“I WAS WILLING TO LET HIM DIE”

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20 years of lying, cheating, addiction, codependency and living in survival mode had finally caught up to David and Michelle. One night, David who was high on meth, clutched his heart and fell to the ground thinking he was having a heart attack. Michelle was watching while it happened and thought “I am so done with this marriage; I am willing to let him die”.

 

Thankfully she didn’t let him die but that thought was the wakeup call she needed. As someone who prays for everyone and everything, she had never truly prayed for her marriage. She began praying for her marriage constantly. David went to rehab again and upon release, he knew that he had to do something different this time…so he walked through the doors of his local Recovery Alive and went up to the volunteer serving lunch and simply said “I need some help”. He was immediately connected to a Sponsor, Accountability and Process Group. Not long after that, it was announced that there would be a Beta Group for a new Recovery Alive book: Recovering Marriage. David took the initiative and signed both of them up.

 

13 weeks later, David and Michelle graduated Recovering Marriage and as their reward, they walked out with a marriage that neither of them recognized. The tools of transparency, communication, listening and validation had been gained during that time and a foundation of trust had begun to be laid down. They even started to like one another again. Now that additional time has passed and they have continued to practice the tools they learned in Recovering Marriage, they are living out Step 12: The Power of Service by serving together at their Recovery Alive while also living out Marriage Commitment 12: “I will commit to serving like Jesus in my marriage”.

 

Michelle says her biggest takeaway from their Recovering Marriage group was that she always thought she or their daughters would be the one to give David his “Aha!” moment but that was God’s rightful spot - she just needed to get out of the way. David says his biggest takeaway was to be transparent and vulnerable - that makes all the difference for your own Recovery as well as your spouse’s.

 

For more of David & Michelle’s Recovering Marriage story grab your copy of the book!