The 700 Club - November 1, 2021

so do welcome to the 700 club neck and neck virginia's candidates for governor are racing across the state and now a mad rush to win voters in the final hours of the campaign the race this close is not good news for the democrat well still a republican hasn't won statewide office in virginia since 2009 so can glenn younkin pull off a victory dale hurd has the latest on an election that national party leaders and political analysts are watching closely the virginia governor's race has turned into a referendum on joe biden as well as former president donald trump and is being watched by experts is a very reliable indicator about how americans are feeling about the state of the nation are you guys ready to win or what the race pits political newcomer and republican businessman glenn younkin against former governor democrat terry mcauliffe right now we have a big lead in the early vote both candidates are crisscrossing the commonwealth in a final sprint toward tomorrow's election mcauliffe says he's running on education i got big bold plans i'm leading on education that's the reason why i'm running but if you watch mcauliffe's ads he appears to be running against donald trump what kind of governor would glenn younkin be president trump represents so much of why i'm running and like donald trump glenn younkin refuses to take coronavirus seriously then over the weekend mcauliffe changed his tune and said the election is not about trump junkin has taken aim at the teaching of critical race theory in virginia public schools and the issue of parents rights in education we will teach all history but what we will not do we will not teach our children to view everything through a lens of race and divide them into into baskets and then make them compete against one another and steal dreams at a younken campaign stop friday in charlottesville a small group of demonstrators dressed as unite the right extremist with tiki torches posed as younken's supporters the mcauliffe campaign seized on the incident until it was learned it was a hoax by the anti-trump lincoln project recent polls show mcauliffe up by one but one outlier poll by fox news shows yunkan up by eight cbn news chief political analyst david brody says that in virginia where a republican hasn't won a statewide office since 2009 the race should not be this close the truth of the matter is as it relates to terry mcauliffe he's a well-known guy everybody knows in virginia the former governor joe biden's the president you would think that virginia is blue and it's been becoming more and more blue as the years have gone on and he's in a tight race that is not good news for mccullough virginia has a long history of voting against the party in the white house when choosing its governor and with joe biden's low approval numbers there are signs rank and filed democrats aren't as energized to vote i do think that there is an enthusiasm gap for the democrats i think a lot of people are just kind of frazzled and burnt out with everything that's going on democrats are disillusioned and therefore less enthusiastic about voting that is really entirely the reason why this is tied no matter who wins virginians will elect their first lieutenant governor that is a woman and a woman of color either democrat hala ayala or republican winsome sears in the only other gubernatorial race tuesday new jersey governor phil murphy leads in his re-election bid against republican challenger jack citarelli dale heard cbn news well enough people are tired of voting i voted on saturday and the line was out the door i had to wait an hour to actually get to the voting booth so looks like we're going to have a very big turnout well cbn washington correspondent tara mergener joins us now for more on the race so tara what seems to be behind the surge for yonkin right well first uh gordon to mention that as of friday both real clear politics and 538 still have younkin ahead so it's super interesting and of course that outlier poll from fox news the eight points so simply put the belief is that what has pulled younken ahead really at the tail end of the race is education this is a national issue this is a local issue yunkin says parents have been calling him emailing him texting him not just in virginia but all over the country saying we need someone to stand up for us so certainly that has made a big difference because schools are have long been a big issue in gubernatorial campaigns but this has really brought this home for you young and it appears so um not to mention that unforced error that mcauliffe had at the last debate saying that parents really don't have a say shouldn't have a say in what kids are learning at school so you know virginia republicans have found an issue here that has united the base and we're going to see very soon whether younkin really pulls this thing over the finish line but education truly is the key here well i've got to ask is this a reference a vote if you will on joe biden in his policies or is it more of a vote that mcauliffe forgot that parents and grandparents actually go to the polls and and vote uh did he just forget that uh and did he stumble so badly that it's all on him well mcauliffe's strategy in the beginning was coveted it was vaccine mandates and education just didn't seem to be a thing until that stumble meantime you've got joe biden really plummeting in the polls but again going back to that education so parents are just so upset about this that that seems to have really slowed down mcauliffe and raised a lot of flags so you know dale and his piece mentioned the enthusiasm gap republicans have the enthusiasm joe biden is slipping in the polls a lot of democrats surely are not enthusiastic about all the things that have gone wrong in his several months as president from afghanistan to the border to vaccine mandates so the feeling is it could be a referendum on president biden and surely democrats are very concerned