Nicole C. Mullen details domestic abuse, betrayal to highlight God’s faithfulness: 'He is able'

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Entertainment Editor Friday, April 24, 2026

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — For decades, Nicole C. Mullen has been known for anthems of faith, such as “Redeemer” and “Call on Jesus,” which earned her nine Dove Awards, two Grammy nominations and a place among contemporary Christian music’s most recognizable voices.

But in her new book, It’s Never Wrong to Do the Right Thing, the singer delves into something more personal: telling the truth about pain and detailing how God redeemed the most broken parts of her life, including marital infidelity and domestic violence.

“I've had a minute to heal with Jesus,” the 59-year-old singer told The Christian Post. “The wrong is still wrong. The wrong is still hurtful. But it's easier to talk about it because I've seen the Lord give me victory. In the midst of it, I've seen when the enemy counted me out and said, ‘Oh, you're as good as dead,’ and God said, ‘Oh, but I'm good at resurrection.’ He did it in my life as proof for other people to know that what He's done for me, He can do for other men and women. He is able.”

“Our details might be different, but I don’t think anybody leaves this life unscathed … the commonality is that we all have a need for Christ.”

Mullen’s music career, which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s, was built on declarations of unwavering faith. In 2011, she was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame.

Yet behind that confidence, she was living a parallel life marked by wounds that, for years, remained largely private. In her 2020 memoir My Redeemer Lives, It’s Personal – A Story of Hope, the Ohio native recounted how she was physically abused by her first husband, whom she married at a young age. Her second husband, producer David Mullen, with whom she shares three daughters, was unfaithful, and the two divorced after 21 years of marriage.

Her latest book, part memoir and part devotional, draws on stories from Scripture, history and her own life to highlight God’s faithfulness in the lives of women who faced difficulty. It is not, she emphasized, a story about her alone.

“This book is not just about my story, but it's about a whole lot of other women and men that are just like us — some who've made good decisions, some who made poor decisions, some who had tragedies, some who had joy. But it’s ultimately about how Christ worked in all of it,” she said.

“Some of these things … they have been wounds that have turned to scars,” she said. “It’s harder to talk about things that are still wounds.”

For Mullen, who grew up in church, ministry and music are inextricably intertwined. Her career has included not only chart-topping songs but also speaking engagements, mentoring and outreach work. Standing onstage for decades while carrying unseen pain, the artist said, required daily reliance on God.

“I don’t necessarily see myself as a superstar,” she said. “I see myself as a child of God … somebody who’s in need of Christ. At the end of the day … will He count me faithful? I have to hear Him say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ So if I keep that as my focus, the rest of it will either pale in comparison, or it will become a colorful background that accentuates the real thing.”

One of her book’s central themes is discernment — the question of when to act and when to wait — as well as the urgency of obeying God when He speaks. It’s a practice the singer said she is still learning.

“Honestly, I'm still learning to better discern the voice of the Lord,” she said. “There have been times that I thought, well, I got this right. I thought I heard you, God. I thought it was a yes. And I went forward … and I’m like, ‘Was that actually a yes?’ But what I've learned overall is that God can be trusted with our good and our bad decisions. He's able to reroute us where we need to be rerouted. He's able to work all things together for our good, if we're called, if we love Him.”

To illustrate that idea, the book draws on lesser-known biblical figures: Abigail, who intervenes in a volatile conflict; Jochebed, who defies a king’s order to save her child; and Hannah, who carries her grief to God year after year. Her favorite biblical figure is Leah, she said, an “unsung hero” of the Old Testament who “didn’t make it to the pages of this one, but will make it to the next one.”

These women are not, Mullen noted, the most celebrated names in Scripture, but their impact is undeniable. Many of their decisions were made in obscurity, without any guarantee of recognition or reward.

“We’re still living off of the ripple effect,” she said, “and we don’t even know it.”

That emphasis also reflects her concerns about the broader Christian music industry, where success can bring both opportunity and pressure. As the genre continues to expand its cultural reach, Mullen said she hopes artists will remain anchored in something deeper than a platform.

“My hope … is that we would be found faithful to the Lord,” she said, citing 1 Timothy 4:12, which calls believers to be examples “in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

Even in uncertain seasons, there is, she stressed, a right thing to do — and a God who meets people there. Mullen, who remarried in 2021, added that sometimes God allows “dark seasons” for His children as a “fire to purify us, so that we will cling to Him.”

“We can say all day long that we have faith in Christ. We can say that we believe in Him and that we believe His Word. But until it's tested, we don't know,” she said.

“There are stories in this book that help you to see the hand of God and hear the voice of God in different situations that you can now take and place into your situation,” Mullen continued.

“God is not going to tell us to do anything that's counter to what He's already said, what He's already penned, because His Word is not going to pass away. It's ever relevant. It's alive. It's sharp. It's sharper than any two-edged sword.

“He says, ‘If you draw near to me, I will draw near to you.’ Sometimes, it’s just saying, ‘Lord, can you help me? I need you,’” she added. “It's that scooting a little bit closer to Him, and He will scoot closer to you. He will jump in your heart, make it understandable in your mind, and show you how to live that out in your life.”

It’s Never Wrong to Do the Right Thing is now available.