Testimonies - Page 17 of 39 - Moms in the Making

Beth and I had been Instagram friends for a little while. Right before the 2019 Moms in the Making conference, a mutual friend, Sarah, texted me telling me she had a girl from her support group attending her first conference and asked if I had space in my room for her and if I could show her the ropes since I had been before. That girl was Beth!

Beth and I quickly connected and the moment we met in person, it was a friendship. We were connected the entire weekend. Fast forward to a couple weeks later when my husband, Rob, was running a half marathon in Detroit where Beth was running the same race. We talked for a few minutes after the race, and our husbands met quickly. Fast forward even more to about a month later when we found out we would all be in Las Vegas to run yet another race. We connected the moment we got to Vegas and were together most of the time. The boys became fast friends and loved that they were both named Robert. They are Rob & Bobby and some would argue that they are closer than Beth & I are.

Since then we have gone on two beach vacations together, a weekend trip to Columbus last Christmas, Beth and Bobby met up with us while we were on our anniversary vacation and the boys met up while Beth and I were at the Moms in the Making leaders retreat. This was certainly a God orchestrated connection as men don’t generally get a lot of support on fertility issues. The fact that our husbands are friends is truly a gift and is God ordained. Because of MITM and the connections we made through that, our husbands now have support as well as besties! Thankful for how this ministry is so much more than just fertility support, but also provides lifelong friends who truly love you and will walk anything with you!

Lindsay Tankersley – Cincinnati, Ohio
After over 3 years of infertility, 4 failed rounds of IUI, 1 round of IVF that brought us 3 beautiful embryos, we heard the news no one ever wants to hear, “I’m so sorry, but there is no heartbeat.” Our first embryo transfer ended in a miscarriage at 8 weeks. I left the hospital, turned the corner and collapsed against a brick wall.

Through my tears and broken heart I uttered the words, “you are good, your love endures forever.” We will never understand why bad things happen. But we can be confident knowing God is there in the midst of our pain, feeling every bit of it. I knew He didn’t cause our loss. And I was extremely comforted knowing our baby was in the arms of Jesus waiting for us.

To the many women who have sent us sympathy cards, scriptures, and encouragements through the Moms in the Making support team, you have no idea how much of an impact it had on us as we grieved our long awaited baby. Every time I was having a rough time there was a card in our mailbox from the support team. When I asked God to let us know He was there, there would be a card in our mailbox. Each card delivered was given to us at the exact time we needed it. God is so good!

The love and support we have received through our family, friends, church and Moms in the Making group has left an impact on us. And through our grief we could feel God’s presence. We are at peace with what happened because we trust God’s plan for our lives. And we will continue trusting and praying for our rainbow baby.

For those waiting, for those who are pregnant , or are adopting, who are going through treatment, or who are unclear as to what to do next, I am praying over you too. I am praying you feel God’s presence in your life the way I have felt Him in mine. I pray you have peace that only comes from Him. God sees each and every one of you. And He knows the desires of your hearts. Keep pressing into Him. And trust His timing. God’s got this!!

“For if we Hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently “ Romans 8:25

Amanda Bowins
Since I was a little girl I have wanted to be a mama and not long into life I knew that was my calling from the Lord. In 2016, I got married and a few weeks later I experienced my first miscarriage. Immediately after my first loss I found out I had to have emergency surgery because a tumor was found. After the surgery I remember my doctor telling me I only had one ovary and Fallopian tube left but that I would be so fertile I’d get pregnant immediately. It was a hope that would ultimately cause me heartbreak.

After 2 years of negative after negative, it wasn’t until June 2018 that I would get pregnant and miscarry again. All of the loss led me to a dark place, where I felt I didn’t have much hope. It was during that season that a close friend of mine, Angela, invited me to her Moms in the Making group and I was gifted a trip to the conference! I didn’t know it at the time but this gift was going to be life changing. I truly surrendered everything to the Lord that weekend. And 3 weeks after I arrived home, I found out that I was expecting our miracle son! He was born July 2019.

Now, here I am again experiencing infertility and all the emotions and pain once again. We had miscarriages in March, May and July. And through it all the Lord has placed on my heart that I need to be content where I am. He reminded me that this season is going to be hard but that I am going to be used in a way that is greater than I could imagine. He is going to grow me spiritually, physically and mentally.

I am so thankful for a community that continually pours into me. I can’t be happier to be attending the 2021 conference in a few weeks. My heart is so ready to be poured into, know that God has BIG plans for all in attendance, and I for one am expectant of His great goodness!
For as long as I can remember I knew I wanted to be a mom. When I was 21, in 2009, I was diagnosed with uterine myomatosis, and some doctors recommended removing my womb. We decided to fight and reject that option. I was on medications, injections and treatments to stop the growth of tumors.

