(uplifting music)

- Well, welcome to the show.

Thanks for joining us.

Chenel Stewart made one simple change

and then watched her businessgrow from having zero clients

to turning new ones away.

- In fact, her financialturnaround was so drastic,

even her ex-husband took notice.

Take a look.

- [Announcer] Randall andChenel Stewart married

when he was 18 and she was17 years old and pregnant.

At the time, both wereoptimistic about their future.

- I just felt like,wow, this is my chance.

I'm grown up now.

I can start a new life.

But things quickly wentthe other direction.

- [Announcer] Randall joined the Air Force

to provide for their family.

But soon they started havingcommunication problems.

- When Chenel wanted to discuss a matter,

you know, if it angered me, Ijust wanted to be left alone.

- I believe that both of uscame in with woundedness.

Both of us have fatherwounds and being rejected.

And so we brought thisbaggage into our marriage.

- [Announcer] The couple grew distant.

At times there was physical abuse.

Then in 1993, they filed for divorce.

Chenel became a single momtrying to make a living

as a hairstylist in someone else's salon.

But between that and some other odd jobs,

she struggled to pay the bills.

- I would go in thesalon and sometimes sit

six or seven hours and do no one's hair.

Having my lights get cutoff, I felt horrible.

I felt like I had failed

and that I had failed in eventhe career that I so pursued

all those years.

- [Announcer] During this time,

she had a coworker who was a Christian.

One day Chenel asked togo to church with her.

- I was sick of the life that I had.

And she was like, "Sure."

It was almost like she waswaiting on me to ask her.

- [Announcer] A month later,

Chenel surrendered her life to Christ.

She began gettinginvolved in Bible studies

and she also started tithing.

- By this point in time,

I may have been doing a coupleclients, not even a day.

So if I would have made $25 that day,

I was giving God 10% of that $25.

- [Announcer] Soon afterward,

Chenel noticed she wasgetting more clients.

- My business began to grow.

And then all of a sudden italmost seemed like rapidly

my business went fromnot doing anyone's hair

to me turning clients away at times.

- [Announcer] Chenel kept in contact

with her ex-husband, Randall.

One day he noticed thechange in her business.

- Just seeing Him growher business that quick,

just from that act ofobedience was amazing to me.

She just went up to the shop every day.

And so the only thing that she had changed

was she had started tithing.

- Randall gave his life to Christ as well.

And soon afterward, heand Chenel remarried.

Randall started tithing too.

- Baby, you just want, youwant to do this or what?

I was like, "Okay, baby.

"When the check come in,just take it off the top."

And I mean, the God has been faithful.

- [Announcer] Soon the couplesaw even more blessings

in their lives.

Randall got a new job.

With that came a 10% salary increase.

They also were able to buy a new home.

- I never had a job wherethey offered me more

than what I was already making.

And so, you know, I justgive all the glory to Him.

- I've said, "Thank you,Lord," probably on a daily,

because it's amazing to methat He has even allowed us

to obtain the things that we've obtained.

- Chenel is no longer styling hair.

Instead, she can be a stay-at-home mom.

She and Randall are thrivingin every area of their lives.

They encourage others to give in faith

so they can be blessed too.

- God says, "Test Me in this

"and see don't I open upthe flood gates of heaven

"and pour you out a blessing

"that you don't haveroom enough to receive."

I know for certain that Hewill move on your behalf

just by that simple step of obedience.

- It's an honor to be obedientto Christ in my giving.

I love it.

And it's not just aboutthe material things,

but it's just an honor to give and to obey

and to serve Christ, even in my giving.

(bright music)

- Randall have it right.

And when you have that attitude

that you want to give cheerfully,

and it's not from a sense ofobligation, you're not saying,

"Well, I just want tobegrudgingly give this."

When you do it cheerfully, and you say,

"I want to honor God.

"I want to honor what He's told me to do.

"I want to live life God's way.

"I want to go out of myway to find people in need

"and help them and bea blessing to others."

