When your life is shattered by your husband's infidelity or sexual addiction, it feels as if all strength has been knocked out of you like a death blow. But there are things you can do to restore your own strength, which can help your husband as well. Here are some I discovered.
Maybe you’ve done something awful. You asked God for forgiveness and He forgave you (1 John 1:9). However, you think you need to punish yourself anyway. God doesn’t need your help. Jesus paid the price in full for your forgiveness. That shame you feel comes from the devil himself. He is known as “the accuser of our brethren” (Revelation 12:10).
When my husband's internet pornography addiction led to an affair, then acting out with prostitutes, I filed for divorce. But God used what seemed hopeless to bring us both into a real relationship with Jesus. These are just some of the things I wish I had known or done when I first found out my husband was being unfaithful.
As I think about this road to recovery, I think of refuge. I think of sanctuary. For a long time many of us looked for refuge. What we found was life in a bottle, a life full of drugs, full of food disorders, full of depression, full of struggles. I found sanctuary in a bottle. The problem is, when that bottle was empty, there was an emptiness, a loneliness, a feeling of despair.