Faith Overrules Infidelity In This Marriage

we knew each other for so many years as great friends I mean we spent a lot of time together growing up and we were getting to date when we got married that friendship continued and we just we just loved doing things with each other and we preferred one another and we hardly ever fought Chris McCain and his wife Colleen were high school sweethearts after 20 years their picture-perfect marriage began to fall apart after they experienced a series of losses Chris had some job changes my father died and his mom died our children started moving out of the house and which really changes the dynamics and the way that we were relating to each other was changing too a lot of things in my life that I'd had control of were slipping away and I had noticed a change in my heart as I was happening that my heart was getting hard we began to have arguments now we begin to fight and we weren't used to that and we we didn't we didn't know how to fight he and I both had always wanted to to keep Christ in the center of our marriage and and during that time I knew that there was a divide between us but I really never dreamt that there was anyone else that was coming into the picture but someone did Chris had begun an affair that lasted several months what started out as innocent which was completely wrong developed into more than just having someone listen to me and understand me rather than someone who was fighting with me ashamed of what he had done Chris confessed to Colleen I really was shocked that that was happening but then he confessed he said it was over let's move forward though there was a lot of pain and a lot of back and forth for quite some time of trying to get through that we just sort of made um made a decision that we did want to stay together the mccain's decided not to tell anyone or seek out help after Chris's affair basically our pride prevented us from from wanting to admit to anyone you know we've had the storybook marriage for so long and everybody thought we were the poster children of marriage and to confess that our marriage was terrible our pride would allow us to do that to reach out they stayed together but Chris's heart remained unchanged a hard heart is is fertile fertile ground for Satan I had just completely been taken over with just being self absorbed in pleasing self just needing to control things to be in control of my situations because that's where I'd always been I wasn't gonna be controlled by my wife I wasn't gonna be told what to do and I didn't want the Lord telling me what to do either how to behave four years later Chris and Colleen met with their pastor in his office one Sunday after church there Chris confessed two more Affairs I just um let out a lot of anger in my mind in my heart at this point I'm done laughter I to confess to my children and they watch me pack my bags and walk out of the house that was the hardest thing I've ever been through that was when when I became completely broken Chris moved into a hotel and for the first time in years began to seek the Lord he studied the word fasted and prayed and invited other men to pray with him the previous times that we had dealt with my affairs I I had confessed I don't know that I had truly repented when I confessed the after the fourth one that was when everything when I came clean on everything it was not was not trying to be deceitful or hide anything anymore after that Colleen began to see changes in Chris and received encouragement from Scripture there was one morning a Sunday morning I was reading my Bible and the Lord showed me a verse in 1st Samuel and it says watch and see what the Lord is going to do watch and see this great thing I'm about to do before your eyes up until that time I had started giving up on our marriage during their marriage Chris seldom or his wedding ring because of the nature of his work while they were separated he told Colleen the Lord had impressed upon him to buy a new ring when he told me that he got a ring I knew that something was happening and this was probably the first thing that I thought God was showing me watch and see these great things and I'm about to do before your eyes because the ring was something that bothered me and I hadn't told him I knew that something was going on and I texted back and I said you're walking back to me because I knew that God was in it and if God was in it and I could trust God then I was all onboard the McCain spent months in counseling and God began to heal their marriage it's been five years since they reunited and they say their marriage is stronger than ever one of the things that Lord had changed in me was being willing to give up control and to prefer my wife and my family and to put the Lord first rather than for me to control all of that because his ways are better than mine he has blessed us in such a tremendous way that now I have a brand-new husband I didn't have to get married again to have a new husband because God changed him completely from the inside out and we just share so much more freely so much more deeply it's a really sweet place to be this close our marriage today is is incredible when someone shows you as much grace as Colleen has showed me my love for her is exponential when you experience God's grace and the way that we did he's the one that's made our marriage great not us all we've done is just sell out to him and give him our marriage and our family and our home and say Lord you just take our marriage and do with it what you need to do [Music]

Channel: The 700 Club

Views: 70,411

Rating: 4.8905559 out of 5

Keywords: 5430060224001, 3play_processed, faith, 700clubyoutube, randy rudder, marriage, failure, 700 Club, #mar6, family, adultery, featuredclip, HD720, Love, life transformation, 700Club

Id: UGcPV5MEZJ8

Length: 6min 16sec (376 seconds)

Published: Thu May 11 2017