Shawna Pilat had had enough. It was Sunday morning in January of 2000, and her husband, Rick, still wasn't home from his Saturday night partying. "I was at home with my son, Drake, who was 3 at the time," Shawna remembers. "It was very common for Rick to be out all night…. I always knew there was unfaithfulness. That bothered me, naturally, but I was worried about Rick's safety—that he was going to turn up some place dead. And that morning I was at the end of my rope."

As Shawna angrily washed dishes in the kitchen, she noticed a man speaking on the television. She was quickly drawn to his message—he was funny and warm, and seemed to be speaking at her level. "I felt something come over me that I can't explain," she remembers. "I couldn't quit crying. At the end of the program it said, 'Join us,' and it gave the name of a church in Winnipeg. I couldn't get my son dressed fast enough."

On the way to the church, Shawna had one purpose in mind: getting emotionally strong enough to kick Rick out. She had tried using marijuana, alcohol, and various relationships to put Rick out of her heart. Now she thought she'd found the answer. But God had a surprise for her.

At the end of the message, the pastor invited people to give their lives to Christ. Shawna raised her hand. "I never looked back," Shawna says. "Three weeks later, Rick asked if he could join me at church."

Rick knew that his behavior was hurting his family, but he was held captive to drugs and sexual addictions. After four or five weeks of attending church with his wife, he recognized his need for Christ. Still, the following months weren't easy. "I was going to church and wanting to do right," he says, "but I kept doing wrong." It wasn't until a Promise Keepers seminar that he finally came to understand the importance of repentance and accepting the forgiveness God offers through Jesus Christ. That day, Rick went home and told his wife, "I can be the husband you need me to be now."

Rick and Shawna's lives took a 180-degree turn that day. They became active in their church and now serve as Promise Keepers volunteers who share the hope of God's restoration and forgiveness with struggling couples. "When I think how Jesus can change people—no matter how deep in sin they are—that overwhelms me," Rick says. "If he did it for us, he can do it for anybody."

This article was taken from Decision magazine, December 2006; ©2006 Billy Graham Evangelistic Association; used by permission, all rights reserved.