In 2014 and 2015 I had two surgeries to remove the fibroids. In 2016, I got married and we wanted to be parents soon, but God had other plans. We knew it wouldn’t be easy and when we ran studies, we discovered that my tubes were broken so it would be almost impossible to get pregnant naturally. In 2016 I had my third fibroid surgery and in 2017 we started the first round of IVF with a negative result. But I never lost faith that sooner or later God would hear our prayers and fulfill the miracle of becoming parents… In 2018 and 2019 we tried again without success.

I discovered Moms in the Making in March 2020. We decided to try again then but the result was negative. It was after that that we were presented with the option of surrogacy, and my sister was the one who gave us a yes; thanks to the support I found through Moms in the Making I was able to lead this path with a lot of faith and love. Moms in the Making was a great support to make decisions and have peace over the process. What I value the most is the change that God made in my heart and mindset during my wait.

In November we got our positive results! María Jimena was born on July 26, 2021, surrounded by love and thanks to prayers – but especially as a miracle of God our Lord. He was the one who took us through this process being held by His hand. All glory goes to Him!
In October of 2019, I walked into the Moms in the Making Conference late, and ran into a girl from my virtual group, Britni Mazur. I didn’t really know anyone at the conference, so I was very excited because one of the first people I saw was a face I recognized. Turned out that this amazing woman of God and I had a lot in common, and we quickly hit it off and became good friends.

After the conference we continued to talk regularly. Britni lives in Canada, so she was unable to attend the 2020 conference, and I missed her so much! After almost 2 years of just communicating digitally, restrictions were relaxed in Canada and she was able to come and visit me in Chicago in August. It was so wonderful to see her in-person again!! We are also planning to room together at the upcoming 2021 conference, and I am already counting down the days.

I can honestly say that this friendship would not have happened without the connection made at the Moms in the Making conference. My best friend lives over 1,500 miles away, and it’s so apparent that God brought us into each other’s lives. I am so thankful for Moms in the Making, all the many friendships I have formed over the last few years, and the ways in which God is at work in this ministry. My encouragement to you is to go to the conference. You will absolutely not regret it – and God is going to surprise you in the ways He meets you there.

Brooke Simkins, Illinois Leader
When I signed up to go to the 2017 Moms in the Making conference I didn’t have anyone close to me in my life who was struggling with fertility issues. I purchased my ticket and planned to go to the conference alone, flying all the way from the Pacific Northwest. I ended up signing up for a roommate on an excel spreadsheet in the Facebook group for conference attendees. Turned out, my roommate was from a neighboring state.

After texting for a little bit, we hit it off. The Lord provided me a new friend, when I needed it, who exactly understood my heart to be a mom. Later the next year her husband got a new job in our neighboring town and they temporarily moved to my basement, eventually purchasing a house just 30 minutes away!

Though our stories are different we continue to support each other and like to meet for walking and talking! Praise God for the way he provided a new friend on the journey and the way He orchestrated our lives to support each other!
We got married in 2011 and always wanted a big family. We were diagnosed with multiple types of infertility and told it would be impossible to conceive. We went through multiple failed IUI and IVF attempts and were heartbroken and confused.

We began to grieve the loss of our hopes and dreams. I remember praying for God to take the desire for babies away from me, but the desire only grew stronger. In 2014, we surrendered to Jesus. I remember writing on a post-it note “Lord, what do you want for our family?!” Soon after, He very clearly placed a new doctor in our lives, and in 2015 we were graciously given a way to pay for “one last attempt” at IVF. We got 3 “poor quality” embryos. The embryologist called to suggest letting them degenerate, “There’s an ice storm hitting the city and this could save you money…” We listened to God’s voice instead of hers. We drove all night to get to the clinic. We were the only car on the road and not in a ditch. When we arrived for our Day-3 transfer, one embryo had miraculously gone from 2 to 7 cells overnight. That little embryo starts kindergarten in a few weeks!

In God’s infinite wisdom and perfect timing, He healed our bodies. In 2018, our second son came into the world exactly the way we prayed and in 2021 our third son was born. Each boy has been born after the significant loss of a loved one, bringing hope and joy. During my third pregnancy, I hemorrhaged 3 times and suffered partial placental abruption. He had a 7% chance of survival, and I was placed on strict bedrest. My Dr. said I would “be lucky to make it to 24 weeks.” At 37 weeks, Miracle Boy #3 was born at 10 lbs, 2oz.

All Glory and Praise be to God Forever! I began following Caroline and “Moms in the Making” when we were trying to conceive our second child, and it has been a huge blessing to me ever since. I remember lying in bed on my left side with Baby #3, not knowing if he was even alive, and reaching out to Caroline for prayer. She not only messaged me words of encouragement and truth but sent me a long audio-recorded prayer. She spoke life over my baby! I will never forget listening to her voice the entire way to the hospital as I was bleeding. Caroline spoke against sub chorionic hematomas and blood clots and commanded everything “not from Heaven” to leave my body in the name of Jesus. I arrived to the hospital once again that day to hear the strong heartbeat of my Miracle Boy. Jesus said it best in the book of Luke (the middle name of our second son), “What is impossible with man is possible with God!”

