The Unfolding

Pray for our troops. It's a great phrase to post on social media, put on a bumper sticker, or a sign in your yard. But Captain Kyle Swanson lived it. During his time in the military, he watched prayer change things- change the weather, change the course of a grenade, literally save lives. When Kyle says prayer changes things it's not a trite phrase. It's his real-life experience, and he wants you...

Healing can be a mysterious thing. Sometimes God answers our prayers. Sometimes we don't see the miracle we are hoping for. For Emma Villanueva, both are true. As a young girl she was miraculously healed, saved from a surgery that would have left her wheelchair-bound for the rest of her life. Then as a teenager, Emma was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy. In the years since, she has watched her bo...

What if we looked at life as if everything was a miracle? That's much easier when life is going well. When Chris and Denise Benyo got married, they were looking forward to a bright and beautiful future. But within months, Denise was diagnosed with a progressive neurodegenerative disease, called ALS. How do you see everything as a miracle, while you're facing a terminal diagnosis?

No matter what you go through, as long as you are holding on to Jesus, you can stand. That seemed to be the recurring theme of the Bible stories Laura Piraino studied as she was leading a women's ministry. It's one thing to teach it, but it's another to live it out. How do you hold on to Jesus when you are robbed of your sense of safety; when the place that had been your sanctuary becomes a crime...

Jesus said everyone who hears his words and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down and the winds blew, yet it did not fall. Adam and Christina Hannan were trying to raise their family on a firm foundation. For years they made a habit of reading Jesus' words and putting them into practice. But their faith had never really been tested. That all...

Sparkle Sanders was driven to succeed in everything she did. One of her greatest fears was failure. Nothing made her feel more like a failure than motherhood. When Sparkle became a mom, it didn't look anything like what she expected. Every day has hard, and the struggle with postpartum depression made her feel miles away from God.

When Tracy Hoth first met Jesus, it was fun and dynamic. Her life changed almost overnight. But as the years went by, faith became more of a responsibility than a relationship with the Creator. Prayer and reading the Bible felt like a duty, but didn't bring life or joy. But God continued to pursue Tracy, confirming she could trust him, even when her son was in a traumatic accident. ()

For so long there has been a stigma around issues of mental health, including among believers in Jesus. For many of us, we assume depression and anxiety are issues we can fix, if we read the Bible or pray more. Lydia Laird knew God was calling her to write and perform music about her faith, but she was struggling with depression, anxiety and panic attacks. For years she carried shame because she j...

What if you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that heaven is real and you could spend eternity with Jesus? If you could see it with your own eyes, would that change you? Dean Braxton was a normal guy, living a pretty normal life, when he had an out of this world experience that changed him forever.

Is there purpose for the pain and loss we experience? That's been a question that Marie Kuck has grappled with throughout her life. As the mother of a special needs child, she has lived face to face and heart to heart with the challenges of disability. She's been forced to ask tough questions, like how do you process grief, while holding on to hope? And how can God take heartache and work it for g...

After a sudden illness and 107 days in the hospital, Gary Miracle came home to a radically different life. He had lost all four limbs. Gary and Kelly held on to the belief that God would not allow something so big and drastic in his life, if He didn't plan to use it in a big way. Gary's story became the inspiration for MercyMe's song and video, "Say I Won't."

Gary and Kelly Miracle were living a very typical life when Gary suddenly became sick. He was admitted to the hospital, his kidneys began to fail, and he fell into septic shock. In a matter of days, life as they knew it changed forever. Gary is the inspiration for Mercy Me's song, "Say I Won't.

Mandisa is best known for singing powerful, upbeat songs of faith. When her close friend Kisha was diagnosed with cancer, Mandisa was confident God would heal her. When He didn't, she fell into a deep depression that nearly claimed her life.

Have you ever felt like the foundation of your faith was crumbling? It's a hard experience for anyone, but especially difficult if you are an artist who has built your career on songs of faith. Jason Gray shares his story and a song inspired by his journey in this episode of The Unfolding.

Many people thought Dani Burton was a lost cause. From the time she was young she was searching for love and affirmation in all the wrong places. Drinking and drugs led to shame, addiction and eventually prison. She would walk through heartbreaking loss before she finally understood that God saw her as worthy, beautiful and beloved.

Ryan Otto wanted the fairytale marriage and family he missed out on as a child. But he was paralyzed by the fear of choosing the wrong person or repeating his parents' mistakes. Mary Jane was confident of one thing, she would never marry a pastor. It seemed to be an impossible situation, but it was actually an only-God-could-do-this kind of love story.

We all long to be loved and accepted. When people shower us with attention, it can be intoxicating. But when they repeatedly reject us, the wounds can be deep and long-lasting. The rejection Blake Mattocks experienced as a teenager forged a deep and festering anger that led him to a very dark place.

For missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham, a night of celebration turned into a nightmare. On May 27, 2001, they were kidnapped from a resort in the Philippines by the Abu Sayyaf. They were held hostage for more than a year, forced to march through the jungle with little food, no clean water, and witnessing atrocities along the way. It was a year that would test their faith beyond anything they h...

Empty- that was how Daniel Goulet described his life. He tried to fill the void with drinking, drugs, and pornography, but nothing worked. As he spiraled into addiction and despair, he began thinking of suicide. That's when he had a supernatural encounter that offered a way out.

Daniel Massieh was a young man in Egypt when he had a supernatural encounter with Jesus. His first question was "Lord why didn't I know you sooner? Why didn't someone tell me about you?" He had a passion to share the love of Jesus with everyone he met. But telling people about Jesus came with a cost - rejection, persecution, and prison.

How do you trust God as you watch your child suffer and your prayers seem to go unanswered? That was the unwelcome journey of Kelly Denham's life. Kelly's son T.J. experienced a brain injury when a mistake was made during heart surgery. For years, T.J. suffered and Kelly struggled to help, cope, and hang onto her faith.

What if you grew up believing you were unlovable? Going from foster home to foster home, Joe Buchanan believed there must be something wrong with him. It would take a supernatural act of love to change his life.

When Christmas doesn't go the way we hope, it can be disappointing. But sometimes when things don't go according to plan, it turns out to make some of our most precious memories. In this special episode, we share the stories of three people who had a different kind of Christmas.

All throughout the story of Jesus' birth, there are encounters with angels. In fact, the scriptures, both Old and New Testament, are full of these stories. But many of us are perplexed by these spiritual beings. Hebrews 13:2 says, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Do people still encounter angels today?

The trauma and abuse Stephanie Cockrell experienced as a child left her with a deep-seeded, all-consuming anger. She moved through life ready to fight anyone that crossed her path. But at the same time, she was desperately looking for hope and love. She wanted to believe that somehow all of those traumatic experiences could be redeemed and that she could be free from the prison of anger, and maybe...