Lexi Shipp is a passionate writer, speaker, and Bible teacher. With a Bachelors in Religion and Masters in Human Services Counseling, both specified in Christian Ministry, Lexi loves serving alongside her husband doing Next Gen Ministry. Working with middle and high school girls for years, she has a heart for connecting all generations of women and championing the next generation for the cause of Christ – starting within her own home as a mom. Lexi serves as a regular LifeWay Girls blogger and the Communications Team Lead for the SBC of Virginia’s Women’s Ministry. To read more of Lexi’s writings or to book her as a speaker, connect with her on Instagram @alexisleeshipp.
Trigger warning: Infant loss, child loss, miscarriage
It was a soft, gentle, fluffy sort of blue. The kind that felt like a gentle whisper but also looked like an announcement, “It’s a boy!” As I stared at my dress in the mirror, I thought about the way it previously fit so differently with my round, pregnant belly underneath. I had worn that dress to my first son’s baby shower, which felt ironic since I was heading to a Celebration of Life service in honor of my friends’ son who was born at 24 weeks.
“This is what she would want, knowing her.” I contemplated. “Something colorful.” Thoughts bounced off the walls of my mind taking swings at each other. Not wanting to show up and stick out like an awkward sore thumb for not dressing accordingly, yet wanting to make one thing clear: Henry’s life mattered. Henry’s life was worth celebrating. Rachel was a boy mom. And if my dress felt like an announcement to everyone of that reality, then it had accomplished its purpose. We were mourning, but we were also celebrating.
Waves of empathetic tears had filled my eyes for weeks. My remarks to her now felt like insignificant attempts to place a bandaid over a broken pipeline. I told another friend as it was all transpiring, “I feel like as a mom you feel ‘mom things’ for other people more deeply than other things.”
It was true. Someone at the service popped into the receiving line just to let her know they were there and to say, “We’re moms, we get it.”
What a dichotomy, the unity that comes from a tragedy that guts you. There was a group of us that had once been in a small group together, years had passed, seasons changed, life had taken us different directions. But we were all there in this moment.
Another dichotomy – a Celebration of Life service that begins in worship. Just like any other worship service in the logistical sense, but this time, it felt more like a declaration. A battle cry. A reminder to ourselves but also a statement to the enemy and a glorification of our God that He is always good. He is incapable of failing.
One of the strongest evidences of deep faith is worship in the midst of deep grief.
We were all witnessing human heroism. The choice to stand in worship praising the One true God as a couple prepared to bury their child.
That, in and of itself, is a testament to the goodness of God. The ability in our own human weakness to be able to humble ourselves before the God of the universe and recognize His sovereignty in all things and through all things.
There we stood. The blue dress in a crowd of worshippers standing with our brother and sister so they would know they weren’t alone. That we were in this with them. That while they felt incomprehensible loss on this side of heaven, Henry Andrew Lauto was with Jesus. And his story is living on.
Dedicated to Rachel and Andrew, amazing witnesses of Jesus Christ and the very best parents Henry could have hoped for.
In honor of Henry Andrew Lauto.
December 19th, 2025-December 23rd, 2025
If you are processing miscarriage, pregnancy loss, still birth, child loss, or infertility, please consider reaching out to our Women’s Ministry Team so that we can walk this journey with you. We would be honored.
