Judy Douglas knows what it's like to have a son far, far from home, and not just physically far

either. You get so weary in the journey that you think, okay, I'm just going to go in and live my

life, and if he comes back, that'll be wonderful, but I can't bank on it. Ultimately,

says Judy, God's the only one who really knows what's going to work for them,

what's going to help them to be able to come back, and he is the one who can help me or any other

person who loves a prodigal to hang in there with them. This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Walgamuth, author of Surrender,

The Heart God Controls.

For June 4th, 2020, I'm Dana Gresh.

Dana, I think that this series with my longtime friend Judy Douglas may elicit as much or more response than anything we've done in a long time.

And what makes me think that is anytime I post a comment or a testimony or a quote on social media that has anything to do with prodigals, prodigal children in particular, my feed blows up. I mean, people just are

so struggling for hope, for help. There's a sense of desperation in the hearts of so many parents,

and you've seen this among people that you know in love as well. Oh, I'm praying with

several of my friends right now that God would bring their children's hearts back to him and to

them. And it's deeply painful. There are seasons and times of hopelessness, but I think

Judy, listening to her voice these last two days, has given me new hope for those friends who are

walking through that painful time. So, Judy, thank you for joining us here on Revive Our Hearts

to talk about something that is not only your journey

with an adopted son, Josh, who's given freedom to tell this story. He's now in his late 30s

and in a very different place, but there were 15 years of like hanging on by your toenails,

sort of crisis and all the impact of that on your family. We're going to unpack a little bit more

of that story. But thank you not only for living, you know, being willing to walk through

that journey to love a child well, to love a prodigal well, but also for letting God shape

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