When you do that and youhave that heart attitude,

wonderful things will happen to you.

Here's a promise that'sfrom Proverbs chapter 3.

"Honor the Lord with your possessions,

"and with the first fruitsof all your increase;

"so your barns will be filled with plenty,

"and your vats willoverflow with new wine."

For Chenel and Randall, whatwas a horrible situation,

a desperate situation turned into success

all because they said,"We want to honor God

"with our first fruits,with our increase."

And that's what the tithe is on.

It's on the increase.

Who gives you the increasein the first place?

God does.

He's the one who's givingyou the power to have this.

That's what the Bible says.

And so you're giving back to Him

what He's already provided for you.

And in that process, you'restarting a great virtuous circle

where you give andit'll be given unto you.

It's not some on-again, off-again thing.

It's when you have a whole lifestyle,

I want to give, I want to be generous,

I want to help people thatneed, I want to honor God,

I want to be cheerful in this,I want to go out of my way,

I want to find new ways to give.

When you have that attitude,wonderful things will happen.

If you do the same thing, Godwill do the same thing for you

because He watches overHis word to perform it.

Now, if you want to starta lifestyle of giving,

all you have to do is call the 700 Club.

If you want to help people who are poor

right here in the United States,

we have food that is being distributed

in thousands of centers.

We have many tractor-trailer trucks

delivering millions of poundsof food right here in America

so that people who havemore month than money

can have the food that theyneed for their families.

If you want to help peoplein disasters right now,

our Operation Blessing teamsare on the ground in Louisiana,

getting ready to deployin Texas for the floods

and Hurricane Ida.

We want to be there forpeople in their time of need.

If you want to see people around the world

that don't have fresh drinkingwater get fresh water,

new water wells, watersystems, join the 700 Club.

A portion of every gift goes into the work

of Operation Blessing.

If you want to see thechildren of the world

get the stories of the Bible,

join with us and be a part of Super Book.

You're a part of everythingwhen you join the 700 Club.

Now, how much is it?

It's just $20 a month.

That breaks out to 65 cents a day.

And you're joining withtens of thousands of people

that say, "Yes, let's makea difference in the world."

If you want to join at a higher level,

we have 700 Club Gold at $40 a month.

1000 Club, that's $1,000 a year,

that breaks out to $84 a month.

We also have 2500 Club,which is 2,500 a year.

Founder, $5,000 or more a year.

At whatever level, callus right now and say,

"Yes, you can count on me.

"Here's my gift."

1-800-700-7000.

Ashley.

- Well, the shutdowns haveput millions of Americans

out of work.

Many of those looking for jobshave spent sleepless nights

worrying about tomorrow,

and food pantries arebeing stretched thin.

So Operation Blessing is on the scene,

getting people what theyneed when they need it most.

Take a look.

(soft music)

- [Announcer] With foodfrom Operation Blessing,

Eastern Star Church hasbeen meeting people's needs

in Elizabeth City for more than 15 years.

Now there's an even greaterneed due to COVID-19.

Pastor Elder Brackett.

- A lot of people have losttheir job due to coronavirus.

People who wakes up inthe morning wondering,

"What am I going to eat today?"

Or go to sleep at night wondering,

"What's going to happen tomorrow?"

- Latoya Armstrong works two jobs

to provide for her daughter, Zakeya,

who's an honor roll student.

- Well, being a single mom,

it's very hard.

At State University

I used to work like fourdays out of the week.

Now I only work two.

When I got cut, I did crybecause I didn't know what to do.

- [Announcer] Right now,these food distributions

are helping the Armstrongsand many other families

fill the gap.

To keep everyone safe,

volunteers place groceriesdirectly into people's cars.

As both a volunteer and a recipient,

Khoza knows what it's liketo both give and receive.

- It's money that I don'thave to spend on food.

God has blessed me tremendously.

I help pack the food.

I'll take the food to the cars

because I know thatwhat they're doing here

is impacting so many lives.

