- [ Daniel] I walked out ofthat hospital having no clue

what my life would look like.

- [Gordon] He faced an unexpected future

of single parenthood.

Meanwhile, she was widowed with three boys

under the age of three.

- [Brittany] We feltsorrow that felt unending.

It had felt like my heart wasliterally breaking in two.

- [Gordon] Their pathscrossed while helping others

trust God through grief.

God's timing made evidentlyclear that we were

gonna be a family.

- [Gordon] Plus, when herson turned away from God

she began praying that onehundred thousand prodigals

would come home.

Lori Wilkerson Stewartjoins us to talk about the

biblical promises she shares in her book,

Promises for Prodigals.

It's all on today's 700 Club Interactive.

Welcome to the show.

When his wife died fromcancer, Daniel prayed

he wouldn't be paralyzed from the pain.

- And meanwhile, Brittanyhad a similar prayer

when she faced an unexpected future

after her husband died.

- Really, I remember the exactmoment this girl walks in

and they said it waswith a group of girls,

but I only saw one and it was Lindsey.

She had like that radianceabout her, that light.

At 19 she was diagnosedwith cancer out of nowhere.

It was caught early enough to where

they were able to get rid of it.

At 21, two years later, it showed back up

and this time it was more serious.

It required a biggersurgery, a hysterectomy.

And in that point in our relationship,

I had an engagement ring in my pocket.

I asked her to marryme, and we got engaged.

And through the year of engagement,

she went through chemo.

We started our life,everything was good from there.

And we did adopt two children.

Cancer showed back up

really out of nowhere again.

So my prayers were very bold.

It was God heal her.

Fix this.

But it turned into quickly

a fight for her life

and admit, looking at herin the eyes and saying,

you've got this, stay here with me.

And fighting for her life, CPR,

crying out to God,

please heal her, please bring her back.

I found myself saying good-bye to my wife,

not by choice.

The feeling my wife was leaving,

and yet, it wasn't thatshe went to heaven.

It's that heaven literallycame down to get her.

Lindsey went home toheaven, August 28th 2015.

Walked out of that hospital

having no clue what mylife would look like.

I had to deal with reality thatmy wife was no longer there.

Someone who I had known since I was 15.

And now I'm in my thirties,dealing with a reality

that I never thought I would.

And so the kids forced me to deal with

what was going on.

There was no dancing around the topic.

They asked where mommy was.

They wanted to know whenshe was coming back.

I'm sleeping on the couchbecause I don't want to be

in the bed, it's anotherreminder that Lindsey's not here.

It's one of the hardestthings that month was

picking up my phone totext her out of habit,

calling her phone out of habit

and stopping mid-dial or mid-ring

and knowing that I neverwill hear her voice again.

God spoke to me so clearly,he said that connection

that you desire withLindsey, that you want,

you can have it but it's through me.

And what she's doingright now is worshiping me

and why don't you try that.

So I looked at that as pivotal point

in my grief, saying God,I'm gonna trust you.

I'm gonna worship youand lift up your name

high above all thepain, above all the hurt

that I'm going through.

And I say God,

I'm ready, whatever you have for me,

I don't know the why, I don't get it.

I don't like it,

but I refuse to waste thispaint that I've gone through.

And refuse to allow this to bewasted or pushed to the side.

And that's where I started moving forward.

God comforted me so much inwhat I was going through.

I was encouraged to comfort others.

I could actually speak to a pain

that I had never known before.

As Christians, we're headedhome, we're headed to heaven

and our focus should not be outward,

it should be upward.

And as we look up to what is coming

and getting a glimpse ofthat even in my wife's death,

I realize the best isyet to come for all of us

if we trust and believe in God.

- My life was so amazingwhen Patrick and I met.

He was my first boyfriend,I was his first girlfriend.

So we got married in 2011and we stood on the stage

together and we said Ipromise to be faithful

through life's pleasuresand life's pressures.

I will be faithful to youuntil Christ calls me home.

In the fall of 2015, we had three kids

under the age of three.

And life was crazy andbusy but it was so fun

because I felt like I was living a dream.

He came home and he alwaysdid daddy time with the boys.

And so he tucked them into bed that night

and would always sing thema song and pray over them.

