Beauty from Ashes: Alex & Cody's Story

What happens when a seemingly perfect "white picket fence" life completely shatters right before Christmas? In this deeply raw and moving episode, we sit down with Cody and Alex as they share their journey through their darkest valleys, identity loss, and eventual supernatural restoration.

After 15 years of marriage, a sudden divine prompting led Cody to discover that his wife was having an affair. Instead of following the world's advice to walk away, Cody and Alex chose a radical path of obedience, community, and total surrender. This is a story about the heavy weight of secrets, the supernatural power of forgiveness, and a faithful God who literally rebuilds families from the ground up.

Key Moments & Takeaways

• The Shattered Illusion: Cody and Alex discuss their early years—meeting in college, building careers, raising twins, and living a good life built on a personal "moral compass" rather than a foundation of faith.
• Walking in Darkness: Alex opens up about losing her identity after the birth of their twins, letting down professional boundaries, and finding herself trapped in the isolation of a secret affair.
• The Divine Prompting: Cody shares the terrifying, panic-attack-like moment right before Christmas when he heard from God for the very first time, prompting him to check Alex's phone.
• Defying the World's Playbook: In the immediate aftermath of the betrayal, instead of hiding in shame or getting a divorce, Cody and Alex brought the truth into the light, relying heavily on a community of godly friends who urged Cody to "hold the line."
• A New Name on the Mountain: Cody details his profound salvation experience at a men's ministry retreat, where God healed his heart, taught him self-forgiveness, and gave him a new spiritual identity: "Holder."
• The Gift of Christ for the Next Generation: How choosing reconciliation over divorce fundamentally transformed their household, protecting their children and allowing them to disciple their family in a Christ-centered home.

Memorable Quotes

"The world teaches you when this betrayal happens, you go. There's no coming back... But God's love is merciful. He's faithful. It's steadfast and it's renewed every day."
     — Cody 

"We no longer look to each other to fulfill that deepest need. We find that in Jesus... I am not proud of my terrible actions, but I know that I am forgiven, and I know that God loves me."
     — Alex

Connect & Resources

If you are walking through the pain of infidelity, betrayal, or feel like your marriage is past the point of saving, please know there is hope.

• Find a local, Bible-believing church community.
• Look into local Christian marriage counseling
• Attend a faith-based men's/women's retreat.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, it's Forrest. Welcome back to the 100 Stories of Hope podcast. Today's story we previously released on our YouTube channel as a video, which you should check that out if you haven't. This is Alex and Cody's story. It's a beautiful redemption story that they were very generous to share with us. And I wanted to make sure all of you on the podcast got a chance to listen to it as well. So here we go.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Hi, we're the Ericssons. My name's Cody. This is my beautiful wife Alex. We've been married 15 years. We met in college, got married right away, and started having a family. Life was good. You know, having the kind of white picket fence, the home, having careers and living life. When we got married, she was a Catholic and when um raised Catholic.

SPEAKER_04 0:45

But only go on like certain holidays.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

And I grew up with no faith. No faith upbringing, just you know, kind of the moral kind of compass, you know, do right, was raised well by my parents, but just no belief. Um so uh two years ago, um right before Christmas um was the first time I ever heard from God. Um and it was uh that your wife is lying.

SPEAKER_04 1:16

After the birth of our twins, um I really lost I really lost myself. Um lost my identity, um lost sight of who I was as a wife, as a mom. Um, and so I had um given so much of myself to my job, and that became a part of my identity. And um, and within that there are certain people in my job that um I I let in um and very unhealthy boundaries. That was the start of really a downfall for me. Um walking in that darkness and hiding in that darkness and keeping that. And God showed up two years ago and really spoke to to Cody and said, something's not right.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

And that's not who I was. I wasn't this uh person to to tr to pride, like you know, I I had complete trust, uh, complete trust that uh things were gonna go right in life because I've lived the right ways, um, you know, and um he pressed on me and pressed on me. We had just um finished a really great day of Christmas shopping and um it hit me um hard and heavy, and I almost felt like I was having a panic attack to say check her phone, check her phone, and uh eventually I checked it and um found um that um yeah that that my wife had been having an an affair and I went right into um the garage and just fell to my knees feeling just life was over that this um everything that you'd worked hard for, everything that you'd um everything you sacrificed, everything. Our family, our family, you know, you put so much forward to do the right things and it and this was gonna be the end um of our our of our family and um and how how could this happen? Um thank goodness God was there to somehow I felt a presence of just um reach out, reach out to my friends, and because my first thought was ooh, no one can know.

