that they are fragile because we live in mortal bodies, but we have an immortal soul that will live forever in Heaven. 

And that’s the hope, that if something tragic happens to me, I am going to live forever, and I am going to be in a perfect Paradise with my Savior Jesus, and with my loved ones, and with my daughter. What could be better than that?

[00:26:33] And that doesn’t mean I want something tragic to happen to me. I am not saying that. I am saying that if that does happen to me. I’m going to be okay. I’m going to be more than okay because I know Whose I am and I know where I’m going. 

And that’s what I’m wanting to impart to you today in this chapter, is that no matter what we face on this earth, and no matter how many trials and suffering we walk through, one day it’s going to be over.

[00:26:57] Whether we die or Jesus comes back, it’s going to be over, and we’re going to have our glorified bodies, and we will live forever. And that is going to be what our eternity exists from. And everything about our earthly life will be a long-distant memory of our time on the broken earth. 

[00:27:13] And so in my book, I said that “Bridget’s death woke me up from my slumber of lukewarm Christianity.” And you know what’s crazy, is my dad’s death did that to a whole nother degree. And I didn’t think that was possible, because I already felt like I had surrendered my life to Jesus before Bridget was born. And then, like I said, her death really woke me up, and I wanted to surrender my life. I went into ministry, and you know that whole story.

[00:27:45] But then my dad’s death, I think, really made me understand that even my life is fleeting and that I’m not guaranteed tomorrow. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me at any given moment. I live in a broken body. I live on a broken earth. We live around people who make broken decisions that impact other people, like in my dad’s case, with someone choosing to drink and drive and to hit him and leave him in the road,

[00:28:06] We cannot control other people’s decisions. We cannot control a lot of things that happen in this world, that happen in our bodies, and that might seem depressing to feel like we don’t have control over so much. And I know I have a hard time surrendering that control. 

But here’s what I want to say to you, is when we surrender that control and we know we have a hope-filled future, we can have peace that surpasses all understanding, that come what may, things are going to be okay. They’re going to be more than okay, because God holds our future.

[00:28:38] And so something I share in this section about keeping your lamps burning was that I really also started to think about the fact that my ultimate aspiration for my children is that they would be saved and that they would know Jesus, because I don’t just want children that I get to love and raise on earth. I want children that I will spend eternity with. 

[00:28:52] And it dawned on me at one point that I have already received that gift and blessing with Bridget. I don’t have to worry about her salvation. I know where she is. And so that’s an interesting way to think about babies in Heaven.

[00:29:11] Bridget is part of our Kingdom family, and your baby is part of your Kingdom family, and one day you’ll be there forever with them. And for those of you mommas who are listening who have multiple babies in Heaven, I know that can be so painful to experience grief after grief, loss after loss, but I rejoice in the fact that you have a big, beautiful family that awaits you in Heaven.

[00:29:33] And I know that’s hard to hear right now because you don’t see it as a joy to have lost multiple babies. But your eternity is going to be so blessed. And I talk about how King Solomon said that children are like arrows in our quiver. And I really believe that our babies in Heaven are also part of our quiver, that they’re arrows, and each baby that we have lost is not a loss for our family, but a gain, because they are going to be part of our Kingdom family, and their lives have purpose and a legacy here on earth.

[00:30:07] And what’s beautiful to think about is that their lives, even though they were so short and brief, that they can bear witness to the Good News of the Gospel. And we are their earthly counterparts that get to be a part of their legacy and carry out that legacy for Christ.

[00:30:21] And Matt and I talk about that all the time, that there are two sides of Bridget’s Cradles. There’s the Heaven side, which is where Bridget resides, and then there’s the side on earth, where we serve Jesus in her memory. And we’re doing this together, Bridget in Heaven and us on earth, even though we currently live apart.

[00:30:38] But one day God will roll the sky back like a scroll, and Heaven and earth will become one. We will live on the New Earth with our Kingdom family and never be separated again. And that is what we have to look forward to. 

Ashley Opliger: [00:30:56] We hope you’re finding encouragement in this episode so far. We want to take a moment to share some resources our ministry offers to support grieving moms like you.

On our website, bridgetscradles.com, you’ll learn more about our nonprofit and find many hope-filled resources, including free e-books to help you plan a memorial or funeral service for your baby, meaningful ways to honor your baby in your heart and home, and gentle guidance for navigating difficult days like due dates, Heaven Days, and holidays.

We invite you to join our community of grieving moms through our Christ-centered support groups, offered both in-person at our headquarters near Wichita, Kansas, and virtually through Hope Online. These gatherings provide a place to find comfort, connection, and biblical hope alongside other moms who understand your pain.

You can view upcoming dates and sign up on our website. While you’re there, we’d also be honored for you to share your baby’s story with us.

For ongoing support, we welcome you to join our private Cradled in Hope Facebook group—a safe space for grieving moms to find friendship and walk their healing journey together.

To stay connected with us and receive faith-filled encouragement, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @bridgetscradles, @cradledinhope, and my personal page @ashleyopliger. 

Now, let’s get back to the episode.

