Darth Vader.

Vader clearly had opportunities to choose good. He was chosen and trained by the best. He could have been a Jedi. But he had a dark side. Don’t we all?

We all have a choice… and isn’t that what it all comes down to. CHOICE. FREE WILL.

He sliced off his own son’s hand. Now THAT’S a horrible person, right?

But even movie goers wanted redemption for him… for evil… for Darth Vader. If we can root for him…

… why can’t we root for ourselves?

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Never Beyond Series Posts:
Mike Tyson
Casey Anthony

To be honest… they really did a pretty good job of not twisting the words that came out of our mouths. They DID change a few details in the printed portions of our episode… though in their defense, they DO claim to change names, details, and timeline to protect others.

Again… the truth of our story can be read HERE but I thought I’d clarify the parts of our story that weren’t portrayed correctly in this episode for integrity’s sake:

* We didn’t purchase a 4 bedroom home 6 months after we got married. We lived in a 3 bedroom condo our first year of our marriage. Then an apartment transitioned us the next year and in 2003 we purchased our first home.
* I didn’t meet “Jim” at the airport. Our families had been friends for years before our mission trip to Mexico.
* Chance was born before I chose to have an affair. In fact, he was 10 months old.
* My affair with “Jim” was over before he got caught in his other affair.
* Brian didn’t pack his bag and leave town THAT night and I knew where he was going. It was a planned retreat about a week after I confessed my affair with purpose to give us, especially Brian, time to think and process.
* Brian and I have been married over 10 years now. We filmed this last November (2010).
* Most of all… God is responsible for saving our marriage. We LOVE Elaine and she’s a great counselor, but God deserves all the glory.

Did you guys watch it?
What did you think?

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They didn’t end up including our renewal video made by our friend, Jay McKenney… but you can watch that on our JOURNEY page HERE.

Also… you can see my interview with Toby Keathley from Ladies Week HERE too.

You can view one of our online exclusives:

And the tv trailers:
Here’s one…

And the other one that we share with Audrey & Bob…

Just watching myself in these previews already makes me uncomfortable in my own skin. But I’m trusting God to do what He wants with our story.

OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network), channel 256, 9/8pm central.

Here we go!

Brian and I were asked to share our story of infidelity back in September of 2010 on for the show “Unfaithful” which happens to run on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) on channel 256.

We were surprised when we were asked to share. Then, we were hesitant. We asked a million questions… our story is very public, but television is a whole ‘nother level of public… and we don’t have any control of how they edit or re-tell our words. A million thoughts plagued me.

I don’t want other people getting hurt.
My words could get twisted.
The world is going to call me an adulterous whore.
What if I say the wrong thing?
Oh my word! It’s Oprah’s network!
But it takes more than counseling and wishful thinking to heal a marriage.

I think that was our biggest holdback. Our story is about MORE than just my affair… it’s about my whole life as I’ve lived it. It’s about the dysfunction of my heart and mind that poisoned my marriage and God’s hand in healing us despite all of it. Though we are HUGE advocates of counseling and coaching… the healing of our marriage was nothing short of a miracle.

GOD healed our marriage. God restored our lives.

Brian and I prayed long and hard about it. And after a week of consideration, Brian said:

“God is all powerful. He can send a message through any medium. Even if they edit out all our mentions of God, He can still speak to the heart of the viewer. We are merely the voice on a platform.”

So we went ahead.

We spent over 20 hours in interview time on the phone. We hashed out our stories and re-hashed them again. They wanted so many details. Details that God had already thankfully blocked from my memory. Even with the blockage, Brian and I re-lived those first days when I confessed my infidelity. We were exhausted. Then, in November, they came out to our home in Portland and filmed us. They also filmed our therapist (she’s so great!).

Overall… we spent about 35 hours to help make this segment without compensation of any kind. Every person who shared their story on this series did so voluntarily.

Our prayer in our participation was to help those who might find themselves in the same place we once were to hear this:

You are NOT alone.
You are NOT unlovable.
You can be restored to an even better you.
God is in the business of miracles.
Jesus has already paid for your mistakes.

I think we’re the season finale. I say “I think” because I’m not sure I have any idea what’s going on. We were originally told by our producer that our episode, the season finale, would also be running on the 11th, but the schedule on the OWN website says we’re on next Monday the 18th at 9pm and re-running on Monday the 25th at 10pm.

So, tune in if you’d like. If you know someone going through the wreckage of infidelity… tell them about it too. And pray. Pray with us that more good will be done because of our segment… in this whole series. For hope to be planted in the hearts of the hopeless. And for every word we say to point to Jesus.

And for Oprah… for hosting a forum for such a taboo subject.

Here’s what we did with it:

You can see the final results HERE on Matt Payne’s blog.

When was the last time you turned LEMONS into LEMONADE?

It will be airing THIS Wednesday on Better TV… but here’s a sneak peek for my loyal blogreaders.

So SPILL it!!!

What’s YOUR “Mom/Dad Confession”???