RECENT HOSPITALIZATION

Kathie Lee was hospitalized due to a fall while recovering from hip replacement surgery in June. As reported by PEOPLE magazine, “the former Today co-host suffered a fractured pelvis in two places and was hospitalized for over a week for physical therapy. Gifford says she "moved 300 books by myself" during book signings in Nashville. "I weakened my body," she says. "It's my own fault." The next day, one of Gifford's friends came by to pick her up. She hurried to the door and ‘just tripped.' She says, "It didn't take much, because I was weak in that spot. And the next thing you know, I am back in the hospital with a fractured pelvis, the front and the back. That's more painful than anything I went through with the hip. The pelvis is unbelievably painful. But anyway, here I am."
 
HEROD THE GREAT

Kathie Lee says that she’s been completely fascinated by King Herod since 2012, when she went on a rabbinical study trip to Israel, led by famous Bible scholar Ray Vander Laan. The various sites they explored, and Vander Laan’s correction of common misunderstandings of Scripture drew her in, especially his explanation of Herod’s background, blind ambition, and bloodthirst. “Herod’s life was marked by triumph, tragedy, murder, debauchery, and political intrigue,” Kathie Lee says. It surprised her to learn how highly-regarded the Judean monarch was outside Israel and how deeply the Jews hated him for his aspiration to be revered as the “King of Jews.”  

At the same time, it disgusted her to read of Herod’s insatiable lust for power, stopping at nothing to gain more, including murdering his own wife, Mariamne. His greed was legendary, she says. “He was the richest man in the world then; more so than Elon Musk is today.” While the story of Jesus Christ is considered the greatest story ever told, Kathie Lee calls the story of Herod the Great the greatest story never told. The idea of writing a book about the ancient king came from her son, Cody, and is the first in a series she’ll be co-writing called Ancient Evil/ Living Hope. Another motivation for Kathie Lee and her co-author, Dr. Bryan Litfin of Liberty University, for doing extensive research on Herod is to prove that humanity has always been capable of the darkest evil. Kathie Lee says she believes there’s not more evil today than in prior eras. “There’s just more cable channels and cell phones now!” she quips. Overarching Herod’s wickedness, the authors highlight the clear providence of God in using all things for his purposes in redemptive history.  

MARY THE FAITHFUL

In starkest contrast to King Herod, stands Mary, the teen chosen by God to bear his incarnate Son. “The juxtaposition of these characters is a message for today,” Kathie Lee explains. Though evil has always existed, so also has the purity of faith and obedience to God’s calling that Mary exhibited. Only twelve to fourteen-years-old when the angel Gabriel announced that she would conceive a child by the Holy Spirit, Mary knew what that would in her culture, Kathie Lee points out. “To conceive a child out of wedlock would result in terrible shame, possibly even death by communal stoning. Certainly, Joseph would call off the marriage, resulting in a life of poverty and rejection as a tainted woman who couldn’t keep herself chaste. Even if the illegitimate son went on to become a great king like the visitor said, Mary knew she would still have to contend with the immense societal disgrace of an unwanted pregnancy. Can such a thing really be from God?” Mary’s faith and willing obedience gives people hope amidst the darkest of circumstances, both in ancient times and today, Kathie Lee believes. Though all looked bleak about Mary’s situation, she says the Lord was orchestrating every detail for His glory, her good, and the redemption of His people through Jesus.   

Kathie Lee recounts how the lives of Mary and Herod intertwined when the Judean king heard of an infant child believed to be the Messiah and future King of the Jews -- an obvious threat to his reign. The king issued an edict that all male children two-years-old and younger in Bethlehem and the vicinity be killed, known as the Massacre of the Innocents. The Lord then appeared to Joseph, telling him to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt, which was not under Herod’s rule. There they stayed until the king’s death in 4 BC.         
 
CODAS 

Following the non-fiction narrative of Herod and Mary is a series of codas, or life applications stemming from Dr. Litfin’s interview of Kathie Lee. Correlating to each chapter of the book, they discuss the lessons learned from Herod’s wretched example and Mary’s faithful one, as Kathie Lee applies those to her own life, past and present. From her family and successes to the most painful events of her life, i.e. being publically accused in 1996 of running Honduran sweatshops for her clothing line, and her husband’s infidelity the following year, Kathie Lee explains how darkness was turned to light in her own life, just as Herod’s wickedness was used by God to bring about much good. The themes of forgiveness, humility, and trust in the Lord run throughout this section. She says she wants to give people hope no matter how dark this world becomes and lead them to friendship with God – “the best gift you can give someone,” she says with conviction.    

