Larry: God can take the ugliest of circumstances--even marital unfaithfulness--cleanse the sinner and use the new believer for His glory. I'm a living example.

To date, God has used my life to bring 13 people to our church--five were new converts who then were baptized. And all in only the two years since I became a Christian and began sharing the story of my healing from sex addiction.

God also healed my wife, Noel, who had been terribly hurt by my addiction. Noel steadfastly stayed with me. We learned about a Christ-centered, 12-step program, Celebrate Recovery, and felt compelled to start a group based on its principles for addicts and their loved ones. It was an intentional effort to reach hurting people who might be non-Christians. We knew our story was not unique. We also knew it affected couples and families, not just the addict. We felt that by coming alongside people with similar backgrounds we could show them what we knew: that Christ is the only Way out of addiction. Starting the group was a worthy goal, but it required faith that God would bring the right people. The rst week, Noel and I were the only ones there! Now as many as 10 each week are nding Christ through prayer, Bible study and God-centered sharing.

Noel: Some attendees are like me--people who thought they could "x" someone but learned that they need God's healing too. The reason is not because they caused their loved one's addiction. It's because they also have sinfulness that separates them from God. Maybe they've been responding to the moods of other people rather than listening to God--making their loved ones "gods." They see this clearly when they focus on their own sinfulness and take the pressure off their spouse or whomever they thought they could "x."

You see, Jesus' resurrection is the great equalizer. I thought I had been very good for Larry during our marriage. God had to humble me and show me that He is the Savior, not me. I feel my mission is to share this insight and truth with other spouses. Also, God had to decrease my superior attitude about being raised in a Christian home, which Larry did not have.

Larry: I was taught that a man should work hard and not rely on others--especially not on a God Who would take away someone you love and need. I was 7 when Mum died. Dad was a farmer, and all he had when Mum died was belief that hard work would get us through. So he worked hard in the eld and we, 13 desperate children, were left alone to raise ourselves.

I endured years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, and I grew to think that I was unworthy and unlovable. I got off the farm and hid my pain in the city. I married the most caring person I could nd, thinking marriage would resolve my torment and remove bad memories. For a while, it did. But I started losing it. I crossed over from being a sexual victim to a participant. I used sex to numb my feelings. So I led a double life, destroying everyone I loved.

I was near suicide when I saw a psychologist for "stress." She prodded deeper until I confessed what I'd been up to. "Sex addict." The words fell from her lips like she was saying "broken leg." I'd been around addicts, watching my siblings become or marry alcoholics, overeaters or both. But I gured I was different. Sure, I had this problem, I thought, but I'm no addict.

The psychologist encouraged me to attend a 12-step meeting for sex addicts. There, I met people, including professionals like myself, who were eerily similar to me. While completing my fourth step (writing a moral inventory), I came to realize that I am not God. I began to wonder if God might exist. Later, while ipping through the yellow pages, I found an ad for "a church for the unchurched." God placed me with Pastor Jeff Christopherson and a church that would accept me as I was.

Noel: When I learned what had been happening and some of the shock wore off, I sensed God asking me if I really believed in Him. Did I know what He could do? I wanted to believe in degrees of sin, but He showed me that all sin is equally wrong and that He is the healer. I witnessed Larry make a radical change. Frankly, mouths dropped open when people learned Larry had become a Christian. Before, he had been openly against the church, thought God was a joke. Knowing what I know now, I realize that attitude was used to cover his secret life.

Larry: For example, a woman who once worked with me was so shocked to learn I had become a Christian that she visited our church to find out why. What she learned, of course, is the truth of Jesus. People see in me that Jesus can comfort and redeem an abused child, so that child can become a functional adult. And people can see from Noel's faithfulness that Christ alone can provide the courage and strength for spouses, who have been wounded by indelity, to trust again.