This Ministry

My name is Stormy.

I want to introduce to you a ministry God has laid on my heart. This ministry will reach people in my community who have lost a baby before birth through miscarriage, stillbirth or who have had a baby die in infancy.

You see, I am one of those people.

My son was stillborn.

We were pregnant with our first son and were just a month and a half from our due date. We were so excited to be welcoming our first child soon! We had tried to get pregnant for three and a half years and this baby was truly a miracle from the Lord. We had his baby shower just the day before. I noticed he hadn't been moving, so my husband and I went to the hospital and were told the words no parent should hear “I am so sorry, your baby has died.”  We cried and prayed to God for peace. Two days later, I delivered a beautiful little boy with curly strawberry blonde hair. He was perfect. Fearfully and wonderfully made. His name is Gideon. We named him after the Gideon of the bible and his name means "warrior."

At the time, I didn’t realize how many people I know who had lost a baby. Since then, I have been told story after story of women and men who I know that have lost their baby, or a sibling, or a niece or nephew, or a grandchild.

1 in 4 pregnancies end in a loss, through miscarriage or stillbirth.

In the US, every 20 minutes a baby is stillborn.

1 in 160 pregnancies end in stillbirth.

26,000 women experience the loss of a baby after 20 weeks pregnancy which results in the baby being stillborn.

About 600,000 women experience a miscarriage every year in the US.

Approximately 5 out of 1,000 babies die in the first 28 days of life.

Another 2 babies out of 1,000 pass away within the first year of life.

It is impossible to describe the pain you feel when your baby dies. After the baby is born, you have to try to cram a lifetime of memories in a few short hours. You will never get to see their first steps, hear their laugh and see their first day of school, their first ball game, their graduation, their wedding, and future grandchildren. The whole life you have planned is gone. And now you have to plan their funeral. It’s agonizing.

But, the amazing thing is; there is still hope. God never leaves our side. He makes beauty from ashes.  That is what this ministry we are starting is about. Giving people the hope of God.

This outreach is called Gideon’s Warriors.

It is our mission to provide care packages to the mommies and daddies in the local hospitals in the Woodlands/Conroe Texas area that will meet some of their immediate needs. Most parents go into the hospital totally unprepared for the death of their child. We want to provide clothes that will fit for the babies, hats and blankets and cloth diapers for the babies to wear. We want to give jewelry for the mom that will help her to remember her baby when she looks at it, books that are written about baby loss that will help them to see they are not alone and that will point them to Jesus. We will also provide a list of resources that will help them after they get home, as well as other items for comfort.

Another aspect of our ministry is to do one on one counseling for the parents, or just go have coffee with the mom or dad to just talk.  We also have some plans to expand the ministry in the future to help meet other needs of families. One of our dreams is to provide scholarships to the local families to help cover the cost of their baby's headstone or urn. In the next year or so, we would like to have a 5k run or a concert to help fund this scholarship.

Do not worry, you don’t have to be able to sew or knit hats, clothes and outfits to be able to help. We do need those people But we need many different types of talents, if you can organize, make phone calls and contacts, donate money or items,  help plan events or pray, you can help. 

We need your help. 

If you feel like you want to help these families in our community, please contact me at gideonswarriorsministry@gmail.com

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. -Revelation 21:4