Part 1: Dave and Linda’s Story

Dannah Gresh: A few years ago God really got the attention of Dave Carullo. Dave realized how often he’d blown it as a husband, so he confessed his selfishness to his wife, Linda, and asked for her forgiveness.

Dave Carullo: Her jaw literally dropped. She just looked at me with this stunned look on her face. She said, “I can’t believe you’re saying this. I’ve prayed for this exact thing thirty years ago! I just figured the answer was no, and I’d accepted it. And now you’re saying exactly what I had prayed!”

Dannah: Have you prayed about some relational struggle . . . maybe even for years? Dave and Linda’s story is going to remind you that with God, anything is possible.

We’re about to hear that story on the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. It’s Wednesday, March 26, 2025. I’m Dannah Gresh.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Here on Revive Our Hearts we love to talk about revival. What comes to mind when you hear that word? Perhaps you think about people gathering around an altar at church and praying and singing together. Throughout history, revival sometimes has looked that way.

But today, we’ll hear about a personal revival that revolutionized one couple. For them, revival looked like sitting together in a home office, talking, confessing, forgiving, and loving each other, like newlyweds, after decades of struggling through marriage. 

If you’ve been in a tough relationship, I hope you’ll keep listening. Dave and Linda Carullo are going to give you practical advice on how to look to the Lord through those struggles. You’ll hear ways to love your spouse even when they don’t seem loveable. And you’ll also be encouraged to keep praying for your spouse when it seems like they may never change.

Dannah: This story will also encourage you to keep praying for children who aren’t following the Lord. Linda’s parents taught her about Jesus, and she made a profession of faith. But then her parents watched as she made a lot of bad choices.

Linda Carullo: When I graduated from high school, I was involved in a relationship I had no business being involved in, and that took me to sinful choices. My mom and dad prayed me out of those situations. I’m so thankful for godly parents! But it took a long time. I hope that my story will encourage parents of prodigals: “Don’t give up praying!”

Dannah: So Linda had left one unhealthy relationship, but then she met and married Dave. He had gone to a traditional religious school.

Dave: Shortly after that I really lost any interest in anything to do with the Lord.

Linda: I knew he was not a Christian, but I knew what I wanted, and I knew he was the man for me. I was going to do it my way!

Dave: I got involved in softball, and as I do with many things, I go “all in” when I get involved in something. Here I was with a brand-new bride, and I was out with the guys, playing softball.

I played on two teams during the week and on traveling tournament teams on the weekends, so I was gone a lot. Looking back on it, that was really a pretty selfish pursuit on my part, because I left Linda at home a lot.

Shortly after I became involved with softball, Linda got pregnant with our first child.

Linda: I just loved her so much!

Dave: When our first child was born, Linda came to the realization that she needed to change some things about the way she was living.

Linda: “Oh! I’m not raising her the way I should! I need to get back in church; I need to get right with God!”

Dave: Unfortunately, I did not come under the same conviction at that time. I think she made a turn back to the Lord, and as she was going more toward the Lord, that was drawing her away from me.”

Linda: I was trying to change him.

Dave: Consciously or unconsciously, I think that fed into my resentment, because I didn’t want to be manipulated. I didn’t want to be steered a certain way.

Linda: I could look at external things: my husband would go out drinking, my husband would be at the bar, my husband would play softball way too much, my husband was not home much. I could look at all those things, and it was very easy to see and be critical of that.

But what I was not looking at were my attitudes and the things that I would say that would be critical of him, that would be pushing him out the door.

Dave: More and more resentments began to build.

Linda: And so, I needed to change what my thoughts were first. Because you speak out of the overflow of what your thoughts are.

Dannah: Linda got help when she started going back to church and met a new mentor. Lois taught a class for women.

Linda: She said, “Ladies, we are not here to save your marriage. We are here to help you become the woman God wants you to be!” 

Dannah: Lois gave Linda a challenge.

Linda: To do something kind every day without asking anything in return! That challenge is very similar to the Revive Our Hearts Husband Encouragement Challenge. I would encourage anybody to do that!

Dannah: Linda was challenged to live out 1 Peter 3 which says some unbelieving husbands, “may be won over without a word by the way their wives live when they observe your pure, reverent lives” (vv. 1–2 CSB) And God continued to call Linda to do this even as things got more challenging at home.

Dave: I was not at all satisfied! There was something lacking in my life, and I did not know what it was at the time.