about that also interestingly mcauliffe had made a lot of this campaign as dale mentioned about president trump and this weekend he kind of walked that back at a rally and said this is not about president trump so be interesting to see what effect president biden has had on this campaign could he still win and what happens tomorrow what about the rest of the republican ticket it looks like this could actually have uh an effect on the down ballot races uh and could potentially change the makeup of the virginia's house of delegates so tell us about that well for sure virginia has really leaned left in recent years and if junkin pulls this off the democrats are going to be very concerned it's probably going to reverberate nationally and here in virginia and if yunkan pulls us off it's going to kind of kill that momentum for democrats potentially so for the first time in 20 years democrats have both parts of the general assembly and the governor's mansion the trifecta that all happened in 2019 when when they pulled that off so if yunkan pulls this off and uh it kills some of the momentum for the democrats some seats are expected to flip in the midterms and they're only defending something like five seats so certainly democrats are very concerned republicans especially here in virginia very excited about the possibilities right now all right well thanks for the insight voters in virginia new jersey go to the polls tomorrow uh you can watch our special election night coverage across cbn news on all our digital platforms you can watch us on the cbn news app or on the cbn family app or on youtube so if you want to have county by county results and see the importance of this election we're going to be doing it tomorrow night election night november 2nd well in other news some people see what's happening in the virginia election as a referendum on president biden and the democrats the latest poll numbers show the president is taking a big hit john jessup has more on that story from our cbn news bureau in washington john bc news poll released sunday shows the president's approval rating dropping 42 percent of those surveyed say they approve of biden's job performance while 54 percent disapprove that's down from six months ago when he had 53 percent approval and 39 percent disapproval the numbers plummeting on specific issues as well people's opinion of his handling of the coronavirus has dropped 18 points since april on economic issues down 12 points and 71 percent of respondents said the country is on the wrong track meanwhile an abc news ipsos poll shows the american people are divided or confused over the president's infrastructure and social spending bills with 32 percent believing the bills would hurt them while about 25 percent think they will help and 24 percent who say they just don't know congressional democrats plan to vote on the president's one trillion dollar infrastructure package and a nearly two trillion dollar social spending plan on tuesday well the president arrived in scotland this morning meeting in glasgow to meet with world leaders from more than 200 countries for climate change summit notably not in attendance leaders from russia and china two of the world's biggest polluters over the weekend at the g20 summit in rome the president addressed global supply chain issues saying his administration is working to identify bottlenecks and to keep manufacturing going despite kovitt related interruptions his own officials however pointing the finger at the private sector fundamentally it's up to the producers the shippers and the retailers people say to me will christmas gifts be delivered to which i say call fedex you know that that isn't what the government does bad weather and staffing shortages caused a snarl and airline traffic this weekend american airlines canceled nearly 2 000 flights after high winds closed runways at its dallas fort worth hub creating a cascade of delays the shutdown affecting more than 150 000 passengers saturday and sunday southwest airlines suffered a similar meltdown about three months ago industry analysts say these incidents are creating concern over the holiday travel season well the friendly skies are open over israel again the country reopening its borders today to individual tourists provided they're fully vaccinated with a recognized vaccine the move comes after the covet 19 pandemic shut down most of tourism to israel for more than a year and a half david tucker chairman of the jerusalem hotel association says he's optimistic about the future i believe in 2022 we'll start seeing more and more groups i do hope that 2023 we will be back to what we saw in 2019 depending on two things one thing is people are vaccinated abroad and it depends where you come from second thing is we do hope that there won't be a new variant coming in and israel set records for tours and pre-pandemic back in 2019 gordon with more than four and a half million tourists well i know that terry musen really wants to go to israel and she is so happy that it's open today and that she can get on an airplane with her renewed passport and just yes have fun and some friends you just want to have some friends to go along well it's inspiring you can email terry oh okay he's going to say him but no not me no okay can i take that as a as permission no oh i didn't think so we have we have the show to do well just imagine opening up ordering a pizza and then you go outside and it drops from the sky well drone delivery is already happening in israel this extraordinary innovation is being called part of a fourth industrial revolution cbn middle east correspondent chris mitchell has more these drones are completing a special mission as they land in tel aviv delivering sushi from japanica restaurant some seven miles away in hertzelia you can see multi drones taking off doing delivery coming back land finish the delivery process everything autonomously drones could become the delivery vehicle of the future even