From Divorce to Deliverance: Kelly Cole's Raw Story of Healing & RedemptionFrom Divorce to Deliverance: Kelly Cole's Raw Story of Healing & Redemption
Sober on Purpose
Kelly Cole shares a raw faith-based story of sex addiction, childhood trauma and a seven-month season of deep spiritual work, alongside the journey of reconciling and remarrying his ex-wife after six years apart. The conversation highlights practical spiritual tools, emotional honesty and the cost and beauty of true intimacy with God and a spouse.
53:12•3 Jul 2026
From Sex Addiction to Second Chances: Kelly Cole’s Journey to Healing and Remarriage
Episode Overview
- Healing, in Kelly's view, comes after salvation and deliverance, and many Christians stay stuck because they avoid the painful parts of deliverance and healing.
- Removing triggers – deleting contacts, limiting social media, changing music and media intake – helped him prepare an atmosphere for change.
- Seven months of focused prayer, Bible reading and worship became the longest period he had gone without acting on his sex addiction since adolescence.
- Kelly describes a key breakthrough as realising he was trying to 'save' his mother through the women he pursued, which shifted his understanding of his choices.
- Rebuilding trust with his remarried wife involved full transparency, shared prayer and devotion, and a daily choice to "die to self" as a husband and spiritual leader.
“"Subconsciously, I was trying to save my mother through these women."”
How do people cope with the challenges of staying sober? For Kelly Cole, the answer started with locking himself in a house for seven months with "just me, my Bible, and the Lord." This candid conversation between host Tanya Gioia and guest Kelly Cole is aimed squarely at Christians dealing with addiction, childhood trauma, or broken marriages – and the loved ones standing beside them.
The tone is raw yet gentle, with plenty of humour and straight talk to keep some very heavy themes from feeling overwhelming. Kelly lays out what he calls the three levels of the Christian walk – "salvation, level one... deliverance, level two... then there's healing, level three" – and admits he was stuck for years between salvation and deliverance.
He shares openly about sex addiction rooted in being molested as a child, growing up around alcohol and drugs, and the painful process of cutting off triggers, blocking contacts and replacing late-night urges with prayer, worship music and journalling. One of the most striking moments comes when Kelly explains the revelation that he was "subconsciously... trying to save my mother through these women" he pursued, despite already having a wife who loved the quiet, home-centred life he actually wanted.
That insight reshaped his recovery, his faith, and his determination to win back his ex-wife Natasha after six years of divorce. You’ll hear how he learned to become "naked" before God and his wife – handing over phone passwords, inviting nightly prayer and devotion, and accepting that true intimacy feels scary when you’ve grown up never feeling truly loved or safe.
Tanya keeps the focus practical, repeatedly pressing for the "how": how to be still, how to protect your mind, how men can become priests of their homes. If you’re wrestling with addiction, secrecy, or a marriage scarred by betrayal, this conversation offers a faith-filled, honest look at what long-haul healing might cost – and what it might restore. What part of your story might God be asking you to bring into the light?
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