To purchase Kathie Lee's book, Herod and Mary, and to learn more about her latest projects please visit Kathie Lee Gifford's website: www.KathieLeeGifford.com.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

“There's like that panic that sets in of like, ‘please God, please God, no, this cannot be true. This cannot be happening.'” It was June 2021. Annalee and Bryan Tupy had just moved into a new house with their 9-month-old son, Desmond, when one morning she discovered Bryan, a police officer, dead in their garage. Annalee recalls, “My emotions were numb. Everything changes. Not only the shock of someone dying, you’ve got the trauma of finding them. And just desperation of like, how do I do this? What am I gonna do?”
 
Years before Bryan had been in a serious car accident. The constant pain, along with occasional bouts of PTSD from his time on the police force led to an addiction to alcohol and prescription pain meds. She recalls, “He just always felt like he could deal with it, he could cope with it. Watching that and seeing that and living with that, when you know that that's not who your person is, it was frustrating. It was disheartening. I strongly knew and believed that God was going to help us and heal him, that he wouldn't have to struggle with this.”

When their first child was born in late 2020, Bryan sought help and got sober. She says, “His attitude was better. He knew his health was better all around. And so, he enjoyed it. He enjoyed sobriety. He thought maybe I can do this long term. It was just a day at a time. I felt like, yes, this is the guy that I married. This is what it's supposed to look like. We had so much fun together.”

Until one drink at a party sent Bryan backsliding into addiction. Just a few days later, Bryan died from an accidental overdose. Annalee recalls, “I remember feeling so angry the next day in the shower, punching the shower wall. I don't care that God has a plan. That does not take away my reality. My 31-year-old husband just died. We have a nine-month-old. This is not what life was supposed to look like. We went to church. We were in Bible studies. We were checking all the check boxes in the right order that we were supposed to as Christians. And so, when this happened, felt like my world was rocked. I felt like God kind of abandoned me.”

In the days and weeks ahead, Annalee struggled to deal with her grief and anger. She says, “Something so simple could set me off because if Brian was here, things would look different. Grief does not go away. Grief, it changes. It does not...I wish it diminished. It's exhausting.” She says in her darkest moments, God carried her through.

Annalee says, “God hears it all. He feels it all. He knows anger. And so, it was comforting to be able to go to Him still with my anger with Him and know that He was just gonna sit with me in it. I remember one day, opening up my Bible and coming across Ecclesiastes seven. It talked about how good grief is and that the house of mourning is better than a house of laughter because a house of mourning is grateful and appreciative. And that's what I was feeling deep down. I had joy because I know God and I know His promises. But having God's word there to confirm it, of like this has happened to other people, you will get through it. I feel like God is sitting right next to me with His arm around me and just crying with me. And there's nothing more comforting than that.”

As she learned to navigate life as a single parent, Annalee says her perspectives changed, especially towards people in pain. “They don't necessarily want to hear all the things a Christian would typically maybe say. But I think we can show them who Christ is through our actions and providing food, providing gift cards, providing that physical support to watch their kids. I wanna show them Christ's love. And if that can plant even the smallest mustard seed to hopefully look to Him when times are hard. I hear people's story and I just feel for their pain much harder than I used to.”

Although Desmond never knew his dad, Annalee makes sure that he learns about Bryan and the love Bryan had for his son. She says, “I want to talk about Brian so Desmond can forever know his dad, who he was, the authentic man that he was, the goofy guy that he was. I mean, he was so many things to so many people. And I forever want to carry on that so Desmond can know who he was since he never truly got the chance to meet him and know him and love him as a son should. Brian, even though he's physically gone, he will forever remain in our lives.” 

Annalee reminds us, that healing from loss is a day-to-day process that takes time, prayer, and trust in God. She says, “I would just want people to know it's okay to grieve. God feels your anger, He feels your sadness. He knows it's there. Give it all to God because He is there. He loves us. He's not gonna leave us. I have joy because I know God and I know the peace and redemption and love that He provides and that He brings and that brings me joy. I have our son, I have his family, I have my family, I have all of our friends. I've been blessed beyond measure in a lot of ways. So, I have joy because of all that. It’s encouraging to know, okay, ‘You're gonna use this somehow. I don't know how, but You're gonna use this and I trust You with that.”
 

Everyday Rosemary Gustafson rises early to manage her and her husband's, Ragnar, 41 acre horse farm called, “Son Shine Ranch.” It takes a lot of energy and strength, especially when it comes to throwing around the 60 pound bales of hay they use to feed their 12 horses. 

Rosemary said, “Well, I don't, I do if I have to, but my husband, who is 85, throws the big bales of hay around and he, he works just as hard as anybody at 85.” 

In October of 2022, that task would fall on Rosemary when Ragnar and their son were out of town visiting relatives in Norway for two weeks.  