But I want to be a blessing to others,

and that's why I come here.

- There's times we have like150 families come through here

within the hour or twohours that we serve.

- [Announcer] thanks toOperation Blessing partners,

parents like Latoya areable to feed their families.

- It makes me feel happythat it's people out here

that wants to help us.

We needed help and we finally got it.

- The Lord, He gives me what Ineed when I need it the most.

I just want to say thank youfrom the bottom of my heart

because what you do, you are giving life.

- Amen.

When you are a CBN partner,you are giving life.

And that story is evidence ofwhat your partnership can do

around the world.

As you just saw, OperationBlessing provides food

for people in need, not justhere in the United States,

but literally all around the world.

And God blesses us to bea blessing unto others.

When He pours out a blessing,

He's asking us to give it back to Him.

And it's just an amazingcycle of miracles.

So if you want to be a blessing to others,

please join with us, join with our efforts

right here in the UnitedStates or around the world.

In the name of Jesus,

you are making the difference for Christ.

So if you want to partnerwith us, all you got to do,

give us a call, 1-800-700-7000.

Or you can also text to give,you can text CBN to 71777.

And when you give, we aregoing to give you our latest,

CBN's latest teaching.

It's called "The Nearness of Heaven."

And actually Gordon and I just sat down

to talk about what heaven is like.

And then there's also justreally encouraging testimonies

of people who have actuallygone to heaven, what they saw.

But really, I just believe

it's gonna be an encouragement for you

to receive what God hasfor us right here on earth.

So give us a call.

Join with us.

1-800-700-7000.

Gordon.

- Well, two grandfathers set out on a boat

to rescue their stranded grandson.

They end up in the water,fighting for their lives

and facing a riverbank full of gators.

So what do they do to survive?

Well, you're gonna findout right after this.

(slow music)

- Mike and Billy were speedingalong the Louisiana bayou.

Their grandson was out there somewhere,

stuck in the swamp with a disabled boat.

Shortly after Mike and Billy took off

on their own rescue mission,

they were thrown in the dark waters,

and soon the two men were treading water

in a swamp filled with gators.

- He never answered me.

I was convinced that he was gone.

There was no doubt in mymind that I killed my friend.

And I was, it was a bad feeling.

- [Announcer] Friday night ofFather's Day weekend, 2016,

Mike Turner got a latenight urgent phone call

from his grandson Landon asking for help.

- He said, "Me and Daddy'sfrogging at Ruddock

"and we broke down.

"I need you to come get me."

I said, "All right, I'mgonna call your other Papa

"and get him to ride with me

"so I won't have to come by myself

"in the middle of the night."

And he said, "Okay," so I hung up.

- [Announcer] Soon after,Mike picked up Billy,

Landon's other grandfatherwho had been in poor health

since he had open heart surgery.

They launched Mike's boat after midnight

in the swamps near Baton Rouge

and began searching forLandon's disabled boat.

- It was a bright, moonlit night.

So I didn't use mylight to drive the boat.

And you could see pretty good,

but there were some stumps in the water

that we could not see.

They were submerged about six inches.

We were running about 38 miles an hour

the last time I looked.

And then bam, a big bang.

And all I knew was it was dark.

I couldn't see and couldn't breathe.

Didn't know which way was up.

Didn't know what happened.

And I hit my head on something

and it was the steering wheel of my boat.

Then I realized we'd flipped the boat.

- [Announcer] Mike wastrapped under the boat.

And Billy was nowhere to be seen.

- When I got my bearings back,

I started hollering for Billy.

And I hollered about threetimes, he never answered me.

And I just knew, there was nodoubt in my mind, he was gone.

- [Announcer] Billy hadbeen tossed from the boat.

He wasn't wearing a life jacket

and his rubber boots pulled him under.

He struggled to breatheand prayed for his life.

- My boots felt like twocinder blocks pulling me down.

I said, "Lord, if you don'tget my head above water,

"You can take me home now.

