Hi Friends at NIM,

Please read this letter to your staff and share with Verlette and Bob Paul. I wanted to say thank you for the amazing experience we had last week in Branson. Angie Pyatt told me before my spouse and I arrived that the Intensive had been a life changing experience for her and Mark. Angie, I agree.My greatest fear in coming was having to share in front of a group just how messed up our marital life has been over 21 years.  Sure enough, we were the last couple to share our story, and I felt like crawling under a rock as I had to openly admit to our marriage being born out of an affair, early emotional abuse, infidelity, porn addiction, and finally additional emotional affairs.  Honestly, my greatest fear was coming true....that our story would be the biggest horror story in the group. But to my shock and amazement, I felt neither judgment nor condemnation, but rather understanding, compassion and safety from Bob, Verlette and the group.

Truly, I felt in the presence of Christ in that little basement conference room. Bob captured my attention right from the start. I could tell that I was listening to a man who had walked my tormented walk. Like me, I could tell he hit a point in his life where he struggled to find what must be a different model for a Godly marriage.  I sat amazed as he unpacked ideas that were so fresh to me, made such perfect sense and so full of truth, that I knew it had to be of God.  He was literally answering my prayers right before my eyes......(I came on a prayerful quest to find what Shawn Stover and I had discussed a few weeks back.....a new creation. I was seeking a new paradigm for marriage that could be used to build a new creation for my spouse and I.)  What amazed me even more was Bob and Verlette's ability to teach these complex ideas in a way that could be used in practical everyday application.  As a fellow professional who often finds himself trying to distill complex ideas down for general consumption, I know just how challenging that can be.  Bob and Verlette did this with the skill of true artisans. Wow is all I can say!One final thank you to the hospitality team at both NIM and the Bradford House. In my mind, you are the real hero's of the week. The grace based hospitality you showed simply made the entire experience awesome.  

My spouse and I have been involved in Walk to Emmaus weekends for almost a decade. We know the importance of silent servants to an experience like an Intensive. It is your work that free's the couples to focus on all that they are experiencing. I cannot thank you enough for the love and compassion you showed us over those 5 days. My spouse and I didn't come back "cured." We have no illusions that we are fixed or that the road ahead is easy. It took us 21 years to get this relationship this jacked up. We know it will take time and work to implement these new ideas into our marriage. But there is a hope and excitement in our relationship for a bright "2nd half" that I don't think either of us have felt in a very long time. We completely owe that peace to God for the work He did on us through you. May God Bless you and we look forward to working with you in the future as supporters for all you do.