I was heartbroken to learn my husband of seventeen years secretly wrestled with a pornography addiction that began when he was just a teenager. Even more shocking was that his obsession had morphed into a physical relationship with an underage girl he met online. His arrest and subsequent prison sentence assaulted my emotions, finances, and sense of reality. With my self-confidence violently shaken and my faith in God seriously challenged, reestablishing a hope-filled existence seemed impossible. Yet I discovered when the hour is darkest, God shines brightest. Suffering may be inevitable, but we do not have to embrace it like a warm quilt on a chilly night or even enjoy wearing it like a highly polished badge of honor. We can choose to trust God in the midst of the truly awful and elect to adopt the words and attitude of the psalmist: "But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more" (Psalm 71:14). Kathie Williams lives in North Carolina where she is working as a church secretary and raising her two sons. She deeply enjoys serving in ministry with children grades K-12 as a Sunday school teacher, pre-teen ministry director, and youth mentor. Her secondary ministry involves her love of music where she occasionally serves as a church soloist and choreographer of creative movements for worship services. Kathie delights in teaching God's Word and helping others discover the incomparable joy found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. You can learn more about Kathie and her availability for speaking and singing engagements at her website: www.kathiewilliams.com.