Linda: We were not getting along. I was trying to do something kind for my husband every day without asking anything in return. He would work very late, and I decided—even though I needed to get up early with the kids—I was going to stay up until he came home and trust God with my sleep.

This one evening when he came home (I don’t really remember the entire conversation), but it came to the point where he said, “Linda, I don’t want to be married to you anymore.”

Dave: Linda doesn’t cry much; she’s not a cry-er. But she burst into tears, and she looked at me and said, “Why don’t you love us?” And that was a very astute question, I thought. And I had to consider, “Why is it?”

Linda: I said, “I do want to be married. God hates divorce. And who are you to fight against God?” I will do everything I can to stay married!

Dave: When you’re faced with a situation like that where you need to consider your own selfishness and how it’s affecting other people, it has a profound effect! I think that was all a part of the series of events that took place very quickly, one after the other.

Dannah: In the darkest time of her life, Linda’s faith in Jesus became more real to her than ever.

Linda: When you have a solid identity in Jesus Christ, it’s not that the difficulties in life don’t matter, but they no longer define you. You can go to Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 2, and you can find that God adores you. God has chosen you. God loves you. God has redeemed you. He has adopted you, and you are a child of the King!

So when I find that my husband no longer loved me, that he no longer wanted to be married to me, yes that hurts! But it did not define me.

Dannah: Lois gave Linda an assignment. “Make a list of ten things you can be thankful for about your husband, and then thank God for those ten things.”

Linda: I could only come up with two things. She said, “Then Linda, you praise God for those two things.” And when I started praising God for those two things, I realized, “Oh, here’s another thing!” So I added a third thing; I added a fourth thing, and I’m praising God. 

And, wow!, my list got longer than ten, and I’m still praising God for those things. You can give thanks to God in all circumstances. When I started thanking God, I had less to criticize in my husband.

Dave: Things weren’t really as bad as I was making them out to be. In fact, I think that I was making things out to be so bad to justify my selfish, irresponsible desires. 

Dannah: One night around this time Dave asked himself some important questions.

Dave: It seems that you had everything that you would want in your life: you have a beautiful wife, you have two great kids, you have a great job . . . all these things would be pluses. Yet you’re very unhappy!

I literally can remember looking up through the roof of my car, and I said, “Okay, I’m making a mess of this! Jesus, please come into my life, and I’ll do it Your way!”

Linda: God answered that prayer! And not only that, but my parents had been praying. My mom was dying of cancer. I felt like I had put my parents through so much grief with my rebellion against God. My mom was in her final stages of cancer, and she got to see her prayers being answered!

Not only was her prodigal returned to the Lord, but my husband accepted the Lord and was going to be baptized! She was going to be going into eternity knowing her prayers had been answered!

Dannah: Well, it seems like we could end the program right there. Dave and Linda were new creations in Christ. We call that “justification.” But the story is not over, because this couple still needed to grow and become more like Jesus. We call that “sanctification.” And, Dave and Linda still had not fully dealt with the hurt they had caused each other.

Dave became a deacon in the church. He got into full-time ministry, but some of the people he worked with in ministry weren’t living out their faith and they let Dave down. He left full-time ministry, helped manage a factory, and just sort of drifted along. 

Dave: Linda and I refer to that period of time as kind of our “period of mediocrity.” We weren’t at odds. We weren’t fighting or having any major issues, as far as we could tell. But there wasn’t a genuine, deep connection. It was more like we were just sort of going through the motions.

Imperceptible to me was my slow drift away from the Lord. I was not reading the Word consistently. You can go to church, you can be involved in Bible studies and things of that nature, but if you’re not having that one-on-one intimate communion with the Lord through His Word, you’re on shaky ground . . . and I was.

Growing up, before Linda and I met and after Linda and I met, I had been involved in a lot of partying, drinking, and drugs. I stopped that when I got saved and went maybe fifteen years without being involved in any of that.

Eventually one day I decided, “Okay, I quit drinking for fifteen years. I think I’ve proven that I could do it if I want to.” So I started doing it again. Linda was devastated, because she knew the damage that that could do to a relationship, and that it had done to our relationship.

Dannah: Linda attended a conference hosted by Revive Our Hearts called True Woman ’12.

Linda: I fell in love with Revive Our Hearts! I had never been to a conference like a Revive Our Hearts conference. It’s so rich in Scripture, rich with resources, applicable to any circumstance that you’re going through. So, I never want to miss a Revive Our Hearts conference!