I remember us prayingtogether and going to sleep.

He woke up the next morning and was like,

you know, I'm not sleeping much anyways

so I'm just gonna goahead and get ready early

to go to work.

I said, you look so handsome in your suit

and I hope you have a great day.

I love you.

And that's what I said and he said

I love you too.

And he walked out the door.

I went to Bible study andwe were studying Revelation

and prophecy at the time.

And just moments later my phone rings.

So I answered the unknown number

and it was my husband'sboss on the other line.

And he said hey, Patrick fell at work.

We're gonna send a vehicle to come get you

so you can come to the hospital.

I ran into a hallway

full of people with sorrowwritten all over their faces.

And they pulled me behind acurtain and they sat me down

in a chair and they said,

I'm so sorry Brittany, but Patrick died.

His heart just stopped beating.

Patrick went home to be with the Lord

on September 29th, 2015.

And in that moment, at the age of 25

with three little boysunder the age of three

I became a widow.

And my entire world turned upside down.

We felt sorrow that felt unending.

And it felt like my heart wasliterally breaking in two.

But I also felt Jesus,just sitting with me

and saying, I feel your pain.

It's gonna be okay, I'mgonna walk you through this.

And I would come in my living room

and I just remember

falling flat on my faceand just crying out to God

and saying God,

I can't do this.

I cannot do this apart from you.

And he was so faithful to use his word

to soothe my soul in away only he could do.

In those darkest moments of our lives

sometimes can be thelightest moments of our lives

because God is so nearto the brokenhearted.

And I remember how God would just,

as he says in scripture,how he gives widow

the songs in the night.

And God would give me a new song to sing.

And it doesn't matter if you're in a place

of utter brokenness and hurt like I was,

fresh after my husband's death.

Or here I am several years later

out of it, God is stillthe same sovereign God

over all situations.

(peaceful music)

- When I met Brittany for the first time,

one of the first questions I had to answer

in my heart was

am I ready to pursue somebody again?

And I'm not just making a decision for me

it's for my family.

And when I saw Brittany, I saw a future.

And that was incredible andit was very just exciting.

- The Lord was so gracious because I think

in every area of yourlife after loss and pain

you're so guarded with your heart

'cause you feel like yourheart has been trampled on.

And so the Lord made itso clear and then Daniel

was so intentional with his pursuit

of leading us in the ways of God,

yet guarding our hearts in the process

until God's timing made evidently clear

that we were gonna be a family.

- I brought Ethan and Aubrey

with me and they would lovebeing around each other

so much that by the timethey left that weekend,

they were crying about leaving each other.

And so that was reallyencouraging for us moving forward.

- I remember one night

Peyton had been praying,and they had been praying

for a new daddy and I was thinking,

what in the world areyou all thinking about?

I said, well Buddy,it's not just about us.

Like God's gotta bring the right person.

And he said, well I think I know someone.

I said, you do?

And he said, what about Mr. Daniel?

I think he would be a great daddy.

And I said, well that means that

you know, Ethan and Aubrey,

and he said, would bemy brother and sister.

And I would really like that mommy.

So we got married on July 16th, 2017.

- And just continued onwith the crazy and the wild

and the love and the beautiful part

of bringing kids together.

- After we announced our engagement,

people started callingus the Brooker Bunch

because we are a blended family

and the last name is Brooker.

Our life is like a circus. (laughing)

I feel like we're a traveling circus.

It's so crazy, 'cause wehave five small children,

abnormally close in age.

- Yeah, enjoying the firsts,creating these moments

that maybe I had as a childor that they've wanted to do.

- So for our family there is always

a road of joy and sorrow that intermingle.

This is part of our story and you know

Patrick will always be part of my story.

And Lindsey will alwaysbe part of his story.

- I think as you go through pain,

it's okay to admit it.

It's okay to be real becauseuntil you address it,

it's not gonna heal.

God is not wasting your pain.

He's not wasting anythingyou're walking through.

He sees you

and he cares

and he wants you to live out a life

that is full of joy, full of love

and passion and pursuit.

And we have to make adecision that no matter

what we walk through,

we have to trust andbelieve that that is still

waiting for us, that that is still ahead.

