Testimonies - Page 8 of 40 - Moms in the Making

In 2016, my husband and I were married. We tried to grow our family naturally for about a year before seeking medical advice. I received a stage IV endometriosis diagnosis in 2019 after laparoscopic surgery. Our doctor informed us that we would have less than a 1% chance of conceiving naturally. We were discouraged but kept trusting the Lord.

In 2020, we went through two medicated IUI cycles, both were unsuccessful. We made the decision to begin IVF in late 2020 & had an initial consult in January 2021. We chose to move forward with our next cycle and started medications in February 2021. It was a bumpy road to our retrieval; including all of our medications being stuck on a plane in a snowstorm, but the Lord made a way!

Our retrieval went well & we were able to do a fresh transfer. We found out at our first beta that we were pregnant! We had never seen a positive pregnancy test during our 3.5 year wait. It was truly a miracle! I wanted to share a few dates from our journey because the Lord is in the details & He is so faithful.

Our transfer date was March 8, 2021.
Our gender reveal date was May 8, 2021. (A boy!)
Our son was born two weeks EARLY on November 8, 2021.

It’s incredible to look back on our journey now and see that the Lord has written the number 8 all over our son’s life. The repetition is significant. The number 8 means new beginnings, complete spiritual transformation & is associated with victory. The Lord uses the number 8 multiple times in the Bible to share of times that were shattered & then redeemed with confident overcomers. In the Bible, it is shared that Elijah (yes, whom our son is named after) performs 8 miracles. SO cool!

Wow! The Lord has already declared victory & redemption over our son’s life.

“Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations-that’s what I had in mind for you.” -Jeremiah 1:5

I have co-led a Moms in the Making support group since 2019 & the encouragement I’ve received has completely changed my journey!
My husband and I decided to start trying for a baby December 2015. I naively thought we would get pregnant right away, like most of our friends. That wasn’t the case though.

At first, my doctor wasn’t too concerned, but after a while, she suggested testing and trying medication. I wasn’t on board. I personally felt like we were supposed to wait on God. I kept hearing Him say, “Be still”. During a prayer night at a friend’s house, one said, “Lindsey, God wants you to know He hasn’t forgotten about you.” At the time, I didn’t feel like He had, but in the years to come, sometimes I did. But I continued to hear my friend’s voice telling me about that encouragement from God.

Over the next couple of years, God showed himself to me more and more. One night, I was frustrated with our situation and I expressed that to God. I told Him I didn’t know why He had given me the desire to be a mom if we were going through infertility. The next words that I prayed were, “I gave you the desire to be a mother, to make you a mother!” I stopped instantly, opened my eyes and thought, “Whoa! That wasn’t me! Those words weren’t my own! Thank you, God!” That gave me such renewed hope!

In May of 2018, my husband and I finally got pregnant. Unfortunately, it ended a couple of days later. The same thing happened again that September. Then, in October, a close friend who has the gift of prophecy, texted me. She said, “8 weeks from today, take a pregnancy test. I feel that in my spirit.” I pulled up my calendar and 8 weeks later to the day was December 25th, Christmas morning! Sure enough, we found out we were pregnant that Christmas morning!

Today, we have our precious little boy and our sweet baby girl now, too! God healed my barrenness and allowed us to get pregnant right away with her! If God has made you a promise, He will surely keep it!

Thank you, Caroline and Moms in the Making! I’m certain our infertility journey would have been so different without this ministry. God used it to speak life, truth and hope to me. Nothing is too hard for God!
My husband and I began trying for a baby as soon as we got married. A little bit about me – I work with my parents at a home they found 40 years ago. This home is for moms who have decided they want to keep their baby and not have an abortion. Thousands of lives have been saved and I’m so blessed to be a part of a ministry that values life in the womb just like Moms in the Making does! But being around all of these babies was a struggle for me.

I had 2 doctors tell me it was impossible to get pregnant. I would blame myself thinking, “this is my fault, my past has made me infertile”, but infertile is a word that I did not speak! In my time with God, I wanted to have a devotional for this journey and I was specific about finding a devotional that didn’t have “infertility” in it as I didn’t want to associate with that word! And there it was, “In Due Time” written by Caroline Harries. Not only was it the perfect title but it restored my hope in Christ!