"'Cause I'm spent, my stamina is gone."

And it was just like He putHis hands under my boots

and just raised me up.

- Mike could now see Billy struggling

about 40 feet from the boat.

- He was wearing out quick.

And he told me he wasn't hurt,

but he wasn't gonna last muchlonger with these boots on.

So I swam back under the boat,unlocked the compartment,

got the life jackets out.

- Well, he threw a life jacket

that landed about four foot from me,

and it was all I could doto get to the life jacket.

- [Announcer] Mike was able to reach Billy

and slowly pulled him back to the boat.

They rested together on the capsized hull,

both thankful to be alive.

- How we made it through the initial wreck

without getting hurt, only God knows.

That's the only thing that,that's the only thing it can be.

- [Announcer] They tried to signal trucks

at a nearby overpasswith Mike's flashlight,

but no one stopped.

When he shown his light in the water,

it revealed a new problem.

- He said, "Look over your left shoulder."

So I turned my head and looked

and there was three alligators

like forming a semicircle

about 10 or 15 feet from the boat.

And he says, "Now lookover your right shoulder."

So I looked over my right shoulder

and there was three more.

- This is 1:30 in the morningand it's their feeding time.

They're nocturnal.

And it was just making me nervous

'cause when I started shining the bank,

there was tons of them on the bank

and they're all coming in the water.

Coming, they were curiousas to what we were doing

and what we were as ifwe had food for them.

Those alligators had me thinkingthey were coming to get us.

- And I've been around gators all my life,

but never in a situation like that.

- I was doing some heavy,heavy, heavy praying to myself

while I was in that water,

asking, "God, please get me out of this."

- [Announcer] Whilethey waited and prayed,

Mike later found outLandon was also praying.

- He said, "God, please helpme get this motor started."

Because he knew somethinghad happened to us.

It'd been hours and wehadn't shown up yet.

So, but they didn't know what.

So after he, soon as he said that,

next time he tried tocrank the motor it cranked.

- [Announcer] Landon droveback towards the boat launch.

Around 3:30 in the morningBilly saw a light on the water

as Landon's boat slowly approached.

- I wanted to cry when I saw him.

It was very emotional.

- I think we'd have been there all night.

And I did not want tospend all night there.

It's just, they were God-sent.

- [Announcer] Once back on shore,

they knew God had answered their prayers

as they tested Landon's motor.

- I said, "Landon, crank thatmotor, see if it'll crank."

And it was locked up,it wouldn't turn over.

So you tell me what it was.

There's no doubt in my mind what it was.

Nobody will ever change my mind.

It was God.

It was God.

- [Announcer] That Sunday after church,

Mike and Billy gathered with their family

and celebrated Father's Day,

thankful God was withthem in their time of need

and had heard their prayers.

- It was good.

It was almost like a firstFather's Day I ever had.

- Yep, to me it was like a rebirth.

The good Lord had given me a second chance

because Mike and I both

could have lost ourlives the night before.

And Landon would havelost both his grandfathers

at the same time.

And so everybody was very,

very joyous over what hadhappened, how it ended up.

And it brought my family closer together,

made them realize that youcan be here today and be gone.

It might not be a tomorrow.

I look forward to every day,

thanking Him for what He's done,

what He's going to do, andwhat He hasn't done yet.

- Jesus Christ waswatching over us, right,

you could almost feel Himwhen we were in that water.

I knew He was helping us.

If it wasn't for Him,

we wouldn't be heretalking to you right now.

(slow music)

- What an encouraging story.

What a reminder that no matterwhat situation we're in,

God hears our cries.

He hears our prayers,

and He is so ready, willing,and able to help you

and to rescue you.

Even in a boat in the middleof the water, He is with you.

Don't ever forget that,He's with you in trouble

and in darkness.

Well, we received some answer to prayers

from our social media audience.