- When you feel like you life is over

and there is no hopeahead and you feel like

you're drowning in pain,

just reach out to the handthat is trying to pull you out,

which is Jesus.

If there's one thing Icould encourage you with

is keep hoping, even when it hurts.

- Those are words to life by,

Keep hoping even when it hurts.

And for Daniel andBrittany, there's plenty

of reasons to give up hope.

Here you are widowed,

with young children.

Where do you go with that?

And God gave Daniel avery special revelation,

that if you want contact with your wife

you can find it through me

because she's right her with me

and she's with me for all eternity.

And that is the hope weall have as Christians,

that we will spend eternity in him

and with him and with one another.

And that is the precioushope of the church,

that regardless of what's happening

to our outer bodies,

regardless of the decaythat comes to all of us,

regardless of the deaththat comes to all of us,

there is this hope,

the hope of the resurrection

and the hope that whenwe're absent from the body

it just means we're present with the Lord,

that the veil is taken away.

We behold him face to face

and we're with him.

If you're going througha grieving process,

many people I know this year it just seems

to be a year of grief.

To minister to them,sometimes you just have

to sit with them

and to hear their story, hear their cry.

If you're going through that

take the words of Daniel to heart.

Don't turn away from your pain.

Express it, feel it.

Don't try to quench it.

Let it out.

Realize that you canpour out your complaint

before him, he is able to take it.

He understands what it'slike to lose a child.

He understands what it's like to die.

He'll understands what it'slike to go through pain.

He understands what it'slike to have rejection.

He knows all of that.

He's experienced all of that.

And so he's able to share that with you

and for you, be the God of all comfort.

All he's waiting for you to do

is to express it and to draw near to him.

But do it in hope.

Do it in hope that one dayyou are going to be with him.

One day all the tearsare gonna be wiped away.

One day we're going tobe with him in heaven.

If you need someone to pray for you,

we're here for you.

All you have to do is pickup the phone and call us.

1-800-700-7000.

We're not here to judge,we're certainly not here

to condemn, we're here to tell you there's

a God who loves you.

His very name is love and he wants

to bring that love to you.

And all he's waiting for you is

for you to ask for it, to say, here I am,

could you reach me?

Call us, 1-800-700-7000.

Terry?

- Still ahead, a mom with a message

all parents need to hear.

Promised for a Prodigal Child.

Hear the declarations that can lead

to a breakthrough in yourfamily when we return.

(thoughtful music)

- On January 1st, 2011,Lori Wilkerson Stewart

felt God giving her an unusual message.

It was a verse from Jeremiah and it said,

"The Lord is with melike a violent warrior."

Well as soon as she read it,

she knew she was gonnahave a difficult battle

on her hands that year.

But she knew she wouldn'tbe fighting it alone.

- [Reporter] Lori WilkersonStewart and her husband Matt

come from a long lineof pastors on both sides

of their family.

Lori never imaginedthat any of her children

would ever walk away from God.

So when one of her sonswanted to live contrary

to God's word, Lori was brokenhearted.

But she found peaceand learned how to pray

for her wayward child.

In her books, Promises for Prodigals,

Lori shares the prayersshe declared over her son

and why she wants to seeothers pray their way

to a breakthrough too.

- Well, Lori is joiningus today and it's great

to have you with us.

I'm excited because Ithink there are so many

people out there who have children that

are not walking in thefaith they've been raised in

or don't know the Lord even families

have come to him.

And this holds such promise.

Let's begin before we talk about the books

and what you've done there.

To go back to 2011 and whathappened at that point?

- Well, my son at that time,

I have three kids.

My oldest son was a senior in high school

about to graduate.

And up until that point, wehad the perfect Christian

family and all the kids were serving God.

- Their parents were pastors.

- Yeah, pastoring a church

had just planted a church.

And we get a phone call.

And a trusted relativelet us know that there

was a lot of things goingon in our son's life

that we were not aware of.

And when we confronted him about that

he did not repent of it.

He wanted to continueto go in that direction.

And it was a lifestyle that

it was completely contrary to God's word.

And even after explaining allof that and talking to him

and extended familygetting involved, talking,

he was dead set on that was the direction

he was gonna go.

And it just crushed us.

- What do you do whenconfronted by something

like that as a parent, Lori?

