Joy In the Midst of Pain: Hope in Time of Grieving - April's Legacy

By Diane Czekala

When Diane Czekala’s daughter April died in 2011, she was just twenty-three and had her whole life ahead of her.
 
 Uniquely, she knew she was going to die and told her mother about it three months before it happened.  Diane wanted to hear nothing about it, but then told her, " 'IF' you do die, find a way to let me know you are okay".
 
After her death, Diane and her husband, Michael, feared for April’s salvation. But Joy in the Midst of Pain recounts dramatic instances of dreams, visions, and prophetic inspirations that came from  people across the country who knew April. Each clearly confirmed to the couple their daughter was with Jesus, there is life after death, and it is wonderful .
 
As a  minister of healing, Diane also explains different types of grieving, understanding the grieving process, and hindrances to healing, as she shares her story.
If you wonder about life after death, are sorrowing the loss of a loved one, or know someone who is, Joy in the Midst of Pain will offer hope in Jesus and inspire you to draw near to God. As Diane’s story emphatically demonstrates, “He will get you through.” 
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Creation House
• Release date: Sep 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781629984629

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Introduction

THIS BOOK IS not a died and came back to life story. This is a true story about a young woman, April, who loved! She loved so much that after she died she was able to reach through from the other side of death to comfort her loved ones here. She gave signs, wonders, and even miracles to assure her loved ones where she was and who she was with. She let them know that she is happier than ever! This book will give comfort to anyone who has loved ones who have passed on to the next world. This also will give comfort to those who do not know if there is life beyond this life. April drew people closer to God. When the contents of this book came to pass, it gave me great joy in the midst of great pain.

Many asked, Why? Why did this girl come back to so many of her grieving friends? Why is she revealing herself to so many? And why so many signs, wonders, and miracles? Most don’t hear from their dead loved ones ever again once they have passed over to the other side; or do they? I also include a chapter of other people’s testimonies and signs from their loved ones. There are some wonderful supernatural stories! Many don’t know if their loved ones have even made it to heaven, or if there is a heaven. We have heard many accounts of April coming to comfort. Was it because of her love? We believe so. April was so honored, more than anyone we knew who passed. I wondered why. Again, we feel it is because of her love. It was the unconditional way she loved. She also honored her father and me, her mother, more than I can believe, because of her love. There are blessings that go along with honoring your mother and father. There also are blessings in honoring God and honoring Him to others.

You may wonder why in some accounts people spell her name Aprael when her name is April. She was trying out the new spelling on Facebook in the last couple of months of her life. Many got used to it. New friends thought it was the correct spelling. The writings from other people have been kept as close to the original writings as possible.

You may think this book is too much about God. But we all die some day; many die sooner than others. It is our choice where we go. Do you want to go to a place where God is not? Hell is a place God is not; His face is hidden from those who are there. A place without God is dark, lonely, and forever hopeless. Or, we can choose heaven where He resides and reigns. It is the place where His face is fully revealed to us; face-to-face we reside with Him. No more delusions; we see Him as He is. It is a place of love, peace, joy, and extreme happiness. April made that choice and has assured us and reassured us to not worry about where she is—which is heaven. Let’s get ready for our own departure when we get to meet our loved ones on the other side, with God.

Chapter 1

April, a Memorial

APRIL WAS ALWAYS trying to find her way in this life. She would travel and look here and there. She didn’t know if she would truly be happy staying in one place and just didn’t know where she belonged. Mostly she wanted to see every place and travel. I had told her she could settle in one place and travel to and fro. We had been planning a trip to Arizona, and she also wanted to travel to California. I too love to travel, and we both figured this would help her get traveling out of her system while living in one place.

LITTLE PRINCESS

April was the second child out of three. There were twelve years between her older sister and her and three and a half years between her and her younger brother. It was very hard on me, desperately wanting another child for so many years. My pregnancy with April was very difficult. When I had an ultrasound, I found that I had lost one and possibly two babies; but April was healthy. I was two months pregnant already when I found out and when the difficulties began.