SPEAKER_04 3:51

When this all came to light, we immediately told everybody.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

We told our closest friends, we told our parents, and my friends um that um we didn't have that close of a godly relationship, but they had been in my life and we've been good friends, but we'd never spoken about God because they know how I felt and had no belief. They're like, Cody, God's got you. Uh you can't go, you need to you need to stay. Just just hold, just hold. And I'm thinking, how is this possible? Um the world teaches you when this betrayal happens, you you go. Um there's there's no coming back. Um so that that happened and God started to just work. I thought, you know what, I'll fake it through the holidays. Um for them for the kids. I just just for the kids. I you know. But um, yeah, they would ask daily, why is dad's why is dad crying? Why is dad's eyes? Why is um dad so quiet? He loves Christmas. Um But that that time was terrible. And um I packed my bags. Um, I couldn't even make it the 30 days. I did I was already just um done.

SPEAKER_04 5:09

I was on my knees pleading. I was gasping for air, I was crying, saying, please don't go. And the kids were in the other room, our door was locked, and it was it was terrible. I because he showed the suitcase and he was gonna leave.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Thank goodness those those friends of mine were like, you you need to get to church. And I don't, God somehow, I I think it was the desperation, the desperation to somehow make a turnaround. I don't really know. There was obviously some type of hope, but I really was denying it because the anger in um the betrayal was just so intense that um we got to church. Uh it was actually only a few weeks after. Um, before really didn't even give him the time of day, didn't really want to know him, and now I'd fall on just was angry about what he had allowed to happen when I thought I'd done all the check boxes to do what was right as a dad and as husband. And the pastor came off to the side and first time there, and just told me he'd been waiting for me. And that your friends have been praying for you, we've been praying for you, and we've been waiting for you. I didn't understand, but it it stirred something because of um I think the the desperation um to find something. I didn't know what it was at the time. Obviously, it was God starting to just just hold on, Cody, just hold on.

SPEAKER_04 6:44

You had put your arm around me that day when Pastor came up to us, yeah. And he held me and listening to the pastor, and I remember thinking to myself and feeling like a moment of breath. Like I like I think it's gonna be okay for me. Like, I think, I think we're going to survive this.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

And I think over that next um that first month, there were just all these pieces that God put in place. If it be a phone conversation, a text from the pastor, um the guys just reaching out, like they just everybody was reaching out to just lift, like just hold me up because I wanted to quit. I wanted to be done, but it just held me up just a day longer. And then um, you know, that we got to church um within those first couple weeks, and then um I think it was a full one one month after um we uh got baptized. Um, Alex and I both did. That decision to get baptized was just continued pleas for hope. Um, I thought it might, because everybody was just just God's got you, God's got you. And I'm like, I don't know what that means because I don't know who he is, and I don't know who Jesus is, and I don't I don't really know, but I felt that there was no I there was no other option.

SPEAKER_04 8:14

I think when you are completely um so brokenhearted, so I think at your knees, surrendered, um you have no other choice. It's like, okay, we're gonna have a baptism next month, and we're like, I think we should be baptized. It's the next step, the next thing we need to do.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

And being baptized and then having words spoken over you that you've never heard. God's gonna fix this.

SPEAKER_04 8:40

Yeah, and that we are going to be pillars.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

God's gonna God God's gonna God has plans for you. God's gonna, God's gonna put um beautiful and um holy people in in front of your children and all the things. And it sounds, it felt good for a moment, but it still would go back to you know what the pain was. They finally got me to go up to a men's event. Um, and it's this getaway where you go away for you know close to four days, and um it's uninterrupted, and that's where I got to have my full-on salvation. Where God finally just did all the work. But when I first got there, it was oh uh no belief, painful. I thought it was just all um just you know, uh, you know, be happy and you know, just choose joy, be like, choose joy. How do you choose joy when you know the person that you've loved the most has um you know done these things to you, but then you find out about who he is and how he is a a loving father, and that he formed you and he made you, and that he's got you and he's always been there, and I just didn't know because I just wasn't um didn't know, I didn't wasn't educated, I wasn't given that opportunity, and that that's okay because God's timing is perfect because I probably was a too prideful of a man uh I um to hear his voice, and that's why I went 41 years without him. And but when he found me up there, he changed my heart, he he made all my paths straight, he fixed everything with um this experience of I got to meet him for the first time in this really quiet place on the side of this this hill, and just closing my eyes, and I could just see this image, and it was bright, and it was coming through, and it ends up being Alex's face, and he gave me a new name. He says, Your new name is gonna be Holder because you're gonna hold the line, and you're gonna hold your wife, and you're gonna hold your family. And that moment I came down from that mountain, I came down from that trip, and uh it continued to be hard, but my heart was changed. I had figured out that a ton of unforgiveness for myself, and I had to forgive myself for my own past, and so I could forgive her of hers. And over the next two years, we've just been covered by our church, we've continued to put God at the fr at the center that we've continued to obey and walk um aligned for the first time in our marriage. And the last two years have been incredibly painful. He the the pain has had purpose. Um he he took that pain and he and he worked it for good, and and now our marriage is just he turned that that that that you know our ashes into something beautiful. It's a decision, it's a decision to forgive, it's a decision to love. And when you know what Jesus has done for you, you you sacrifice and you do it back for the people that he's put in front of us.

