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The Unfolding

Page 249: John Wilson: From Addiction to a Marriage Restored

The Unfolding

Northwestern Media

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.9809 Ratings

🗓️ 15 August 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

 

What do you do when your marriage feels impossible? When one person is chasing God and the other is chasing the party? John Wilson’s story is a powerful reminder that no marriage is beyond hope. From a childhood marked by abuse to a relationship built on partying, addiction, and conflict, John and his wife Beth once seemed worlds apart.  Both were struggling with emptiness and destructive habits. Everything changed the night John encountered Jesus at a Christian concert, sparking a spiritual transformation that would eventually touch their marriage. Over time, both John and Beth surrendered to faith, learned to forgive each other, and rebuilt a marriage rooted in love, grace, and purpose. Today, John leads Light the Way Ministries, reaching hundreds of thousands through Christian music concerts and Missouri’s largest Christian music festival. He is the author of Honky Tonk Nights to Christian Lights. 

Show Notes:  

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Page 249 of the unfolding is the story of John Wilson.

0:04.9

For a year, my household was literally light and dark.

0:08.8

It was me trying to understand Genesis and her just thrown back the bottles of beer.

0:13.8

But the one thing I knew was I would never push what I was going through to her because I never wanted it pushed on me.

0:20.9

God's story has been unfolding.

0:24.1

Since the beginning of time.

0:27.3

He invites you to be a part of it.

0:32.8

Another page in the unfolding.

0:36.9

Hi, this is Meredith Foster.

0:39.2

What if your marriage felt impossible?

0:41.9

Not just we're having a rough patch impossible,

0:44.8

but we're only happy when we're drinking or high impossible.

0:49.4

What if the very things holding you together were destroying you?

0:53.5

That was John and Beth Wilson's reality.

0:56.1

Two people with painful paths drawn to each other because of a shared love for partying and drugs

1:01.4

and alcohol and a shared resentment toward religion. John's story started in a basement,

1:08.2

literally, 10 years of his childhood marked by abuse, isolation, resentment.

1:12.8

By the time he was 17, he was chasing freedom, acceptance, and success, but nothing seemed to

1:19.5

fill the emptiness inside. Then one unexpected night changed everything. A Christian concert,

1:26.8

booked by John, of all people, that became the

1:29.3

moment when God broke through. In an instant, addictions lost their grip. John's life took a

1:34.2

dramatic turn toward Jesus. But here's the thing. Beth wasn't ready. For a long time,

...

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