Ashley Opliger: [00:32:10] At the end of this chapter, I talk about the story of Lazarus and how I often resonate with Mary’s honest reaction when He came four days after her brother had died.

[00:32:21] She said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” John 11:32. I don’t know about you, but I’ve also had similar thoughts. “Lord, if You had done something, Bridget would’ve lived. She wouldn’t have died.” 

[00:32:41] And there are so many different ways that we could say that. “Jesus, if You had been there, my baby would still be in my belly. If You had been there, they’d be cradled in my arms. If You had been there, they’d be taking their first steps right now. They’d be going to kindergarten or graduating from high school.” Whatever the situation is that you’re currently facing, we could’ve said, “If You would’ve been there, the outcome would’ve been different.”

[00:32:55] But what we forget about in this story is that Jesus knew that Lazarus was sick, and He delayed His travel. So He did know that Lazarus was going to die, but why did He delay His travel? 

Well, John 11:4 says that Jesus said, “It is for God’s glory, so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

[00:33:15] So Jesus knew that He was going to come and raise Lazarus up from the grave, and He knew He was going to glorify God in that moment. But yet, even though He knew, He still wept over His friend’s death when He encountered Mary and Martha on His way to Bethany. 

[00:33:31] And I just think that’s so powerful that Jesus wept because He weeps with us over death. He does not like death. He hates it with us. In fact, He hates it so much that He endured death to overcome it. 

And I also think that we see His humanity in His tears, that He wept with those that were grieving, and He weeps with us as well. But I want to go back to Martha’s response, which was before Mary’s response.

[00:34:00] And Martha said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now, God will give You whatever You ask.” And that’s when Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.” And at that point. Martha was thinking when He said he will rise again, she’s thinking the Resurrection at the Last Day, so the Resurrection that we’ve been talking about, 

[00:34:19] But Jesus was talking about He was going to resurrect him right then and there. And this is what really stood out to me about this story as I was thinking about my daughter’s death, even my dad’s death, and I want you to think about this for your baby’s death, is that Jesus is coming and He’s coming back with His Resurrection power. 

[00:34:41] So just as Mary and Martha, when Lazarus died, they were thinking, “Why wasn’t Jesus here? He could have done something about this. If He would’ve been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” But that whole time that they were walking through that, Jesus was on His way back and had planned to come back.

[00:34:58] And so that’s a beautiful picture, that they were grieving and walking through this, but Jesus knew He was coming back and He was bringing His Resurrection power with Him because He is the Resurrection, the truth, and the life. 

[00:35:11] And I think we can apply this story to us as we are grieving and we’re thinking, “Jesus, if You would’ve been there and You would’ve done something, my baby would still be here.” But He is coming. He is coming back, and He’s bringing with Him His Resurrection power. He is the Resurrection. 

And I just get chills when I think about that, that as I’m grieving and I’m thinking all of these things, He is coming back. And we know that in prophecy, that He is going to one day resurrect our babies from their graves. And that’s the truth of John 11:25, He is “the Resurrection and the life.”

[00:35:48] And so yes, we might have to wait a little bit longer than Mary and Martha did, but we know Jesus is coming. And if you think about it, really, this is something that we often don’t think about the story of Lazarus, is He raised Lazarus back up, but Lazarus had to die again. And so the final Resurrection is what we have to look forward to because eventually he did die, and people had to grieve again for him.

[00:36:15] And so we don’t know how long we’re going to have to wait to see our babies again. We don’t know if it’s going to be living out the rest of our years on earth or when Jesus comes back, but we know that it’s going to happen.

And that is the heart posture that I would love for us to have, and it’s actually the same heart posture that the early Church and the disciples that knew Jesus had. They were expecting Jesus to come back any day.

[00:36:41] And the Jews actually had a phrase called Maranatha, which in Aramaic means “The Lord is coming,” or, “Come, O Lord.” And every time they would greet or part ways with other Jews, they would say, “Maranatha,” because they were constantly thinking about Jesus’ return and believing that any day now they were going to see their friend Jesus again.

[00:37:01] So here we are over 2,000 years later, and we’re still waiting for His return. But just because it’s been so long doesn’t mean that it’s not imminent and that He’s not coming back. I think many of us have forgotten or become apathetic about His return, and I would love to see His Church, the body of believers, men and women, us, sisters in Christ, excited and expectant for His return.

[00:37:26] And so I want you to go read pages 244 and 245; I share the story of Horatio Spafford and how the hymn It Is Well came to be. But I think his perspective of suffering and loss–and he endured so much suffering–I hope that his story will inspire you to live with an expectant hope. 

[00:37:48] And so I share with you that I want to remind you of an important truth: Each day further from your baby’s death is one day closer to being with them again, whether in the clouds at the Resurrection, or at your final breath, whichever comes first. Charles Spurgeon said, “The best moment of a Christian’s life is his last one because it is the one that is nearest Heaven.”

[00:38:10] So for followers of Jesus, that means death is our birth into forever. And so as I’m grieving Bridget over 11 years later, I am, instead of looking backwards on those moments that I had with her in the hospital, I am now “looking forward to the thousands and thousands and thousands of years I’ll spend with her in Heaven and waiting with eager hope, excited for Jesus to take me home with her. Heaven is near. One day the sky will be rolled back as a scroll, and every eye will see Him. We will not have to be homesick for much longer.”