transporting ice cream or anything you want from the restaurant to your home alone abelson is ceo and co-founder of highlander a drone and unmanned traffic management solution that helps keep skye safe for this growing technology there is no pilot involved no one is flying the drone and you still need someone to make sure that their own flying avoid collide between themselves landing safely in the right location these are among the first commercial drone deliveries in central israel and the city of tel aviv it's the third of eight stages expected to reach new heights over the next two years it's being managed from the ialong highways control center that's usually overseeing traffic on the ground we started from zero flights two years ago 700 flights in the first year and now we're close to 9 000 flights as part of israel's innovation authority daniela partem leads the center for the fourth industrial revolution our aim is to enlarge the ecosystem so add more cities more urban areas in order for this to be an economically viable system we would have to enable larger drones flying longer distances in order to deliver heavier goods to more areas joined by the civil aviation authority and ilone highways the project is a collaboration between the government and 16 local and international companies the various companies work together towards solutions in key areas ranging from air traffic control and flying the drones to deliveries and security libby bahat from the civil aviation authority says he sees opportunities and challenges we are crowded country in terms of airspace we have high security needs these are challenges but i think we know how to approach them despite the challenges ayao bilia from iolan highways explains why drones are a good and timely idea the lower airspace is unused today so we're trying to open the lower airspace in order to deliver all kinds of goods and the deliveries from one place to another and by that we're going to reduce traffic according to former general joeli orr and current ceo of can do drones the israeli military has been using this technology for 10 years we take it from the military side and adapt it for our needs in the civilian side working along with security and traffic control can do can manage up to 250 drones at a time we connect different ones from different companies from different mission to our system and we control the dorm for one laptop the founding members of airways came from the israeli air force ceo ayal zor explains how these experts and airspace management make it all work we are using advanced ai algorithms in order to manage a dynamic airspace of drones we try to mimic the traditional aviation like air traffic controllers and pilots with our system in order to show that we can operate maximum number of drones in a dynamic urban city deliveries are currently limited to between businesses given the need for a drone landing pad the order is placed through an app then prepared loaded on the drone flown to the delivery site collected and taken to the customer daniel rahamim heads up mesloja one of the most popular and fastest growing food delivery apps in israel until now mishloha relied on conventional delivery methods like scooters as a technology company though rahamim says he's always looking to the future we don't have any doubt that the next stage will be the drones because this is the best way the fast way the safe way to move things from one side to each other flytick is the aerial operator and company vice president yahov price says the drones can transport a delivery weighing about four and a half pounds this first time in israel you can see this kind of project which means the first time we fly drones with no eye contact through a computer like another uav though the demonstration focused on getting ice cream to waiting journalists price says the vision reaches much further than just food delivery this is a platform to show that technology is there and safe is there we want to provide much more important things to our civilians like big orders machines and medicines hospitals and medical facilities could be big winners with these deliveries receiving life-saving materials quickly with no traffic jams and consumers in the future will likely benefit in ways we haven't even imagined chris mitchell cbn news well still again israel with wonderful innovation it's the startup nation it's a nation where its entire culture seems to be engineered to innovate and innovate in remarkably new ways same time if you've ever heard one of these drones they've they've got a pretty loud buzzing sound to them so i'm not sure i want the sky around my neighborhood filled with them even if ai is controlling them and you can actually have cooperation between the drones and the local airport uh we how do you have air traffic control over this kind of thing so there are a lot of problems to work out at the same time this old guy's starting to think i'm living in a jetsons cartoon it's just just changing all the time yeah well you pretty much are i mean i think that's what's happening it's amazing it'll be interesting to see what doors open up for all of that the retired police officer had broken his neck in two places and was paralyzed on his right side every day was a battle as the years wore on brian came to accept that he would never recover not so for his wife she never stopped believing for a miracle on december 19 2008 a winter storm had blanketed little falls new jersey and snow 39 year old police officer brian lapoo was redirecting motorists away from an icy road when he slipped the only thing i remember is waking up in a hospital as they were trying to incubate me after further examination doctors discovered brian had broken two vertebrae in his neck and had to perform emergency surgery when brian woke up the right side of his body was paralyzed i was panicking scared adding to his fears the divorced father of three had remarried and his wife meg was expecting