SPEAKER_04 12:08

Yeah, because we really, we really came to I came to the altar, came to God's feet with broken hearts. Um my unfaithfulness led to I think his brokenness. Um and witnessing that and the veil being broken, it just tore me. And God finds you at your broken, brokenness and when you're on your knees begging. Um, and so that's what he did. And slowly, with a lot of a lot of help, um, a lot of grace, and so much forgiveness. And we continue. I mean, I know Cody wakes up every day choosing to forgive. I thank the Lord for you, honey, that you forgive me every single day. I know, I know it's hard. And that love that we feel, we no longer look look to each other to fulfill that deepest need. We we we find that in in in Jesus because of everything, the sacrifice, we realize that it it is bigger than us. It's it's bigger than what we have because of the freedom and the restoration that we have been given. Um we can't walk in shame for it. We can't, you know, we can't hide all our flaws and um I'm not justifying or proud of any of my terrible actions. Um but I know that I am forgiven and I know that God loves me and that he's restored me into a new I am a new a new person.

SPEAKER_05 13:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:56

Um a new person and and I'm so grateful for that. And I'm so grateful for having such an amazing community here that surrounds us.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

I think we found our people, you know, where we're where we're called to be, and that um yeah, that brokenness, that desperation uh leading to all of this light coming into a dark home.

SPEAKER_04 14:23

Um yeah, and and when we look back and we reflect and we see all of the different areas where he has shined light, where he's covered, where he's blessed. It really is remarkable. I mean, through all of this, he's managed to protect our children, you know, from you know, they witnessed the harp. They they could feel something was wrong. Something was wrong with mom and dad. Um, but God, God protected them. He protected them, and he is still protecting them. So it's amazing. We were all in the kitchen one day. One of the twins came over and we're playing some worship music in the kitchen, and one of the twins comes over and gives me the biggest hug, the biggest hug, and was like, Mom, everything's gonna be okay. You know, we have to trust in God. Like it's gonna be okay. And that, yeah. And so I think that was one of the defining moments, too, where we felt God living in our home. Um, we felt his presence there. We felt that yes, we don't know what tomorrow looks like, we don't know what a week from now looks like. Um, but we just have to trust. We have to trust him. He's a faithful God. And um yeah, and our and our brokenness led, ultimately led for us to give our kids the gift of Christ, which is amazing and it's been it's beautiful because up until that point we were not, you know, we were not teaching our kids about God and and discipling them as we should have been. And so through all of this, you know, we've managed to completely transform our house. As long as we continue walking in in obedience to him. That's something that um that is important for us and transforming our household, transforming um what we do day to day, our practices, um, like like you said, honey, who we who is in our circle, our boundaries are tight. Um so it's that obedience, and and we are trying to walk that narrow road together and realize that our marriage, you know, comes second, God comes first, but you and I are right there, right underneath him, and so very much aligned, very much in aligned the way that it's um it says, you know, scripturally.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

So um that's that's a first. And um priorities are right, um and uh you know what we focus on is forming us, and we're focused right right on God and right on um you know having Jesus at the center of our home. Yeah, then we're thankful.

SPEAKER_04 17:18

Um seeing the the the blessings and the the fruits of of our of our surrender has been um truly amazing and it's been a miracle to say the least. Um so just so very thankful, so very thankful for the transformation that has happened um to us, to our marriage, and to our household and to our children.

SPEAKER_05 17:48

So yeah, we've both transformed our lives from this from from the ash, from the ashes. Yeah, Sonny. Yeah, so thank you.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

I love you, love you. Before we got to this next part, I wanted to make sure you knew what you were listening to. Cody mentioned earlier going to that mountain retreat, and actually Alex went to that same retreat that he did, the women's version. And when they got back, they both gave their testimonies at church, and Legacy, thankfully, was able to send those to us so we can share it with you. So that's what's coming.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

To my wife Alex. My heart is healed. You're forgiven. I'm forgiven. It's in the past. Unforgiveness makes you attached to your past. It's gone. I don't believe in divorce. I believe in God's love. God's love is merciful, he's faithful, it's steadfast, and it's renewed every day. God bless.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

He's given me the gift of freedom. He's given me the gift of my husband. Cody. I am that to go.

SPEAKER_04 19:34

I have felt God intimately. I have. And I will stay true to his path, to his will. He's restored me, babe.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

He's restored me. He's healed our hearts.

SPEAKER_03 20:03

God is so good to me. God loves me. I am. I'm white as snow. I'm white as snow. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Thanks for joining us. Follow the journey. Find us at My Spirit Radio on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for more stories of hope. Do you have a God story? We would love to hear it. Head to spirit889.comslash hope and share it with us. Links are in the show notes. Alright. I'll see you next time.