Jonathan wrote on Facebook,

"I went from being homelessbecause of the pandemic

"to fulfilling one of my God-given dreams

"to attend Regent University,"right here in Virginia Beach

"to get my Bachelor's inComputer Graphic Design.

"Glory to God.

"On top of that I started my own business.

"Glory!"

Amen.

- All right, well, afollower on Instagram said,

"After 52 years, Godblessed me by reuniting me

"with my father's family.

"I have been able to learn abouthim and see pictures of him

"for the first time.

"This has brought so much joy to my life!

"Thank you, Jesus!"

Don't wait for the momentwhere you get in trouble

to get to know Him.

Get to know Him right now.

And that way you willalways know that He will be

you're very presenthelp in time of trouble.

And you won't have towonder, "Will God help me?

"Will He do the impossible for me?"

In that wonderful miracle story,

how many impossibilitieshappened and came together

so that there could be a rescue?

A motor that was frozensomehow started operating.

Things that seemed impossible,where drowning was eminent,

suddenly it became possible to swim.

You were literally lifted up.

"I could feel beinglifted up from my boots."

These are wonderful things.

These are things you can't explain.

But here is the very simple explanation.

He is near to those who are in distress.

He listens for the cries of His children.

He is our very presenthelp in time of need.

He is right there.

We as Christians, asbelievers in Jesus Christ,

are empowered to say,"The kingdom of heaven

"has drawn near to you."

Now what's the significance of that?

Well, here it is.

In heaven, is there anybody drowning?

In heaven, is there anybody in need?

Is there anybody sick?

Is there anybody poor?

Is there anybody lonely?

Is there anybody depressed?

Grieving?

And the answer is, well, in heaven, no.

All of these things don't happen there.

God wipes away every tear,He heals every disease,

He provides all your needaccording to His riches and glory.

These are the rules of heaven.

And where, when we're empoweredto bring heaven on earth,

that His will would be doneon earth as it is in heaven.

What a great privilege.

Ashley and I are going to pray for you.

All you have to do is agree.

It's very simple.

Don't make it complicated.

It's not something you have to bargain

and figure out if you're goodenough, all of these things.

Get them all out of your mind.

Just focus on Jesus, whatHe's already accomplished,

and let Him do all the heavy lifting.

He wants to do all the work for you.

All you have to do is believe it.

Let's pray.

Lord, we lift everyonein the audience to You.

Anyone who's lonely.

Anyone who's out of work.

Anyone with anxiety, fear.

Anyone who's sick.

Anyone in need of finances.

Anyone in need of provision.

Lord, we speak over themthe kingdom of heaven.

And we ask that heaven woulddraw near to them right now,

that Your kingdom would comeand Your will would be done

in their lives.

Let them experience you, LordGod, right now in a rich way.

Let them know that theirprayers have been heard

and have been answered today.

We ask it in Jesus' name.

Ashley, God's given you something.

- Yeah, I believe someone's watching,

you're suffering froma really bad migraine.

It's coming from the top ofyour head down to your neck

and it's just painful.

The Lord is healingthat for you right now.

And I believe somebody else is watching

who has an auto-immune disease.

I believe it's called Hashimoto's.

The Lord is healing that foryou right now, just receive it.

You will not have to sufferthrough that pain anymore.

In Jesus' name.

- For someone you have acid reflux,

and the way you're gonnaknow I'm talking about you

is you sleep upright, you'reforced to sleep in a chair

because of this.

And there's deep burningin your esophagus.

That burning is leaving you right now.

God is healing thetissues in your esophagus.

You don't have to worry about cancer.

You don't have to worry aboutany more problems at all.

He is healing your stomach

and the opening between theesophagus and the stomach.

You are going to be normalfrom this day forward.

Receive it now in Jesus' name.

Amen.

If you've been healed, let us know.

Give us a call.

1-800-700-7000.

Here's a word from Mark.

"Jesus looked at them and said,

"'With man this isimpossible, but not with God;

"'All things are possible with God.'"

(uplifting music)