If you're in the black hole of despair

today, if you're thinking about divorce

and wondering if it's worth the effort to even stay married,

hang on, because you're about to hear are remarkable story.

It's from a wife who had every reason to leave.

NARRATOR: In 1977, Vicki married Billy Rose, part owner

of the New York Yankees.

They dined in fine restaurants, partied with celebrities,

and looked like they had it all.

But in reality, their relationship was crumbling.

There were times I was doing up to four grams of coke.

I would drink unbelievable amounts of vodka.

My life was in a tailspin.

I was so angry at Billy.

I couldn't understand why he wouldn't

want to be home with us.

NARRATOR: They separated for five years

before Billy moved back.

In her book, Every Reason to Leave,

Vicki shares what changed their lives,

and why they stayed married in the midst

of a difficult relationship.

And please welcome to the 700 Club Vicki Rose.

Vicki, nice to meet you.

Great to be here.

Thank you.

You were 24 when you married your husband, Billy.

Very much in love.

You expected to stay that way.

What happened?

Life took over.

I had so many huge expectations that he would take away

all my childhood hurts, and that he would buy me happiness,

and that he would just fulfill every need,

and that it doesn't work.

Now Billy started drinking, he was abusing drugs,

he was seeing other women, and this went on for 10 years.

Why did you put up with it?

I wasn't aware of it.

And it possibly wasn't happening at the very beginning.

And then we went on to have children,

opened our restaurant, our second child and our restaurant

opened at the same time, and that's

one of the things really went downhill fast.

So he finally moved out?

I asked him to leave.

I could no longer deal with the craziness of his addiction

and the late hours of the restaurant

and I was home alone mothering two toddlers.

And it was very lonely and I was--

it was hard.

It was sad.

It was awful.

So life wasn't necessarily better because he'd moved out.

There was a relief, but there was a fear.

And back then it was 1986.

I never thought I would be a divorced woman, a single mom.

What kind of restaurant were you guys running?

He opened a sports bar and restaurant, a huge space in New

York City back in the area called Tribeca

before it was really up and running as an area.

Well Vicki, tell us what happened to you at a black tie

dinner that changed your life.

So a year and a half after we separated,

I had just come back from a trip to Asia.

I was working at Macy's corporate as a corporate buyer,

and on my front hall table was a beautiful gold-lettered

invitation that invited me to a dinner

to meet and hear a speaker talk about Christianity

and the world today.

And on the lower left-hand corner it said "black tie,"

and I thought, I'm a single mom.

I never get to go out.

I'm going to get dressed up and go.

And that night at that dinner I heard a message

that I had never heard, which was that God loved me and had

a plan for my life.

But that I was separated from him by what the Bible calls sin

and that Jesus Christ was God's only provision for my sin

and others, and I could simply receive

Jesus as Lord of my life and all my sins will be forgiven.

Now at this very same time when

you're meeting Jesus for the first time,

your husband's living with another woman, right?

You're still married, technically.

Yes.

Why didn't you just divorce him?

You had grounds.

We did, and right after I accepted

Jesus I went to a seminar called "Singles

and Dating as a Christian," and I thought, here I am,

I'm single.

I'm going to go.

And I learned at that seminar that in God's eyes

I was still married, and that I had lived the first 35

years of my life my own way.

I had my plans.

I thought getting married, all that--

I had everything I had hoped for,

and I was miserable and empty.

And so I wanted to do things God's way.

How did your attitude start changing to your husband?

You had to be upset.

He's living with another woman.

But your attitude started changing.

It was from reading the Bible and reading God's Word

and reading what it said.

God hates divorce, and what God has put together,

let no man separate.

And so I went to that Christian counselor who'd

led the seminar, and he led me to passages in the Bible that,

as I prayed--

and he said, you have every reason to divorce--

but I didn't feel a peace about it.

And I felt like even though I hadn't known God,

I had married before God and said "I do"

till death do us part.

So how in the world did you guys reconcile?

It was God all the way.

About a couple of months into knowing Jesus,

I started reading a book called Leading Little Ones to God

to my children at breakfast, who are by then like e

and 5 and 1/2, and they said, we need

to pray for Daddy to know Jesus.

And I thought, pray for him?

I'd rather kill him.

But I'm thankful I didn't say that.

I didn't say it.

And so we started to pray every morning at breakfast

and when I'd tuck them in at night

that Daddy would come to know Jesus.

And I even called the 700 Club back then.

Really?

Yes.

This was around 1988.

And I called the 700 Club, their prayer hotline,

and asked them to pray for Bill Rose's salvation.

Oh my goodness.

And within three years' time, my husband also

accepted Christ.

So you and your children prayed for your husband

for three years.

And many, many, many, many, many other people.

Many other people.

Everybody I knew that knew to pray, knew how to pray, prayed.

Well Vicki, you've been married for 40 years now.

And what do you say to people, though,

that are ready to give up on their marriages?

You know, God has a plan for marriage,

and it's a lifelong plan.

And my husband and I are really just now coming

into that lifelong love where we have

a friendship and a reliance on each other that's

a healthy reliance.

We know each other because of what we walked through,

because of the awful stuff and the good stuff

and the hard things.

Because of that, we have a bond.

Did you guys renew your vows?

Last week.

You're kidding!

Last week?

So our 40th anniversary was three weeks ago tomorrow,

and we had our sixth grandchild was

born the day before our 40th anniversary,

and so we had to postpone our vow renewal,

and we did it on Sunday.

And it was an amazing, amazing time with our entire family

present.

What a testimony.

A lot of people would throw in the towel,

but you said you didn't have peace about doing that

and you held on.

And I held on by holding on to God's Word,

and really that's the most important piece

is the Bible, His Word.

And it gives strength and it gives encouragement

and it points me in the direction of my thoughts,

teaches me to keep my focus on God not on everything

else that's going on around me.

Your story makes me realize that that

Scripture, "With God all things are possible," is really true.

It is.

It's really true.

My stepmother prayed to receive

Christ when she saw my husband come to know the Lord.

She said if that could happen, that's what I want.

And many other people as well.

Wow.

Well, your story is truly inspirational.

And Vicki's book is called Every Reason to Leave,

and it's available wherever books are sold.

But she didn't leave, and you've got to find out why,

so you've got to get this.

Vicki, God bless you.

Thanks so much.

Thank you so much.

Amazing story.