I spent most of the months in bed because of heavy bleeding. I was petrified that I would lose her, but all ultrasounds showed she was strong and healthy in spite of the turmoil around her. She finally was born. The stressful pregnancy was difficult emotionally for me; I was so afraid something would happen to her.

She was often sick with high fevers during the first two years. This was quite scary but she outgrew it and never had those episodes after the age of two. She grew strong and healthy.

That girl always had a big smile on her face. People would always ask, Does she always smile? Yes, pretty much. She was an extremely happy little girl. April was very smart and knew lots of things at an early age. She was a little princess who was very tiny for her age with a deep voice. It was cute and funny.

TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS OF HER SCHOOL YEARS

As she grew older and started school, she had difficulty learning. This surprised us since she was so bright. Apparently it didn’t become evident until she had to learn something more difficult. When April was two she learned the days of the week, months of the year, and ABC’s after they were told to her only a few times. She had little books that she memorized—some word for word. Her sister would have her read the books to show her off to her friends. It looked as though she was reading but she had it memorized.

When she started kindergarten she did very well. Her teacher said that she was a natural leader, a leader of good things. She said normally kids who lead others lead them into trouble, but April was a leader of good things. She also said we needed to protect what April had. We were never sure what she meant by that except maybe teachers squashing her. But those days ended. She began having a hard time processing things starting at the end of third grade, and by fourth grade her teacher was greatly concerned. Simple questions took great thought and time for her to answer, like When is your birthday? She asked April in front of the entire class; she took time to answer and looked at me and said, See? Eventually we tried every natural remedy and even had to resign to using medication, but then decided against it.

As time went on she frustrated teachers who did not understand her learning disability. They did not know how to deal with her without singling her out and embarrassing her. Attention deficit was not new, but teachers did not have the patience for it. She was not hyperactive so some teachers didn’t believe she had it at all. It became very frustrating for April.

We got videos to educate her teachers, but it still did not help. She still felt singled out. We realized at about sixth grade that home schooling would be better suited for her. I struggled with this because I was happy working and having a life outside of the home. I was a parent who loved my children dearly, but I also loved it when my kids went back to school after summer vacation. So I really struggled with thoughts of home schooling. I was not a good student myself when I was a child, so how could I be a good teacher? I had little patience with the extended homework times when I had to deal with her extreme frustrations. When I say extended, I mean extended. April had no play time, she worked all day in school then she worked on homework from the time she got home from school until bedtime. She got frustrated and depressed. It was not easy for her, and she could not focus. I felt that was no life for a child and it was a great strain on her. She needed fun time and outside play time.

One day I was at work and was thinking that no way could I compete with what school had to offer April. Suddenly God said to me, Who said I want that for her? If you can’t lay your life down for your own child, who can you lay your life down for? Wow! That had such a strong impact on me. I wanted to serve God by serving His people, and I realized it started in my home. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that God wanted me to home school her. April was very open to it and she wanted to start that very fall. I jumped on it. I figured if I waited she may change her mind. It was not always easy, but it was very good for both of us. We became very close because of the one-on-one time we spent together. It helped me to be more disciplined. Learning was easier for her when taught one-on-one. My only regret was that I had not started it from the beginning.

She was very difficult to home school since she pretty much had to be hand fed each bit of information. But the frustration was gone for her because it was in the beginning of the day and not all day till bedtime. Some things were difficult for me since I always struggled in math, so we had tutoring for her in the areas where I lacked.

She got through two years of home schooling, then she decided she wanted to go back to public school when her peers went to high school. I strongly felt that was not the right thing to do but she insisted so adamantly. She said, I am getting on the school bus the first day of school whether you sign me up or not! I took my hands off it. Okay! As parents we choose our battles and this was one I chose not to fight.

April and her brother Jesse being silly

She went to high school and did football cheerleading. For some reason she rubbed the girls in the school the wrong way. She was flirty with the boys and must have flirted with the wrong one. They were jealous and hated her so much that many teased and bullied her. They took her school books right from her locker and hid them on her; she never did get them back. They pushed her around in the halls and threatened her. Her best friend joined in with the jeering as well. It all left her mentally wounded and heartbroken. Her friend apologized afterwards, but it wasn’t the same between them. Boys had lured her from school molesting her and sexually abusing her, which I did not know until later. She had been traumatized more than she had let on. For years she was still hearing terrible rumors that were circulating about her that were terrible lies. People she didn’t even know would tell her what was circulating. It hurt her very deeply; she would cry and go into a depression.

