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By Ron Humphrey|Published Date: June 03, 2009
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 In August of 1996, Diane Nichols of Ohio got the shock of her life. A young woman telephoned to say she was having an affair with Diane's husband, John. The woman provided such detail that Diane instantly knew it was true. Diane telephoned John. He said he would be right home.
But John never set foot in their house again. Diane's next call came from the county jail. Her husband had just shot to death the mistress who had exposed their liaison. Diane and her daughters suddenly faced a world flung upside down.
"With John in jail, I was plunged into an instant nightmare," she says. "Not only was my heart broken and my children very frightened, but I was suddenly a single mother with no means to support our lifestyle. I considered suicide, but I couldn't abandon my children." Both girls had "a horrible time adjusting," Diane adds. "The oldest was 10 and had been very close to her father. She carried a lot of hatred and pain over what he had done to our family. She was also ashamed to have a father in prison, so it made it difficult for her to function in school and to make friends."
Christmas without Cheer
Christmas threatened to be the hardest time of all, since it had once been such a happy holiday for the family, Diane recalls. "We would buy a big tree and decorate it together, all of us laughing as John stood on a ladder outside our house in the snow, trying to string Christmas lights. Without him, it all felt so empty. Christmas just took those hurts and made them a whole lot bigger.
"It began to be a time of dread instead of celebration."
But with John sentenced to a prison term of 15 years to life, Diane had to get on with her own life. She moved the family to Florida, where they could share a house with her sister. She divorced John and eventually married Bobby, more to provide a father for her children than a husband for herself. Realizing she wasn't in love with Bobby but was in deep depression, Diane decided again to end her life. She drew up her will, leaving her daughters to their aunt and uncle. She tucked her children into bed, said a final prayer, and prepared to wash down a bottle of sleeping pills with champagne.
But before she could carry out her plan, Diane suddenly fell asleep. And though she spent a fitful night, she awoke the next morning with an inexplicable lightness. "The weight I had been carrying was miraculously gone," she explains. "I felt more at peace and rejuvenated than I ever had before, yet I didn't know where it was coming from. Then a voice whispered to my soul, as clear as if someone were speaking to me face to face. It said, 'Suicide isn't the way to stop the pain…you must forgive, and then you'll be set free.' "Diane felt wonderful: "For once, the pain wasn't crushing me. I had no desire to die." She hurried into the children's room, excitedly shaking them awake.
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