From Tragedy to Triumph: A Story of Faith, Prayer, and Power of Perseverance

God's Warrior Woman ~ April's Story

on his words and examining my own life, I find myself inclined to agree. Though my journey is ongoing, it's marked by triumph over obstacles, battles with loneliness, depression, unforgiveness, abuse, and abandonment. Through it all, I've found restoration through the power of prayer and fasting.

My abandonment issues began at 5 years old when my father died.

Even though I was young, I carried this loss into adulthood. My journey as a mother began at age 16 with my daughter and son followed three years later. Their dad and I married but didn’t last. I remarried several years later, and that marriage was filled with abuse, infidelity, and an ectopic pregnancy (which resulted in me having my left fallopian tube and ovary removed).

Surprisingly, the ectopic pregnancy caught me off-guard. I was angry and blamed God for allowing this to happen.In my mind, I questioned how could God have done this to me?

I’m faithful, I serve in my local church, I pray, I pay my tithes & offering, I try to be the best wife and mother as much as possible, and so why me?

I found myself unable to stop asking, "Why is this happening to me?" Yet, despite my relentless questioning, no answers were forthcoming, leaving me feeling deeply lost, frustrated, and confused.

After I was released from the hospital, I found myself slipping into a deep state of depression. I didn’t want to talk to anyone and neither did I want to hear everyone saying, “it’s going to be alright” or hear “God won’t put any more on you than you can bear”. I just wanted to wallow in my sorrows, but I thank God I had a praying mother (the prayers of the righteous avails much) who bombarded heaven on my behalf, and she was not about to let the devil come in a wreak havoc on my mind.

My mind, heart, and emotions were in shambles. I blamed myself for the divorce and the miscarriage.

Despite the infidelity, the decision to divorce my second husband was not an easy decision for me.  Prior to my decision I had been praying & fasting asking for God to give me wisdom on what to do about this relationship. Within that period, he sent a great prophetess across my path who had a message from God and that message was “if you let go of what’s in your hand, I’ll give you what’s in mine”.

If you let go of what's in your hand, I'll give you what's in mine.

When I received that word from God, I decided to move my family back home and begin the progression of picking up the remaining pieces of my life.

I filed for my divorce and started the process of healing from these wounds.

The battle within my mind began, and during this time, the enemy attacked my thought ferociously. He inundated my mind with falsehoods about my worth and distorted perceptions of how God viewed me. I began to believe that I was a failure, an inadequate woman incapable of love and fertility. At one point, I even blamed myself for the miscarriage, attributing it to the infidelity in my marriage. However, I have since realized that these were merely lies crafted by the enemy to deceive me.

I refused to let my story end this way.  I found a great bible-based church and began healing.

During my healing journey I remember being at 6 am prayer and as I laid on my face the Lord showed me that if I had stayed in my marriage, it would have cost me my life. I cried and shouted so loud that I startled everyone at church that morning.

All eyes were on me, but I didn’t care I was just happy to be receiving my breakthrough. It was at this same church that I met my current husband, the one whom God had in His hand.

We have been married for over 10 years now and for nine of those years we were trying to add onto our family but to no avail.  We both were starting over from failed marriages and wanted more children.

In addition, God confirmed His Word to us and through others that we would have more children. It was during these years that our faith was put to the test to trust and believe God at His Word. For nine years, my husband and I tried to conceive several times and failed. In addition, I was informed that having my left ovary and fallopian tube removed minimized my chances of conceiving naturally and IVF was recommended.

We began our IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) journey in 2014 while stationed in Stuttgart, Germany. I was so excited to begin the process and just knew the outcome would work in our favor.

Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful, and I remember crying on my husband’s shoulder when we received the news. Those feelings of being inadequacy tried to creep back in, but I thank God that my mother was there during this process to keep me lifted up.

"Throughout this journey, I’ve learned that God blocks things because He knows what’s ahead, and it's not to hurt you but to protect you."

Over the next couple of years my husband and I would be hit with tragedy. In 2015, I lost my sister (cousin), my mother would follow in 2016, and my father-in-law in 2017. The deaths of our loved ones took a great toll on us and as we look back, we understand why God didn’t allow us to conceive.

My husband decided to retire, in 2017, from the military after 20 years of service in order for us to settle down and begin working on starting a family. 

This timeframe is where I identified with Rachel, Hannah, and Sarah because we have shared experiences.

I felt inadequate like Rachel, constantly cried before the lord like Hannah, and couldn’t see God blessing me with another child at my age like Sarah.

We went through two more rounds of IVF and both failed.

At this point we’ve done 3 rounds of IVF. Completely devastated I began questioning if it was Gods will for us to conceive.

Even with the toll that this process was taking on my body, we decided with the encouragement of our doctor to give it one more try, and it worked!

God did “exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ask or think”!

He may not come when you want him to but he’s always on time. He turned my mourning into joy and gave us double for our trouble.

After 10 years of praying, fasting, and holding on to our faith, God blessed us with twin girls our precious Abigail and Autumn.

As I write these words, tears of joy roll down my face.

Can you imagine what would have happened if we’d just given up hope?

To whomever reads this no matter what you’re going through don’t give up!

Keep praying, fasting and holding on to your faith. If God promised it, He will do it!

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The Warrior Women Series will offer motivation and inspiration through heartfelt stories, illustrating that you can overcome challenges through the powerful combination of prayer and fasting.

Pastor April D. McCullough hails from Shreveport, LA and is a woman on fire and in pursuit for the Kingdom of God.

Pastor April holds an Associates of Arts degree from Liberty University in Early Childhood Education and a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Liberty University.

She is committed to serving the Lord Jesus Christ and has an unwavering love for God’s people. She has a heart for women and children and her vision is to pour out unto broken vessels and lead them unto the Lord. God has used Pastor April to restore, refresh, and repair broken lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.

She is the wife of Senior Pastor Dr. Dennis J. McCullough (Faith Abound Worship Center) and mother of seven.