BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

All around her, even among her friends, had been reports of difficult pregnancies and miscarriages. The thoughts were assaulting her. While some had given in to those feelings of fear, Ashley knew she could not. It wasn't how she had been taught as a child growing up. "I knew the only way for me to get over being scared was to get into God's Word," she said. Determined to resist the attack of fear, Ashley began to focus on the strength found in "the joy of the Lord" (Nehemiah 8:10) and to press in to Proverbs 3:5-6, which says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take" (New Living Translation). Eventually, fear lost its hold. Armed with God 's Word, and a newfound sense of confidence, Ashley began looking for resources to guide her in knowing what to pray over her unborn child. Her search came up empty. "I wanted to pray over my baby's development, but didn't know the right words to pray. And I couldn't f ind anything to guide me," Ashley recalls. "I told my mom, 'If I'm looking for this, then other mothers have to be looking for it, too.'" Pregnancy Prayers It was then that Ashley decided to follow the Lord's leading and create somet h ing t hat wou ld encou rage expectant mothers and help them prayerfully nav igate through their pregnancies. e result was Pregnancy Prayers, an app that sends subscribers week ly updates about their unborn baby's development as well as daily prayers to help them stand in faith for a successful pregnancy and healthy child. Ashley determined to make each prayer relate to the unborn baby's c u r rent de velopment , wh ic h she found on the American Pregnancy Association's website. So, at the point in the pregnancy when the baby's heart develops, Pregnancy Prayers sends the subscriber information about that milestone, along with prayers for a healthy heart. Later that same week, the subscriber receives prayers to pray over the child's spiritual heart—that the baby will grow to have a heart for God. Helping others stand on God's Word is a natural fit for Ashley. Her mother, Jan Harbour, the chief financial officer at Kenneth Copeland Ministries, has ra ised her in the importance of walking by faith, and her uncle and aunt, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, have always been faith-filled sources of guidance for her. Through her partnership with KCM, Ashley has continued to learn and apply the principles that were so much a part of her growing-up years. "Having Uncle Kenneth and Aunt Gloria as role models my whole life, I heard how important it is to watch the words you speak and the words you speak over yourself," Ashley explains. "It was ingrained in my brain, but it didn't completely click until I had children. 2 4 : B V O V PEACE Pregnancy & Prayer Emotions swirled within Ashley Sims, an eighth-grade teacher in Fort Worth, Texas. Expecting her second child, she struggled to make sense of what she was feeling—the excitement of meeting her new baby, the anticipation of watching, along with her husband, Paul, as their family grew, and yes, even tinges of fear that the unthinkable would happen. BY GENA MASELLI ,

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