[00:38:40] So I just want to encourage you with these words and encourage you with the truth of Scripture. I have a lot of Scripture listed out through this chapter that I wasn’t able to read in this episode, so please go and dive into that, because the Word is our firm foundation and the hope that we have for what is to come.

[00:39:00] And so I close out my book, and I’m just going to read this part because I think it’s so important to keep our eyes on Jesus.

“Sister in Christ, look up. Jesus is on His way. Your reunion with your precious baby is near. Your story isn’t over. Soon you will suffer no more, and Jesus will wipe away every tear you’ve cried. You will trade your suffering for glory and wear crowns of beauty for eternity with your son or daughter. So take heart. Don’t grow weary in doing good. You are one day closer. His Kingdom is coming. Soon and very soon you will be home with your baby. Hold on just a little bit longer, Maranatha. He is coming soon.

[00:39:39] And I really wanted to end my book with the words, “He is coming soon,” so those are the last words of Chapter 14. Granted, after those words, there’s the ending part of Chapter 14, and then there’s some parting words, which we will cover in the final episode of this podcast.

[00:39:56] So this was our final chapter, but we do have one more episode in the Podcast Book Club, which is going to cover some of the ending parts of the book and close us out of our journey and give you some next steps. But those are the last words of Chapter 14, “Maranatha. He’s coming soon.”

[00:40:28]  And I wanted that to be there because if you go look at Revelation 22, which is the very last book and very last chapter of the Bible, the very last words, verse 20 and verse 21, verse 20 says, “He who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” Verse 21, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.”

So the very end of the Bible, the very last words, “Yes, I am coming soon,” I love that that’s how the Word of God closes out. And I wanted to close my book with similar words and encouragement that Jesus is coming back, and we have so much to look forward to.

[00:41:00] Let’s do our Time With Jesus prompt, and I am going to have you think about your own mortality. “Do you long for your Heavenly home? Imagine your future reunion with your baby and write down how you envision it.” 

And then your Healing Step is that “I want you to write the word Maranatha somewhere where you will see it every day; each time you do, pray to the Lord as you long for His return.” 

[00:41:23] And as a bonus Healing Step, if you want to learn more about Bible prophecy, which we’ve talked a lot about in this chapter, I have compiled a list of my favorite books and resources on my blog. We will link it in the show notes. 

I have also listed a bunch of Scripture for you to read. First and foremost, I would go and study the Bible itself, starting with Daniel and Revelation. I promise you will be blessed by that. 

[00:41:43] So let me close us in prayer. 

Jesus, thank You so much for the hope of Heaven. Thank You so much that You have promised us that You will return, that You are coming back for us, and You have a glorious, beautiful future in Heaven for us. We are going to have immortal, glorified bodies that we will one day be resurrected with You and with our babies in Heaven, and we are so excited for what’s to come!

[00:42:11] Jesus, I pray that You would help us live with a mentality of one day closer. Each day is one day closer to our glorious eternity with You. And I just pray that as we continue on, on our time on earth, in this broken world, that You would give us an urgency and a desire to live for You and for Your Kingdom.

[00:42:30] Help us to keep our lamps burning, help us occupy our time well, and use all of our grief for good and for Your glory. Jesus, we want to keep proclaiming Your Gospel until You take us home. Maranatha. Oh Lord, come. We long to be with You in our Heavenly home. All glory to You forever. Amen. 

[00:42:50] Be sure to tune in for our next episode, our very last episode of the Cradled in Hope Book Club podcast. We are going to go over the parting words and some final next steps as you close out reading the book and walking through this podcast series. 

I am so proud of you for making it this far in the episode series and for making your way through my book. I pray that it is blessing you in your journey and providing you with the comfort and hope that only Jesus can give you.

[00:43:21] And so if my words have blessed you, I would love to hear your story. You can go onto our website and click on Share Your Story. I would love to hear from you. And so I hope you’ll tune in for our final episode. We’ll see you then. 

Ashley Opliger: [00:43:34] Thank you for joining me for today’s episode of the Cradled in Hope Podcast Book Club.

New episodes covering each chapter of the book will release on the 1st, 15th, and 22nd of each month through the end of the year—so be sure to subscribe and follow along.

If you don’t have your copy of Cradled in Hope, you can find it wherever books are sold. It’s a biblical guide for grieving moms after miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss—filled with vulnerable emotion, biblical wisdom, practical guidance, and hope-filled encouragement.

To accompany the book, I’ve also created the Cradled in Hope Guided Journal—a beautiful companion that includes space to write your responses to the discussion questions, full Scripture passages from each chapter, and additional reflection pages and guided charts to help you process your grief and draw you closer to Jesus. You can download the free digital version on my author website at AshleyOpliger.com/Journal, or order the printed version on Amazon if you prefer to write by hand.

Until next time, know that you are not alone. You are seen, loved, and Cradled in Hope.