he's paralyzed my husband's paralyzed i was newly married i had just lost my father i just i was like this can't be real still doctors were confident that in time he would fully recover after his release four weeks later brian went on disability and would spend countless hours in physical therapy relying on a walker and leg brace to get around as the weeks and months ticked by there was no improvement and he was in constant pain and now he and meg had a newborn in the home i spent a lot of time asking god for for him to help me and get through all of this i would always say lord why why is this happening to me you know i'm supposed to be a child of yours and i feel like i'm getting beat up worse than somebody else then after more than a year of fighting brian began losing function on the left side of his body and doctors operated on his neck again afterwards not only was brian still paralyzed he had debilitating migraines now doctors were saying brian would never recover forcing him into early retirement if this is what i'm going to be for the rest of my life i can't i can't do it i can't be like this i can't be in this much pain and not have any relief i cried out and i said lord you need to do something because i can't take it anymore in all that time and the years to come meg refused to give up hope she turned to friends family and their church for prayer and even took brian to some healing conferences brian on the other hand she always believed i was going to get healed and i didn't always believe that i'll be honest for 10 years brian tried to come to terms with his paralysis one saving grace was that he's left-handed and could at least try to enjoy some of the things he loved like hunting fishing and being with his wife and kids even then he was limited then in august 2019 meg convinced brian to go to yet another healing conference right before we left you know he would pack his brace his charger his crutches and i told him you don't even need your crutches don't bring your crutches because you're not going to need it brian had been down this road before the last thing i wanted to do is hear another person talk about healing and i didn't want to get prayed for again because i've been prayed for hundreds of times before at the conference many people were being called forward for prayer brian wasn't one of them furious meg stormed out of the room i can't believe it i can't believe it yeah i was mad at god while she was out it felt like somebody grabbed me by the back of my neck and picked me straight up and made me start walking forward moments later i came back and he was on the floor they were praying for him i see his hand go up moving he's smiling he's and i'm i'm in amazement and shock you know it's happening right it's happening i looked at my hand and i and i said well move and like i've tried a million times before that was crunched up and curled over it started to straighten and then my fingers would wiggle and i was like oh my god and it's all twitchy and it's all spasming and it's all crazy but it's moving and it never did that before then he takes his brace off and he starts walking around he walks around this is probably at 11 o'clock at night walks around the sanctuary a couple times then they let go and there's three people holding them and then they let go and he walks around by himself come on jesus six months later in a report from brian's pain management doctor brian still shows no signs of disability now working full time at a rock quarry he's grateful to have his life back and especially enjoys every minute he has with his family i mean you stop and you're like what just happened what happened like he broke his neck he was paralyzed this fight and then he gets healed like what like again this is another thing this just doesn't happen to people like us i tell everybody when was the last time you saw a paralyzed guy walk i never did until it was me it's still mind boggling i can't explain it other than i'm living it and it happened to me firsthand wow you can't explain that a doctor will tell you that's impossible you break a neck you sever a nerve it's not going to grow back you're not going to get sensation you're not going to get movement uh you know you just have to accept it and you have to learn how to live with a disability all of these things but here's brian and here's meg and meg said i'm not giving up i'm going to keep asking i'm going to keep seeking i'm going to keep knocking and you hear the honesty of it where brian is saying i didn't want to be prayed for again i've been prayed for 100 times you know it didn't work then what makes you think it's going to work now here's the honesty of meg that she's in a prayer service she's actually convinced brian to go yet again to to be in another one and he doesn't get called on it's getting late and she knows well we gotta drive back home and i'm gonna drive back disappointed so she storms out of the room and mad at god isn't that incredible and just as she's outside the room is when the miracle is happening now in the bible jesus healed the paralyzed there was a paralytic man doesn't say how he got paralyzed other than he was paralyzed he couldn't walk he couldn't move his friends had to lower him before jesus on a stretcher on a cot they had to take the roof off the building to get to him the bible says something very interesting and when he saw their faith then he said to the crowd that you would know that i have the power to forgive sins get up and a paralyzed man stood up now for brian here he is he's under the power of the spirit the people are laying hands on him they're praying over him and he looks at his hand and he does something unusual he commands it and he says move that's exactly how jesus would heal the sick he would command it and with that voice of authority and that voice of belief in the presence of god miracles can happen miracles can happen to you right now i don't care if you've been prayed for 100 