Marriage After an Affair: Healing the Broken TrustMarriage After an Affair: Healing the Broken Trust
The Call with Nancy Sabato
Brad and Heidi Mitchell share how they faced adultery in their marriage, working through shock, forgiveness, counselling, and rebuilding trust grounded in faith. The conversation offers practical guidance and spiritual perspective for both the betrayed spouse and the offender.
23:26•20 Jul 2026
Marriage After an Affair: Choosing Forgiveness and Rebuilding Trust
Episode Overview
- Forgiveness is a deliberate process that starts with recognising that emotions are unreliable and must be weighed against God’s word.
- The offending spouse must fully own their actions without excuses and commit to whatever steps are needed for the other person’s healing.
- Trust broken by adultery is rebuilt through consistent small acts of honesty and openness, not by rushing the hurt partner to “get over it.”
- Good Christian counselling offers stabilising support, helps prevent getting stuck in destructive ruts, and should be continued even when it feels uncomfortable.
- Self-condemnation after repentance undermines belief in God’s grace; accepting God’s forgiveness is crucial, even if the marriage itself is not restored.
“Feelings are not the ultimate authority. They’re like the wind; they can just blow back and forth. So we have to trust the word of God.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety and healing when betrayal hits their marriage like an earthquake? This conversation on The Call with Nancy Sabato zeroes in on life after adultery, with Brad and Heidi Mitchell sharing how they worked through infidelity, broken trust, and the long road toward forgiveness. Aimed at those reeling from a spouse’s unfaithfulness, the episode speaks frankly to both the betrayed and the offender.
Heidi talks about the shock and physical impact of learning about Brad’s affair, losing weight in days and feeling like “inside everything is just shattered.” She explains how she chose to stay, saying she’d rather be with “somebody who's learned from touching the hot stove” than someone still romanticising an affair. Her process involved controlling runaway emotions, recognising that “feelings are not the ultimate authority,” and constantly checking her thoughts against God’s word.
Brad addresses those who have committed adultery, stressing the need to fully own the sin: “There is no excuse for sin at all. A person has to 100% own it.” He talks about rebuilding trust through consistent small actions and learning to accept God’s forgiveness instead of living in constant self-condemnation, pointing to Romans 8:1 and 1 John 1:9 as anchors for hope. Counselling is a major theme.
Heidi compares trying to handle the fallout alone to getting a cancer diagnosis and deciding to treat yourself, urging people to seek “good, godly Christian counselling” and not bail out early when the process feels worse before it feels better.
If you’re wrestling with betrayal, forgiveness, or whether a marriage can survive an affair, this honest conversation might help you ask the hard questions: Are you facing the pain head-on, and are you letting God and wise support walk with you through it?
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