Moms in the Making encourages us to cling to scripture, talk to God, and act in faith. I remember praying specifically for our third child one day a couple of years ago. The baby wasn’t even in my tummy yet, but I heard the Father say “You will see the goodness of The Lord in The Land of the Living!” I found it so strange at the time but held tight to those words during such a difficult pregnancy. Psalm 113:9 says “He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children, Praise The Lord!” I am so thankful for the good work the Lord has begun in MITM ministry. I learned that Jesus takes our pain personally and certainly keeps his promises! Jesus didn’t come to only do this for me and my family. This promise is true for you, too.
My husband and I were married 6 years with an 18 month old son when we started trying for another baby. About a year into trying, my doctor put me on Metformin saying I might have PCOS. A year later and we were ready to meet with a specialist. My levels had improved, but the diagnosis we received was unexplained secondary infertility and she recommended an IUI.

Neither my husband nor I had peace about an IUI. We went home disappointed but kept trying. Five months later I had an ectopic pregnancy that ruptured my left Fallopian tube. We went back to the specialist and were told that IUI was no longer an option and they recommended IVF. As we prayed, we did not feel peace to pursue IVF. We felt like God would give us a baby in His ways and in His timing. Waiting was hard and each cycle that ended in disappointment brought up different emotions and challenged our faith. We felt like any day things would be different but things didn’t change. 15 months after my ectopic pregnancy, we took a break from trying and celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary with a cruise.

We returned home to the shock of our lives. After 3 ½ years of trying, I was pregnant! My OB said a cyst on my left ovary indicated I had ovulated from my left ovary and the egg had crossed over to my right tube! Our daughter Abigail was born 2 years and one week after my ectopic pregnancy. Our daughter is now 2 and there isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t thank God for her. She wasn’t just our idea, God had her in mind long ago.

“The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy…Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, shall return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.” Psalm 126:3-6
My husband and I were married in 2010. We had it all planned — we were going to wait 4 years and start a family, have 3 kids and be all finished by the time we were 30. We started trying for our family in early 2014. In late 2015 I was not only diagnosed with thyroid cancer, but found out that we were pregnant with a miracle baby, even though we had stopped trying to conceive because of the cancer. Unfortunately we were also faced with our first ectopic pregnancy, and after cancer treatment, had to wait an additional year before we could even try again.

In early 2018 we started medicated cycles and I found out in summer of 2018 that I was 8 weeks pregnant with our second ectopic pregnancy which ruptured resulting in the loss of one of my tubes. I attended my first Moms in the Making conference in 2018. I was bitter and angry and honestly just going so maybe I could be healed physically. But God radically changed my perspective of not only Him, but of my journey as well. My life has not been the same since! I then said YES to becoming a leader, and have been leading the Dunn, North Carolina, group for 2.5 years now!

I became a leader in January 2019 and became pregnant again in March 2019 for the first time in the right place!! Unfortunately in May we walked through an unexplained miscarriage at 12 weeks, but because of the support from MITM and my group, my experience was so much different then before. I had HOPE. In December 2019, God gave me the word Jubilee as my “word for the year” specifically speaking that “all that the enemy has taken will be restored”.

In March 2020 we found out again that we were pregnant and we welcomed our miracle baby girl in November 2020. Within three days of our previous due date!!! God literally redeemed our situation! The plan I had for my life looked nothing like this, but God was there every step of the way, and I can honestly say that if things had gone the way I planned them, I would not have the relationship with Him that I do now!

From the cards from support team when I had my miscarriage, to the community who “gets it” that I get to do life with, MITM has enriched my life in more ways than I ever had imagined. Saying YES to conference, and YES to leading have been 2 of my best Yeses I have ever said! (other than to marry my husband of course 😉

Rachel Strickland – Dunn, North Carolina
In 2016 my husband & were excited to grow our family and begin to try to conceive. We had no signs that there would be any difficulty getting pregnant but we tried for 7 months before conceiving with our first pregnancy. To our shock, we miscarried. We pressed into Jesus to grieve and we rooted ourselves even more firmly in the truth that He is good, He is working all things together for us and He had clearly spoken life would come through my womb.

We continued to try to conceive for another year. With a little medical help, we conceived again a little over a year later. We miscarried again. We pressed into Jesus again. We healed & held onto the goodness of God and surrendered our need to understand why things were happening the way they were. It was hard, but so refining. We conceived again a few months later and then we had our third miscarriage. We were disappointed but this time we were not shaken. We pressed into Jesus in loss and disappointment enough to know that our circumstances don’t determine how we are doing. In Jesus and His presence, He gives us the ability to walk above hard circumstances.

We continued to walk forward confident that He is who He says He is and He would do what he said He would do. Almost another year later, we attended a conference in CA where a well respected prophetic voice who didn’t know us at all prophesied that we would “be fruitful & multiply” and he specifically blessed my womb. Two months later, we got pregnant again. This time, our miracle baby was born 9 months later – Samuel. Jesus broke in and miraculously brought life. We were not doing anything to “try” at that time. It was all Jesus! To Him be the glory!