Because I think thestruggle for parents is,

this is my child and Ilove him or her so much.

But at the same timeyou feel as a believer

the responsibility tohonor the word of God.

How did you and Matt handle that?

- We had to have those hard talks with him

and just let him know,hey, we're raising you guys

under the word of God.

And if you're not gonna follow that

and if you're gonna go against that.

It's not okay to livehere and live that way.

And so he moved out after graduating

and it was.

- That must have been so hard.

- I cried, I cried so much

and that's when I knew, I was literally

gonna lose my mind or geton medication or something

to be able to function

if I didn't get serious about praying

and spending time with the Lord.

- So you went to the Lord,which is what we all should do

when we're in those moments in our lives.

And God gave you a prayer strategy.

- He did.

I had taken three daysoff to pray and fast,

because you know somethings are only broken

in the spirit world by fasting.

And I think what broke was not necessarily

in my son's life but it was in my life.

God just, he broke me down

to raise me up and tobuild faith up again.

As I searched his word, as I began

to just spend time with him, listening

to his voice I began tofind so many promises

in the word of God.

And I daily was kindof searching those out,

underlining them in my word.

And then at one point, the Lord said,

Lori, you need to start writing them down

in a journal so that one day you can give

those to your son and show him

this is what mom did for you son.

These are the promisesof God that I've been

declaring over you all this time.

So that actually how theoriginal journal here

that I wrote a hundred promises

from the word of God in there.

- Were you a journaler before that?

Off and on? (laughing)- Off and on.

Yeah. I mean hit and miss.- We all do that

off and on yeah.

- But boy once I got that assignment

and it was about threeyears into the process

when I got really seriousabout writing them down.

And that

I can say honestly though Terry,

early on after I fasted, God gave me such

a supernatural peace that everything,

in fact the word the Lord gave me was

this will end well.

And I've just stood on that word,

along with all the promises that

you know, it's been seven years but.

- Yes.

- There will be a good ending to this.

- Seven is the number of completion.

- Amen. (laughing)

- Talk a little bit aboutfinding the promises.

Because we all know thestory of the prodigal son

in the word.

And we know what happened there.

But you went far beyondthat and found 100 promises

for prodigals.

What were some of thefavorite ones that you think?

- There's a ton in Isaiah, there's

the one I like, there says

I will fight for you andI will save your children.

And there's another onethat says your children

will come back to you,they will be like jewels

and bridal ornaments

that you will display for all to see.

And I thought that was so beautiful.

And then there's one in Ezekiel that says

the Lord will searchfor your lost loved ones

and will bring them safely home again.

And then of course Luke,says he leaves the 99

to go after the one.

- Love that.

- Then there's one in Hebrews that I love.

I have to mention thatthere's specifically

the writer says thatangels are sent by God

to care for those who receive salvation.

So right now, I've beendeclaring all this time that

angels are protecting my son.

He's been in some seedy places.

But while he's there, there's angels

watching over him and he'sunder the care of angels.

- And we know that noneof it is ever wasted.

That in due time, when he comes to himself

and back to the Lord,it will not be wasted.

You've written books for

a book for boys, the Prodigal,Promises for Promises

for Prodigals and one for girls.

You had an experience withyour sister when you were 17

that sort of played into this as well.

- Right, well growing up

I'd watch my parents gothrough a similar situation

with my sister.

She was a prodigal and actually she was

an alcoholic for over 20 years.

But when I was 17, mysister actually tried

to commit suicide and sheended up in a psychiatric

hospital and when I found that out,

I was a senior in high school,

I was, I didn't knowwhat to do with myself.

I went for a run and I began to pray.

And in that time with the Lord,

I began to shout at the devil.

And I said, Satan, I'm soangry for this one soul

you've tried to take,

I'm taking 10,000.

God give me 10,000 souls.

I didn't know how that was gonna happen.

I believe God's beendoing that through some

of the work that I've beeninvolved in here at CBN.

But also

10 years later this happens to my own son.

And when that happened, I got really angry

and I said, okay, it's on now.

This time I'm taking 100,000prodigals with me to heaven.

And I don't know how you'regonna do that God, but.

And I believe that thebooks are part of that.

That's why I made a separate one

for guys and girls.