Dannah: Linda’s mentors had been a lifeline during some of the darkest days of her marriage. And now, Linda began mentoring other women, using resources from Revive Our Hearts.

Linda: I have been able to take the materials from Revive Our Hearts—whether it is the Lies Women Believe book . . . I’ve led women through that, one-on-one or as a group, to be able to encourage them in their walk. I recently led some women through that, and it was so refreshing to see the “light bulb” moments where they come back to class the next week and it’s like, “Wow, I was believing a lie, and I’m making changes!”

One of the ladies had just mapped it out, like, “I am changing from this to this . . . I’m going to do this . . . I’m going to make sure that I have planned time with the Lord and reading His Word every morning!” 

That’s what it’s all about, pointing people to God’s Word so they can experience a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and then watching Jesus transform their lives through the truths of His Word. And using the Revive Our Hearts materials like Lies Women Believe to get them to understand the truths.

Nancy at a True Women Conference: Some of you have been asking us this for years, “When I Lies Men Believe going to come out?”

Linda: When I was at one of the Revive Our Hearts conferences, it was the one where Robert Wolgemuth’s book was released. 

Nancy at a True Women Conference: Let’s see what that book looks like!

Linda: I stood in line, and he autographed it for my husband. I knew when I took it home, my husband was not going to read it! But I bought it anyway.

Robert Wolgemuth at True Woman Conference: You may or may not want to read it because this is me and your husband or the man in your life over a cup of coffee telling it like it is.

Linda: We set it on the shelf with some other unread books. 

Dannah: In the spring of 2023, God shattered Dave’s period of mediocrity. 

Dave: I began having these intrusive thoughts, these kind of on-a-loop recurring thoughts about when Linda and I had first gotten together. There were things that she had shared with me about her relationships before we met. I started having these thoughts to the point where I thought I was having some sort of mental health crisis because it was relentless! 

Dannah: For the first time in over thirty years, Dave admitted that he was hurt by some of Linda’s choices from before they were married. But instead of focusing onher sin, Dave took this as an opportunity to get real about ways hehad caused hurt.

Dave: All of a sudden, it was just like a dam burst. I started thinking about our early days—when I talked earlier about being selfish and about leaving Linda alone. I started thinking about things like that from an entirely different perspective. I began to ask myself, “What did you do?”

And so, I started to think of more and more about areas where I had been selfish, areas where I had not been a good husband, where I hadn’t treated her well. And finally I thought, I’ve got to confess this to her and ask her forgiveness! So one day I said, “Linda, can we go upstairs in the office and talk?”

Dannah: Over the course of a few weeks, “going to the office” became shorthand for times of repentance. Dave and Linda would literally go to their home office. Then Dave was specific. He owned his sin. He confessed it, and he asked for forgiveness.

Dave: On a couple of occasions her jaw literally dropped. She just looked at me with this stunned look on her face. I noticed it, and I had to ask. I said, “What?” 

She said, “I can’t believe you’re saying this. I prayed for this exact thing thirty years ago! I just figured the answer was no, and I’d accepted it. And now you’re saying exactly what I had prayed!”

During this period there was a book laying on the work area where we would go up and have these talks. The title of the book was An Unexpected Revival. And so, we kind of termed what was going on in our life as “an unexpected revival.”

God continued to convict me of things. I would realize it, and I would say, “Okay, Linda, we need to go up and talk again!” I also was saying things like, “I failed as the spiritual leader in our family. I think we need to have daily devotions and pray together.”

And again, her jaw literally dropped, because again, this was something that she had prayed for decades earlier, and it was coming true! It was almost as if we were newlyweds again. It was like the first year of marriage should have been as far as finding out about things and sharing things.

And at one point Linda said, “God is going to peel you back like an onion, layer by layer, until He gets to the root, to the core of what He’s after in all of this.” And for the next couple of months there would be themes that would kind of pop up. I think it was the Holy Spirit prompting me to focus on different aspects of my character and of our relationship. 

About that time I asked Linda, “Do you know where that Lies Men Believe book would be?”

Linda: He read it, and it was so fun to watch him read it . . . even in the introduction. He would be like, “Oh, Linda, you’ve got to come over and hear this!”

