Unfaithful: Hope and Healing After Infidelity

Statistics show that one in every four marriages is impacted by infidelity. If you haven’t experienced the searing pain of unfaithfulness, odds are you know someone who has. The affects of infidelity are devastating and have destroyed many families, but adultery doesn’t have to be an automatic death sentence for your marriage. You can trust again. You can restore intimacy. You can have a relationship that you will both cherish for a lifetime.

Fifteen years ago, Gary and Mona Shriver experienced the devastation caused by adultery. After saving their relationship, the Shrivers wrote Unfaithful (David C Cook, November 2009), the true story of how God restored their unraveling marriage. Raw and transparently honest, the Shrivers’ story alone is an inspiration, offering hope and practical strategies for healing. In this revised version, the authors add new information on emotional affairs and share real life stories of betrayal and complete healing.

As co-founders of Hope and Healing Ministries, a Christian peer support ministry for couples in adultery recovery, the Shrivers have seen countless broken marriages restored and transformed into intimate relationships built on love, respect, and trust. Unfaithful is a lifeline for couples with no hope in sight. It is also a useful resource for ministers, counselors, as well as friends and family of couples struggling to recover after a spouse has strayed.

With updated content and new discussion questions, Unfaithful is an ideal resource for small group studies or support groups. This revised version also offers a recovery timeline from a couples’ perspective, a helpful addition for couples wondering what the healing process will look like.

“We can now say with absolute sincerity that we have fully healed from the adultery,” the Shrivers share. “Our marriage is strong and mutually satisfying. We have love and trust. And we can only encourage you with the fact that it is worth the journey.”

After going through the journey to save their marriage from a devastating infidelity, Gary and Mona Shriver cofounded Hope & Healing Ministries, Inc., an adultery recovery peer support ministry. They are members of the Association of Marriage and Family Ministries and the Stanislaus County Healthy Marriage Coalition and have shared their story on many television and radio programs such as Focus on the Family and The 700 Club. Gary and Mona have been married more than thirty years and have three grown sons. They reside in Turlock, California.

Co-founders of Hope and Healing Ministries and a married couple, the authors offer what the subtitle affirms hope and healing in this revealing autobiography of their excruciating journey through infidelity. Each author takes a turn giving brutal expression to heartache endured in facing Gary's adultery and in subsequently working through adulterous betrayal. Movingly, each partner describes the process of looking at themselves, their marriage (before and after the infidelity), and the changes they wanted to make. Though the Shrivers present a strongly Christian perspective on dealing with adultery, their message is also pertinent to those outside the Christian faith community. Readers will appreciate their courage as well as the practical steps married couples can take to move through such a devastating experience and find forgiveness on the other side. This edition revises and updates a 2005 original edition. (Nov.) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.