Through that, I discovered Moms in the Making and I got connected to my local group. I had such a wonderful experience of fellowship and encouragement with my leader, Cristina! I still struggled with jealousy and I told God, “if I am to work around babies, how can I keep doing this when it hurts?”, and I felt God tell me in my heart, “I need to learn celebrate others”. The Moms in the Making Bible study on celebrating others’ victories really hit me and I finally surrendered that jealousy to the Lord.

At the clinic where we give ultrasounds to show moms their precious babies, the very place where I struggled to understand God’s plan for me, was where my miracle was discovered and I found out I was pregnant! I thank God for His mercy and I thank Him for Moms in the Making. I always tell women who are in their season of waiting to stop struggling quietly! God doesn’t want us to struggle alone. He’s given us the gift of community and I truly believe in the power of corporate prayer!

My son Elijah was born on January 22, 2023 and is our daily reminder to us of God’s grace!
Last year I joined Moms in the Making. My husband and I had been married little over a year at that time. My marriage was on the brinks and it was a dire situation that only God could fix.

A few months before the Moms in the Making conference, my husband told me he didn’t think he wanted to be a father and didn’t know if he would be a good one. As you can imagine I felt completely blindsided. I joined MITM shortly after him stating that. I wanted to attend my first conference however I was hesitant as I was in a different situation then most women actively trying to have a future family.

I needed God to move mountains if He wanted me to be at the conference. My leader at the time ended up winning an extra ticket and gifted it to me. Then I had another confirmation from another leader that I texted and she shared that she was in a similar situation as myself previously and encouraged me to attend.

I had complete breakthrough at the conference during the day of powerful prayers. I gave my heart to God and fully surrendered while I continually prayed for my husband. Fast forward many months later and my husband stated he does want a family – we are going to try our first rounds of IVF in the fall.

The doctors said with our age and my low egg count that there would only be a 5% chance of naturally conceiving on our own. However, I know GOD can do ANYTHING and He is faithful! I’m standing on faith that we will have a family in the future however God intends it to be.

Moms in Making changed my bitter, sad heart to be an encourager to others and to speak life over my situation, as life and death are in the power of the tongue!
I have a HUGE praise report, but first I want to start with a verse: Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

My husband and I were supposed to go to Germany, but 2 weeks before everything fell apart. We both had Covid and our furnace died, which cost $5,000 to repair. We could not go anywhere since we were sick. We weren’t able to work, so we couldn’t make money as quickly as I hoped. Then, the dishwasher broke and leaked in the kitchen, and the power went out in one room. Somewhere in all this hopelessness, God was there.

The last time I was ovulating, we felt pressured to try to conceive as the prior time before Covid, it just didn’t work. We wanted it to but we were so stressed out and frustrated that we both were mad at each other and nothing worked. I thought it was all my fault. On the last fertile day, it worked and I started crying after because I really thought something was wrong with me that we can’t even have sex anymore. 2 days later I had Covid. But Matthew 19:26 says, “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”

I wanted to let you know it will happen when you least expect it: we are pregnant. Of course we are beyond happy, but I also think about you all! I pray that God gives you strength and peace while you wait. I am very blessed to be in this group!
In 2020, I was in the depths of infertility. After months of failed fertility treatments and two miscarriages I was completely hopeless. In October I decided to go to the Moms in the Making conference and my life was forever changed. I was encouraged, prayed over and completely restored and healed. Just over a month after that conference I was pregnant again and 9 months later my son, John Luke was born.

After going through infertility, it’s natural to think that you’ll never have a surprise pregnancy. I had already talked to my doctor about the steps we would have to take to grow our family in the future. But when God heals, HE HEALS.

And 9 months later, I was pregnant again with James, naturally again! After 2 miscarriages, I got my double portion.

“Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion.” Isaiah 61:7
We were married in November of 2013. My biggest dream was to be a mom, so we couldn’t wait to start our family right away. As months passed with negative pregnancy tests, we decided to seek medical advice. After some testing, we found that my husband had low sperm count, and I had high FSH. We were referred to a fertility specialist where we learned that IVF was our only option to conceive.