One day she came home telling me she wanted to be home schooled again. After what she put me through, I was not quick to answer her plea. To home school a girl who did not want to be home schooled was a painful ordeal, and I was not waiting with open arms to take her back again. She had made her strong decision that she wanted to go to school, and I had released her.

Meanwhile, I prayed to God to please let me know what to do by making this situation peak if He wanted me to home school again or otherwise to please straighten out her situation. Soon she came home in tears threatening to kill herself if she had to go back to school. I felt this must be the peak, so I said okay. She had only lasted in school a few months. The school was not happy to let her be home schooled. They were also very upset that she had such a hard time with being bullied and that they did not even know about it. This worked for April’s benefit. She wanted to go to cosmetology school; but our school district did not pay for home schoolers, only those going to school. This went to the school superintendent. They felt so bad about what happened to April they said they would pay for cosmetology if she took two classes in the alternative school. I expected much more out of April than alternative school did. I discovered that I was doing a really good job teaching her at home.

We ended up doing four years of high school in three years by doubling up on subjects. With the alternative school helping to teach her, it was much easier on me. Her cosmetology tuition was paid for. She struggled through the academic part of it but thrived in the hands-on part. She had a natural talent for cutting, styling, and highlighting hair; and her teachers encouraged her. She was the top one for doing guys’ hair. Most girls were afraid to attempt it, so they gave all the male clients to April, causing her to get even better at it. This helped her to land her first job.

April was not sure of herself. She had very low self-esteem because of the learning disability and from the bullying in school. She was very afraid of girls. You could see she had been traumatized. She was afraid to even enter the high school building. Two years later I found her high school year book and showed it to her thinking she was doing better and would like it. She went into hysterics screaming and crying traumatically at just the sight of the yearbook. She would always say to me, You have no idea all I went through in that school.

Great healing began to take place for April in cosmetology school since girls from other school districts began to befriend her respectfully. She made good girlfriends who accepted her. April may have been talented in doing hair, but she was very slow because of her disability. She was quite a perfectionist. Bosses didn’t like that about her. She lost jobs because of it. Her customers loved her work. Most customers felt she was doing a good job and they were getting their money’s worth, since she was taking time and their hair was perfect. Most people don’t like their hair dresser rushing. She often would witness Jesus to her customers and pray over them.

April graduated at sixteen and a half from home school and cosmetology. She gave a speech about God and how grateful she was to have been home schooled because she knew what she had missed out on with public school, which was a lot of heart ache. She also knew what a great sacrifice it was for me and admitted that she did not make it easy on me, and she thanked me. It was a moving speech. (See April’s Home School High School Graduation Speech in Extras by April at the back of the book.)

Courtesy of Chenango Studios, Binghamton, New York. Used by Permission

She had to wait six months to take her state boards because of her age. She was able to get her temporary license on her seventeenth birthday and landed her first cosmetology job on that very day at the mall. She sold herself well. What really got their attention was the fact she cut and layered her own hair so well and that she had so much experience cutting men’s hair. I was actually at the interview. I was so proud of how she handled herself. She was petrified to take her state boards but finally did it and passed.

A HEART FOR OTHERS

The devil seemed to be after April when she was growing up. She went from a very happy, joyous little girl to having the enemy (devil) after her. It was so difficult for her she almost had a few nervous breakdowns through the childhood years. Once I prayed that God would give her a second guardian angel because of how bad it was. The very same evening we went to a church meeting where a prophet was speaking. He prophesied over only two people, and April was one of them. He spoke that God was giving her a second guardian angel because the devil was after her so bad. I was so happy that God had heard my prayer and confirmed to me I was right on; and I knew He was watching over her. Don’t ever think God does not hear your prayers. Not all are answered yes or answered so quickly, but He hears us!