Because it's such a

there's places to write yourprodigal's name in there.

And I just think that pronounsneed to match the name.

I'm gig on that, I usedto be an English teacher

and I'm funny about that.

But it's just such apersonal thing for parents

and for grandparentsand for aunts and uncles

that are praying

for their prodigals.

It's just an intimate time with the Lord.

- It's a wonderful opportunityto circle the wagons

around whoever the prodigalin your life might be,

whether it's your immediatefamily or extended family.

But Lori has done the work for all of us.

Lemme just say thank youfor sharing your story.

And for parents, there are two versions

of Lori's book, Promises for Prodigals

has a guys version and a gals version.

Both are available throughAmazon or you can find out

how to get a copy by going to CBN.com.

There next to my bed.

I think you'd probably wantthem next to yours. (laughing)

Thanks Lori.- Thanks, Terry.

- Gordon?

- Well, coming up,peace on the battlefield

for one night.

- [Gerry] When German troopsstarted singing Silent Night,

French and British, Scottish troops

started answering.

- [Gordon] The WorldWar One Christmas truce,

when we come back.

(thoughtful music)

- Well, this Christmasseason we're asking you

to join us in a Robertsonholiday tradition.

Every year we give a specialgift to those in need

and that gift is equalto the money we spent

on either our Thanksgiving dinner

or our Christmas Eve dinneror our Christmas Day dinner.

So when you do that andyou send a special gift

of $25 or more we'regonna send back to you

two exclusive holiday treasures.

One is a new classic, my father reading

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and

that'll be on CD.

And then plus, CBN Documentaries presents

Christmas, the StoryBehind the Traditions.

Now, this documentary wasfilmed in eight countries

so it's gonna take you around the wold

to discover the history of Christmas,

the meaning behind the traditions that you

love to celebrate.

And here's a clip from that documentary.

Take a look

(suspenseful music)

(boom)

- [Gordon] In the winter of 1914,

World War One had beenraging for five months.

And countless soldiers onboth sides spent Christmas

in trenches all over northern Europe.

- [Gerry] 1914 saw millions of armed men

facing each on a line

from the English Channel to Switzerland.

They were dug in.

They were very close to each other.

They were within yards of each other.

The Germans on one side andthe French, the British,

the Canadians, Australians on the other.

♪ Silent night, holy night ♪

- [Gordon] On ChristmasEve, German soldiers

placed candles and Christmas trees on top

of their trenches.

Then a few of them begansinging Stille Nacht,

or Silent Night in German.

- The 19th century produceda number of German carols

that were in translation.

And so both sides, forexample, knew Silent Night.

And so when German troops started singing,

French and British, Scottishtroops started answering.

♪ Heavenly peace. ♪

- [Gordon] The artillery fell silent

and the two sides shoutedChristmas greetings to each other.

- [Gerry] WE have numerousexamples of troops

meeting in no man's land, sanctioned

by low ranking officers, who thought this

was a useful opportunity to scout,

maybe to recover some dead bodies,

but allowed all kinds of exchangeof gifts, different foods.

Apparently the British wanted sausages

and the Germans wanted French wine and

British canned beef.

♪ Christ the savior is born. ♪

- [Gordon] The break, whichlasted through Christmas

night became known as the Christmas truce.

♪ Christ the savior is born. ♪

- [Gerry] They very often played soccer,

and swapped pictures of families.

And then went back to killingeach other the next day.

It was really a momentof 1914 seldom repeated.

♪ Jesus Lord at thy birth. ♪

- Well, that was a samplefrom our new documentary,

Christmas, the StoryBehind the Traditions.

And if you're interestedin how did we get here?

How did we get the varioustraditions of Christmas?

Why is December the 25th the date

that we celebrate Christmas?

What's all this about Christmas trees?

Why do we bring a tree into our house

and decorate it?

Why do we hang stockings by the fire?

Why do we have live nativity scenes?

It's our gift to you when you give us $25

or more to help those in need.

So if that's you, giveus a call 1-800-700-7000

and say yes, I want to helpothers this Christmas season.

Here's a word from Romans

chapter five, "And hopedoes not put us to shame

"because God's love hasbeen poured into our heart

"through the Holy Spiritwho has been given to us."

(hopeful music)