Story of the Week: Hope from Sorrow
The Lord walked with Alyson through the deepest loss of her life. Today, through Foreknown Ministries, she walks with others on their journey toward hope.
It was January 24, 2018, a date now firmly etched in Alyson Brown’s mind and heart. A day her life changed forever.
Alyson was expecting her second Daughter, Cora, in just two days. Alyson wasn’t feeling the baby move and although she wasn’t too concerned, she went to the hospital to get checked out. When three nurses couldn’t find Cora’s heartbeat, Alyson thought, No one told me this was an option.
She felt wholly unprepared to navigate the idea that even nine months into her pregnancy, something unexpected and heartrending was happening.
The Upside Down
Alyson’s husband, Jono, quickly joined her at the hospital and the staff induced her immediately. Ten hours later Alyson delivered Cora. At that point it was clear that the lifeless child had gotten tangled in the umbilical cord.
Alyson is grateful that she at least has an answer as to what caused Cora’s death. Lots of women in her situation never find out why. The Browns were also blessed with amazing nurses, most of whom shared their faith in Christ, which brought some measure of comfort in a day of suffering.
Alyson and Jono received incredible support from their family, who came to town while they were reeling from their loss to be present and take care of funeral arrangements.
Alyson describes the weeks that followed as “upside down.” During that time and still anytime she has a hard day in her journey of grief, Alyson remembers the words on Cora’s headstone: “The very first thing she saw when her little eyes opened was the face of Jesus.” Alyson shares, “When I think about that inscription, I think, What a gift. God didn’t take my baby and He doesn’t take others, but he continues to welcome them into heaven.
Sharing the Journey
Two weeks after Cora’s death, Alyson’s good friend and co-worker, Kelsi Cole, lost her son, Whitson, at the same point in her pregnancy. The two mothers were heartbroken and confused. Alyson thought to herself, My story can’t end here. Something good has to come from this. What’s that going to be?
As Alyson and Kelsi walked the road of heartbreak and healing together, a pivotal day came. Alyson had been having a recurring vision. She felt it was from the Lord, but she didn’t understand what it meant. She decided to share it with Kelsi. It turns out Kelsi had been having the same vision. “I was like, I guess this means we have to do something!” Alyson recalls.
The vision was of speaking to women about the hope we have in Christ after losing a child. After lots of prayer, Alyson and Kelsi took a big step in living out this vision and formed Foreknown Ministries on October 15, 2018. They picked this date because it’s Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day.
The name Foreknown is rooted in Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.”
Alyson shares, “God knew our babies before they were conceived, and he knew the path that we were going to be on. We want women to really understand that it’s not their fault that this happened and that God has a plan for them.”
In 2020, Alyson stepped into the ministry full-time. Recently, she sensed the Lord calling her into a new season, stepping away from daily leadership of Foreknown. Yet she hopes to remain connected in the future, and remains grateful for the ways the ministry has blossomed into far more than she ever imagined in those early days.
A Place for Hope
What began with women’s retreats has grown into both women’s and couples’ retreats, creating space for husbands and wives to process how loss uniquely impacts marriage.
Alyson says, “Loss doesn’t just affect a mother. It affects a marriage. And we weren’t seeing spaces where couples could process that together.”
Foreknown also hosts a free digital support group via Zoom, welcoming women from across the country and beyond. They even had the opportunity to meet with a woman from Nigeria, helping her to find community thousands of miles from home.
Recognizing that many people feel intimidated by in-person sharing, Foreknown developed digital courses providing biblical encouragement and practical tools for navigating grief. “We wanted to say, ‘We get where you are. You can trust us. Let us help give you a playbook for this season,’” Alyson explains.
Perhaps one of the most impactful additions has been their texting community. Women can text in real-time from hospital rooms or from their homes, even years after loss.
“We’ve had women text things like, ‘I don’t understand why life is worth living,’” Alyson shares. “And we get to respond immediately and remind them: God has you. He brought you to this community for a reason.”
She speaks tenderly about seeing women who first came to Foreknown in despair, now serve as volunteers in the ministry. “They encounter hope here, and years later they’re walking alongside someone else. That’s the beauty of what God does.”
Foreknown offers hospital training, equipping labor and delivery nurses with tools to better care for families experiencing miscarriage or infant loss. “Nurses are on the front lines,” Alyson says. “Many aren’t trained for these moments, but they’re hungry to learn. We’re not good at grief in our culture. We don’t know how to sit in it. So we’re helping change that.”
A Day of Remembrance
For the past five years, Foreknown has hosted the only statewide, in-person Wave of Light for parents on Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. On October 15th at 7PM throughout the country, families light candles in their respective time zones, in remembrance of their babies gone too soon, thus creating a wave of light throughout the country.
Last year, 450 people gathered in Colorado Springs, a community of families who have been there and understand the pain of loss. The night was illuminated with 50,000 pink, blue, and white lights, representing little lives lost. The families were surrounded by partners in the community who support these families on the journey ahead. The evening includes a remembrance walk, a Reading of the Names ceremony and a message of hope pointing to Christ.
A Redeemed Story
Eight years after that heartbreaking January day, Alyson reflects on her journey with awe: “When we’re in those places, it’s actually a beautiful place, because it’s where we meet the Lord, if we’re willing to look.”
“I couldn’t have ever imagined this is what could have come from it,” she says. “To have the opportunity to meet people in that broken place and talk to them about the Jesus I know, and the love He has for them, it’s one of the highest honors of my life.”
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