Carried: How One Mother’s Trust in God Helped Her Through The Unthinkable

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Last night I stayed up reading until 2 a.m.

I hate it when I do that to myself, but the book I was reading was one worth staying up for. “Carried: How one Mother’s Trust in God Helped Her Through the Unthinkable” by Michelle Schmidt and Angie Taylor is the true story of a mother who discovers that her young adult daughter, Annie, is missing.

I knew the story. I remember hearing about it in the news in 2016 amid a heated presidential campaign. I rarely check the news, but I just happened to see this story and felt drawn to it. Annie was adventurous, beautiful and kind. It pulled at my heart more than the typical news report. So even though it was several years ago, when I was wandering through the aisles at the library and and plucked this book from the shelf, I knew right away I wanted to read it.

With tears and gratitude I thank this mother for choosing to write her painful story, but in a way that totally filled my exhausted mama soul with spiritually nourishment and hope. The entire book was a beautiful testimony of her faith in Jesus Christ and His power to heal and strengthen us through difficult times.

At first I compared this mother to myself. We are both members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. My own insecurities often make me feel like I am so inferior to so many other women of our church. She talked about the beautiful relationships she had with her five children and immediately I felt guilty because my own relationships are so strained. I almost put the book down with the intent to not finish, but I kept going and realized that this lady’s life had not been all roses before her daughter had disappeared. She shared her deepest struggles and even her frustration and emptiness as a mother when her children were small young. She told of feeling empty inside. She told of loosing her patience with her children when they were small. I thank her for sharing those vulnerable emotions. It gave me hope that even though I have made so many mistakes as a mother, maybe there’s still hope for me.

Michelle taught me that we can all be carried through the trials we face in life, even when we lose our loved ones, when we turn to Christ. The outpouring of support this family received was inspirational to say the least. I’m grateful that this story found me and that Annie’s story was told to inspire me to be more loving and full of faith. I had to share. I hope you’ll read it and be inspired!

I was reminded of this poem:

Footprints in the Sand

One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”

He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.”

-Author Unknown