Dave: Unbeknownst to her, I skimmed the table of contents, because there was a particular topic I thought was going to come up. I almost put it down, but I thought, No. We’re clearing the air. We’re cleaning out the junk from the closet. We’re going to deal with this. So I started reading the book.

So I finally got to the section that I was dreading, and it was Lie # 18:What She Doesn’t Know Won’t Hurt Her. Up to this point I had dealt with a lot of things that I knew that I had done where I had mistreated her. But there was an area that I hadn’t covered yet. It was an area of sin that I had committed against her that she didn’t know about. And that’s what that particular lie and that particular chapter was.

There has never been a time in my life where I have felt the heavy hand of God’s conviction more than I did that weekend!

I asked her to go upstairs and have another talk. At that point I would have to say that was probably the hardest thing I ever had to do! Because the revival now was in full swing and things were really good, it was like I was seeing her in a completely different way. She was incredibly beautiful to me!

And then June 17 came, and I was convicted that I had to be truthful. If we were going to take this thing all the way, then this thing had to come out. So we sat down and had this talk. 

I was incredibly grateful and blessed by her gracious response! I think that just solidified the revival that had been taking place. It was like that was the capstone, that was the thing that needed to happen!

As she told me numerous times afterwards, “Now we have nothing to fear, because everything is out in the open.” We feel a love and an intimacy with each other that we didn’t even know was possible!

We’ve gone down into the depths, into the mire a little bit, to clean some things up. It has proven to be beneficial beyond our wildest imaginations! It’s been a revival that was really quite unexpected!

Dannah: Of course, hearing this confession wasn’t easy. Of course, it hurt. But Linda knew what it was to be forgiven. She was able to offer that same kind of forgiveness to Dave.

Nancy: A book I read many years ago often described revival as having the roof off and the walls down. Meaning: we are completely honest with God, humble and eager to repent from our sin (roof off). And that leads us to be honest with those around us (walls down).

Perhaps you’ve heard Dave’s story, and like him there’s some area of your life that you’ve kept hidden. I want to invite you to be honest before God (roof off). He already knows the truth. Would you acknowledge your sin to Him? Jesus died for that sin and God the Father will be faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you.

And then, would you ask Him to help you take a step to make things right with other people (walls down)? Like Dave, you will experience a new joy in your relationship with God and your relationships with others.

I written about personal revival in a workbook called Seeking Him. When you go through this book, you’ll go through the process of honesty and humility before God and how to take steps to clear your conscience. I know that can sound like something you’re not eager to do. But let me assure you that once the roof is off and the walls are down, you’re going to experience a new-found freedom with the Lord and others. You can find and link to that book by visiting the transcript of this program at ReviveOurHearts.com.

That’s also where you’ll find the other book that meant so much to Dave. It’s called, Lies Men Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free. It’s written by my husband, Robert Wolgemuth. Again, to get both these resources, visit ReviveOurHearts.com.

I’m so grateful God used Revive Our Hearts to help Dave and Linda through this program, books, and conferences. All these outreaches are possible thanks to Revive Partners. They commit to giving to the ministry each month. They also pray for the ministry and share the message with others.

When you become a Revive Partner, we’ll stay in touch by sending you a monthly devotional we’ve designed just for our partners called Daily Reflections. And you’ll get a complimentary registration to select Revive Our Hearts events.

Most importantly, you’ll play a vital role in helping this ministry call women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. These are all reasons Dave and Linda are excited to be Revive Partners.

Linda: The impact that Revive Our Hearts has had on my life, on my husband’s life, on our marriage, on our family, in the women’s ministry where I serve . . . it’s priceless! I’m privileged to be a part of that!

Dannah: To get more details and join the Revive Partner team, visit ReviveOurHearts.com.

Dave and Linda had just walked through the story you heard today, and they were tempted to wonder whether God could use them again after they’d made so many mistakes in life. 

Linda: Well, two weeks later, I read in the Revive Our Hearts Facebook group for the Revive Partners, Tessa Maki had made a post that she was going to be traveling from where she lived down to Georgia and back. She wanted to know if anybody would make their home available, where she could stay. 

Dannah: Tessa's trip to Georgia was going to be stressful. She was traveling because her family was in crisis. Dave and Linda not only invited Tessa into their home, they were also willing to share their lives.

Linda: Maybe God would use our story to encourage her. It was like God was affirming, “Oh yeah, I want to use you. Your story is valuable.

Dannah: Tomorrow you’ll hear Tessa’s story. Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.
 

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.