times or more what is jesus looking for he's looking for your faith he's looking for you to seek and to ask and to knock and to not give up but to keep on pressing in until that wonderful moment where you believe and then you act your belief that's how miracles happen when you do the same thing that people did in bible days when you say if i can just get in this presence if i can just touch his garment if i can just get near him i know i can get the answer to my prayer if you do the same thing today you'll get an answer that is how miracles happen you can't explain it you know there's not some ritual prayer there's not you know some formula it's all based on your belief and acting that belief i'm not talking about mental assent that you just agree i'm talking in your innermost being brian had a moment in his innermost being where he commanded his hand move and it happened now we're going to pray before we pray we've got some other miracles and it's all designed to increase your faith that's why we show these testimonies that's why we read these reports so that you would have that faith that overcomes that faith that deep inner knowledge that god is looking at you right now he wants to answer your prayer the sacrifice has already been made you don't have to make a bargain with them you just have to believe now here's donna henderson nevada three years had lower back pain this past month october 22nd donna heard terry say you have an issue with your back every time you move a certain way it's almost like an electrical shock goes up your spine god is healing that condition and all of the electrical impulses will function as they're supposed to and you will not have that pain again immediately donna felt healing flowing into her back all the pain left she's rejoicing and feels brand new wow wow i'm rejoicing with her that's awesome this is barry sent this in by email he said i've had issues with the frozen shoulder since september 2020. i went to physical therapy for four months i was watching tonight and gordon called out healing of a frozen shoulder and even called out that it was the right shoulder i received healing by faith and did what he said to to do my shoulder feels much much better now hallelujah let's pray join with us don't turn away but right now join with us let's create a great circle of prayer and god will respond to you lord we lift everyone to you we come to you and just as the man was praying for his son and he turned to jesus and he said i believe help my unbelief lord god almighty help our unbelief open our eyes open our ears give us a heart of understanding that we may know the greatness of your power towards us who believe your eyes are constantly looking for our faith so we come to you we turn to you the author the finisher of our faith and we say help our unbelief lord stretch forth your hand to do miracles signs and wonders miracles of restoration the paralyzed walking again moving again anyone with a neck injury healed and restored in jesus name there's a man your name is tom and you have this painful lung issue and it's almost like you feel your lungs crinkling when you when you breathe take that deep breath in and all of that pain just left you now your lungs are normal they're new god has restored you you'll breathe freely you'll have new energy you'll be able to exercise you'll be able to do all the things you want to do receive it now in jesus name terry yes someone else you've been diagnosed with some kind of an eye condition that could ultimately lead to blindness and it has you so well not just concerned you're frightened god is healing that condition for you slowly it's going to simply go away you'll not have the condition anymore and you'll not lose your eyesight in jesus name and someone you've got terrible neck pain it's not from a break it's some kind of sprain or muscle constriction god's just relaxing all of that for you right now all of the pain that went up to your skull went even to your right eye down to your right shoulder all of it is leaving you right now in jesus name be healed and god just wants to assure you this is a recurring thing it's never coming back on you again you're released from it you're free from it you're going to walk in perfect healing from this day forward now someone else you have some kind of a muscle condition i'm not even sure it's been diagnosed but it's just you you just every muscle in your body aches and it it moves from place to place and you just feel like you're aging that is completely being healed for you right now in jesus name just feel the warmth of that come into your body and you'll not have that anymore you're set free um there's someone you've got arthritis in both hands but it's it's primarily in the right hand and it's almost like the right hand is curled in and the knuckles have almost doubled in size god is healing he's giving you new suppleness new nimbleness in your fingers just receive that you just felt like this icy wave goes through both of your hands all of that inflammation all of that problem is leaving you right now stretch out your hand receive it now that anointing that's on you he also wants to fill you with his spirit he's going to show you things from this day forward you're going to start seeing things in the spirit he wants to have deep fellowship with you and reveal things to you so just just lift your hands to him praise him for the miracle of healing praise him for the anointing the gifting he's giving you right now in jesus name we thank you we thank you for the baptism in the holy spirit we thank you for the revelation of jesus we thank you for all your gifts strengthen us lord god strengthen us to believe for even more to believe for the impossible for with you all things are possible we receive everything that you have for us we want it all lord god in jesus name amen and amen if you've been healed if you've been touched give us a call 1 800 700 7 000 just say god healed me today and we'd love