A mum claims her husband's affair was "the best thing that ever happened to her marriage" - she now helps other couples heal after betrayal.<br /><br />Charity and Matt Craig met at church camp aged 13 and 18 and married when they were just 21 and 25 in January 2004.<br /><br />She discovered her partner, Matt, 40, was having an affair with someone he met through work, in 2012.<br /><br />Charity, 45, had a strong gut feeling and discovered text messages on his phone - and confronted him, forcing him to come clean.<br /><br />Matt, then a music pastor, decided to stick with his wife and kids - despite having strong feelings for the other woman. He left his job and changed his number.<br /><br />Initially, mum-of-four Charity didn't think she would be able to forgive her spouse and the pair separated, but came back together after one year apart.<br /><br />According to the couple, they both worked on themselves and had therapy to become the best versions of themselves.<br /><br />"You can't drop a grenade in your home and come away undamaged, but it became a very personal journey and I went and did therapy and Matt did the work.<br /><br />"Now we are happier than ever."<br /><br />Before she discovered the affair, Charity said they were "happily married and good friends".<br /><br />But she found lots of text messages from another woman while checking his phone.<br /><br />She added: "It was friendly enough.<br /><br />"He started acting suspicious and I started stalking his every move. It all exploded from there."<br /><br />Matt, now the director of a marketing company, finally came clean in the summer of 2012, after Charity confronted him.<br /><br />Matt said: "I was working over 60 hours a week in a high stress position. I spent more time at work than with my family.<br /><br />"I was struggling between my family and my dreams of pursuing a musical career.<br /><br />"I didn't want to lose my family and I didn't want to hurt the other woman."<br /><br />The married couple broke up for a year and planned to divorce, while Matt moved out to live with his friend.<br /><br />But the pair slowly came back together after they both worked on themselves.<br /><br />She said: "It's not as cut and dry as it seemed - we had to weed through the mess.<br /><br />"He actually did the work and when he wanted to. We moved forward together.<br /><br />"Everyone has to do what's right for them."<br /><br />Charity did "inner-work" and discovered she was battling with co-dependency and insecurity.<br /><br />She said: "I didn't know how unhappy I was and I did therapy.<br /><br />"Even though I didn't seem to have anger issues, I used the silent treatment as a form of control and manipulation.<br /><br />"I would get triggered and explode and rage."<br /><br />The two finally came back together romantically in February 2013.<br /><br />Matt added: "We had a year of healing before we felt things could go back to normal.<br /><br />"I went to therapy and read self help books.<br /><br />Charity added: "I have spent countless hours becoming a better version of myself.<br /><br />"We were two empty vessels trying to suck the life out of each other.<br /><br />"We are each responsible for our own happiness."
