Infertility Healed Through Faith By Cassie McCullers

This beautiful story of the healing of
infertility for Bill and Cassie McCullers is from the book Amazing
Grace for Families, as told by Cassie.

All my life, I dreamed of being a wife
and mother, and everything I did pointed in that direction — from asking Santa
for a baby doll when I was ten to deciding against medical school in my junior
year of college.

As the oldest of five healthy children, I just assumed that
once I married, the babies would come as easily for me as they did for my mom.
 My husband Bill and I were introduced to Natural Family Planning (NFP) during
our Pre-Cana preparation in 1991. I studied it enthusiastically and carefully
in the weeks leading up to our wedding, and as a couple we fully embraced it in
our married life.

I became pregnant rather quickly, but
miscarried at ten weeks in October 1992. We grieved terribly, but using NFP
made us confident we would be able to conceive again promptly.  That was not to
be the case. Following the miscarriage, we endured a two-and-a-half-year
odyssey of doctor visits, lab tests, and a diagnosis of endometriosis that
required six months of drug treatment.  After all that, we were hopeful to be
blessed with a pregnancy. When we passed that milestone, feelings of despair
began to creep in. While we tried to remain faithful in the Lord, each month’s
disappointment opened the door a bit wider to the fear that perhaps we might
never conceive a child. 

During all that time, faithful, wonderful
family members and friends had been lifting us up in prayer. In late January 1995,
my mother (a confirmed chocolate-lover) felt led to give up all chocolate as a
fasting sacrifice until I conceived. Then, in the early spring of that year, my
parents attended a healing Mass in North Carolina. My mother stood in for me
when the celebrating priest prayed over her.

In the meantime, my brother John took a
pilgrimage to Israel. He and a friend offered prayers at many holy places for
Bill and me, and family and friends continued to pray — as did we. By the early
spring of 1995, my parents and my sister Julie and her husband told me had been
led to pray in thanksgiving for the child we would conceive. They felt the Lord
had told them there was no need to “ask” anymore, that it would be done. I
could only hope they were right.

In April 1995, Bill and I were very
excited, then terribly disappointed, when I was a week “late.” On May 3, another healing priest anointed
and prayed over Bill and me. On May 5, we attended a healing Mass, after which
I planned to ask the priest to pray over me for complete healing of the
infertility.   The Mass was beautiful, and the presence of the Lord was very
strong. (I should mention that every May 5, we’ve offered special prayers for
the baby we lost in miscarriage, as May 5 was the baby’s estimated due date.)  

On the way to receive Communion, Bill was
praying — not thinking about babies, or infertility — when an amazing thing
happened. He felt the Lord speak directly to him, telling him that I was
already pregnant. Just like that.  Anyone who knows Bill knows he’s not one to
jump to conclusions without being certain.  When he told me, right away I knew
it was true. Crying, we began to praise and thank God for His goodness and the
precious life He had formed in me. Based on signs and symptoms of ovulation,
conception had to have occurred within 24 hours of this revelation. No lab test
in the world could confirm a pregnancy that early, so we waited.  Then, on May
19, my home pregnancy test was positive. A visit to the doctor confirmed it.
Matthew arrived on January 21, 1996. In fewer than six years, he was followed
by his brothers and sister, Will, Michael and Sarah.   

Those years of infertility sometimes
seemed like eternity, but the Lord used that time to teach us many things: to
trust Him, to pray in the face of hopelessness and to seek His will — all of
which are easier said than done. In addition, our experience has given us real
sensitivity to couples who struggle with infertility.   It is our sincere wish
that this story of the power of prayer, God’s faithfulness to His people, and
the wisdom of His timing, will give new hope to all who struggle with the cross
of infertility.  