to hear your report and if you need prayer again we believe in prevailing prayer that seeking that knocking that asking that won't give up until you get an answer we're here for you 24 hours a day 1-800 thousand welcome back to washington for the cbn news break the supreme court's november session kicks off with challenges to a texas law that has stopped nearly all abortions past six weeks of pregnancy in the lone star state after oral arguments the justices will determine whether abortion providers or the justice department can bring federal court challenges to the law which allows private citizens to sue anyone who carries out or helps with an abortion supporters of the law say that unusual enforcement method protects it from review by the federal courts well cbn is using a super book on youtube to reach nations around the world such as brazil the success of the super libra channel for spanish speakers led to a similar strategy for the brazilian portuguese in 2019 by dubbing content into portuguese the channel has expanded to include 12 original latin american digital series along with the full super book episodes super book brazil has over 700 000 subscribers with 120 million lifetime video views and this year the channel averages nearly 6 million video views a month well you can learn more about what cbn is doing around the world by going to cbn.com international eugenia was just a little girl when the nazis rolled through her town to this day she has no idea how she survived all she remembers is the hunger cold and fear brought on by the holocaust years later those same feelings returned when she was locked down by covid19 eugenia remembers the fear she felt when the holocaust began in ukraine she experienced a similar fear as israel went into lockdown because of covet 19. it brought back vivid memories of life during the war i was very young but i recall the loud sounds of the nazi motorcycles and large trucks it was all so new and scary my mother and i ran to a nearby village but the nazi found us and we were taken to the ghetto after eugenia's father died fighting the nazis she and her mother had to fend for themselves in the ghetto we ate what we could find even old potato skins that had been tossed out all we knew was hunger cold and fear to this day i don't know how i survived eugenia lives alone in israel she isolated herself to avoid catching the coronavirus so cbn israel brings her groceries and takes the time to make sure she's all right in the beginning i was very scared of this virus and i didn't know how i could go out to get food but having you come to check on me and bring me this groceries helped ease my mind because of the support of cbn donors eugenia has the food she needs and someone to look after her that helps keep her fears at bay it means so much that you remember me and care about me it's a great feeling and has helped me through this difficult time thank you that thank you goes all the way from israel to you if you're a member of the 700 club you're part of everything we're doing around the world whether that's helping holocaust survivors in israel uh helping orphans in over 60 countries preaching the gospel through wonderful programs like the 700 club through superbook helping those who have needs right here in america where operation blessing is feeding people you're a part of all of it when you join the 700 club if you're not a member i encourage you to call us and say yeah i'll join i'll sign up for this uh 1 800 700 7 000 just say i want to be a member of the 700 club if you're already a member i encourage you to increase we have 700 club gold for you at 40 a month thousand club is a thousand dollars a year that breaks out to eighty four dollars a month however you do it ask for pledge express when you call or you can go to cbn.com

when you give monthly on the internet you automatically sign up for pledge express or you can text us text cbn to 71777 and we can send as our gift to you power for life monthly teaching cds so if you'd like those ask for pledge express when you call or just go to cbn.com tara move over tom brady jessica long was the real star of this year's super bowl a toyota commercial about her life quickly went viral shortly after it aired during the big game over the course of 60 seconds the ad told jessica's inspiring story beginning in a russian orphanage and ending with olympic glory cbn's will dawson has more jessica long at this point really has her work cut out for she's only been swimming for two years i see the world record holder and i realize i'm gaining on her with each stroke and there was at one point we were 15 meters out of the wall and i just said to myself i did not come here to get second jessica long putting in some huge strokes towards the finish and we touched the wall so close you had to look up at the scoreboard jessica long is going to have to extend for the wall she does it a paralympic games record but in that moment i knew that i had won in 2004 at the age of 12 jessica long became the youngest paralympian to win a gold medal in fact that year she won three there was 20 some thousand people who had just watched that race so i was just trying to catch my breath excited that my family saw it and just that i couldn't wait to see them jessica was born in russia without her lower leg bones it was there in a siberian orphanage she was adopted by steve and beth long a couple from baltimore maryland they saw a picture of me and another little boy and i think it's so special and so incredible because they just they really felt on their hearts that we were the children that god wanted them to adopt at 18 months the longs made the difficult decision to amputate jessica's lower legs the first of 25 painful surgeries you didn't have to tell a girl with no legs that she you know i knew i was different i was missing half of my body um but i i really had incredible parents who really taught me that you know god has always had a special