We had many cancelled cycles, a failed IVF transfer in 2014 and 2016, and an ectopic pregnancy in 2017, resulting in an emergency surgery. At this point, I wasn’t sure that my dream of having my own children would ever come true. I started leaning into God more each day. He was the only way I could find peace and stay hopeful. I found Caroline’s blog, In Due Time, and attended the Moms in the Making conference in 2019 and 2020. It was a breath of fresh air to be around other women walking through the same journey as I was. I started digging into the Word and read several books about gaining hope and learning to cling to God’s promises. Although I wanted to give up, He kept nudging me to keep trying.

In 2021, we decided to give IVF another shot in a city 6 hours away. God provided in so many ways during this time. It just so happened that my husband got his pilot’s license that year. So, traveling back and forth to our appointments was way more convenient. A condo was also provided for us by a friend. At breakfast on the morning of our transfer, our waitress’s name was Gracyn. That was what we wanted to name our daughter if we had one. We took this as a sign that we were going to be pregnant with a little girl.

We got a positive pregnancy test in March of 2022! Our baby girl, Gracyn was born on November 30th, 2022, our 9th wedding anniversary!

I could go on and on about how God was working behind the scenes for the last 9 years He gave me many signs that we would one day have a baby. Without my journey, I wouldn’t have the faith, patience, and strength I have today. God is good and He never breaks His promises!
In 2005, my husband and I were married. We waited for about 2 years before we starting trying to start a family. About a year into trying and nothing happening, we decided to seek some help.

After a few failed rounds of Clomid and a cycle of shots, we decided to put everything on hold. We always said we wouldn’t adopt, but God had other plans. He started softening our hearts toward adoption, and in 2015, we adopted our first son. We waited a few more years and started the adoption process again and adopted our second son in 2018. At this point, while we desired to add another to our family, we weren’t sure it would be wise to go through with another adoption, partly because of the expense and partly because we are actively involved with both of our sons’ birth families (they are amazing!) and we wanted to be “all in” with them.

Fast forward to the summer of 2021. This summer was the most stressful summer of our lives. So many heavy things going on with my family. April was bad news, May was bad news, June was bad news and July was even more bad news. Little did we know that God was performing a miracle during this time. I was late with my cycle, but never once thought it was because I could be pregnant. I mean, we had been trying for over 14 years. But sure enough, I was. And today, we have a happy, healthy little girl who recently turned one. Only God could write a story like ours. We are so blessed to have three little miracle children!
My husband and I got married in July 2016. After 1.5 years of marriage, we decided to start trying for a family. After a year of trying naturally with no luck, we confided in our OBGYN for help. We were put on medicated cycles for awhile with no luck. She referred us to a reproductive endocrinologist (REI).

The REI diagnosed us with unexplained infertility and suggested IUI. This was in 2017, when I began attending my local Moms in the Making group. I no longer felt alone in my struggles and had other women supporting me who have walked similar paths. I continued with 5 IUIs which all failed.

My husband has always wanted to adopt and continued to ask me to think about considering, but I just wasn’t ready to give up trying. I attended the 2020 MITM conference and felt so refreshed and ready to keep trying for our family. We decided to pursue IVF in spring 2021, which didn’t come up with any viable embryos. Afterwards, I felt lost, hopeless and questioned God about if it was really meant for us to have a family.

My husband again brought up adoption. We began praying and fasting. Finally, I decided we should try private infant adoption. I finally surrendered what my thoughts of a family was to Jesus and He provided. We were generously gifted 4 grants for adoption, one from Moms in the Making. Jesus continued to open doors for us.

This past March, we finally welcomed our sweet baby girl Emaline Grace to our family. Her adoption will be final in September 2023. If I’ve learned anything, it’s truly that Jesus’s timing is perfect and He has the final say. Surrendering to His ways has been the best thing I’ve done in this process.
We’ve been praying for financial breakthrough for months. IVF, a job loss, a cross-country move, major unexpected house and car repairs and my husband going back to school all created significant financial strain. Even though we budgeted and pinched pennies, we still couldn’t get out from under the debt we had accrued.

The past few months I have specifically been praying for a financial breakthrough and miracle to pay off our credit card debt. This week, we got a check from an unexpected source that covers the debt AND then has exactly 10% left to tithe.

I am praying that my story will remind others facing similar financial strains to keep praying and reaching out for a miracle (while being a good steward of what you DO have in the meantime.) Our God is a God of hope and miracles. He’s a good father. Keep pursuing Him and He will provide for your every need.