She said, “I pulled a bale of hay down with one arm, this one, my right arm, which it hurt a little bit. And then I picked up way too much hay and threw it over the stall, which I shouldn't have. And I just felt it rip and tear.” 

“I know better than to throw that much hay over. And I wasn't thinking...I was probably, I don't know what I was thinking because I should know better than that.” 

Rosemary assumed she had just pulled a muscle and went about taking care of the farm the best she could. Over the next couple of days, the pain only got worse. “Horrible, excruciating,” recalled Rosemary. “I just kept it right at my side and just fed the rest of the horses with one hand.”

For a minute she thought about going to the doctor. “Doctors are good. I’m not saying don't go to doctors because God can use doctors, but I just didn't feel like at that time they would do anything but give you pain pills. And I don't do those.”

She said, “I put my own pain patches on, which helped a little and then just held it real still. I just held it right here.”

Rosemary also went to God. “Just, 'God, help me get through this. God help me get through this. Help. Give me the strength, Father God. And I thank you for the healing because You're just....you thank Him.' You're not moved by what you see or what you hear. You're moved by God's word and His word says, 'He healed them all,'” said Rosemary. 

Then, on October 22nd, Rosemary came in the house at noon as she has done for years and turned on The 700 Club. Later in the show, Gordon Robertson started praying, “There's somebody out there that has terrible pain in their right shoulder,” said Gordon.

“And I said, oh, that's me. And I put my hand on my shoulder. But then he went on to say, 'but then it goes up into your head and you have headaches, and it goes down your back and all over your back.' And I thought, oh well, that's not me. So, I didn't even think about it and didn't think it was me. So went on the rest of the day, didn't think much about it.” 

That evening, still holding her right arm at her side to prevent pain, Rosemary was putting on her jacket to go outside when. . .“All of a sudden, my arm moved and I, I moved it. I could not move it before that. I held it up in the air and it was totally, completely healed,” said Rosemary. 

“And because we support The 700 Club and are members - they call us every once in a while and ask, 'Do you have a prayer request?' Well, actually I shared with them that I don't have a prayer request, but I do have a praise. And so I shared that praise with them.”

Rosemary was able to take care of the horses – and moving around that hay – with no pain at all! When asked about God and His healing, Rosemary says she and Ragnar believe there’s something we all need to remember, “Faithful. He's faithful and there's nothing in your life that He's not interested in. I mean, you cannot, you cannot limit God because He loves us.” 

E5 Seargent Andrew currently serves at Fort Campbell, KY. He knows it’s important to maintain a balance between service to his country and family time. He relies on his wife, MJ, to hold down the fort during their long months of separations.

Andrew says, “She lives the primary example of what a godly wife should be. She takes care of the household. So, when I’m gone, I have no worries.”

Providing for a wife and three kids on a sergeant’s salary takes budgeting and discipline. Then, the couple learned MJ was expecting their 4th. Although excited to welcome another child, they had given away all their infant supplies. Now, they had to start from scratch and buy necessities for their new baby. On top of this, their HVAC system broke down, costing $2,000 to fix it.

MJ says, “That set us back in a major way. That was a definitely big blow.”

Andrew confimred, “Getting a hold of our financial situation is a must because we have a family. It's not just me and her."

As Christians, the couple relies on their faith in God to see them through every difficulty.

MJ says, “We just got to be patient. He's the provider. He provides, regardless.”

Their situation took a turn for the better when a military outreach called Combat Fit Battleground asked Helping the Home Front to assist. We said yes. Battleground leader, Donnie Bowen, came by to let the couple know CBN was reimbursing them for the HVAC repairs. 

MJ says, “That sounds great, thank you! That was a good chunk of money that went to that. And that is definitely helping with this baby.”

Donnie went on to tell them that Helping the Home Front wanted to provide for their baby too.

Donnie shared, “They’ve seen your wish list. And CBN wants to get you guys the stuff that you need on that wish list. So, they are going to take you on a shopping spree. How does that sound?”

MJ relied, “I’m going to cry. I’m going to cry. Because, that is great! That is huge! That is a stress reliever! Thank you!”

Donnie adds, “God is good! He’s faithful."

MJ continues, “Yes, he’s faithful. This could not have been completed without you guys’ obedience and sensitivity and having His love and His heart. So, thank you guys. Because, this is, this is great!”

Andrew adds, “This is why I have confidence in the Father. The Father is faithful, through and through. With Him everything is possible. Everything."

Helping the Home Front took Andrew and MJ shopping that day.  

MJ concludes, “The fact that Helping the Home Front and CBN is just open and able to give a blessing like this. It’s amazing. I do want to thank the CBN partners for giving in order for us to receive these blessings. It’s a very big thing. It’s very appreciated. Thanks again.Thank you.”