a plan for me that plan made sense in the water every sunday after church we would go over to my grandparents house and spend time with them and they had a pool in their backyard and i would like eat as fast as i could just so i could be the first one in the pool and then i would be the last one out at the age of 10 jessica joined the local swim team and while the pool made sense she questioned why god made her different i remember being really angry i remember not wanting anything to do with god and i was going in for surgeries every three months and i mean all i ever heard was god made me this way and i was like i don't think i like that that anger fueled her competitive drive in 2006 at the world championships in south africa fourteen-year-old jessica won nine gold medals beat out fellow swimmer michael phelps for an espy award and received worldwide recognition i think swimming really just became my identity because going into the 20 the 2008 paralympics i didn't perform as well as i would have liked to i was the world record holder in this in the 100 brush stroke but i got the bronze medal and one of the first things that i asked my parents like do you guys still love me and they're like what are you talking about her surface relationship with god gave way to her identity as a swimmer i think in a way i felt like i could do it all on my own and i totally could i was the one going through surgeries i was the one walking in two prosthetic legs and i was going i mean my legs hurt me every single day and i didn't i didn't even want to rely on my parents let alone someone that i couldn't even see i was winning awards i was on red carpets in la i was you know getting sponsorships over the next six years jessica racked up over 50 gold medals and 18 world records at the london paralympic games in 2012 jessica realized something was missing i just wanted five gold life is great um i had a commercial with coca-cola there were so many things again that were happening but still i i just remember feeling really empty and just really just unsatisfied which i was like why i mean i've done everything that i've ever wanted to in the swimming journey the swimming career how do i still feel empty how do i still feel unsatisfied while training for london jessica attended a women's bible study and over time she knew she needed something to change i think i was just tired of being angry i think i was tired of carrying all this weight i think you know nothing was still satisfying my soul and that's all i've ever heard my whole life right is god is the one he's the one that can fulfill and satisfy every all of your needs one night in the summer of 2013 she surrendered her life to god and i walked up and prayed with a woman that i had known and just was like i really want to give him my whole heart i want to pray i don't want a question anymore and it was a really special moment i i really do know for a fact like i was like i gave him all of me and i just remember feeling so weightless and so just a part of god's family for the first time like really a part of it i feel so much gratitude and love towards just everything that god's given me just so thankful today jessica is married and training for this year's paralympic games in tokyo she even starred in a toyota super bowl commercial as one of the most decorated paralympic athletes of all time jessica is confident in her ability but even more secure in her identity my identity is in christ and i really hope that i i show that with just my character the way that i do things on the pool deck and i know i couldn't do it without god so i do really rely on him and when i'm swimming i do picture him next to me in that like jet like i'm still using the talent that he has given me and i think that i'm still really living my purpose and that he would be he's really proud of me and i would say every athlete or anyone has probably ever felt this just not satisfied right it's not working you're not satisfied it's never going to be enough but god is enough and and that's really hard and it's all on your own time of course but just know that god's waiting waiting for you with his arms open and he can't wait to have you a part of his family well i don't know how it could be said any better than what jessica said you know there is a discontent in us no matter how much we have no matter how much we do no matter where we go and when we hang on to things like anger and bitterness boy we're our own worst enemy because god is waiting jesus is waiting with his arms open and he wants to have that relationship with you surrender surrender your heart that's where those feelings lie the discontent the the rebellion the the anger just give it to him and receive all of him in return it'll change your life just as it changed jessica's gordon well we leave you these words from galatians chapter 3 for you are all children of god through faith in christ jesus come to him just as a little child come to him and say daddy here's where i need some help and he will abundantly give it to you for all of us here god bless you we'll see you again tomorrow i woke up and kept asking where's my baby my mother cried your baby's mouth is broken he has a cleft lip and a palate his immunity weakened every time he got sick i had to use the money i received to pay for his medical bills so i couldn't follow through with my promise to get him surgery then mrs liu was introduced to cbn at a health clinic we quickly arranged and completely paid for feyun's cleft lip surgery we later helped make his cleft palate surgery possible too you've given our baby a happy childhood and a bright future people around the world need your help when you partner with cbn you rescue children and adults from despair and you give them a promising future please watch for this mailing and remember to send in your pledge when we all come together to help miracles happen so you

2021-11-04 05:14

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