Article By Chelsea Rivers // EEW Magazine // Marriage

Chadwick and JaLana Walsh, co-founders of Forward Marriage ministry, are transparent about the highs and lows of their 25-year union.

The pair never shies away from sharing the good and bad—specifically the affair that would have torn them apart were it not for God’s restoring power.

“I was 7 months pregnant when I found out,” JaLana told CBN’s 700 Club, recounting the day she caught her husband cheating with another woman, a mutual friend, staying in their home. The pain of betrayal was so intense, the devastated wife said she asked God to let her “die on the table when they did the C-section for the pregnancy.”

The process of bringing their third child into the world was not supposed to go this way, and she thought she couldn’t handle it. “I just didn’t know how to make the pain I was feeling inside stop. It was so painful to feel betrayed like that and to feel like I was no longer loved,” said JaLana.

This was a far cry from the joy and bliss the two felt in 1991 when they met on the campus of Oral Roberts University.

“I thought she was gorgeous,” said Chadwick, remembering their early days together. “And we just connected.” 

JaLana told the Christian network, “I was drawn to him because of his passion for the Lord. Instantaneously we became best friends. We started ministering on the street. We would go door-to-door witnessing.”

It was a match made in heaven, confirmed by 7 years of joy inside the marriage they committed to in 1994. For a long time, the couple seemed to be coasting along, serving together in ministry and raising their two beautiful children.

But there came a season when the pressures of life hit hard. In year 12, the couple lost their home after Chadwick was laid off.  JaLana’s father died of cancer and she was experiencing pregnancy complications. Chadwick got a new job and had to work even more hours to pay the bills. The romance faded. They became distant, and life got real.

“I began to be distracted by the cares of this life, and it really began to just deteriorate my devotion to the Lord,” said Chadwick, who, around this time, fell into a pattern of viewing pornography—a habit that grew into an uncontrollable addiction.

“To hide that from my wife, I was definitely feeling as if there was a part of me dying,” admitted Chadwick. “I was so deep and so dark and so disconnected. I was like, you know what? We can end this. I want a divorce.”

But JaLana didn’t want to let go. Instead of walking out on the marriage, she fought hard. According to her, her first priority was building herself up.

“I came to quickly realize that I had to love me. I had to find my identity outside of my mom, my dad, my husband,” she said. “I had to find out who I was in God. God was speaking to me to rise up, to be a warrior.”

JaLana said her time spent in God’s word made her stronger and she heard the voice of the Lord: “He said, ‘I want you to start showing your husband love. Stop bringing up the situation with the affair.’”

“I remember saying ‘God, how could I forgive him?’ And God said, ‘As many times as you have been unfaithful to Me and I’ve taken you back, what pride you’re walking in not to show [and] extend that same love and forgiveness to him. I started praying for everything around him, that he would be the man of God that God called him to be,” she said.

According to Chadwick and JaLana, the combination of her prayers and sacrificial love sparked a new flame in their relationship. Chadwick said, “I was like ‘Lord, I am so sorry. I’m so sorry for hurting my family.’ I said I’m going to turn my plate over, I’m not going to eat anything. I’m going to seek God.”

As Chadwick fasted, prayed and joined a Christian men’s group, by the grace of God, he overcame his pornography addiction and the couple’s communication got better.

“The key to our marriage being restored is, first of all, God. The Lord stepped in and just brought healing,” JaLana said, adding, “We had to put the work in.”

These days, the two are happier and closer than ever. They even renewed their vows in front of family and friends, and have become a beacon of hope for other couples whose marriages have been ensnared by infidelity.

“We’re not the couple who had a messed up marriage. We’re a couple who went through a storm [and] made it through,” said Chadwick.

Watch their full inspiring story below.