April went through a lot in life and it caused her to gravitate to those who went through similar hard times. She loved to give advice and counsel people. God gave her a lot of wisdom in helping people. Her friends would tell me her wisdom was beyond her years and that she would always help them through hard times. They didn’t know how she knew how to pray so well. It was hard for many of her friends after she was gone. I had no idea how many people she was helping. April would often come to me for prayer, advice, and counsel. She then turned and did it for others.

One might think April was perfect since she was so honored after her death. She was not perfect—nobody is perfect; but she loved Jesus a lot. You don’t have to be perfect to be saved. God loves each one of us right where we are. She loved God a lot. She was excited that she had experienced Jesus firsthand and wanted others to experience Him too. She found it wonderful and exciting and wanted others to know that it wasn’t about religion but it was about a relationship with God. She was often found talking to people about God for hours at a time. That was her favorite thing to do, and she would tell me with great excitement. She loved to sit and talk about God, and her heart would burn within her when she did. Everything inside her came alive when she did this. That is because it was her call in life. She loved to share her faith. Think about it; if April shared her faith with you, it is because God wanted her to reveal Him to you. God changed her life deeply, and she wanted others to experience this too. Sometimes she just listened without a word in excitement as others shared their searching hearts, she told me. She did not shove Jesus down anyone’s throat but only shared appropriately without threat or without being offensive, in a nonreligious way, led by the Lord. She seemed to have a way of stirring people’s hearts and opening people up to God.

April had been caught up with people who took drugs and lived the wild life, and had many friends who had mental illness. She tried to help many people and laid hands on people to pray deliverance for those who were suicidal even when she was not living a pure life in God. This was not good and I got a couple of phone calls in the middle of the night from her saying the evil spirits (spirit of suicide) had gotten in her or on her and that she needed me to pray them off of her. She was not living a pure and strong enough life in God to do this type of ministry. She hadn’t given her life over to God yet, even though she believed and loved Him a lot. She also was often found in bars having drinks herself but spending the entire night helping people through hard times, telling them about Jesus, and praying for them, and counseling them. It really amazed me how God used her in those places. She looked for every opportunity, when the time was right. She got great joy and excitement over it.

DEEPER COMMITMENT TO GOD

She finally realized she wanted to follow God more closely, and live a better life. She finally gave her life to God.

You cannot live a life in darkness and expect power over the enemy. If though, you are living a righteous life in God you have authority over the powers of darkness.

God gave Paul the power to perform unusual miracles. When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled. A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation saying, I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out! Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this. But one time they tried it, the evil spirit replied, I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you? Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.

—ACTS 19:11–16

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

—JAMES 5:16

April moved to Missouri to be with us and start fresh. She started going to church again and made some good Christian friends. She did a bit of traveling and visited old friends but found that she had changed and was different than her old friends. It seemed to frustrate her; she didn’t want to party like she used to. She quickly came home.

April leaving to travel

April moved to Branson with her mother and father.

Right away she went to Kansas City International House of Prayer (IHOP)¹ to seek God in a deeper way. She was in a car accident on her way there and totaled my car. Rather than to turn around and come home, she continued on to IHOP one hour away. A woman going the opposite direction went out of her way to drive her. Since she looked a mess and was somewhat out of it from the accident, IHOP gave her special attention and handpicked the people for her to stay with. They turned out to be very special people we all love so much. April was touched very deeply by God and loved her friends she was living with. She ended up staying a lot longer than she planned. She almost moved there but decided to come back home.

LOVE AND MARRIAGE

She got it into her head that she wanted to meet someone romantically and to marry and have a family. This was even though she made a promise to God she would not pursue a relationship right away but would pursue only Him. April sought out a Christian dating site on the Internet and met a handsome young man. They talked for hours upon hours day and night by Internet webcam for a while before they met in person. She made sure they covered every subject that was important to her to assure they were very compatible. Not only did they cover every other subject but also every aspect of Christianity. She was spirit filled, and she wanted to make sure she had a spirit-filled husband who believed the same way she did. April felt she was a radical Christian, not traditional; and she wanted him to understand and